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IIIHll  II    1 1  I  I  I   I  I  I  I 
3  3433  08184267  0 


rA' 


^XIBUC  LIBRARY 


History  of  Kentucky 


JUDGE  CHARLES  KERR 


Editor       ^ 


BY 

WILLIAM  ELSEY  CONNELLEY 
Author  of  "Eastern  Kentucky   Papers" 

and 

E.  M.  COULTER,  Ph.  D. 
Department  of   History,  University  of  Georgia 


IN  FIVE  VOLUMES 


VOLUME  1 


THE  AMERICAN  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

CHICAGO  AND  NEW  YORK 
1922 


TO  HRW  Yorv 

PUBLI 


COPYRICIII,  1922 
BY 

THE  AMERICAN  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 


EDITOR'S  PREFACE 


The  present  work  is  the  result  of  consultation  and  cooperation.  Those 
engaged  in  its  composition  have  had  but  one  purpose,  and  that  was  to  give 
to  the  people  of  Kentucky  a  social  and  political  account  of  their  state, 
based  on  contemporaneous  history,  as  nearly  as  the  accomplishment  of 
such  an  undertaking  were  possible.  It  has  not  been  the  purpose  of  those 
who  have  labored  in  concert  to  follow  any  line  of  precedent.  While 
omitting  no  important  event  in  the  history  of  the  state,  there  has  been  a 
decided  inclination  to  rather  stress  those  events  that  have  not  hitherto 
engaged  the  attention  of  other  writers  and  historians,  than  to  indulge 
in  a  mere  repetition  of  that  which  is  common  knowledge.  How  far  they 
have  succeeded  in  this  purpose  a  critical  public  must  determine. 

When  its  editor  consented  to  join  in  the  undertaking  it  was  expressly 
stipulated  that  it  was  to  be  a  real  history  of  Kentucky,  and  not  a  mere 
chronological  citation  of  events.  Between  him  and  the  publishers  there 
was  an  express  stipulation  that  one  who  could  catch  the  spirit  of  the 
Kentucky  viewpoint  and  could  bring  to  the  undertaking  a  sympathetic 
interest  in  recording  the  story  of  as  great  a  race  of  home-builders  and 
state-builders  as  had  ever  marked  Anglo-Saxon  progress,  should  be 
engaged  to  write  the  text.  After  several  months  of  delay  the  justly 
merited  historian  of  experience  and  established  reputation,  himself  a 
Kentuckian  by  birth,  Mr.  William  E.  Connelley,  of  Topeka.  Kansas,  was 
introduced  to  the  editor  as  one  capable  and  willing  to  join  in  the  under- 
taking. At  a  general  consultation  between  them  it  was  discovered  that 
there  was  perfect  harmony  in  the  conception  each  entertained  concerning 
the  character  of  history  that  should  be  written.  The  contract  for  writ- 
ing the  present  history  was  thereupon  given  to  Mr.  Connelley.  It  was 
early  discovered  that  the  character  of  history  contemplated  could  not  be 
prepared  within  a  designated  time  without  other  assistance,  and  there- 
upon, at  the  instance  of  Mr.  Connelley,  Prof.  E.  M.  Coulter,  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Georgia,  an  author  of  experience  and  ability,  was  added  to  the 
staff  of  Mr.  Connelley.  From  the  outset  Professor  Coulter  manifested 
a  desire  to  enter  into  the  work  with  energy  and  will.  He  spent  three 
months  in  the  Library  of  Congress  at  Washington,  examining  all  the 
manuscripts  in  that  institution  bearing  on  Kentucky  history — those  which 
had  hitherto  attracted  attention,  as  well  as  those  which  had  not.  When 
he  had  completed  his  labors  in  Washington  he  went  to  Kentucky,  where 
he  spent  many  weeks  in  not  only  examining  all  the  manuscript  materia! 
that  was  available,  but  examined  with  care  and  minuteness  early  news- 
paper files,  especially  those  of  the  Kentucky  Gazette,  Niles  Register  and 
the  Observer  and  Reporter.  A  like  labor  was  performed  in  Frankfort. 
Louisville  was  also  visited,  and  all  the  material  there  available  was  care- 
fully examined  and  copious  citations  made  therefrom.  Chicago  was  next 
visited,  and  all  the  deported  manuscripts  and  pamphlets  bearing  on  the 
early  settlement  of  the  state  were  examined  with  like  care  and  attention. 
A  meeting  was  arranged  between  himself  and  Mr.  Connelley  for  a  joint 
examination  of  the  vast  wealth  of  material  now  in  the  possession  of  the 
Historical  Society  of  Wisconsin.  Here  all  the  material  that  had  been 
gathered  by  Professor  Coulter,  together  with  such  additions  as  were  made 
from   the   Wisconsin   archives,   were  carefully  gone   over   by   them  and 

iii 


iv  rRT'FACE 

arranged  in  the  order  in  which  tliey  were  to  be  used,  having  relation  to 
tiie  snljject  under  treatment.  The  work  of  writing  the  history  did  not 
begin  until  all  this  preliminary  work  had  been  completed.  For  the  in- 
formation of  the  public  it  may  be  said  that  the  following  cha])ters  have 
been  written  by  Mr.  Connelley : 

Origin  and  Meaning  of  Names. 

Early  Indian  Occupancy  of  the  Ohio  \'alley. 

Discovery  and  Exploration  by  the  English  of  the  Ohio  Country. 

Indian  Title  to  Kentucky  and  Its  Extinction. 

Ivxijlorations  of  Dr.  Thomas  Walker. 

Explorations  of  Christopher  (list. 

Mrs.  Mary  Ingles. 

The  Sandy  Creek  Voyage. 

Swift's  SiKer  Mines. 

The  l-'ounding  of  llarman's  Station. 

'Ihe  Governors  of  Kentucky  and  Their  P.iographies. 

United  States  .Senators  from  Kentucky  and  Their  Biographies. 

The  Counties  of  Kentucky  and  for  Whom  Named. 

Officers  from  Kentucky  in  the  Civil  War. 

Alphabetical  List  of  Battles  in  Kentucky  in  the  Civil  War. 

No  historian  in  the  United  States  is  better  acquainted  with  Indian 
lore  and  tradition,  or  has  made  a  more  searching  examination  into  the 
habits  aufl  customs  of  the  North  American  Indian  than  has  Mr.  Con- 
nelley. His  treatise  on  these  subjects,  particularly  the  chapter  on  names, 
will  gi\e  a  new  and  eiUirely  distinct  understanding  of  that  subject  and 
serve  to  dispel  many  long-existing  misconceptions  on  the  subject,  par- 
ticularly the  origin  and  meaning  of  the  word  Kentucky  as  it  is  now 
spelled  and  pronounced. 

All  (Jther  chapters  except  those  of  a  special  character,  as  indicated. 
were  written  and  prepared  by  Professor  Coulter. 

In  the  ])rogress  of  the  work,  all  chapters  were  first  sent  to  Mr.  Con- 
nelley at  Topeka.  There  they  were  carefully  revised  by  him  and  recopied, 
one  copy  of  which  revision  was  sent  to  the  editor,  who  likewise  made 
such  revisions,  by  way  of  deletions,  additions,  phrasing  and  such  other 
changes,  as  he  deemed  proper.  They  were  then  returned  to  Mr.  Con- 
nelley. by  whom  they  were  again  exanuiied,  recopied  and  sent  to  the 
publisher.  The  [nirpose  of  these  several  examinations  and  reexamina- 
tions was  to  make  the  work  as  nearly  historically  accurate  as  care  and 
attention  could  make  it. 

Ibis  history  has  been  written  entirely  from  original  and  contem- 
poraneous sources.  This  is  no  less  an  account  of  the  economic  develop- 
ment and  history  of  the  state  than  it  is  of  its  social  and  political  de\  el- 
opment.  It  is  in  many  respects  the  first  work  of  its  kind  bearing  on 
Kentucky.  All  secondary  sources  were  consulted,  but  they  were  followed 
only  where  supported  by  available  manuscript  records  and  contemporane- 
■ous  accounts.  It  was  the  desire  of  its  authors  from  the  outset  to  a\oid 
repeating  what  had  been  recorded  by  former  analysts,  without  adding 
any  new  facts.  The  histories  of  Marshall  and  Fiutler  furnish  the  greater 
Ijortion  of  the  original  material  records  that  we  have  in  the  form  of 
written  histories.  Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  Marshall  could  not 
avoid  injecting  personal  aniiuosities  into  his  writings,  his  history  must 
be  acce]Jted  as  one  of  the  most  valuable  of  all  the  early  pioneer  writers. 
Mis  work  is  indispensable  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  it  is  a  record  of 
])crsonal  knowledge  and  the  recording  of  events  in  which  he  bore  no 
inc<insi)icuous  |)art.  Where  personal  knowledge  did  not  supjily  material, 
original  docnmi-nts.  most  of  which  ha\'e  been  lost.  did.     The  great  service 


PREFACE  V 

he  rendered  the  state  should  atone  for  his  prejudices  and  controversial 
inclinations.  Aside  from  these,  his  History  of  Kentucky  is  a  monument 
that  will  endure  as  long  as  the  state  to  which  he  made  a  lasting  contribu- 
tion, and  in  the  early  foundation  of  which  he  bore  no  inconspicuous  part. 

The  history  of  Kentucky  by  Mann  Butler  corrected  some  of  the 
errors  into  which  Marshall  had  fallen,  but  at  that  early  day  the  material 
for  an  accurate  and  comprehensive  history  was  not  accessible.  But  the 
work  of  Butler  was  well  done.  He  was  a  vigorous  thinker  and  an  honest 
and  courageous  man.  His  history  will  ever  remain  a  valuable  contribu- 
tion to  the  annals  of  his  people. 

The  most  complete  collection  of  material,  especially  of  secondary 
sources,  gathered  by  any  Kentucky  historian  was  that  of  Judge  Richard 
H.  Collins.  His  work  was  based  on  that  of  his  father,  Lewis  Collins. 
He  succeeded  in  gathering  together  a  wealth  of  pioneer  incidents  that 
must  have  been  lost  but  for  his  indefatigable  efforts,  but  he  showed  little 
or  no  aptitude  for  recording  the  events  that  determined  the  various 
phases  that  arose  in  the  development  of  the  state,  either  political  or 
social.  Nor  can  it  be  said  his  "Annals"  are  free  from  either  error  or 
prejudice.  An  inclination  to  over-exalt  those  toward  whom  he  enter- 
tained a  personal  liking  is  manifest  throughout  his  writings. 

The  value  of  the  work  done  by  the  Filson  Club  is  beyond  estimation. 
But  for  it  priceless  manuscripts  and  documents  must  have  been  lost  beyond 
recovery.  Its  publications  are  all  scholarly  and  of  a  character  that  will 
rank  with  those  of  the  great  universities  of  the  country.  To  it  the  peo- 
ple of  Kentucky  are  indebted  more  than  to  any  other  organization  that 
has  been  formed  for  the  purpose  of  preserving  its  annals.  That  the 
state  should  have  suffered  its  priceless  collections  to  be  deported  must 
ever  remain  a  matter  of  profound  regret. 

In  giving  credit  to  those  who  have  contributed  to  the  work  of  pre- 
serving the  history  of  the  state,  the  romantic  production  of  John  P'ilson 
cannot  be  omitted.  His  was  the  first  efTort  to  portray  Kentucky,  and 
right  well  did  he  do  it.  His  simple  narrative  has  a  value  far  beyond  the 
meager  record  of  events  which  it  contains.  With  a  quaintness  of  style, 
wholly  original,  it  connects  the  state  with  the  early  Colonial  days  in  a 
way  that  no  other  writer  has  done.  Over  the  early  days  it  has  cast  a 
glamour  that  will  forever  remain.  In  its  indefinite  and  quaint  statements 
may  be  found  that  material  which  will  enable  us  to  catch  a  glimpse  of 
those  events  in  the  early  development  of  the  state  which  must  otherwise 
have  been  left  to  conjecture.  These  were  emphasized  in  the  origin  of 
Kentucky  by  the  isolation  caused  by  the  great  Appalachian  barrier.  Cut 
off  from  civilization  and  shut  out  from  former  home  and  friends,  those 
towering  mountains,  with  their  pleasing  grandeur,  took  hold  on  the  imag- 
ination, and  the  influence  which  they  exerted  on  those  who  must  needs 
pass  through  or  over  them  remains  upon  their  descendants  to  this  day. 
To  this  feature  of  Kentucky  history  we  are  indebted  to  John  Filson  solely. 

To  the  work  done  in  the  Library  of  Congress  especial  attention  is 
directed.  The  Breckinridge  Manuscripts,  the  Innes  Manuscripts  and 
other  original  sources  yielded  much  which  puts  a  new  light  on  many 
important  events  that  transpired  in  the  early  periods  of  the  development 
of  Kentucky  and  which  will  serve  to  correct  many  misconceptions  con- 
cerning those  events  that  have  been  the  subject  of  bitter  and  acrimonious 
discussion  since  the  foundation  of  the  state.  It  is  believed  that  a  care- 
ful study  of  these  papers  has  resulted  in  not  only  correcting  many  former 
errors,  but  will  lend  the  additional  service  of  allaying  some  of  the  embit- 
terments  that  have  been  transmitted  from  generation  to  generation. 

The  very  careful  and  painstaking  examination  that  was  made  of  the 
Draper  Collection  in  the  Historical  .Society  of  Wisconsin,  and  the  Durrett 
Manuscript   Collection,  the   richest   and   most  extensive   in  existence  on 


vi  PREFACE 

Kentucky  history,  will  likewise  ccirrect  many  errors  that  iiave  been  in- 
dulged in  fnr  more  than  a  century.  The  invaluable  collection  of  manu- 
scri])t,s  ])e!on<,'in{(  to  Miss  Lucretia  liari  Clay,  of  Lexington,  for  the  tirst 
time  made  accessible  to  a  writer  of  Kentucky  history,  has  been  of  incal- 
culable benelit  to  the  writers  of  this  work.  l\Iiss  Clay  is  a  grand-daugh- 
ter of  Henry  Clay  and  of  Lucretia  Hart,  whose  father  was  a  director 
in  the  Transylvania  Company,  and  many  of  the  manuscri])ts  bearing 
upon  her  distinguished  ancestors  can  be  found  in  none  of  the  accessil)le 
sources  of  Kentucky  history.  The  authors  of  this  work  feel  especially 
indebted  to  Miss  Clay  for  this  mark  of  distinction,  the  wealth  of  whose 
collections  will  be  best  a])preciatcd  in  the  various  references  in  the  tc.Kt 
and  the  f(jotnotes  to  this  source  of  information. 

.\'()  former  history  of  Kentucky  has  undertaken  to  deal  with  the  his- 
tory of  the  eastern  part  of  the  state.  While  this  defect  has  been  remedied 
on  y  to  a  small  extent  in  the  present  work,  because  to  do  so  would  be  of 
a  local  rather  than  a  general  character,  at  the  same  time  there  are  some 
facts  connected  with  that  portion  of  the  state  that  are  treated  herein  at 
greater  length  than  in  any  previous  history  of  the  state.  Many  very  im- 
portant matters,  especially  those  relating  to  the  Civil  war,  had  to  be 
omitted,  since  only  a  generalization  account  of  that  period  of  the  state's 
history  was  undertaken.  It  is  the  hope  of  the  authors  and  the  editor 
that  the  wealth  of  material  collected  on  this  subject  may  be  utilized  by 
them  in  the  not  distant  future,  since  this  portion  of  the  state  must  soon 
become  the  wealthiest  section  of  the  nation.  In  wealth,  intelligence  and 
political  importance  it  must  soon  take  equal  rank  with  any  portion  of 
the  state. 

Kentuckians  may  justly  be  proud  of  their  state.  In  historical  im- 
portance, wealth  of  natural  resources,  pride  of  ancestry,  love  of  state,  it 
has  no  superior.  It  has  been  the  attempt  of  those  who  have  labored  for 
two  years  in  the  preparation  of  this  work  to  give  the  people  of  Kentucky 
a  record  of  their  history  from  the  first  recorded  incident  in  connection 
with  the  discovery  and  settlement  of  the  country  to  the  defeat  of  the 
"Evolution"  bill  by  the  vote  of  a  mountain  representative.  It  is  a  record 
of  which  all  may  be  proud.  While  there  may  be  found  in  her  annals 
mucli  that  might  be  the  subject  of  critical  observations,  no  Kentuckian 
need  blush  for  his  state.  "The  past,  at  least,  is  secure."  A  better  and  a 
fuller  knowledge  of  what  her  people  have  done,  what  they  have  ac- 
comi)lished.  and  the  position  which  their  state  has  held  in  the  councils 
of  the  nation,  must  .serve  to  increa.se  the  love  and  reverence  which  her 
sons  and  daughters  bear  her,  under  whatsoever  sun  they  may  dvyell. 
Pride  of  state  from  tiie  beginning  has  been  a  characteristic  of  the  Ken- 
tuckian. No  children  ever  showed  greater  parental  affection.  Among 
Kentuckians,  no  matter  where  found,  there  exists  a  fellowship  to  be 
found  among  no  other  people. 

Kentucky  has  not  been  a  silent  member  of  the  sisterhood  of  states. 
The  Union  owes  much  to  this  first  born  of  her  daughters,  she  having 
been  formed  before  the  earlier  admitted  Vermont.  George  Rogers  Clark 
gave  to  the  Union  the  entire  Northwest  Territory.  But  for  the  action 
taken  by  Kentucky  the  purchase  of  the  Louisiana  Territory  must  have 
been  doubtful,  if  not  impossible.  The  so-called  Spanish  Conspiracies 
never  affected  the  loyalty  of  the  body  of  her  people,  and  the  individuals 
were  afTected  far  less  than  has  been  supposed.  It  has  been  the  endeavor 
of  those  associated  with  the  preparation  of  this  work  to  give  an  impartial 
account  of  that  era  in  our  history  and  to  make  any  future  account  un- 
necessary. .\s  will  be  .seen,  political  rivalry  had  the  effect  of  not  infre- 
(|uently  putting  loyal  acts  in  a  disloyal  light.  A  just  estimate  of  the 
pioneer  Kentuckians  cannot  be  given  by  any  historian.  Those  who  would 
have  betrayed  the  state  into  an  allegiance  with  a   foreign  monarchy  arc 


PREFACE  vii 

negligible.  When  it  is  considered  that  all  the  wealth  and  diplomatic 
skill,  as  well  as  a  flood  of  intrigue,  were  employed  to  lead  a  people  who 
occui)ied  an  isolated  and  unprotected  position  from  a  position  of  hazard 
into  one  of  apj)arent  security  and  affluence,  there  is  revealed  in  the  failure 
of  all  these  efforts  a  race  that  is  full  worthy  of  all  the  praise  and  admira- 
tion that  may  be  lavished  upon  it.  For  strength  and  character  and  force 
of  will,  the  Kentuckian  of  pre-state  times  may  not  be  compared  with  any 
of  the  state-builders  that  have  joined  the  Union. 

For  the  Kentucky  that  is  to  be,  the  Kentucky  of  the  past  must  ever 
be  an  inspiration.  In  her  ideals  she  has  not  soared  above  the  unattain- 
able. Should  she  ever  suffer  the  misfortune  of  taking  a  downward 
course,  it  will  not  be  because  the  accomplishments  of  the  past  have  not 
been  an  incentive  to  travel  upward.  That  her  glorious  past  is  but  an 
earnest  of  her  yet  more  glorious  future  is  the  anticipation  of  a  faith 
too  real  to  be  marred  by  the  spectre  of  doubt. 

Especial  acknowledgment  is  made  to  those  who  have  contributed  to 
this  work.  The  special  articles  that  will  be  found  in  the  text  are  among 
the  most  valuable  that  appear  in  the  entire  collection  of  historic  data. 
Without  these  contributions  the  work  would  be  irreparably  deficient. 

The  Editor. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I 
Origin  and  Meaning  op  Names 1 

CHAPTER  II 

Early  Indian  Occupancy  of  the  Ohio  Valley 15 

CHAPTER  III 

Discovery  and  Exploration  by  the  English  op  the  Ohio  Country    40 

CHAPTER  IV 
The  INDLA.N  Title  to  Kentucky  and  Its  Extinction 49 

CHAPTER  V 

The  Exploration  op  Dr.  Thomas  Walker 57 

CHAPTER  VI 

Exploration  of  Kentucky  by  Christopher  Gist 67 

CHAPTER  VII 
Mrs.  Mary  Ingles — The  First  White  Woman  in  Kentucky 75 

CHAPTER  VIII 
The  Sandy  Creek  Voyage 94 

CHAPTER  IX 
Swift's  Silver  Mines   110 

CHAPTER  X 

The  Founding  op  Harman  's  Station 134 

CHAPTER  XI 

Transylvania  and  the  First  Settlements 160 

CHAPTER  XII 

Kentucky  in  the  Revolution 173 

ix 


X  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  XIII 
After  the  Revolution — Indian  Troubles — Battle  of  Blue  Licks  185 

CHAPTER  XIV 
Stations  and  Early  Settlements  in  Kentucky 200 

CHAPTER  XV 
Institutional  Devei^opment :  Land  System,  Counties,  Towns.  . . .  212 

CHAPTER  XVI 

Beginnings  in  the  Movement  for  Separation  from  Virginia.  . . .  221 

CHAPTER  XVII 
The   First   Three   Conventions 22G 

CHAPTER  XVIII 

The  Fourth  Convention — The  Fir.st  and  Second  Enabling  Acts..  235 

CHAPTER  XIX 

Trade  Rkihts  Down  the  Mississippi — The  Fifth  Convention.  . . .  239 

CHAPTER  XX 
Wilkinson  and  the  Spanish  Trade 245 

CHAPTER  XXI 
The  Spanish  Plot — The  Sixth  Convention 252 

CHAPTER  XXII 

The  Defeat  of  the  Si'anish  Conspiracy — The  Seventh  Conven- 
tion      260 

CHAPTER  XXIII 

The  Spanish  Colonization  Scheme — The  Eighth  and  Ninth  Con- 
ventions     269 

CHAPTER  XXIV 

Constitution  and  Union 279 

CHAPTER  XXV 

Kentucky,  Character  and  Society  at  the  Beginning  of  State- 
hood     286 

CHAPTER  XXVI 
Material  and  Intellectual  Progress,  1775-1792 297 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS  xi 

CHAPTER  XXVII 

Putting  the  Government  into  Operation  :  Executive,  Legisla- 
tive AND  Judicial  Controversies 307 

CHAPTER  XXVIII 

Democratic  Clubs  and  the  French  Scheme  Against  Louisiana.  .  318 

CHAPTER  XXIX 
George  Rogers  Clark  and  the  French  Enterprise 325 

CHAPTER  XXX 
Governor  Shelby  and  the  French  Enterprise 336 

CHAPTER  XXXI 

Kentucky  and  the  Federal  Government  on  the  Opening  op  the 
Mississippi  346 

CHAPTER  XXXII 
Spain  and  the  Genet  Episode:  Further  Spanish  Plots 359 

CHAPTER  XXXIII 

Conquering  the  Northwest  Indians  :  The  Campaigns  of  Harmar, 
St.  Clair,  and  Wayne 376 

CHAPTER  XXXIV 
The  Second  Constitution   390 

CHAPTER  XXXV 
Federal  Relations:  The  Resolutions  op  1798  and  1799 403 

CHAPTER  XXXVI 

Kentucky  and  the  Louisiana  Purchase 424 

CHAPTER  XXXVII 
Aaron  Burr  in  Kentucky 434 

CHAPTER  XXXVIII 

The  Sequel  to  the  Burr  Conspiracy  :  Kentucky  Loyalty  to  the 
Union 457 

CHAPTER  XXXIX 

Early  Parties  and  Political  Development 469 

CHAPTER  XL 

Material  Development  Around  1800 485 


xH  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  XLI 
Agricultural  and  Manufacturing  Development  Around  1800. . .  499 

CHAPTER  XLII 
Banks  and  Banking  Around  1800 511 

CHAPTER  XLIII 
Early  Boundary  Disputes   516 

CHAPTER  XLIV 

Social  and  Intellectual  Progress,  1792-1810 524 

CHAPTER  XLV 
Kentucky  in  the  War  of  1812 545 

CHAPTER  XL VI 
The  Kentucky  Character  and  the  War 569 

CHAPTER  XLVII 
Slaughter  and  the  Disputed  Gubernatorial  Succession 580 

CHAPTER  XLVIH 
Speculation — Bank  Mania  and  Hard  Times 592 

CHAPTER  X\AX 
Replevin  Laws  and  Relief:  The  Bank  of  the  Commonwealth.  .  (iO? 

CHAPTER  L 
The  Struggle  Against  the  Judiciary — Old  Court  and  New  Court  623 

CHAPTER  LI 

State  Rights  Versus  the  United  States  Bank  ani>  Courts:  The 
Occupying  Claimant  Laws   650 

CHAPTER  LI  I 

The  Rise  of  National   Parties   in    State   Politics:   Clav    and 
Jackson    674 

CHAPTER  LI  II 
Democrats  and  Whigs 692 

CHAPTER  LIV 

The  Era  of  Internal  Improvements  and  the  Beginning  op  Rail- 
roads    721 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS  xiii 

CHAPTER  LV 

Economic  Progress  During  the  Middle  Period 739 

CHAPTER  LVI 
Educational  Advancement  During  the  Middle  Period 753 

CHAPTER  LVII 
Social  and  Intellectual  Development  During  the  Middle  Period  769 

CHAPTER  LVIII 
Slavery   796 

CHAPTER  LIX 

National  Problems  and  the  Third  Constitution 821 

CHAPTER  LX 
Breaking  the  Bonds  of  the  Union 842 

CHAPTER  LXI 

Neutrality  and  the  Union 853 

CHAPTER  LXII 

Commerce  and  Commercial  Restrictions  in  War  Times 868 

CHAPTER  LXIII 

Civil  and  Military  Affairs  During  the  War 885 

CHAPTER  LXI V 
Effects  of  the  War 906 

CHAPTER  LXV 

Commercial  Relations  Between  the  Ohio  Valley  and  the  South 

—1865-1872  922 

CHAPTER  LXVI 
Recent  State  History 987 

CHAPTER  LXVII 
Geology'  op  Kentucky 1016 

CHAPTER  LXVIII 

An   Historical   Sketch  of   the  Kentucky   Geological  Survey 

(1838-1922)    1031 


xiv  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  LXIX 
The  Adventuees  op  Colonel  Daniel  Boone 1035 

CHAPTER  LXX 
Transylvanla  University  1049 

CHAPTER  LXXI 

The  Influence  op  Henry  Clay  on  Political  Opinion  in  Ken- 
tucky   1061 

CHAPTER  LXXII 
Governors  of  Kentucky  1071 

CHAPTER  LXXIII 
United  States  Senators  from  Kentucky 1082 

CHAPTER  LXXIV 
The  Counties  op  Kentucky 1099 

CHAPTER  LXXV 
Officers  from  Kentucky  in  the  Civil  AVar 1114 

CHAPTER  LXXVI 

Alphabetical  List  of  Battles  and  Skirmishes  in  Kentucky  in 

THE  Civil  War 1155 

CHAPTER  LXXVII 

The  Romance  op  Tobacco  and  Its  Early  Introduction  in  Ken- 
tucky     ' 1162 

CHAPTER  LXXVIII 
The  Growth  and  Culture  of  Tobacco  in  Kentucky 1177 

CHAPTER  LXXIX 

,     Early  Taverns  and  Travelers  in  Central  Kentucky 1188 

CHAPTER  LXXX 
The  Cumberland  Gap  Region  1197 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 
List  op  the  Principal  Authorities  Consulted — General  Works..1212 


INDEX 


Ab's  Valley,  I,  135 

Abbott,  Harry  W.,  Ill,  214 

Abolition  newspaper,  II,  811 

Abolition   propaganda,    II,   803 

Abolition  societies,  II,  803 

Abolition  Society,  II,  810 

Abolitionists,  II,  807,  819,  832;  Northern, 
II,  802 

Academies,  I,  528;   decadence  of,  II,  753 

Ackerman,  Edmund  R.,  Ill,  98 

Acree,  F.  F.,  IV,  515 

Adair   and   Jackson   controversy,   II,    572 

Adair,  Belle  D.,  V,  316 

Adair  County,  II,  1101,  1102 

Adair,  Cromwell,   IV,  70 

Adair,  James,  I,  111 

Adair,  John,  I,  436,  437,  449,  453,  561, 
565;  II,  571,  572,  595,  609,  622,  629, 
662.  666,  749,  753,  758,  779,  781,  1071, 
1074,  1082,  1086,  1102 

Adair,  Robert,    V,   316 

Adair,  Robert  B.,  Ill,  586 

Adams,  Arch  C,  V,  573 

Adams,  B.  E.,  V,  598 

Adams,  Carl  L.,  IV,  507 

Adams,  Chester  D.,  IV,   169 

Adams,  Drew  B.,  V,  631 

Adams,  George,   I,  458 

Adams,  Green,  II,  1206 

Adams,  John,  I,  167,  528 

Adams,  J.  Q.,  II,  686,  687,  787 

Adams,  Lon,  V,  290 

Adams,  Lytle  S.,  IV,  629 

Adams,  Roscoe  C,  IV,  537 

Adams,  Samuel,  I,  167 

Adams,  Silas  G.,  Ill,  190 

Adams,  Thomas  B.,  IV,  277 

Adams,  Thomas  J.,  Ill,   136 

Adams,  William.   I,  130 

Adams'  Station,  I,  200 

Addams,   William,   IV,  282 

Addis,   Francis  M.,  V,  283 

Ades,  David,  III,  198 

Adkins,  John,  IV,  371 

Agricultural  and  manufacturing  develop- 
ment around   1800,  I,  499 

Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College,  II, 
1058 

Agricultural  fairs,   II.  920 

Agricultural  production  in  1786,  I,  245 

Agricultural  school,  II,  741 

Agricultural  societies.    II,  740 

Agrictilture,  I,  286,  302;  II,  592,  739,  1026, 
1177;  high  prices  and  hard  times,  II, 
1182 

Agriculture,  State  Department  of,  II,  741 

Akers,  Matthew  L.,  IV,  13 

Akin,  John  A.,  IV,  266 

Albany,   II,  899 

Alcorn,   Edward,  V,  207 

Alcorn,  James   L.,  V,  620 


Alexander  and  Munsell's  Line,  I,  520 

Alexander,  Alexander  J.  A.,  Ill,  118 

Alexander,  Charlton,  IV,  290 

Alexander,  Charlton,  Sr.,  IV,  290 

Alexander,  Hiram  W.,  IV,  323 

Alexander,  L.  F.,  IV,  529 

Alexander,  Mary  E.,  IV,  323 

Alexander,  Reuben  R.,  IV,  529 

Alexander,  Richard,  III,  263 

Alexander,  Robert,  II,  595 

Alexander,  R.  A.,  V,  80 

Alexander,  Younger,  IV,  159 

Algonquin  Indians,  I,  16 

Alien  and  Sedition  Laws,  I,  407;  II,  1063 

Aliens,  I,  418 

Allan,  Frank,  V,  330 

Alleghany,  origin  of  name,  I,  21 

Alleghany   River,   I,  48 

Allen,  Arthur  D.,   III.   112 

Allen  County,  II,  746,   1101,  1102 

Allen,  Ellis  S.,  V,  186 

■  Allen,  Frank  S.,  V,  572 

■  Allen,  Grover  C,  V,  636 
Allen,  Henry  B.,  Ill,   179 
Allen,  Henry  D.,  Ill,  191 
Allen,    James,  II,  762 

Allen,  James   L.,   II,   752,   789,  792,  995, 

1059 
Allen,  John,  I,  258,  429,  447,  450,  476,  508, 

555,  561;  II,  1102 
Allen,  John  R.,  Ill,  362 
•Allen,  Joseph    H.,   V,   424 
Allen,  Mrs.  J.   K.,  V,  538 
Allen,  Lafon,   IV,  35 
Allen,  William  B.,  V,  625 
Alley,  Robert,  I,  130 
Allin,  Bush  W.,  II,  1187 
Allison,   John,    III,   354 
Allison,  John  W.,  IV,  142 
AUoway.  Fred  L.,  Ill,  384 

Alves,  Gaston  M.,  V,  285  ^''- — . — 

Ambrose,  Robert  S.,  IV,  52 

American  party,  II,  845,  849 

American  Republic,  I,  475 

American    System,    I,    523;    II,    688,   693, 

718.  722,  1069 
American  system  of  coinage,  I.  511 
American  Tobacco  Company,  II,  1180 
Amis,  Thomas,  I,  241 
Ammerman,   Daniel,   IV,   296 
Ammerman,  Jacob  H.,  Ill,  529 
Ammerman,  James  K..  IV,  242 
Amusements,  I,  536;  II,  793 
Ancient  furnaces,  I,  115 
Anderson,  Andrew  B.,  III.  256 
Anderson    County,    II,    1101,    1102 
Anderson,  Ernest  B.,  Ill,  297 
Anderson,  James  B.,  IV,  205 
Anderson,  Judson  M.,  V,  519 
Anderson,  Mary  H.,  Ill,  256 
Anderson,  Mattie,   III,  256 


XVI 


INDEX 


Anderson,  Milton  C,  V,  478 
Anderson,  Richard  C,  Jr.,  II,  1102 
Anderson,  Richard  T.  (deceased)   III,  178 
Anderson,  Richard  T.,  Jr.,  Ill,  179 
Anderson,   Robert,     II,     886,     889,     90S; 

V.  624 
Anderson,  Samuel  A.,  Ill,  7i 
Anderson,  Samuel  W.,  Ill,  296 
Anderson,  Sidney  J.,  Ill,  572 
Anderson,  Thomas  C,  V,  519 
Anderson,  W.   n.,  IV.  69 
Andrews,  Albert    K.,   V,   236 
Andrews.  Phil  C,  V,  459 
-Andrews,  Stephen,  I,  503 
Anti-bank  sentiment.  II,  715 
Anti-CiRarette  law,  II,  992 
.Anti-Relief  Parly,  II,  630 
Anti-slavery  societies,  I.  543 
Anti-slavery  Society.  I,  393 
Apperson.   Richard.'  I.   l.W:   III.  .531 
.Apperson.   Richard.  Jr.,  IV,  615 
Arbitration  act.   I.  480 
Arbitration  boards,  I.  480 
.Arbitration  clause,  I,  401 
Archeology,  I,  15 
Archer,  Ernest  E..  IV,  426 
Ardery,  William  P,.,  IV,  311 
.Aristocratic  class,   11,  796 
.Aristocracy,  cry  of,  I,  390 
Arlington's  Station.   I.  200 
Armentrout.  L.  Vance,  III,  403 
.Armories,  II,  772 
Armstrong,  Elijah  H.,  IV,  94 
Armstrong,  John,   I,  200 
Armstrong,  Walter  A.,  V.  491 
Armstrong's  Station,  I,  200 
Army  bases,  II,  877 
.Arnold's  Station,  I,  200 
Arthur,  Cleaton  J.,  Ill,  584 
Arthur,  Edward   F.,  V.  489 
Arthur,  Gabriel,   I,  47 
Arthur.  Sidney.  V,  249 
Arthur,  William  E..  V,  249 
Asbury,  Bishop,  I,  536 
Asbury,  Carroll  D.,  II.  1187 
Ashbrook.  James   N.,  IV,  244 
Ashby,  F.  M.,  V.  247 
Ashcraft,  William   D..  Ill,  305 
Asher.  George  M.,  V,  200 
Asher.  Hugh  IL,  V.  199 
Asher,  Thomas  J..  II,  1207;  V,  198 
Ashland,  I,  525;   II,  787 
Ashland   District,  II.  844 
Ashley,  Silas,  V,  203 
Ashlock.  James  H.,  Ill,  301 
Ashlock.  John  R.,   III.  347 
Ashton's   Station,   1.  200 
Association     for    marketing     Burley    to- 
bacco, II,  1184 
Atchison,  David  R.,  II.  1059 
Atherton,  John  M..  IV.  65 
Athcrton,  Peter  L.,  IV,  65 
Atkinson,  Charles  T.,  IV.  411 
Atkinson.  Hughes,   IV,  634 
Atkinson,  Robert  A..  V.  16 
Attkisson.  Eugene  R.,  IV,  91 
Aud,  William  E.,  Ill,  52 
Augusta  College,  11,  756 
Augusta  County,  Virginia,  I,  216;  II,  1099 
Auxier,  Andrew  E.,  IV,  484 
Averett,  William  P.,  IV,  191 


Habb,   Harvey  A.,  IV.  597 

Bach,  Bert  C,  V,  558 

Bach,  Grannis,  IV,  623. 

Bach,  John  J.  C,  IV.  623 

Bach,  Wilgus.   IV,  615 

Back,  Madison  T.,  IV,  609 

Back,  Miles,  IV,  613 

Back,  William   D.,   IV,  633 

Backus,  James  J.,  V.  399 

Bacon.  B.  R.,  V,  186 

Bacon  Creek.  11.  899 

Bacon,  Horace  S.,  IV.  579. 

Bagby,  C.  C,  IV.  428 

Bagby,  Enimett  W..  V,  347 

Bagbv,  Eugene  R..  V,  466 

Bailey,  Jacob  N.,  V.  325 

Bailey.  Henry,  III,  455 

Bailey,  James  F.,  IV,  553 

Bailey,  James  G.,  II.  1008 

Bailey.  Nancy  T.,  Ill,  455 

Bailey,  William  L..  III.  603 

Bailey's    Station.    I.   200 

Bain,  George  W.,  V,  45 

Baird,  James,  I,  234 

P.aker,  Allan  W.,  Ill,  240 

Baker,   Charles  A..  IV.  245 

Baker,  Francis  M.,  V,  194 

Baker,  Guerney    C,   V,   615 

Baker,  Herschel  C,  V.  577 

Baker,   Tohn  .M.,  \'.  614 

Baker,  R.  A.,  V,  457 

Baker.  R.  T.,  IT,  917 

Baker,  Rachel  T.,  IV,  573 

Baker,  W.  J.,  Ill,  204 

Baker,  W.  M.,  V,  346 

Bales,  George  W.,  IV,  167 

Balclutha,  I,  148 

Ball,  William  S..  III.  306 

Ballad  Literature.  II,  1208 

liallard,   Bland  W.,  II,  1102 

r.allard    County,    II,    1102 

Ballard.  J.   Hogan.  III.  142 

Ballard's   Station.  I.  200 

Ballengall,  David,  I,  547 

Ballot  box  and  the  negroes,   II,  918 

Balsly,  Thomas  W.,  V,  234 

Banfield,  Allen  P.,  V,  476 

Banking,  II,  1069 

Banking  laws,  II,  605 

Bank   mania.   II,   592 

Bank  notes,  beginning  of,  II,  617 

Bank  of  Kentucky,  I,  513;  II,  595,  596, 
606,  610,  618,  710.  753;  charter  repealed, 
II,  613 

Bank  of  Louisville,  II,  866 

Bank  of  the  Commonwealth,  II,  607,  609, 
613,  615,  618,  623;  Supreme  Court  deci- 
sion on.  II,  619 

Bank  of  the  United  States,  II,  1068 
Bank  of  the  United  States  vs.  Norvell,  11, 

653 
Bank  tyranny,   II,  651 

Banks  and  banking  around  18U0,  I,  511 
Banks,  I,  299;  II,  601,  605,  607,  650,  695, 
709,  715,  718,  720,  752,  794,  987,   1185; 
in    1817,    II,   595;    in    1818,    II,   596;    in- 
dependent. II,  597.  603.  606 
Baptist  Church,  I,  158,  288,  534;  II,  783, 

794 
Baptist  Valley,  I,  138 
Baptists  and  slavery,  I,  283,  542;  II,  799 


INDEX 


xvii 


Bar,  pioneer,  I,  214,  293,  479 

Barbecues,  II,  774;  of  1842,  II,  823 

Barbee,  Thomas,  I,  300 

Barber,  Ira  Z.,  V,  55 

Barber,  John  R.,  V,  72 

Barber,  Mary  A.,  V,  72 

Barber,. William,    I,   399 

Barbour,  James,  I,  216 

Barbour,  James  F.,  Ill,  587 

Barbour,  Phillip,  I,  234 

Barbourville,  I,  61;  II,  899,  1199,  1206 

Barbourville   Baptist  Institute,  V,  426 

Bardstovvn,  I,  200,  296.  306,  532,  533,  535; 

II,  892,  893,  929,   1075 
Bargain  and  corruption,  II,  678,  682,  686, 

1067 
Barker,  Edwin,   IV,   162 
Barker,  Henry  S.,  IV,  61 
Barker,  Milton  W.,   IV,  286 
Barker,   Ralph    M.,    II,    1183,    1184,    1186; 

V.  241 
Barkley,  Alben   W.,  V,  269 
Barkley,  Archibald  H.,  IV,  161 
Barkley,  William   L.,   IV,  38 
Barnes,  Henry  M.,  V,  527 
Barnes,  Sidney  M.,  II,  914,  916 
Barnett,  Joseph,   I,  200 
Barnett,  Tyler,    V,    191 
Harnett's  Station,  I.  200 
Barney,  John   D.,  IV,  558 
Barr,  Edward,   III,  306 
Barren   County,  II,   1101,  1102 
Barrens,   II,   1024 
Barret,  Alexander  G.,  Ill,  370 
Barret,  Henry  P.,  Ill,  216 
Barret,  James  R.,  Ill,  219 
Barrett,  William  W.,  V,  58 
Barrow,  A.  C,  V,  310 
Barrow,  David,  V,  310 
Barry,  William   T.,    I,   561;    II,   583,    587, 

622,   631,  683,  689,  692.  755,   758,   1052, 

1059,  1067.  1083,  1086 
Barter,  I,  299 
Bartol,  Alexander,  I,  126 
Barton,  John.   I.  204;   III.  204 
Barton,  John  E.,  II,  1034 
Barton,  R.   H.,  IV,  584 
Barton,  Will,  V,  245 

Bascom,   Henry  B..   11.  763,  1058;  V,  623 
Basham,  A.  A.,  Ill,  477 
Basham,  James  T.,  V,  443 
Basham,  Paul  M.,  V,  61 
Bassett,  Frank   H.,  V,   127 
Bassett,  George  O.,  Ill,  460 
Bassett,  J.  Edward,  Jr.,  IV,  253 
Bassett,  Robert   J.,   IV,   533 
Bates,  David  A.,  V,  531 
Bates,  Jeremiah,  I,  126 
Bath   County,   II.   745.   1031.   1101,   1103 
Batson,   Homer  W.,   IV,  67 
Batterton,  George  B.,  IV,  126 
Battle  Monument,  I,  193 
Battle  of   Blue   Licks,   I,   185 
Battle  of  Fallen  Timbers,  I,  388 
Battle  of  Lake  Erie,  I,  560,  576 
Battle  of   New   Orleans,    I,   565;   II,   569, 

575 
Battle  of  the  Thames,  I,  561;   II,  713 
Battle  of  Wild   Cat   Mountain,   II,  887 
Battles  and  Skirmishes  in  Kentucky  in  the 

Civil  war,  list   of,   II,   1155 
Battles  of  the  Civil  war,  II,  899 


Batts,  Thomas,   I,  43 

Bauer,  William,  IV,  306 

Baxter,  Andrew  A..  IV,  81 

Baynham,  Ritchie   G.,  Ill,  32 

Beach,  George  J.,  Ill,  121 

Bealer,   George  C,  V,  234 

Beall    Brothers,   IV,   21 

Beall,  Huston,  IV,  21 

Beall,  Milton   P.,   IV,  21 

Beall.  T.  S.,   IV,  21 

Bean's  Station,  I,  114,  121 

Beard,  Arthur  T.,  Ill,  385 

Beard,  Eugene   F.,  V,   192 

Beard,  Lucy  M.,  Ill,  348 

Beard,  Marvin  D.,  V,  124 

Beard,  Taylor,   III,  348 

Beatty,  Erkuries,  I.  294 

Beatty,  John  B.,  III.  482 

Beatty,  Robert  E.,  II,  1184 

Beauchamp,  Frances  E.,  Ill,  138 

Beauchamp,  Runey  N.,  V,  248 

Beck.  James  B.,  II,  976,  977,  1059,  1085, 
1087 

Beckham.  J.  Crepps  W.,  II,  1010,  1011, 
1014,   1015,   1072,  1080,   1087 

Bedford,  Silas  E.,  IV,  215 

Bedinger,  George  M.,  I,  194 

Beecher,  Lyman,   II,  IdZ 

Beginnings  in  the  movement  for  separa- 
tion   from   Virginia,   I,   221 

Begley,  W.   E.,  IV,  247 

Belknan.   William   B.,  IV,  29 

Belknap,  William  R.,  IV,  28 

Bell  County,  I,  55,  US,  489;  II,  1102 

Bell,  Horace  V.,  IV,  499 

Bell,  James  H.,  IV,  58 

Bell,  John,  II,  852 

Bell,  Joshua  F.,  II,  850,  897,  1103;  V,  620 

Bell,  Mabel  V.,  V,  452 

Bell,  William,  IV,  58 

Bell.  William  V.,  IV,  639 

Bell's  Station,   I,  200 

Benjamin,  Judah  P.,  II,  872 

Bennett,  Jacob,  L.,  IV,  297 

Bennett,  James  W.,  V,  228 

Bennett,  Reginald  V.,  V,  378 

Bennett,  Trice  C,  V,  368 

Bennett,  Wallace  T.,  III.  347 

Bensinger,  Arthur  B.,  Ill,  j^) 

Bentle,  Henry  A.  W.,  IV,  296 

Benton,  James  M.,  IV,  185 

Benton,  Otis  A.,  V,  203 

Berea,    II,   819 

Bernheim,  Isaac  W.,  IV,  30 

Berkshire,   Park,   L,   III,   331 

Berry,  Bailey  D.,  IV,  338 

Berry,  Gary  A..  III.,  399 

Berry  Family,  IV,  328 

Berry,  Henry  S.,  Ill,  228 

Berry,  James  M.,  V,   19 

Berry,  John  J.,  V,  341 

Berry,  Leonard  C,  IV,  152 

Berry,  Samuel   B.,  Ill,  229 

Berry,  W.  A.,  V,  347 

Berryman,   Brownelf,   IV.   176 

Berryman,  Charles   H.,   IV,  175 

Bertram,   Elza,    III,   520 

Bertram,  Oscar  B.,  V,  431 

Beshear,   Fred,   V,  491 

Bethel  Academy,   I,  528 

Bethel   College,   III,   526 

Bethel  Woman's  College,  IV,  93 


INDEX 


Bethurum,  B.  J.,  Ill,  488 

Bethurum,   Leonard   W.,   Ill,  89 

Bibb,   George   M..    II,  587,  622,  6J7,  646. 

647,  659,  663,  676,  696,  712,   1059,   1082, 

1083,   1088 
Bibb,  Jesse  W.,  V,  252 
Bibb,  John   B.,  II,  828 
Bibb,  Richard,  II,  799 
Bibliography,  II,  1212 
Biddle,   Nicholas,  II,  694 
Bienville,  Ccloron  de,  expedition,  I,  48 
Big   Bone  Lick,  I,  72,  84,  160,  532 
Big  Paint   Creek,  I,  64,   147,   156 
Big  Sandy  River,  I,  9,  129,  516 
Big  Sandy  Valley,  I,  135,  136,  158,  161 
Bigstaflf,  Thomas  J.,   Ill,  574 
Big  Sycamore  Creek,  I,  59 
B4llings,   Benjamin  J.,  V,   159 
Bi-metalism,   II,   1006 
Bingham,  Robert  W.,  II,  1183,  1186,  1187; 

IV,  16 
Bingham,  William,   II,   1200 
Bird,  Henry,  I,  183 
Bird,   R.   Lee,   IV,  479 
BirdwhistcII,  James  M.  B.,  V,  174 
Birkhead,  Herman  A.,  IV,  171 
Birkhead,  Thomas  F.,  Ill,  316 
Birney,  James  G.,  II,  800,  801 
Birthplace    of    Uaniel    Boone    (view  I,    II, 

1037 
Black,    James    D..    II,    1072.    1081,    1207; 

IV,   3 
Black   Republicans,   II,  850 
Black.  Robert,  L.,  V,  323 
Black's    Station,    I,    200 
Blackburn,  H.    M.,  V,  246 
Blackburn,  Luke   P.,   II,  994,   1002,   1072, 

1078, 
Blackburn,  Joseph    C.    S.,   II,   1007,    1085, 

1088 
Blackburn,  Samuel,    I,    126 
Blackburn,  William,   I,  458,  464 
Blackford,  Dennis  I?.,  IV,  59 
Blackwell,  Clorc  H.,  Ill,  40 
Blackwell,  James   B.,   Ill,  119 
Blackwell,  Marlin   L.,   Hi,   163 
Blaine,  Alexander  D.,  V,  173 
Blair,  Francis  P.,  I,  68;  II,  610,  636,  641, 

643,  646,  692 
Blair,  Frederick  K.,  IV,  592 
Blair,  Montgomery,  I,  68 
Blair,  Robert   D.,   IV,  341 
Blair,  Roger  P.,  IV,  394 
Blake,   lid  ward   H.,  V,  369 
Blake,  Stanley,  III,  59 
Blakely,    Stephens    L.,    Ill,  225 
Bland,  Ballard,  V,  621 
Bland,  Thomas  K.,  V,  166 
Bland,  Willard  C.  V,  284 
Blastock,  Alfred  11.,  IV,  155 
Blastock  Brothers,  IV,  155 
Blastock,  Robert  S.,  IV,  155 
Bledsher,  Abraham,   I,  96 
Bledsoe,    Jesse,    I,   6H;    II.    587,   637,   755, 

1056,  1083,  1088 
Blennerhassett,  Herman,  I,  435,  453,  455 
Blennerhassett's  Island,  I,  440 
Blevins,   A.   F.,   IV,  619 
Blockade  of  the   South,   II.  868 
Blockhouse  Bottom,  I,  159 
Bloom,  Isadore  M.,  IV,  47 
Bloomfield,  Vic,   III,  341 


Blount,   William,   I,  374 

Blue,  Bartlett  W.,  Ill,  184 

Blue  Grass  region,  I,  245,  288,  295,  493, 
524,  538;  II,  593,  740,  821,  929,  940, 
%(>.  W4.  1III9.  ll.Sd;  exports,  II,  742, 
freight  rates,  II,  932 

Blue-Jacket,  Charles,  I,  128 

Blue-Jacket  Family,  I,  119 

Blue  Lick   Springs,    II,   792 

Blue   Licks.   I.  13.   180.   185;   II,  1041 

Blue  Licks,  Battle  of,  I,  188,  191;  II,  1046 

Blue   Licks,  Upper,  I,  20O 

Blue   Ridge,  I,  43 

Blythe,  James,   I,  528;   II,   1052,   1053 

Board  of  Education  of  Campbcllsville,  V, 
103 

Board,   Milton,   III,   112 

Board  of  Health,  II,  993 

Board   of   War,    I,   384 

Boardman,  J.  Elmer,  IV,  483 

Boards  of  Trade,  military,  II,  879 

Boat  building,  I,  490 

Bodley,  Thomas,  I,  314,  320 

Bodlev   vs.   Gaither.    II.   67(1 

Bogaert,  Edwin,  III,  392 

BofTardus,  O.  A.,   IV,  434 

Boggess,   Walter   F..   IV,   230 

Boggs,  Joseph  S.,  Ill,  468 

Bohan,  Michael,  V,  39 

Bohannan,  Thomas,  III,  398 

Bohmer,   Charles,    II,   1181 

Bohmcr,  C.  W.,  Ill,  84 

Boiling  Springs.  I.  165,  201 

Boland,   B.  J.,   V,  279 

Boling,  James  P.,  V,  103 

Bonar,  Douglas  S.,  IV,  235 

Bond,  Bolivar,  V,  489 

Bond,  James   R.,  V,  632 

Bond,  W.  W.,  V,  545 

Bondurant,  Joe  S.,  V,  338 

Bonta  Brothers,  IV,  256 

Bonta,  J.  C.  B.,  IV,  256 

Book-shops,    I,    531 

Booles,  William  W.,  V,  171 

Boone   County,   I,  85;    II,   1100,   1103 
Boone,  Daniel,  I,  10,  13,  62,  74,  114,   149, 
160,  162,  175,  180,  185,  186,  188,  190,  194, 
196,  200,  201,  214,  292,  293,  490;  II,  656, 
657,   746,    1021,   1035,    1103,    1197,   1205; 
birthplace   of,    view,    II,    1037;    portrait 
of,    II,   771,    1045 
Boone,  Israel,  I,   193,   194 
Boonesborough,  I,  164,  165,  167,  175,  180, 
201,   216,   219,   289,   297;   II,   657,   771, 
1040,  1043,  1169 
Boone's  Cave,  I,  201 
Boone's  Monjment,  I.  491;   11.   BUS 
Boone's   Station,   I,  201 
Boone's  Trail,   I,   164 
Border  Slave   State   Convention.   II.  854, 

858 
Border  w.irfare.  II.  8')4 
Borders,  Joe   H.,  1,  129 
Borders,  John,   I,   134,   141,   152 
Hosier.  William    \..    IV,  648 
Bosley,  Joseph  G.,  Ill,  263 
Bosley's    Station.    I,   201 
Bosse,  Herman   B.,  Ill,   115 
Boston,  John    B.,   Ill,  565 
Boston,  William  A.,  IV,  135 
Bosworth,  Joe  F.,  V,  84 
Bosworth,  Nathaniel  1..,   1\',   l-'4 


INDEX 


XIX 


Botetourt   County,   II,   1099 

Botts,  Laurel  W.,  Ill,  176 

Boughner,  G.  F.,  V,  500 

Boundary  Commission  of  1820,  I,  520 

Boundary  disputes,   I,   516 

Boundary  questions,   II,   1000 

Bounties,  I,  507 

Bourbon  County,  I,  194,  202,  281,  291,  301, 
502,  539;  II,  685,  762,  1103 

Botirbon  County  Agricultural  and  Me- 
chanical   Association,    II,    741 

Bourland,   William    E.,   Ill,   168 

Bourne,   Edgar  D.,  V,  167 

Bourne,  H.   K.,  II,   1186 

Bowles,   Colbert   C,   IV,  380 

Bowles,  I.   N.,  V,  530 

Bowling  Green,  II,  611,  731,  880,  888,  900, 
992 

Bowling,  T.  H.,  Ill,  416 

Bowling,  Wiley,  IV,  546 

Bowling,  William  K.,  II,  767 

Bowman,  Abram,  I,  201 

Bowman,  Anna  Belle,  V,  59 

Bowman  Family,  V,  59 

Bowman,  Henry    C,   Jr.,   V,   59 

Bowman,  John,  I,   173,   175,   181 

Bowman,  John  B.,  II,  992,  1058 

Bowman,  Joseph,  I,  177 

Bowman,  Sally,  V,  59 

Bowman,  Squire  P.,  Ill,  34 

Bowman,  William  R.,  Ill,  314 

Bowman's  Station,  I,  201 

Boxley,  Hart  M.,  V,  28 

Boyd   County,   II,   1102,   1103 

Boyd,   Frank  P.,  V,  557 

Boyd,  Linn,  II,  1103 

Boyd,   Lynn,  II,  831 

Boyd,  Morgan  C,  III,   178 

Boyle  County,  I,  203;  II,  976,  1102,  1103 

Boyle,  Jerry  T.,  II,  878,  889,  905 

Boyle,  John,  II,  646,  775,  1103;  V,  623 

Bracken  County,  II,  819,  1100,  1103 

Bracken   Station,   I,  201 

Bracken,   William,    II,   1103 

Braddock,  defeat  of,  I,  94 

Braddock  Trail,  I,  126 

Braden,  John  T.,  Ill,  35 

Bradford,  Daniel,  I,  532,  534 

Bradford,  Fielding,  I,  532 

Bradford,  James  M.,  I,  432 

Bradford,  John,  I,  243,  299,  306,  307,  320, 
330,  399.  532:  portrait,  I,  533;  II,  ITS, 
1051,  1052;  V,  625 

Bradford,  Laban  J.,  II,  1173 

Bradley,  Alfred,  V,  20 

Bradley,  Ernest  B.,  Ill,  298 

Bradley,  Robert  L.,  V,   187 

Bradley,  William  O.,  II,  1002,  1007,  1014, 
1072,  1080,  1086,  1088,  1207 

Bradner,  James  W.,  IV,  591 

Bradshaw,  Beverly  L.,  V,  526 

Bradshaw,  W.  F.,  IV,  390 

Bradshaw,  W.  F.,  Jr.,  IV,  390 

Brady,  John   H.,  IV,  324 

Bragg,  John   R.,  IV,  537 

Bragg's  invasion,  II,  881,  892 

Bramblett,   Covington   U.,  V,   IS 

Bramlctte,  Thomas  E.,  II.  864,  874,  879, 
894,  897,  903,  907,  910,  960,  1072,  1077 

Brandeis,  Alfred,  IV,  68 

Brandeis,  Louis,  D.,  IV,  69 

Brandon,  George  I.,  V,  389 

Vol.  1—2 


Brandon,  Robert  W„  V,  390 

Branham,  Noah,  I,  128 

Brashear's  Station,  I,  201 

Brasher.  Richard  F.,  IV,  44 

Braswell,  Tilford  A.,  V,  634 

Bratcher,  Andrew  J.,  Ill,  492 

Braun,  Harry  A.,  IV,  218 

Breathitt  County,  II,  992,  993,  1101,  1103. 

Breathitt,  James,  IV,  102 

Breathitt,  John,  II,  690,  701,  707,  712,  762, 

763,  770,  843,  1071,  1074,  1103;  V,  623 
Breck,  Daniel,  II,  763;  III,  438 
Breck,  Robert  L.,  Ill,  438 
Breckinridge,  Alexander,  I,  215 
Breckinridge,  Clifton  R.,  Ill,  20 
Breckinridge  County,  I,  204;  II,  1101,  1103 
Breckinridge,  Desha,  III,  18 
Breckinridge   Family,   I,  98;   III,   14 
Breckinridge,  Henry,   III,   20 
Breckinridge,  James    D.,    II,   646 
Breckinridge,  John,  I,  214,  242,  313,  316, 
320,  330,  339,   350,  352,  354,  391,  397, 
401,  414,  417,  421,  428,  429.  431,  437, 
473;  II,  1051,  1063,  1082,  1089,  1103,  law 
office   of,   at    Cabell's    Dale    (view),    I, 
398 
Breckinridge,  Hon.  John,  III,  14 
Breckinridge,  Rev.  John,  III,  16 

Breckinridge,  John  C,  II,  843,  844,  849, 
852,  889,  903,  962,  1001,  1053,  1060,  1063, 
1065,  1084,  1089,  1144;  portrait,  II,  851; 
III,  15 

Breckinridge,  Joseph  C,  II,  586,  587,  1054 

Breckinridge,  Hon.,  Joseph  C,  III,  15 

Breckinridge,  Major  Joseph  C,  III,  20 

Breckinridge,  Madeline  McD.,  Ill,  19 

Breckinridge,  Robert,  I,  95,  253,  307,  342, 
683 

Breckinridge,  Robert  J.,  II,  637,  737,  764, 
766,  795,  800,  814,  818,  835,  844,  847, 
855,  877,  897,  903,  920,  1067 

Breckinridge,  Judge   Robert  J.,   Ill,  18 

Breckinridge,  Rev.  Robert  J.,  Ill,  16 

Breckinridge,  William  L.,  II,  814;  III,  17 

Breckinridge,  W.  C.   P.,  II,  1060;  III,  18 

Brennan,  Harry  M.,  Ill,  103 

Brennan,  Thomas,  III,  103 

Brewer,  Floyd,  V,   595^ 

Bridge   across   Ohio   River,   II,  966 

Bridges,  William  W.,  V,  525 

Briggs,  Annie  L.,  IV,  433 

Briggs,  Benjamin  F.,  V,  270 

Briggs,  George  L.,  IV,  432 

Briggs,  Guy  H.,  Ill,  403 

Briggs,  J.  B..  IV,  433 

Bright,  Betty  F.,  Ill,  291 

Bright,  Mary  E.,  Ill,  291 

Briscoe,  John,  II,  619 

Bristow,  Benjamin   H.,  V,  620 

British  influence  on  frontier,  I,  359 

Broaddus,  William  W.,  V,  64 

Brock,   Remus   N.,   Ill,  598 

Brock,  William  B.,  Ill,  299 

Brodhead,  Lucas,  III,  437 

Brooks,  Basil  M.,  V,  391 

Brooks,  David  F.,  IV,  345 

Brooks,  Ebenezer,  I,  234,  258,  261,  303 

Brooks,  Frank  D.,  Ill,  324 

Brooks,  Jared,  I,  497 

Brooks,  Osie  H.,  IV,  392 

Brooks,  Samuel  C,  IV,  117 

Browder,   Joe,   V,   261 


XX 


INDEX 


Brower,  Charles  F.,  III.  335 

Brown,  Augustus,  III,  329 

Brown,  Benjamin  Gratz,  I,  6S;   II,   1059 

Brown,  Charles  A.,  I V,  61 1 

Brown,  Charles  C,  III,  33 

Brown,  Ellen,  III,  338 

Brown,  Eli  H.,  Jr.,  Ill,  169 

Brown,   Henry  R.,  Ill,  337 

Brown,  James,   I,  333,   343,  429,  469;   II, 

755,   1052 
Brown.  James   B.,  II.   1185;   IV,  54 
Brown,  James  G.,  Ill,  146 
Brown.  John,   I,  242,  252,   254,  258,  264, 

270.   273,   277.   279.   285,   298,   300,   303, 

316,   .124.   338.   357.   377,   436,   438,   469; 

II,   1055.   11)82.   1089 
Brown,   John.  III.  75 
Brown.  John.  IV.  379 
Brown.  John,   raid.    II.  852 
Brown,  John  M.,  II.  903.  905 
Brown,  John  S.,  IV,  364 
Brown,  John   T.,  IV,  217 
Brown,    John  Y.,  II,  1006,  1009,  1072,  1080 
Brown,  J.  Sam,  V,  311 
Brown,  Joseph  L.,  V,  275 
Brown,  Martin  J.,  Ill,  127 
Brown,  Robert  B.,  V,  286 
Brown,  Robert  11.,   IV,  483 
Brown,  Robinson  S..  V,  63 
Brown,  Samuel,  II,  1052 
Brown,  Samuel  H.,  V,  532 
Brown,  Scott,  V,  176 
Brown,  Wallace,   V,  289 
Brown,  Williain,  IV,  255 
Brown,  William  N..  Jr.,  V,  143 
Browning  Brothers,   IV,  150 
Browning,  James  H.,  IV,  133 
Browning,  John  W.,  IV,  150 
Browning,  Kenaz  A.,  IV,  150 
Brownsville,  II,  899 
Bruce,  Edwin  T.,  IV,  333 
Bruce,  Helm,  IV,  75 
Bruce,  Horatio  W.,  V,  625 
Bruce,  Sanders,  11,  905 
Brumlcy,  Merritt  C,  IV,  509 
Bruner,  B.  L.,  II,  1015 
Brush,  George  W.,  II,  764 
Bryan,  Albert  G.,   Ill,  350 
Bryan,  Clarence   1'"..    III.   527 
Bryan,  John,  II,  762 
Bryan,  Joseph,  I,  201 
Bryan,  William  J..   II,  993 
Bryant,  Ethel  G.,  V,  422 
Bryant,  Jesse  T.,  V,  628 
Bryant,  Raleigh  D.,  Ill,  87 
Bryant.  Shephard  H..  V.  421 
Bryant's  Station.  I,  183,  185,  195,  201,  216, 

397;   view,    1,   201;   II,    1046 
Buchanan.   James,   II.  847 
Buchanan,  John,  I,  11 
Buchanan's  Station,   I,  201 
Buckingham,   Claude,    IV,  482 
Buckingham,  John  E.,  IV,  588 
Buckley,  John   L.,  Ill,  97 
Buckner,  Montgomery  G.,  Ill,  323 
Buckner,  Richard  A.,  II,  647 
Buckner,    R.   A.,   II,  699,  702 
Buckner,  Simon  B.,  II,  880,  885,  887,  1001, 

1(102.    liid.K.    1(172,    1078,    1144;    portrait, 

II,  1003;  III,  23 
Buckner,  William  T.,  V,  320 
Buel,  Don  Carlos,  II,  885,  889,  892,  899 


Buena  Vista,  battle  of,  II,  826 

Buffalo,  I,  149 

Buford,  Abe,   II,   1144 

Buford's   Division,   II,   1153 

Bulger,  Edward,  I,  193 

Bulger,   John,    I,    193 

Bullitt,  Alexander  S.,  I,  257,  270,  284,  307, 
400;   II,   1103 

Bullitt  County,   I.  201;  II,   1100,  1103 

Bullitt  Familv.  III.  26 

Bullitt,  Joshua  F.,  II,  916 

Bullitt.  Thomas,  I,  162,  202.  206,  217,  218 

Bullitt,  Thomas  W.,  Ill,  27 

Bullitt,  William  M.,  Ill,  27 

Bullitt's  Lick,  I,  202 

Bullock.  Edmond.   II,  1055 

Bullock,  Edward  T.,  V,  35 

Bullock,  Franklin  A.,  Ill,  359 

Bullock,  Joseph  J.,  II,  764 

Bullock,  Rice,  I,  253 

Bullock,   Robert   S.,   Ill,   359 

Bullock,  Waller  O.,  IV,  192 

"Bunting,"  III,  81 

Burberry,   George   R.,   IV,  212 

Burbridge,  S.  G.,  II,  90S 

Burchett,  Drury  J.,  Ill,  554 

Burdon,  Edward  O..  V.  436 

Burge,   Joseph,   III,  270 

Burgess,  Thomas  D..  V,  554 

Burgoyne,  Harry,  IV,  177 

Burk,  Alamander,  IV,  616 

Burk,  Millard,  V,  319 

Burke,  William  B.,  IV,  339 

Burksville,  II,  901 

Burley  Belt,   II,   1180 

Burley  Cooperative  Association,   II,   1184 

Burley  Tobacco,  II,   1179 

Burley  Tobacco  District,  II,  1019 

Burley  Tobacco  growers,  II,  1170 

Burley  Tobacco  Growers  Association,  II, 
1183 

Burley  Tobacco  Growers  Cooperative  As- 
sociation, officers  and  directors,  II,  1186 

Burnam.  C.  F.,  V,  621 

Burnam,  Thompson   S.,   II,   1187 

Burnet,  Jacob,  II,  790 

Burnett,  Clyde,  IV,  396 

Burnett,  Henry,  IV,  68 

Burns,  Frank  N..  V,  602_ 

Hurnside,   General,  II,  874 

Burnt  Station,  I,  202 

Burpo.  Howard  L.,  V,  32 

Burr,  Aaron,  I,  438,  528;  in  Kentucky,  I, 
434;  indictment  sought  in  l-"rankfort,  I, 
444;  trial  at  Frankfort.  I,  447;  Daviess' 
indictment  of,  I,  452;  II,  1191, 

Burr  conspiracy,  failure  of,  I,  453;  sequel 
to,   I,  457 

Burris,  M.  T.,  I,  134,  135 

r.iirni-.s.    lacnb.   IV.  272 

Burt.  Charles  W.,  V,  585 

Burton,  Charles  H.,  V,  551 

Burton,  George   M.,  IV,  583 

Burton,  Lewis  W.,  Ill,  335 

Busby,  Elbridge  L.,  IV,  247 

Bush,   Enoch    R.,   V,  215 

lUish,  James  R.,  Ill,  355 

Bush,  Samuel  S.,  Ill,  374 

Bush.  Valentine  W.,  V,  315 

Bush,  William  A.,  IV,  76 

Bush's  Station,  I,  202 

Bushong,  George  W.,  V,  125 


INDEX 


XXI 


Buster,  John  S.,  IV,  260 

Butcher,  John  K.,  IV,  571 

Butler,  II,  629 

Butler  County,  II,  1101,  1103 

Butler,  Henry  C,  V,  314 

Butler,  Mann,  II,  770 

Butler,  Richard,  II,  1103 

Butler,  William  O.,  II,  824,  826,  831 

Bvbee,  James  A.,  V,  538 

Byington,  Walter  M.,  IV,  587 

Byland,   Robert  M.,  IV,  346 

Bvne's  Station,  I,  202 

Byrd,  Anderson  F.,  Ill,  277 

Byrd,  John,  I,  11 

Byrd,  Roy,  III,  560 

Byrd,  William,  I,  218 

Byron,  Arthur  T.,  V,  571 

Byron,  William  A.,  V,  148 

Caddell,  Marshall  C,  V,  153 
Cahokia,  I,  178 
Cain,  C.  E.,  Ill,  515 
Calaway,  Colonel,  II,  1040 
Caldwell  County,  II,  1101,  1103 
Caldwell,  Isaac,   II,  963 
Caldwell,  John,  II,  1103 
Caldwell,  John  W.,  V,  619 
Caldwell,   Major,   I,  561 
Caldwell,  Robert,  I,  270 
Caldwell,  Samuel  D.,  IV,  520 
Caldwell,  William  L.,  Jr.,   IV,  325 
Calhoun,  11,  899 
Calhoun,  George  W.,  V,  68 
Calhoun,  John   C,  II,  923,  950;   III,  276 
Call,  John  W.,  V,  353 
Callahan,  Patrick  H.,  IV,  99 
Callahan,  Robert  E.,  V,  416 
Callihan,  William   R.,   Ill,  558 
Callis,  T.  B.,  V,  609 
^Calloway  County,  II,  593,  1014,  1101,  1103 
Calloway,  William,   I,  58 
Calvin,  James  M.,  Ill,  453 
Cambron,  Charles  Z.,  Ill,  151 
Camden,    Johnson     N.,     II,     1015,     1086, 

1089;  III,  66 
Campaign  of  1824,  II,  676 
Campaign  of  1836,  II,  712 
Campbell,  Adam,  V,   595 
Campbell,  Arthur,  II,  1207 
Campbell,  Charles,  I,  78 
Campbell,  Charles  D.,  V,  528 
Campbell   County,   II,   1100,   1103 
Campbell,  Edgar  E.,   Ill,  523 
Campbell,  Fallen,   IV,  620 
Campbell,  Isaac,  I,  126 
Campbell,  James.   II,   1207 
Campbell,  John,   I,  218,   242;    II,   110,^ 
Campbell,  John  B.,  II,  1207 
Campbell,  John  M.,  V,  432 
Campbell,  Joseph   B.,   V,  422 
Campbell,  William   B.,   IV,   180 
Campbell,  William  R.,  Ill,  191 
Campbell's  Station,  I,  202 
Camp  Boone,  II,  887 
Camp  Dick  Robinson,  II,  886,  899 
Camp  Goggin,  II,  899 
Camp  Jo  Holt,   II,  886 
Camp  Knox,   I,  202 
Camp-meeting,  I,  538;  II,  793 
Camp  Underwood,  II,  899 
Camp  Wildcat,  II,  899 


Canada,   desire   to  annex,   annexation   of, 

I,  549,  567 
Canada,  James  F.,  Ill,  431 
Canal,  around  Falls  of  Ohio  at  Louisville, 

I,  494 
Canal  at  Lotjisville,  II,  945 
Canals,  I.  436:   II,  695.  721,  722,  726 
Candler,  Charles   B.,  V,  211 
Candler,  W.  H.,  IV,  456 
Caneer,   Milton   L.,   V,  320 
Cane   Ridge  Presbyterian   Church,  I,  539 
Cane  Run,  I,  202 
Cannaday,  James  C,  III,  126 
Cannon,  William  L.,  V,  28 
Caperton,  Hugh  J.,  V,  21 
Caperton,  John,  V,  21 
Caperton,  John  H.,  V,  21 
Caperton,  Virginia  S.,  V,  21 
Capital,  permanent,  I,  308 
Capital  punishment.  I,  313 
Capitol  burned,  I,  309;  permanent,  I,  309; 

seat  of,  II,  1006 
Capitol,  Hallway  of  Old  (view),  I,  405 
Capitol,  Old  (view),  I,  404 
Capitol  Log,  I.  307 
Card,  Andrew  H.,  V,  503 
Cardin,  A.  H.,  II,  1002 
Carey,  George  B.,  IV,  112 
Carlisle  County,  II,  1102,  1103 
Carlisle,  John  G.,  II,  980,  982,  1006,  1085, 

1090,  1103 
Carman,  Jesse  B.,  Ill,  271 
Carnal,  George   T.,   Ill,   131 
Carnegie  Public   Library  of   Paducah,  V, 

347 
Carolina,   Clinchfield   &   Ohio    R.   R.,   II, 

998 
Carothers,  Thomas  P.,  Ill,  423 
Carpenter,  Frank  C,  III,  70 
Carpenter,  Joseph,  I,  534 
Carpenter's  Station,  I,  202 
Carr,  Frank  B.,  Ill,  185 
Carr,  John  T.  M.,  IV,  134 
Carr,  J.  D.,  IV,  37 
Carr,  T.  B.,  IV,  37 
Carr,  William  H.,  IV,  305 
Carroll,  Charles,  II,  1103 
Carroll   Countv,  II,   1101,   1103 
Carroll,  John   D.,   IV,  589 
Carroll,  Tarlton  C,  IV,  554 
Carrollton,  I,  208 
Carter,  Allen  R.,  Ill,  145 
Carter  County,  I,  117;  II,  746,  1101,  1103 
Carter,  Ellerbe  W.,  IV,  18 
Carter,  Herman  T.,  V,  109 
Carter,  James,  I,  234 
Carter,  James  C,  V,  300 
Carter,  James  L.,  Ill,  47 
Carter,  John  B.,  V,  519 
Carter,  John  H.,  Ill,  193 
Carter,  John  H.,  Jr.,  Ill,  194 
Carter,  John  W.,  III.  220 
Carter,  Joseph  C,  V,  39 
Carter,  Lillard  H.,  V.  174 
Carter,  Robert,  I,  67 
Carter,  William  F.,  IV,  236 
Carter,  William  G.,  II,  1103 
Cartwright,  Peter,  I,  538 
Cartwright's  Station,  I,  202 
Caruthers,  A.  O.,  Ill,  435 
Carver,  Charles  J.  P.,  V,  308 


XXll 


INDEX 


Cary,  Glover  H.,  IV,  222 

Gary,  Graddy,  IV,  55 

Cary,  Kemus   G.,   IV,  222 

Cary,  Sydney  S.,  Ill,  201 

Casebolt,  Solomon  B.,  V,  31 

Casey  County,  II,  lUtl,  1103 

Casey,  William,  II,  1103 

Casey's  Station.  I,  2i^2 

Cason,  Albert,  IV,  283 

Cassell,  GcofRe  K.,  IV,  194 

Cassell.  Robert  L.,  Ill,  299 

Cassell,  William   IL,  IV,   193 

Cassidy,   Clifton  \V.,  IV,   515 

Cassidy,  J.  Ernest,  IV,  132 

Cassidy,  Massillon  A.,  IV,  329 

Cassidy,  Michael,   I,  202 

Cassidy,  Thomas  D.,  Ill,  152 

Cassidv's  Station.   I,  202 

Casteei,  Abram,  III.  518 

Castlcman,  John  B.,  V,  24 

Cate,  James  H.,  IV,  85 

Cathoh'c  Chnrch,  I,  535 

Catholic  Parish  at  Henderson,  V,  279 

Catlett,   Colonel,   I,  42 

Catlett,  Robert   E.,   V,   572 

CatlettsburK.   II,   7M 

Cato,  Charles  F.,  V,  545 

Catron,  William  M.,  IV,  449 

Cattle,  in  Bliie  Grass  region,  II,  740 

Cattle  shows,  II,  740 

Cave,  Edward  A.,  IV,  415 

Cave  Gap,  I,  62 

Caves  of  Kentucky,  II,  1023 

Cawcin,  Madison,  IV,  643 

Cawood,  Stephen  M.,  V,  517 

Cawood,  William  P.,  IV,  388 

Caylor,  Will  H.,  Ill,  515 

Cecil,  Charles  L.,  V,  67 

Centner,  Joseph  A.,  IV,  481 

Central  Kentucky,  I,  288.  298;  II,  958, 
965.  969.  982;  an  ally  of  Cincinnati,  II, 
951;  early  taverns  and  travelers  in.  II, 
1188 

Centre  College,  II,  755,  802 

Chalmers'  Division,  II,  1153 

C^hambers,  Dawson,  II,  1187 

Chambers,  Hugh,   III,  552 

Chambers,  John  M.,  IV,  437 

Champlin,   Green   H.,  V,  261) 

Chandler,  Frank,   IV,  440 

Chandler,  John   H.,  V,  009 

Chandler,  V.  O..  V,  372 

Chancy,  Robert  J.,  Ill,  259 

(hapman.    Nathaniel.   I.   67 

Chapman.  Virgil   M..   IV,  .1^1 

Chap|)ell,  John   S.,   Ill,  442 

(iharitable  institutions,   II,  779 

(barters,  II,  982 

Chatteroi,   I,   11 

Chanmiere,  I,  524 

Chenault,  Christopher  D.,  Ill,  75 

Chenault,  Sarah  G.  H.,  Ill,  74 

Chenault,  Mrs.  Christopher  D.,  Ill,  74 

Chenoweth,  James  S.,  IV,  30 

Cherokee  Indians,  I,  3,  21,  52,  94,  111, 
128,  l.-i9;  treaty  of  177(1,  I,  54;  treaty 
of  1805,  I,  55;  treaty  of  1775,  I,  163 

Cherokee  River,  I,  12 

Chesapeake  &  Ohio  Railroad,  II.  7?,3, 
998 

Chew,  Colby,  I,  58,  97 

Chickasaw,  treaty  of  1805,  I,  55 


Chickasaws,  II,  592 

Chief  Charles  Blue-Jacket,  I,   120 

Childers,  Joel  E.,  V,  187 

Childress,  Flemmon,  III,  480 

Childress,  William  J.,  V,  208 

Child  labor,  II,  993 

Chiles,  Lanilon  T..   IV,  601 

Chilton,  John  B.,  Ill,  417 

Chinn,  Asa  C,  III,   175 

Chipman,  Noah  B.,  V,  219 

Choctaw   Academy,   II,  783 

Cholera,   II,  "SO.  752,  769,  1078 

Christian   Church,  I,  540 

Christian  County,  II,  1100,  1103 

Christian,  George,  IV,  20 

Christian,  James  W.,  Ill,  260 

Christian,  Mary  K.,  Ill,  262 

Christian,  William,   II,    1103 

Churches,  I,  526,  534;  after  Great  Re- 
vival, 1.  54(1;  and  slavery,  I,  542;  II, 
794 

Church  schisms,  I,  539 

Church  schools,  II,  755 

Churchill,  James  H.,  V,  108 

Cincinnati  and  the  Southern  Trade,  II, 
937;  during  Civil  War,  II,  939;  bond 
issue   for   building   railroad   at,    II,  955 

Cincinnati  &  Chattanooga  Railroad,  II, 
985 

Cincinnati,  Lexington  &  East  Tennessee 
Railroad,  II,  952 

Cincinnati  Short  Line,  II,  943 

Cincinnati  Southern  Railroad,  II,  734, 
738,  919,  948,  998;  rights-of-way.  II, 
960;  resolutions  for,  II,  971;  in  Con- 
gress,  II,  973;  construction  of,   II,  983 

Cincinnati  Southern  Railroad  bill,  II, 
962;  vote  on  (schedule),  II,  974;  bill 
passed,  II,  982 

Circuit  Courts,  I,  480 

City  Bonds  for  Railroad  building,  II,  954 

City  Library,  Lexington  (view),  II,  994; 
city  schools  of  Dawson  Springs,  V, 
510 

Civic  Pride,  I,  527 

Civil  Liberty,  II,   1061 

Civil   Rights  Bill,  II,  912 

Civil  War  period,  II,  853;  commerce  of 
Kentucky  during,  II,  868;  Kentucky's 
geographic  position  in,  II,  864;  divi- 
sion of  sympathy  in  Kentucky,  II,  874; 
military  measures,  II,  88.S;  Union 
camps,  II,  886;  battles  in  Kentucky,  II, 
888;  arrests  for  disloyalty,  II,  889; 
local  disorders,  II,  895;  military  move- 
ments in  Kentucky,  II,  899;  Confed- 
erate organizations  and  guerillas,  II, 
903;  effects  of,  II,  906;  eflect  on  trade 
relations,  II,  923;  list  of  battles  in  Ken- 
tucky, II,  1155;  officers  from  Kentucky 
in,  II,   1114 

Claggett,  Charles  E.,  Ill,  441 

Claiborne,  James  J.,   IV,  45 

Clark,  Champ,  II,  894.  1059 

Clark   County,  I,  74,  408;   II,  1021,  1100, 

1105,  1169 
Clark,  Daniel,  I,  437 
Clark,  Edsell,  IV.  477 
Clark,  Edward,   III,   ISO 
Clark,  Francis,  1,  535 
Clark,  Frank  S.,  Ill,  58 
Clark,  George  M.,  Ill,  391 


INDEX 


XXlll 


Clark,  George  Rogers,  I,  34,  169,  170, 
173,  175,  182,  185,  193,  215.  218,  222, 
276,  277,  292,  323,  324,  333,  342,  559; 
campaign  of  1778-79,  I.  176;  and  the 
French  Enterprise,  I,  325;  (portrait)  I, 
326;  expedition  against  Spain,  I,  336; 
and  Louisiana  Expedition,  I,  361;  II, 
1044,   1050,  1105;  V,  626 

Clark,  George  T.,  V,  254 

Clark,  James,  II,  623,  712,  763,  803,  1071, 
1074 

Clark,  James,  Jr.,  IV,  61 

Clark,  James  B.,  V.  596 

Clark,  John,  Cabin  (view)  I,  313 

Clark,  John  W.,  V,   137 

Clark,  Reuben   M.,   IV,    165 

Clark,  Robert  L.,  Ill,  98 

Clarke  Roy  P.,  V,  34 

Clark,  Thomas  L.,  Ill,  594 

Clark,  William,  I,  387 

Clark,  William  C,  V,  156 

Clark,  William  E.,  Ill,  325 

Clark,  William  F.,  IV,  223 

Clark's  Station,  I,  202 

Clarke,  Beverly  L.,  II,  846 

Clarke,  Ernest  S.,  Ill,  465 

Clarke,  Frank  H.,  Ill,  203 

Clarke,  Marcus  J.,  IV,  361 

Clarke,  Robert,  I,  234 

Clay,  Cassitis  M.,  II,  810,  812,  813,  819, 
826,  843,  1006,  1059;  V,  276 

Clay,  Cassius  M.,  Jr.,  II,  1005 

Clay,  Charles  D.,  Ill,  10 

Clay,  Charlton   A.,  V,  274 

Clay  County,  II,  746,  1101,  1105 

Clay,  Ezekiel  F.,  Ill,  56 

Clay  Family,  III,  4 

Clay,  George   H.,  Ill,  10 

Clay,  Green,  I,  270,  558,  559;  II,  1105; 
V,  626 

Clay,  Henry  I,  214,  430,  438,  447,  455,  461, 
463,  476,  478,  512,  523,  542,  547,  549, 
553,  566,  568;  II,  580,  583,  587,  615,  620, 
629,  650,  660,  663,  664,  674,  677,  698, 
718,  722,  730.  732,  755,  796,  803,  814. 
823,  828,  830,  839,  843,  1053,  1082,  1090, 
1190;  on  slavery,  I,  394;  on  Federal 
affairs  I,  410;  Kentucky's  favorite  son, 
II,  676;  secures  election  of  J.  Q. 
Adams,  II,  678;  return  to  Kentucky, 
II,  680;  and  Adams  party,  II,  683;  in 
campaign  of  1828,  II,  684;  tariff  cham- 
pion, II,  693;  election  to  Senate,  II, 
701;  and  the  Whig  Party,  II,  717;  and 
Tyler.  II,  718;  letter  to  Richard  Pin- 
dell,  II,  813.  814;  attitude  on  the  Texas 
question.  II.  824;  death  of,  II,  841; 
influence  on  political  opinion  in  Ken- 
tucky, II,  1061;  (portraits),  II.  1062; 
home  of  (view).  II,  1064;  defense  of 
Jefferson,  II,  1065;  III,  4 

Clay,   Henry    ("Harry"),   III,  8 

Clay  (The  Henry)  Fire  Insurance  Com- 
pany, IV,  204 

Clay,  James  B.,  II,  811,  889;   III,  6 

Clay,  Capt.  James  B.,   Ill,   8 

Clay,  John   M.,  Ill,  314 

Clay,  Lucretia  H.,  Ill,  5 

Clay,  Miss  Lucretia  H.,  Ill,  9 

Clay,  Mrs.  Henry,  I,  68 

Clay,  Mrs.  John  M.,  IV,  314 


Clay    Monument     (Henry),     (view),    II, 

840 
Clay,  Samuel,  II,  1186 
Clay,  Susan  M.  J.,  III.  7 
Clay.  Thomas  J..   III.   10 
Clay,  William   R..  V.  296 
Claypool.  Roy.  V.  474 
Clayton,  Alexander  A.,  IV,  512 
Clear's  Station,  I,  202 
Cleaver.  Thomas  F..  V,  119 
Clements,  Gerald  S.,  IV,  248 
Clements,  LaVega,   IV,   248 
Clements,  Martin  J.,   Ill,   187 
Clemmons,   Rankin.   IV,   124 
Cleveland,  Fannie,   III,   189 
Cleveland,  George,  III,  339 
Cleveland,  Horace   W.,   Ill,   189 
Clinch  River,  I,  6.  59,  95 
Cline,  Harry  E.,  Ill,  284 
Cline,  Henry,    IV,    177 
Cline,  H.   M.,   Ill,   524 
Cline,  John  S.,  V,  36 
Clines,  Thomas   D.,  IV,  19 
Clinton  County.  I.  55;  II,  1101,  1105 
Clinton,  DeWitt,  II,  1105 
Cloud,   H.  D.,   Ill,   173 
Clutts,  George  A.,  V,  527 
Coal,  I,  63,  74,  96;  II.  746,  920,  924,  997 
Coal    Field,    Eastern,    II,   1025;   Western, 

II,  1022,  1028 
Coal  mines,  II,  999 
Coal  mining,  II,  998 
Coals  River.  I,  48 
Coates,  Thomas  J.,   Ill,  246 
Cobb,  Irvin  S.,  IV,  496 
Cobb,  Richard,  IV,  427 
Coburn,  John,  I,  234 
Cochran,  Andrew   M.  J.,  Ill,   590 
Cochran,  Horace  J..  III.  584 
Cochran.  Raymond  A.,  III.  214 
Cochran.  Robert  A.,  III.  590 
Cochran.  Robert  A..  Sr..  Ill,  588 
Cochran,  Sam    P.,    IV,    624 
Cochran,  Thomas   H.,  Ill,  482 
Cochran,  William  D.,  Ill,  607 
Cockrell,  Laban  B.,  IV,  292 
Code  Duello,  I,  478 
Code,  penal,   I,   314 
Coffman,  Edward   F.,  V,  512 
Coffman,  Edward  K.,  Ill,  148 
Cognets,  Louis  des,  IV,  127 
Coil.  Thomas  L.,  V,  494 
Coil,  \V.  D.,  IV,  621 
Coit,  Thomas  W.,  II,  1058 
Colbert,  Richard  J.,  IV,  170 
Cole,  Andrew   E.,  V,   154 
Cole,  Charles  D.,  V,  501 
Cole,  Jack,  V,  154 
Cole,  James  O.,  IV,  504 
Coleman,  Clarence   T.,  V,   184 
Coleman,  John,  Sr.,  IV,  357 
Coleman,  Robert  M.,  Ill,  353 
Coleman,  Thomas  C.  V,   154 
Coleman,  Thomas  H.,  V,  295 
Coleman,  William  H.,  IV,  357 
Coleman,  W.   L.,  V,   581 
Collier,  D.  Grant,  III,  241 
Collings,  John  H.,  V,  412 
Collins,  Harry   M.,  Ill,  470 
Collins,  John  T.,  II,  1184 
Collins,  J.  Walter,  V,  485 


XXIV 


INDEX 


Collins,  Lewis,   II,  770;  V,  625 

Collins,  Marshall  M.,  IV,  595 

Collins,  Richard  H.,   II,  770;   V,  625 

Collins,  Robert  L.,  IV,  515 

Collins'  Station,   I,  202 

Colson,  D.  G.,  II,   1207 

Columbus,  II,  874,  875,  887,  899;  seized 
by   Confederates,   II,  858 

Colville,  Hugh  P.,  IV,  470 

Combs,  Ballard  F.,  IV,  463 

Combs,  James  F.,  IV,  554 

Combs,  John  C.  B.,  IV,  164 

Combs,  Leslie,  11,  730,  751,  822,  829,  843, 
852;   III,  20 

Combs,  M.    E.,    Ill,    522 

Combs,  Stephen,   Jr.,   V,   553 

Combs,  Thomas  A.,  IV,   199 

Combs,  Waller  G.,   Ill,  259 

Commerce  with   New   Orleans,  I,  246 

Commerce  with  outside  regions,  I,  301; 
in  1800,  I,  499;  of  state,  direction  of, 
II,  743;  in  slaves,  II,  797;  and  com- 
mercial restrictions  in  war  times,  II, 
868 

Commercial  conventions,  II,  925 

Commercial  relations  between  the  Ohio 
Valley  and  the  South,  II,  922 

Commercial  traveler,   II,  924 

Commes   (Mrs.)   William,  I,  304 

Common  schools,  I,  529;  II,  753,  757, 
761,  989 

Common  school  system,  beginning  of, 
II,  766 

Communication,  I,  297 

Compromise  of  1850,  II,  839,  842,  844 

Compromise  tariff,   II,   705 

Compulsory   Education  Law,  II,  989 

Comstock,  L.  E.,  Ill,  606 

Concord   Presbyterian   Church,  I,  539 

Conestoga  wagons,  II,  1190 

Confederate  Army,  general  officers  in, 
from  Kentucky,   II,   1144 

Confederate  camps  and  recruiting  sta- 
tions, II,  887;  element,  II,  1001;  forces 
in    Kentucky,    II,   901 

Confederate  General  and  stafT  officers 
appointed    from    Kentucky,    II,    1145 

Confederate  Kentucky,  II,  888 

Confederate  script,  II,  877 

Confederate  States  Army,  Kentucky,  II, 
1144 

Confederate  soldiers  after  the  war,  II, 
908 

Confederate   sympathizers,  II,  874 

Confederate  trade  policy,  II,  871 

Confederates,  former,  return  to  leader- 
ship,  II,  910 

Congleton,  Conley,  IV,  25 

Conglcton,  Lee,  IV,  25 

Congleton,  W.  T.,  V,  290 

Conley,     Constantine,   Jr.,   Ill,   50 

Conley,  Henry  C.  H.,  IV,  566 

Conley,  Milton   F.,  IV,  579 

Conly,   I'rank  J.,  V,  402 

Connelly,  Harmon,   I,   149 

Connelly,  Henry,    III,   49 

Connelly,  Capt.    Henry,    III,   49 

Connelly,  Thomas,   III,   49 

Connelly,  Thomas    (2),   III,  49 

Connelley,  William  E„  III,  48 

Connolly,  Frank   A.,   IV,  447 

Connolly,  John,  I,  162,  218,  271 


Connolly,  William  H.,  IV,  446 
Connolly,  Winston  M.,   IV,  446 
Connor,  Charles  W.,  V,  433 
Consensus  of  opinion,   I,  227 
Constitution  and  The  Union,  I,  279 
Constitution,  First,   I,  282;  makers  of,   I, 
284;  put  into  operation,  I,  307;  Second, 

I,  390;   supremacy   of,   II,  635;   Third, 

II,  821;  new,  II,  842;   Fourth,   II.   1004 
Constitution  of   1849  on  Slavery,  II,  817 
Constitution  of  1850,  II,  1004 
Constitutional    Convention,    I,    278,    280, 

4tK);    II,   767,   813,   832,    1004;   vote   on, 

I,  394 
Constitutional  reform,   I,  399 
Constitutional  Union  party,  II,  852 
Conventions  of  1785,  members  of,  I,  234; 

of   1788,  I,  256;  of  November,   1788,  I, 

264;   Eighth,  I,  274;   Ninth,  I,  278;  for 

separate     state,      I,     226;     Statehood, 

Eighth  and   Ninth,   I,  269 
Conway,  John  W.,  Ill,  195 
Conway,  Robert  H.,  V,  612 
Conway,  Will   F.,   IV,  301 
Conycrs,   Ottis,  V,  229 
Cook,  G.  M.,  V,  604 
Cook,  John   M.,  V,  556 
Cook,   Robert  A.,   IV,  110 
Cook,  William  I.,  IV,  100 
Cook,  William   N.,   IV,  495 
Cooke,  Isaac  B.,  IV,  571 
Cool,   William,  II,   1035 
Coolcy,   Harry   N.,   IV,  464 
Coombs,  Samuel,  V,  394 
Coons,  Elijah,  IV,  579 
Cooper,  Damon   M.,   IV,  240 
c:ooper,  James   H.,   Ill,  302 
Cooper,  M.  Lindsey,  IV,  342 
Cooper,  Mrs.   Wallace,   III,  294 
Cooper's   Station,   I,  202 
Cooperative  tobacco  marketing,  II,  1171, 

1183 
Coppin,  William,  III,  99 
Corbin,  Abraham  F".,  Jr.,   IV,   199 
Corbin,  Joshua  M.,   IV,  197 
Cord,   R.   I.,  Ill,  427 
Cornett,  Arthur  B.,  V,  227 
Cornctt,  William  M.,  V,  307 
Corn  Island,  I,  202;   (view),  I,  203 
Cornstalk,  I,  118 
Corum,  George  T.,  IV,  236 
Corwin,  Thomas,  I,  296 
Corwin,  Tom,  II,  845 
Cosby,   George   B.,   II,   1144 
Cottingham,  Carl   P.,   Ill,  152 
Cotton,  II,  922 
Cotton   factory,  I,  501 
Cotton,  machine  for  spinning,  I,  503 
Cottrell,  Guy  J.,  IV,  482 
Coulter,  Donald  L.,  V,  271 
Coulter,  Ellis  M.,   Ill,  606 
Counties  of  Western  Virginia,  I,  216 
Counties,   named   for   Virginians,   I,  294; 

new,   I,   290;   at    statehood,    I,   292;    in 

1800,    I,   489;    organized,    II,    1099;    for 

whom  named,  II,  1102 
Country  party,  I,  261 
Country  schools,  I,  530;  II,  756 
Counts,  John  W.,  IV,  598 
County    Board    of    Education    of   Harlan 

County,  V,  517 
County  Court,  I,  216 


INDEX 


XXV 


County  Court   Day,   II,  75*1 

County  of  Kentucky,  I,  171 

County  organization  unit  of  local  gov- 
ernment courts,  I,  216 

County  roads,  I,  492 

Courier-Journal,  II,  917 

Court  of  Appeals,  I,  310,  400,  458,  480, 
626,  628,  642;  impeachment  of,  I,  311; 
attacks  on,  I,  482;  bill  to  abolish,  II, 
631;  reorganization  act,  II,  631,  646, 
()52.  670,  836,  l(l05,  1010 

Court  Party,  I,  261 

Court  procedure,  I,  479 

Court  question  settled,  II,  647 

Court  of   Land   Claims,   I,  215 

Court  of  Oyer  and  Terminer,  I.  311 

Court  of  Quarter  Sessions,  I,  216 

Courtney,  William  H.,  Ill,  197 

Courts,  I,  547;  II,  615,  623;  unpopularity 
of,  I,  480;  effort  to  control,  II,  628; 
and  state  rights,  II,  650;  under  Third 
Constitution,  II,  836;  negro  testimony 
in,   II,   913 

Courts   of  Freedman's   Bureau,   II,  913 

Covington,  II,  734,  745,  944,  975 

Cowan,  Andrew,   IV,   105 

Cowan,  Gilbert  S.,   IV,  106 

Cowan,  John,    II,    1050 

Cowand,  Henry  D.,  V,  391 

Cox,  Attilla,  Jr.,   Ill,  379 

Cox,  Attilla,  Sr.,  Ill,  378 

Cox,  Harry   L.,   IV,   636 

Cox,  Harry  S.,  Ill,   140 

Cox,  Henry  M.,  IV,  448 

Cox,  Hugh  R.,  IV,  417 

Cox,  Isaac,  I,  234 

Cox,  Jacob  L.,  V,  352 

Cox,  Leonard  G.,   IV,   184 

Cox,  Leonard  M.,   Ill,  379 

Cox,  Robert    L.,   IV,   431 

Cox,  Samuel  A.,  IV,  408 

Cox's  Station,   I,  202 

Coyle,  Maurice  D.,  Ill,  419 

Cozine,  Benjamin   B.,  V,  25 

Cozine,  John  P.,  V,  25 

Crab  Orchard,  I,  184,  203,  298,  490;  II, 
1047 

Crabbe,  J.  G.,  II,  990 

Craddock,  J.  D.,  II,  1187 

Craddock,  John   D.,   IV,  518 

Craft,  B.  Martin,  IV,  402 

Crafton,  Robert   F.,   Ill,  269 

Craig,  A.  W.,  IV,  224 

Craig,  Con  W.,  Ill,  504 

Craig,  Elijah,  I,  306,  493 

Craig,  Frank  B.,  V,  140 

Craig,  Jerry,  I,  195 

Craig,  John,   I,  234 

Craig,  Lewis,  I,  289 

Craig's    Station,   I,   203 

Craik,   Henry   N.,   Ill,  462 

Grain,  Charles   M.,   IV,   640 

Cramer,   Harry   C,   III,   172 

Cramer,  Willard  S.,   IV,  160 

Crammond,  William  D.,  IV,  304 

Crane,  George  W.,  V,  149 

Cravens,  Timoleon   B.,  V,  128 

Crawford,  Hugh,  I,  72 

Crawford,  John  F.,  Ill,  110 

Crawford,  William  W.,  IV,  11 

Craycraft,  Fred,  IV,  216 

Creal,  Charles  F.,   Ill,  318 


Creal,  Edward  W.,  Ill,  374 

Creighton,  George  R.,   Ill,  221 

Crenshaw,   Annie,   III,  386 

Crenshaw,  Burnie  F.,  Ill,  386 

Crenshaw,  John  W.,  V,  51 

Crenshaw,  Robert,  V,  386 

Cresap,  Thomas,    I,   67,   69 

Cress,  John   M.,  IV,  423 

Cress,  William   R.,   Ill,  477 

Crew's   Station,  I,  203 

Crick,  William  W.,  V,  376 

Crim,  Frank,  V,  8 

Crim,   Mary  H.,  V,  8 

Crime,  II,  994 

Criminal  code,  II,  782 

Criminal  code,  new,  I,  314 

Criminal  laws,  I,  312 

Crimm,   Benjamin   F.,  IV,   131 

Crittenden  County,  II,  1102,   1105 

Crittenden,  George   B.,   II,   1144,   1202 

Crittenden,  John  J.,  I,  520,  561;  II,  587, 

610,  622,  637,   711,  712,   717,  732,   762, 

771,   823,  828,  831,  833,  838,  854,   1050, 

1071,  1076,  1083,  1091,  1105 
Crittenden,  William  L.,  II,  786 
Crockett,  Joseph,  I,  261,  264,  303 
Croghan,  George,  I,  51,  69,  559 
Crooks,  Samuel  O.,  V,  643 
Crosby,   Benjamin   G.,  V,  630 
Crosby,  David  A.,  IV,  289 
Cross,  Dara   E.,  Ill,   140 
Cross,  Henry  C,  V,   506 
Cross  Keys  Inn,  near  Shelbyville  (view), 

II,  1195 
Crosthwait,  William  T.,  IV,  408 
Crouch,   Samuel   E.,   V,  515 
Crow,  Aubrey   F.,  V,  445 
Crowdus,  A.  S.,  Ill,  514 
Crowe,  John  M.,  IV,  327 
Crow's    Station,    I,   203 
Cruse,  George  C,  IV,  431 
Crutcher,   Mary,  V,  287 
Cuba,  II,  785 

Cuban   Independence,   II,  786 
Culver,  J.  M.,  V,  279 
Cumberland  College,  II,  756 
Cumberland  County,  I,  55;  II,  746,  1100, 

1105 
Cumberland  Ford,   I,  60 
Cumberland  Gap,  I,  7,  60,   160,   161,  288, 

379;  II,  708,  726.  742,  1203;   (view),  II, 

1198;  in  the  Civil  War,  II,  1201 
Cumberland    Gap    Region,    manners    and 

customs  of  the  people,  II,   1197 
Cumberland  Gap  Road,  I,  489,  490,  492 
Cumberland,  Maryland,  I,  67 
Cumberland  Mountain,  I,  7,  115 
Cumberland  Road,  II,  696 
Cumberland   Presbyterian   branch,   I,  540 
Cumberland  River,  I,  7;  II,  868,  876,  1039 
Cummings,  James  F.,  V,  370 
Cummins,  Thomas  W.,  Ill,  405 
Cunagim,  William,  III,  242 
Cundifif,   Lewis  W.,  V,  300 
Curd,  John   C,  III,  388 
Curlin,  Charles  W.,  Ill,  489 
Currency,  I,  511 
Curry,  Lathey   E.,  V,  426 
Curry,  Nathaniel  L.,  V,  349 
Curtis,  Henry  E.,  IV,  150 
Curtis,  William  T.,  V,  484 
Curtis'  Station,   I,  203 


XXVI 


INDEX 


Cuttawa  River,  I,  73 

Cynthiana,  II,  734,  745,  746,  893,  903,  1194 

Dabney,  James  P.,  Ill,  423 

Dabney,  Thomas  C,  V.  388 

Dabolt,  Fred  P.,  Ill,  85 

Daily,  Henry  J.,  V.  561 

Daingerfield,   Bessie  P.,  V,  27 

Daingerdold,  Elizabeth,  V,  26 

Daingerticid,  Foxhall  A.,  V,  26 

Dale,  George  L.,  IV,  109 

Dale,  William  P.,  IV,  24 

Dalton,  Wesley  P.,  IV,  108 

Damon,  C.  C,  IV,  544 

Damon,  William  F.,  IV,  507 

Danforth,  George   L.,  IV,  5 

Daniel   I'.oone   ^lonumcnt   (view),   I,  491; 

II.   11145 
Daniel,  Dewey,  IV,  592 
Daniel,  Green  V.,  IV,  436 
Danville,   I,  203,  227,  289,  296,  298,  309, 

501,  533,  535;  II,  734,  755,  781,  901,  918, 

969 
Danville  Academy,  II,  755 
Danville    convention,    address    to    people, 

I,  229 

Danville  conventions,   I,  227 

Danville,  Fourth  convention,   I,  237 

Danville  Political  Club,  I,  254,  280,  284, 
303,  378;  II,  635 

"Dark  and  Bloody  Ground,"  I,  1 

Darnall,  Paul  D.,  Ill,  590 

Dartmouth  College  case,  I,  512 

Darwinian  theory,  II,  993 

Dasher,  George  F.,  Ill,  525 

Daugherty,  Charles  G.,  V,  171 

Daugherty,  Frank  E.,  IV,  498 

Davenport,  Edward,  III,  408 

Davidge,  Raziri,  II,  646 

Davidge,  R.   H.,  II,  631 

Davidson,  Harry  A.,  IV,  234 

Davidson,  Robert,  II,  1058 

Daviess  County,  I,  455;  II,  746,  1101, 
1105 

Daviess,  Joseph  H.,  I,  443,  444,  446,  447, 
45S,  473,  548;  career  after  Burr  trial, 
1    455;  II,  1061,  1105 

laviess'  Station,  I,  203 

I^avis,  Aniplias  W.,  V,  306 

Davis,   Briuton   B.,   IV,  26 

Davis,  C.  T.,  Ill,  217 

Davis,  E.  O.,  V,  327 

Davis,  Garrett,  II,  817,  823,  837,  856,  914, 
970,  975,  977,  978,  1084,  1091 

Davis,  George  R.,  IV,  215 

Davis,  George  W.,   IV,  215 

Davis,  Guy,  V,  439 

Davis,  James  S.,  II,  819 

Davis,  Jefferson,  II,  656,  1059;  (por- 
traits),   II,   857;    birthplace    of    (view), 

II,  886 

Davis,  John   B.,  IV,  144 
Davis,  John  D.,  V,  232 
Davis,  John  W.,   IV,  404 
Davis,  Luther  II.,  IV,  11 
Davis,  Martha  R.,  IV,  329 
Davis,  Morris   M.,   Ill,   135 
Davis  Station,  I,  203 
Davis,  William    L.,    IV,    10 
Davis,  Wniiam  T.,  V,  499 
Dawson,  Charles  I.,  IV,  328 
Dawson,  George  W.,  IV,  213 


Dawson,  Joseph   R.,  V,  559 

Dawson,  William   D.,   Ill,  431 

Day,  Douglas  I.,  V,  636 

Day,  Isaac  N.,  V,  492 

Day,  James  E.,  V,  495 

Day,  Meizi   M.,   V,  495 

Dean,  John  A.,  Ill,  315 

Dean,  Silas,  I,  167 

Deboe,  William  J.,  II,  1007,  1085,  1091 

DeBord,  James  T.  S.,  V,  274 

DeBord,  Samuel  J.,  V,  500 

DcBord,  W'illiam  M.,  V,  507 

Debt,  imprisonment  for,  II,  614 

Debtors,  relief  laws,  II,  608 

Debts,  postponement  of,   II,  609 

Degeneracy,  II,  1022 

Dcglow,  Adolphus  A.,  IV,  308 

Deibel,  Henry,  V,  528 

De  Jarnette,  A.  G.,  V,  222 

Delaney,  Ida  M.,  IV,  472 

Delany's  Ferry,  I,  309 

Delaware    Indians,    I,    17;    history    of,    I, 

22 
Democratic  clubs,   I,  318 
Democratic    party,    in    the    West,   I,   472; 

triumphs  of  1856,  II,  849 
Democratic  societies,   I,  346 
Democratic  Society  at  Lexington,  I,  330 
Democratic  Society  of   Bourbon   County, 

I,  391 

Democratic  Society   of   Kentucky,   I,  321, 

333 
Democratic  Union  Conservatives,  II,  915, 

916 
Democrats,   II,  692,  716,  908,  1000,  1014; 

in  control  in  1865,  II,  909 
Democrats  State  Convention  of  1830,  II, 

700 
Democracy  of  the  frontier,  I,  315 
Dempsey,  Lewis,  V,  568 
Denham,  Benjamin  F".,  V,   119 
Denhardt,  William  J.,  IV,  634 
Dennert,  Henry,  V,  384 
Denney,  J.   C,  V,  431 
Denny,  Coleman  P.,  IV,  506 
Denominational   schools,    II,   756 
Denton,  Albert  S.,  Ill,  120 
Denton,  Dudley   E.,  V,   192 
Denton,  Harry  M.,  Ill,  73 
Denton,  J.  Frank,  III,  463 
Denton,  John  T.,  Ill,  397 
Department  of  Geology  and  Forestry,  II, 

1034 
De  Pauw,  Charles,  I,  329 
Depp,  Candor  G.,  IV,  603 
Desha,  Joseph,  I,  561;   II,  622,  629,  630, 

655,  670,  722,  760,  112,  887,   1071,   1074 
Development,  by  pioneers,  I,  212;  of  1775- 

1792,  I,  297;  during  the  Middle  Period, 

II.  7.W;   .ilfetted   by   slavery,   II,  796 
Devcnny,  Thomas,  V,  298 

Dicken,  William  A.,  IV,  503 
Dickens,  Charles,  II,  791 
Dickenson,  Luther  T.,  IV,  569 
Dickson,  Emmett  M.,  IV,  41 
Dickson,  Henry,   I,   128,   148 
Dillard,  Ryland  T.,  II,  764 
Dineen,  Mary,  IV,  369 
Dineen,  Michael,  IV,  368 
Dingiis,  William,   V,  448 
Dinwiddie,  Robert,  I,  67 
Disasters,  II,  993 


INDEX 


xxvu 


Discovery   and   exploration   of   the    Ohio 

country,   I,  40 
Discriminations  in   rate-makings,  II,  934 
Disease,  II,  750,  993 
Dishman,  S.  B.,  V,  423 
Disloyal  element,  II,  898 
Distillery  business,  II,  988 
Distilling,  I,  503 
District  courts,  I,  311 
District  of  Kentucky,  I,  216,  226,  252 
Divorce  bills,  II,  834 
Divorces,   II,  836 
Dixon,  Archibald,  II,  735,  842,  844,  1082, 

1091;  V,  362 
Dixon,  Archibald,  M.  D.,  V,  364 
Dixon,  H.  E.,  IV,  572 
Dixon,  Lee  O.,  V,  479 
Dixon,  Robert,  V,  575 
Dixon,  Robert  W.,  Ill,  351 
Dixon,  Wiley  L.,  V,  447 
Doak,  Edward  H.,  IV,  119 
Dobbs,  Arthur,  I,  67 
Dodge,  David   M.,   IV,  289 
Dodge,  James   L.,   IV,  289 
Dodge,  Le  Vant,  III,  253 
Dodson,  Alma,   III,   585 
Dodson,  Ernest  U.,  Ill,  407 
Dodson,  George  A.,  Ill,  585 
Dodson,  George,   Sr.,   Ill,  585 
Dodson,  Marcus  A.,  V,  11 
Dodson,  Omar,  III,  584 
Dodson,  Walter  C.,  IV,   130 
Dolan,  John,   IV,   196 
Donelson,  John,  I,  54 
Doniphan,  Joseph,  I,  304 
Donnelly,  Thomas  P.,  Ill,  132 
Dooley,  Eli  B.,  V,  315 
Doom,  Ben  W.,  V,  439 
Dorsey,  John  L.,   Ill,  266 
Dorsey,  William  I.,  Ill,  598 
Dossett,  James  A.,  V,  322 
Dougherty's  Station,  I,  203 
Douglas,  Jessamine,  II,  1107 
Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  II,  844,  852 
Doup,  Daniel,  V,  628 
Douthitt,  Joseph,  III,  333 
Dover  Station,  I,  203 
Dowdall's   Station,  I,  203 
Dowdy,  Charles  L.,  Ill,  430 
Downey,  Jesse   B.,  V,  265 
Downing,  Joseph  M.,  Ill,  293 
Downing's  Station,  I,  203 
Doyle,  Arthur  L.,   Ill,  469 
Drake,  Daniel,   II,   1053,   1056 
Drake,  Ernest  B.,  Ill,  450 
Drake,  Frank   P.,  IV,   116 
Drake,  John   E.,  V,  215 
Drake,  William  D.,   IV,   118 
Drane,  Merritt,  IV,  6 
Draper  Collection,   I,   98 
Draper  Pamily,  I,  75 
Draper,  George,  I,  75 
Draper,  John,  I,  78,  91 
Draper,  Mary,  I,  58,  78,  92 
Draper's   Meadows  settlement,   I,   57,  75, 

n,  94 

Dred  Scott  Decision,  II,  852 
Drennon's   Lick,  I,  203 
Drennon  Springs,  II,  792 
Dreville,  Jules  M.,  IV,  428 
Drinking,  I,  536;  II,  788 
Drummond,   Edwin   M.,   IV,  211 


Drury,  George  L.,  Ill,   187 

Drury,  William  T.,   Ill,   160 

Ducker,  Howard  E.,  V,  220 

Duckworth,  Alvin   p.,  V,   142 

Dudley,  Ambrose,    II,    1051 

Dudley,  Benjamin  W.,  II,  751,  1051, 
10^3,  1056.  1059;  V.  627 

Dudley,  Robert  L.,  V,  541 

Dueling,    I,   478,    536;    II,   774,   836,    1054 

Duffield,  Will  W.,  IV,  158 

Duffin,  James  R.,  IV,  35 

Duke,  Basil  W.,  II,  960,  965,  1144;  (por- 
trait), II,  1149;  V,  623 

Duke,  John  W.,  V,  612 

Dulin,  Martin  V.,  V,  141 

Dunbar,  Adelma,  III,  460 

Dunbar,  William  H.,  V,  55 

Duncan,  Henry  T„  IV,  209 

Duncan,  Howard  L.,  IV,  209 

Duncan,  Stuart  E.,  V,  562 

Dunkards,  I,  58 

Dunkie,  Joseph  B.,  Ill,  212 

Dunlap,  Ernest,  III,  566 

Dunlap,  Woodford  G..  Ill,  223 

Dunmore's  War,  I,  162 

Dunn,  Isaac,  I,  272 

Durbin,  A.  M.,  IV,  164 

Durham,  Benjamin  J.,  IV,  265 

Durham,  James  E.,  V,  72 

Durham,  John  H.,  Ill,  596 

Durham,  William  A.,  IV,  286 

Dnrrett  Collection,  II,  770 

Durrett,  Reuben  T.,  II,  889 

Dutch  Station,  I,  203 

Dutton,  J.   Prank,  IV,  455 

Duval,  Alvin,  II,  911 

Duval,  B.  H.,  II,  821 

Du  Vail,  William  N.,  V,  263 

Duvall,  William  P.,  I,  552,  553 

Dycus,  Walter  G.,  Ill,  599 

Eades,  Nathan  W.,  Ill,  439 

Eads,  John   B.,  Ill,  78 

Eagles,  William  B.,  IV,  33 

Eals,  Charles  T.,  IV,  306 

Earle,  Dudley  H.,  V,  509 

Earley,  H.  Lee,  II,  1186 

Early  homes,  I,  295 

Early,  James  L.,  Ill,  349 

Early  settlements,  I,  200;  II,  1040 

Eastern   Kentucky  coal  field,   II,   1025 

Eastern  Kentucky,  extinction  of  Indian 
title,  I,  54;  first  settlers  in,  I,  148;  first 
settlement,  I,  154;  timber  resources, 
II,  747;  invaded  in  1861,  II,  858;  lands 
and  people,  II,  1026;  politics,  II,  1027; 
Union   sentiment,   II,   1204;   settlers  of, 

II,  1205;  prominent  men  of,  II,  1206 
Eastern   Kentucky  State  Normal  School, 

III,  247 

Eastern  limits  of  Kentucky,  I,  516 
Eastham,  Paul  H.,  Ill,  577 
Eastwood,  Roscoe,  V,  376 
Eblen,  Marvin  D.,  Ill,  268 
Eckler,  C.  A.,  V,  233 
Eckler,  Charles  M.,  V,  399 
Economic  conditions,  I,  245;  II,  859 
Economic    development,    I,    424;    during 

economic     progress,     II,     995;     during 

Middle  Period,  II,  739 
Economic  system  after  Civil  war,  II,  924 
Edelen,  Allen  S.,  V,  325 


INDEX 


Edelen,  Thomas  L.,  V,  160 

Edge,  Joseph  A.,  Ill,  384_ 

Editors'   Convfiitioii,   I!,  773 

Edmonson  County,  II,   1024,  1101,  1105 

Edmondson,  John,  II,   1105 

Edmunds,  John  T.,  IV,  364 

Education,  I,  174,  303,  528;  higher,  I, 
304;  classical,  I,  531;  II,  920,  989,  1049; 
free,  II,  584;  sectarian,  II,  755;  of  the 
masses,  11,  756,  784,  834;  Federal  aid 
to,  11,  759 

Educational  advancement  during  Middle 
Period,  II,  753 

Educational  awakening,  II,  990 

Educational  conditions  in  1830,  II,  761 

Educational   fund,   II,  837,  989 

Educational  System  of  1838,  II,  764 

Edwards,  Augustus  G.,  Ill,  426 

Edwards,  Ben  F.,  Ill,  245 

Edwards,  Don  C,  V,  298 

Edwards,  George   W.,   IV,  264 

Edwards,  John,  1,  234,  349;  II,  1082,  1092 

Edwards,  John  E.,  Ill,  258 

Edwards,  O.  M.,  Jr.,  IV,  176 

Eaton,  William,  I,  440 

Egelston,   Benjamin   F.,   V,  242 

Eighteenth  Amendment,  II,  992 

Eighteenth    Regiment    Infantry    Officers, 

Eighth  Regiment  Cavalry  officers,  II, 
1138 

Eighth  Regiment  Infantry  officers,  II, 
1121 

Elam,  Shelby  S.,  IV,  553 

Election,  corruption,  I,  274 

Election  law,  II,  1008 

Elections,  property  and  religious  qualifi- 
cations in,  I,  280;  balloting  in,  I,  477; 
of  1812,  I,  552;  of  1813,  I,  562;  of 
1820.  II,  629;  of  1824,  II,  629;  of  1825, 
II,  639;  of  1826,  II,  644;  of  1828,  II, 
682;  of  1832,  II,  701;  of  1834.  II,  712; 
of  1837,  II,  716;  of  1838,  II,  716;  of 
1841),  II,  716;  betting  on,  II,  778;  of 
1844,  II,  823;  of  1848,  II,  831;  re- 
form of,  II,  834,  837;  of  1851,  II,  842; 
of  1852,  II,  844;  of  1855,  II,  847;  of 
1856,  II,  849;  of  1857,  II,  849;  of  1859, 
II,  850;  of  1860,  II,  852;  of  1861,  II, 
858;  in  war  times,  II,  890,  896;  of  1861, 
II,  887;  of  1863,  II,  897;  of  1864,  II, 
897;  of  1865,  II,  908;  of  1866,  II,  911, 
914;  of  1867^  II,  914;  of  1868,  II,  916; 
of  1869,  II,  917;  of  1870,  II,  918;  of 
1871,  II,- 919,  980;  of  1875,  II,  1000; 
in  the  '808,  II,  1002;  of  1895,  II,  1006; 
of  1896.  II,  1008;  of  1899,  II,  1009;  of 
1900,  II,  1012;  recent,  II,  1015;  of 
1828,  II,  1067;  of  1831,  II,  10<.7 

Elephant  in  Lexington,  I,  532 

Eleventh  Regiment  Cavalry  officers,  II. 
1140 

Eleventh  Regiment  Infantry  officers,  II, 
1122 

Elijah  Craig's  Station,  I,  203 

Elizabethtown,    II,  893 

Elk,  I,  63 

Elk  Ford  of  Red  River,  I,  203 

Elkhorn   Baptist   Association,    I,   540 

Elkhorn   District,   II,   1020 

Ellicott,  Andrew,   I,  369 

Elliott,  Chilton  W.,  V,  7 

Elliott  County,    II,    1102,    1105 


Elliott,  Elmer  C,  IV,  305 

Elliott,  James  N.,  IV,  199 

Elliott,  John   B.,   Ill,   181 

Elliott,  John  M.,  II,  1105 

Elliott,  Richard  G.,   Ill,  288 

Ellis,  Charles  I!.,   Ill,   142 

Ellis,  Ernest  B.,   Ill,  153 

Ellis,  James  W.,  Ill,  306 

Ellis,  Louis,  IV,  49 

Ellis,  Nicholas  II.,  V,  224 

Ellis,  O.    C,   II,   1186 

Ellis,  P.  v.,  V,  65 

Ellis'  Station,  I,  203 

Ellis,  'I'homas  M.,  V,  247 

Ellis,  William,  I,  289 

Ellis,  William  T.,   Ill,  316 

Ellison,  E.  T.,   Ill,  545 

Elscy,  Charles  W.,  Ill,  68 

Elswick,  Landen  A.,  IV,  406 

Elswick,  Sam,  V,  444 

Ely,  Joe,   V,  46 

Emancipation,  I,  394;  II,  798,  800,  802 

Emancipation   convention,  II,  814 

Emancipation  movement,  climax,  II,  813 

Emancipation  party,  II,  818 

Einanciiiation  Proclamation,    II,    906 

Emancipation  society,  II,  810 

Emancipation  ticket,   II,  843 

Emancipationists,  II,  833 

EmI)argo.Act,  I,  405,  545;  II,  f06S 

Embry,  Foster   II.,  Ill,  156 

Enibry,  George  E.,  Ill,  491 

Embry,  Nannie  J.,   Ill,  605 

Emert,   Gustavus,  V,  583 

Emer,v,  Lorenzo  W.,  IV,  499 

Emigration   from   Kentucky,  II,  671 

Emigration   societies,  I,  486 

Emigrants  to  Texas,  II,  821 

Emmart,  Joseph  M.,  V,  619 

Employers'  Liability  Act,  II,  999 

Enabling  act,  third,  I,  273;  fourth,  I,  274, 

278 
Enfranchisement  of  negroes,   II,  917 
England,  hatred  of,  in  Kentucky,  I,  358; 

dislike  of,  II,  1064 
Engle,  William,  V,  590 
English  common  law,  I,  229 
English,  John   M.,   Ill,  343 
English-made  goods,  II,  594 
English's  Station,  I,  203 
Enlow,  Louise,   IV,   149 
Ennis,  William  F.,  V,  474 
Epidemics,   11.  749,  769 
Episcopal  Church,  I,  535;  (view),  II,  793 
Equality  and  democracy,  I,  280 
Era  of  Good  Feeling,  II,  581,  674 
Erie   Canal,   II,  922 
Ermert,  Carl,  IV,  219 
Ernst,  Richard  P.,  II,  1015,  1086,   1092 
Eskridge,  Jesse  R.,  Ill,  350 
Estill   County,  II,   1101,  1105 
Estill,  defeat  of,   I,   184 
Estill.  James,  I,  184;  II,  1105 
Estill.  William  R.,  IV,  95 
Estiil,  William  W.,  IV,  190 
Estill's  Station,   I,  203 
Eubank,  James  B.,  Ill,  356 
Eubank,   Roderick   M.,  Ill,  400 
Eubank,  William   Z.,  V,  303 
Evans,  Byrne  A.,  Ill,  540 
Evans,  Charles  O.,  Ill,  54 
Evans,  Clarence  G.,  IV,  371 


INDEX 


XXIX 


Evans,  Cornelius  L.,  IV,  430 

Evans,  Dorothy,  IV,  279 

Evans,  Frank  R.,  Ill,  108 

Evans,  James  O.,  V,  420 

Evans,  James  R.,  IV,  278 

Evans,  L.  S.,  IV,  450 

Evans,  Thomas  D.,  V,  2S0 

Evans,  Walter,  II,  1002 

Evclcth,  Charles  E.,  IV,  140 

Evening  school,  I,  531 

Evcrly,  George  L.,  V,  635 

Evcrsole,  Farmer  J.,  IV,  522 

Eversole,  Henry  C.,  IV,  441 

Eversole,  John  C,  V,  632 

Eversole,  William  C.^  IV,  510 

Evolution,  II,  993 

Ewalt,  Joseph  H.,  Ill,  487 

Ewen.  William  R.,  Ill,  313 

Ewing,   Benjamin  F.,  Ill,  71 

Ewing,  John  H.,  V,  583 

Ewing,  Samuel  R.,  IV,  130 

Ewing,  William   M.,  V,   560 

Ewing,  Young,  II,  642 

Excise  taxes,  I,  405 

Expatriation  Act,  II,  909,  910 

Expatriation  law,  II,  890 

Expedition  of  1650,  I,  41 

Exploration  by  Christopher  Gist,  I,  67 

Exploration   of    Dr.   Thomas   Walker,    I, 

57 
Ezzell,  William  E.,  V,  614 

Factories  in  1810,  I,  505 

Fairchild,  Enoch,  I,  128 

Fairchild,  John  R.,  V,  576 

Fairleigh,  T.  B.,  II.  905 

Fairs,  II,  740,  791 

Fallam,  Robert,  I,  44 

Fallen  Timbers,  I,  354 

Falls   City,   II,  926 

Falls  of  the  Ohio,  I,  49,  177,  178,  182, 
203,  217 

Falmouth,  II,  611 

Falwell,  Reuben  H.,  V,  87 

Family  celebrations,  I,  527 

Fannin,  Bryant  B.,  Ill,  446 

Fannin,  Charles  V.,  Ill,  447 

Farbach,  Henry  J.,  Ill,  143 

Faris,  Alexander  A.,   IV,  398 

Farley,  Joseph  I.,  Ill,  31 

Farm  products,  II,  594,  987 

Farmer,  Henry  H.,  IV,  254 

Farmer,  James  T.,  Ill,  353 

Farmer,  L.    Irvin,   V,  209 

Farmer,  William  S„  IV,  370 

Farmers,  II,  920 

Farmers  and  Federal  armies,  II,  878 

Farmers  organizations,  II,  741 

Farnsley,  Burrel  H.,  Ill,  370 

Faull,  William  J.,  V,  497 

Faurest,  Louis  A.,  Ill,  345 

Fayette  County,  I,  74,  186,  201,  237,  263, 
290,  395,  562;  II,  816,  844,  1099,  1105 

Fayette  County  Agricultural  and  Me- 
chanical Association,  II,  741 

Feagans'  Station,  I,  203 

Feather,  Harry,  V,  292 

Featherston,  Milo  G.,  Ill,  400 

Featherston,  Steve  B.,  Ill,  298 

Federal  Banks,  II,  650 

Federal  Courts,  II,  651 


I'ederal   government,   western   discontent 

with,   I,  348 
l'"edcral  interference     in     Kentucky,     II, 

906 
Federal  occupation,  II,  888 
Federal  relations   of   1798-99,    I,   403;   II, 

672 
Federal  taxation,  I,  318 
Federalist  party,  I,  261,  473;  discredited, 

I,  422;    grievances   against,    I,   470;    II, 
674,   1064 

Federalists,  II,  1061 

Fee,  John  G.,  II,  814,  819 

I-'eeback,  Green,  V,  14 

Feese,  R.  M.,  V,  193 

Fegenbush,  Edward  J.,  IV,  336 

Feix,  Joseph,  IV,  304 

Felix,  Alma  L.,  IV,  347 

Felix,  Camilla   H.,  Ill,  247 

Felix,  John  I.,  IV,  346 

Felix,  William  H.,  Ill,  247 

Feltner,  James  M.,  Ill,  506 

Felts,  Ernest  J.,  V,  257 

Fenley,  Oscar,  IV,  55 

Ferguson,  Charles,  IV,  559 

Ferguson,  Edward  A.,  II,  953 

Ferguson,  F".  W.,  V,  366 

Ferguson,  John  K.,  V,  333 

Ferguson,  Robert  H.,  Ill,  287 

Ferguson,  Will  B.,  IV,  597 

Fessenden,  William   P.,  II,  788 

Fetter,  George  G.,  IV,  34 

Feuds,  II,  1013,  1027,  1204 

Ficklin,  Joseph,  II,  762 

Field,  Charles   W.,   II,   1144 

Field,  John  H.,  Ill,  375 

Field,  William,  I,  194 

Fields,  David  D.,  Ill,  583 

Fields,  Felix  G.,  Ill,  604 

Fields,  R.  Monroe,  V,  558 

Fields,  L.  Wilson,  III,  83 

Fields'  Station,  I,  203 

Fifteenth  Amendment,  II,  916,  968 

Fifteenth   Regiment   Cavalry   officers,   II, 

1142 
Fifteenth  Regiment  Infantry  officers,  II, 

1124 
Fifth  convention,   I,  239,  243 
Fifth  Regiment  Cavalry  officers,  II,  1137 
Fifth  Regiment  Infantry  officers,  II,  1119 
Fifty-fifth  Regiment  Infantry  officers,  II, 

1134 
"Fifty-four  Forty  or  Fight,"  II,  823 
Fifty-fourth    Regiment   Infantry    officers, 

II,  1134 

Fifty-second  Regiment  Infantry  officers, 
II,   1134 

Fifty-third  Regiment  Infantry  officers, 
II,  1134 

Figg,  Lee  G.  R.,  Ill,  369 

Fillmore,  Millard,  II,  847 

Filson  Club,  The,  V,  615 

Filson,  John,  I,  34,  287,  305;  (portrait),  I, 
35 

Finances,  I,  298,  511;  II,  595,  921;  at  be- 
ginning of  Civil  War,  II,  866 

Fincastle  County,  II,  1099 

Findlay,  John,  I,  160,  161 

Fink,  Albert,  II,  929 

Finley,  John,  I,  200;  II,  1035 

Finley,  Samuel,   I,  306 


XXX 


INDEX 


Finn's  Station,  I,  203 

First  agricultural  associations,  II,  740 

First   and    Second    Enabling    acts,    I,   235 

First  bank,  I,  299,  513 

First  Bessemer  Iron,  II,  746 

First  boat-load  of  coal,  II,  746 

l~irst  book  on  Kentucky,  I,  287 

First  Hourbon  whiskey,  I,  504 

F'irst  brick   house   built    in    Kentucky,    I, 

210 
First   Burley  pool,  II,  1181 
First  Census,  I,  292,  485 
First   church   congregation   in    Kentucky, 

I.  534 
First    company    for    rendering    a    stream 

navigable,  I,  494 
l-'irstt   Constitution  of   Kentucky,   II,   1052 
First  court  held  in  Kentucky,  I,  217 
First  crop  of   Burley   in  the   Blue   Grass 

country,  II,  1182 
First   educational   requirement   for   office, 

I,  400 

First  Enabling  Act,  I,  236 

First  Episcopal  Church  in  Kentucky,  II, 

793 
First  European  visitors,  I,  160 
First  tire  ordinance,  I,  295 
I'"irst   fort    in    Kentucky,   I,  210 
I-'irst  general    tobacco    inspection    law    in 

Kentucky,  II,  1165 
First   geological  survey,  II,  747 
F'irst  Governor,  I,  307 
First  gubernatorial  election   under  negro 

sutTrage,  II,  919 
First    Indian    depredation    west    of    the 

Alleghany,  I,  78 
First   institution   of  higher  learning  west 

of  the  Alleghanies,  II,  1049 
First     Kentucky     Brigade,     commanding 

officers  of,   II,   1144 
First  land  oflice,  I,  167 
First  leaf  tobacco  fair,  II,  1172 
First  legislation  on  slaves,  I,  541 
First  Legislature,  I,  308 
First   log   cabin    in    Louisville    (view),    I, 

217 
First  loose-leaf  sales  warehouse,  II,  1181 
First  manufacturing,   I,  301 
First  marriage    in    Mississippi   Valley,    I, 

58 
First  merchandise  stores,  II,  1172 
First   Methodist   Episcopal  Church  build- 
ing in  Kentucky,  I,  207 
First  occupying  claimant  law,  II,  659 
First  orchards,  II,  1172 
First  person    to   shut   store   on   the   Sab- 
bath Day,  I,  294 
First  pioneer     government     beyond     the 

Alleghanies,   I,  165 
First    popular   contest    in    a    Presidential 

election.  11,  689 
First  popular    election    of    United    States 

Senators,  II,  1015 
First  Presbyterian  minister,   II,   1050 
First  President  from  Kentucky,  II,  831 
First  professor  of  medicine  in  the  West, 

II,  1052 

F'irst  race  course,  I,  295 
First  railroad,  II,  730 
First  Regiment  Cavalry  Officers,  II,  1135 
First  Regiment      Infantry     officers,      II, 
1118 


First  regular    general    camp-meeting,    I, 

538 
l'"irst  regular  post  road,  I,  490 
i'irst  Republican  daily  newspaper,  II,  919 
First  Republican   governor,    II,    1007 
First  revenue  bill,   I,  308 
First  schools,   I,  304 
First  settled   place,   I,   113 
F'irst  settlement  in   Eastern  Kentucky,  1, 

136,   154 
First    settlements    made     in     Big    Sandy 

Valley,   I,  148 
First  settlers,    in    Eastern    Kentucky,    I, 

110 
I'irst  state  convention,  II,  685 
l'"irst  state  courts,  I,  310 
I'irst  state  to  care  for  insane,  II,  781 
First  steamboats,  I,  501;  II,  721 
First   stores   in   Kentucky,   I,   302 
First  superintendent  of  schools,  II,  764 
First  Supreme  Court  of  Kentucky,  I,  217 
First  surveys,  I,  212 
First  three   conventions,    I,   226 
First  tobacco  exports,  II,   1172 
First  towns,  I,  217 
First  watermill  in  America,  I,   10 
First  water-works,  I,  527 
First  white  woman  in   Kentucky,  I,  75 
Fish,  Carlos  A.,  Ill,  461 
Fish,  Egbert  T.,  IV,  275 
Fishback,  James,  II,  1053 
Fishback,  John  J.,   Ill,  336 
Fisher,  Charles  G.,  IV,  229 
-Fisher,  Darwin   E.,   IV,  244 
Fisher,  Frank  M.,  V,  158 
Fisher,  Henry  W.,  Ill,  580 
Fisher,  Jack  E.,  V,  83 
Fisher's  Garrison,  I,  203 
Fisk,  John  F.,  II,  891 
Fister,  John  P.,  IV,  125 
Fister,  William  M.,  IV,  128 
Fitch,  H.  D.,  V,  263 
Fitch,  John,  I,  500 
Fitzgerald,  Edward  S.,  Ill,  280 
Fitzgerald,  John  J.,  Ill,  399 
Fitzpatrick,  John  D.,  IV,  635 
Flanagan,  William  G.  D.,  V,  436 
Flatboating,  I,  500 
Flatboats,  II,  723 
Flat  Gap,  I,  147 
Flat  Rock  ford,  I,   148 
Fleming    County,   I,   203;    II,   750,    1100, 

1105 
Fleming,  John,  II,  1105 
Fleming,  William,  I,  216 
Flemingsburg,  II,  611 
Fleming's  Station,  I,  203 
Flesher,  William  J.,  IV,  318 
Fletcher,  Moses,   I,  126 
Flint,  Abram,  I,  126 
Flint,  Timothy,   I,  219;  II,  739,  788 
Flora  Mountain,  II,  1025 
Florence,  Horton  D.,  IV,  242 
Florer's  Station,  I,  203 
Flournoy,  I-'rancis,  I,  431 
Flournoy,  Landon   C,  III,  159 
Flournoy,  Matthew,  II,  712 
Flowers,  James  A.,  IV,  511 
Flowers,  John  W.,  Ill,  402 
Flowers,  Woodruff  J.,   Ill,  402 
Floyd,  I,  184,   112;  II,  1101,  1105 
Floyd,  David,  I,  454 


INDEX 


XXXI 


Floyd,  Davis,  I,  448 

Floyd,  John,   I,    162,    187,   217;    11,    1049, 

1105;   V,  627 
Floyd's  Station,   I,  203 
Flutmus,  Herbert   K.,  Ill,  209 
Flynn,  Ewing  A.,  IV,  308 
Foley,  Jacob  S.,   IV,   134 
Foley,  Philip   N.,  IV,  429 
Foley,  Sanford,  IV,   134 
Fontainbleau,  I,  203 
Forbes,  Theodore   B.,  V,  237 
Forbes,  William  H.,  Ill,  182 
Forcebill,  II,  70S 
Forcht,  Fred,  IV,  55 
Ford,  Ezra  W.,   Ill,  489 
Ford,  Robert  L.,  Ill,  284 
Ford,  Wood  H.,  V,  611 
Foreign  immigrants,  II,  995 
Forests,  II,  997 
Forks  of  Dick's   River,  I,  203 
Forks  of  Elkhorn   Settlement,  I,  203 
Forman,  Thomas  T.,  Ill,  382 
Forrest's  Cavalry  Command,  II,  1153 
Forrest's  raiders,  II,  880 
Forsythe,  Fred  A.,   Ill,  377 
Fort  Boonesborough,   II,  1040 
Fort  Defiance,   I,  388 
Fort  Donelson,   II,  869,  888,  899,  900 
F'ort  Finney,  I,  203 
Fort  Greenville,  I,  389 
Fort  Henry,  II,  869,  888 
Fort  Henry,  Petersburg,    Virginia,    I,   43 
Fort  Jefferson,  I,   182,  290 
Fort  Meigs,  I,  558 
Fort  Nelson,  I,   184,   186,  208 
Fort  of  Harman's   Colony,  I,   154 
Fort  Recovery,  I,  388 
Fort  Stanwix,    council    of    1768,    I,    51; 

treaty  of,  I,   163,  168 
Fort  Stephenson,  I,  559 
Fortieth  Regiment    Infantry    officers,    II, 

1132 
Forts  in  Revolutionary  war,   I,   174 
F"orty-eighth  Regiment   Infantry  officers, 

II,   1133 
Forty-fifth     Regiment     Infantry    officers, 

II,   1133 
Forty-ninth    Regiment    Infantry    officers, 

II,  1133 
Forty-seventh     Regiment     Infantry     offi- 
cers, II,  1133 
Forty  Thieves,  II,  598 
Forwood,   William  S.,   Ill,  268 
Foster,  Alexander  C,   IV,  271 
Foster,  Elizabeth  D.  G..  IV,  377 
Foster,  Harrison   G.,   IV,   377 
Foster,  Lloyd  E.,  V,  133 
Fourteenth  Amendment,  II,  915,  916 
Fourteenth  colony,   I,   164,   169 
Fourteenth     Regiment     Cavalry     officers, 

II,   1141 
Fourteenth    Regiment    Infantry    officers, 

II,  1123 
F'ourth  Convention,  I,    235 
Fourth  of  July,   I,  526 
Fourth  Regiment  Cavalry  officers,  II, 

1136 
Fourth  Regiment  Infantry  officers,  II, 

1119 
Fowler,  Earl  L.,  Ill,  153 
Fowler,  Joshua,  I,  270 
Fowler,  William,  III,  415 


Fox,  Arthur,  I,  210 

Fox,  David  C,  IV,  639 

Fox,  F.   T.,  II,   1002 

Fox,  Henry  I.,   IV,  9 

Fox,  James   E.,  V,  104 

Fox,  John,  Jr.,  II,  1059 

Fox,  Letcher   R.,  V,  375 

Fox's  Station,  I,  203 

Foy,  William  S.,  V,  278 

Fraim,  C.  H.,  IV,  601 

France,  II,  1064 

Franchise,  I,  280 

Francis,  Ira  J.,  V,  633 

Francis,  William,  V,  111 

Frankfort,  I,  73,  309,  457,  488,  492,  514, 
527.  532.  550,  556;  II,  610,  676,  722,  745, 
786,  892,   1006,   1009,  1189,   1196 

Frankfort  Academy,  II,  754 

F"ranklin  Academy,   I,   528 

Franklin,  Charles   G.,  V,  394 

Franklin  County,  II,  844,   1100,   1106 

Franklin  County  Agricultural  Society,  II, 
741 

Franks,  Edward  T.,  Ill,  323 

Eraser,  Vert    C,    IV,   416 

Frazer,  T.  Atchison,  V,  373 

Frazer,  Will   E.,   IV,  405 

Free  coinage,   II,  987 

Free     coinage  of  silver,   II,   1006 

Free  negroes,  I,  541;   II,  798 

Free  silver,   II,   1008 

Free  silver  question,  II,   1007 

Freedman's    Bureau,   II,  912,  913,  920 

Freeman,  W.  B.,  IV,  238 

Freight  embargoes,    II,   947 

Freight  rates,    II,   933,   964 

Freis,  John,   IV,  228 

Fremont,  John    C,   II,  847 

French  Broad,  I,  6 

French  enterprise,  I,  336 

French  Family,  III,   290 

French,  Tames  B.,  Ill,  100 

French  Lick,  I,  277 

French  Lick  Springs,  II,   1022 

French,  Lydia   B.   I.,  Ill,  100 

French  Party,  I,  363 

I<"rench   Revolution,   I,  319 

French,  Richard,  II,  717 

French  scheme  against  Louisiana,  I,  318 

French  traders,  I,  160 

Frenchtown,  battle  of,  I,  555 

Friends  of  Humanity,  I,  543 

Fritz,  Conrad,  III,  60 

Froman,  Hiram  M.,  IV,  204 

Frontier  Conditions,  II,  789 

Frontier  democracy,   I,  479 

Frontier  life  and  customs,  I,  174 

Frontier  of  1768,  I,  54 

Frontier,  passing  of,   I,  524 

Frontier  protection,      I,    377 

Frost,   Margaret    R.,   IV,   596 

Fruit,  Samuel  T.,  IV,  49 

Fry,  Joshua,  I,  306 

Fry,  S.  S.,  II,  905 

Fryer,  Louis   P.,  V,  221 

Fugazzi  School  of  Business,  III,  344 

Fugitive  Slave   Law,  II,  800 

Fugitive  slaves,  II,  804,  807 

Fuller,  George  T.,  V,  225 

Fulton  County,  II,  1102,  1106 

Fulton,  Gavin,  III,  377 

Fulton,  Samuel,   I,  329,  334 


XXXll 


INDEX 


Fuqua,  Lindsay   H.,  V,    161 
Furber,  Charles   S.,   IV,  537 
1-iirnaces,  ancient,  I,  115 
Furnish,  Lewis   B.,   IV,  297 
I'ur  trade,   I,   160 
Fiison,  Henry   H.,  IV,  95 

Gabhart,  Winfield  S.,  V,  574 

Gaddie,  William   H.,  Ill,  512 

Gaffin,  Lewis  M.,  IV,  609 

Gaines,  Jno.  B.,  V,  462 

Gaines.   lolin    \V.,    1  lojikin^ville,    IV,  93 

Gaines,  John  W.,  V.  309 

Gaines,  P.   B.,  II,   1186 

Gaitskill,  M.  A.,  Ill,  531 

Gallatin   County,  11,  1100,  1106 

Gait  House,  II,  791 

Ganibill,  Edward  L.,  V,  630 

Gamblin,  Theodore   L.,  V,  276 

Gamblin,  Theophilus   H.,  Ill,  536 

Gambling,  I.   536;    II,  778 

Ganficld,  William  A.,  Ill,  413 

Gannon,  Paul  P.,  III.  440 

Gardner,  Bunk,   V,   261 

Gardner,  Ed,  V,  260 

Gardner,  Francis  N.,  V,  408 

Gardner,  John   B.,   V,  97 

Gardner,  Thomas  R.,  IV,  123 

Gardner.  William   E.,   Ill,   166 

Gardner,  William   K.,   V,  409 

Garfield,  James  A.,  II,  977 

Garnctt,  James,  III,  371 

Garnett,  Larkin,  IV,  283 

Garnett.  May,    IV,  299 

Garr,  Charles  C,  III,  387 

Garrard  County,    I,    200,    203;    II,    1100, 

1106 
Garrard,  James,  I,  234,  270,  284,  303,  316, 

412,  415,  500,   540;   II,  582,   1052,   1071, 

1073,  1106 
Garrard,  James  H.,  II,  849 
Garrard,  T.  T..  II,  1206 
Garrard's  Station,  I,  203 
Garrcd,  Arnoldus  J.,   Ill,  572 
Garrett,  H.  Green,  IV,  210 
Garrison.  Sherwood   P.,   IV,  489 
Gartrell,  Ethelbert   H.,   Ill,   580 
Garth,  G.  E.,  V,  9 
Gary,  Claudy   E.,  V,  429 
Gasper  Kiver  Church,  I,  538 
Gasser,  Joseph,    IV,  294 
Gatewood,  Lawless   D.,   IV.  611 
Gatcwood,  Robert  C,  V,  32 
Gatlin,  David  W..  IV,  627 
Gatton,  R.  Harper,  V,  493 
Gay.  James  L.,   III.  So5 
(iay,  John   II.,  Ill,  559 
Gay,  John   L.,   Ill,  254 
Gay,  John  T.,  Ill,  570 
Gay,  Robert   H.,   Ill,  571 
Gayle,  James,  V,   150 
Gayle,  John  W.,  IV,  372 
Geary,  John   A.,   IV,   172 
Geisen,  J.  Robert,  IV,  224 
Genet,  I,  319,  322,  325 
^-Geological  survey,  II.  741,  747,  995,  997 
Geology  of  Eastern   Kentucky,  I,  115 
Geology  of  Kentucky,   II,    1017 
Georgetown,  I,  204,  207,  301,  320,  488,  504. 

534;  II.  745.  822 
Georgetown  College.  II,  756 
Gerteiscn,  Joseph   M.,  Ill,  73 


Gess,  Isaac,  IV,  32 

Gess,  Mary   C,   IV,  32 

Gibbons,  James,  IV,  272 

Gibbons,  Kate,   IV,  272 

Gibney,  Virgil  P.,  II,  1059 

Gibson,  Duncan,   IV,  376 

Gibson  family,  II,  1199 

Gibson,  Finley    F.,    Ill,   147 

Gibson,  James  J.,  V,  600 

Gibson.  John,   I,  17 

Gibson,  Timothy  T.,   IV,  451 

GifTord,  Morris  B.,  Ill,  139 

Gilbert,  Abijah  B.,  V,  168 

Gilbert,  E.  A.,  II,  896 

Gilbert,  Harry  T.,  V,  631 

Gilbert,  Howard  S.,  V,  319 

Gilbert,  James  M.,  V,  231 

Gilbert,  John  W.,  V,  170 

Gilbert,  Jonas  S.,  IV,  253 

Gilbert,  Maurice   E.,   V,  339 

Gilbert's  Creek,  I,  534 

Giles  Jacob,  L  67 

Gill,  Ben   F.,  Ill,  513 

Gill,  Coleman  E.,  IV,  565 

Gilliam,  John  H.,  Ill,  470 

Gilliam,  William  B.,  IV,  564 

Gilliland,  B.  F.,  Ill,  433 

Gilmer's  Lick,  I,  204 

Gilmore's  Station,   I,  204 

Gilson,  Ewing  P.,  Ill,  431 

Gilson,  Edward  P.,   Ill,  431 

Gingles,  Charles  O.,  Ill,  508 

Ginocchio,  Frank  S.,  Ill,  269 

Ginseng,  I,  500 

Giovannoli,  Harry,   III,  352 

Girty,  Simon.  I,  184 

Gist,  Christopher,  I,  68,  91,  137;  II,  1169 

Givens,  Henry,   III,  123 

Givens'  Station,  I,  204 

Glasgow,  II,  893 

Glasgow  Times,   III,  547 

Glass,  Seth   A.,   Ill,   141 

Glasscock,  James   H.,  V,  69 

Cleaves,  James  W.,  V,  317 

Glenn,  John  S.,  Sr.,  Ill,  113 

Glover,  James  W.,  V,  155 

Glover's  Station,  I,  204 

Goad,  William  B.,  Ill,  203 

Goar's  Station,  I,  204 

Goble,  Elizabeth,  V,  336 

Goble,  James,   V,  336 

Goble,  Monte  J.,  II,  1185;  V,  618 

Godbey,  Duke  M.,  Ill,  499 

Godson.  Richard,  V,  599 

Goebel,  William,     II,     1008.     1009,     1072, 

1080;   assassination  of,   II,   1010 
Goebel   Flection   Law.   II.   10()8,   1012 
Goebel  Staluc,  II,  1012 
Goff,  Strauder  D..  IV,  179 
Cioldbcrg,  Aaron,   IV,  279 
Goldberg,  Moses,  V,   194 
Gold  Standard   Democrats,   II,  1007 
Good  Templars.  II,  992 
Goode,  John   M.,    Ill,  94 
Goodpaster,  Joseph    B..   V,   563 
Goodpastcr.  Sherman,  V,   179 
Goodson,  Joseph  A.,   IV,   159 
Goodwin,  Asa   F.,  V,  368 
Goodwin,  Benjamin  B.,  IV,  9 
Goodwin,  Milton  J.,  Ill,  559 
Goodwin.  Thomas  C,  IV,  9 
Goodwin's  Station,   I,  204 


INDEX 


XXXUl 


Gordon,  John,   I,  193 

Gordon,  Mitchell,   IV,  300 

Gordon,  William  T.,  IV,  400 

Gordon's  Station,  I,  204 

Gore,  Benjamin  E.,  IV,  407 

Gorham,  Boswell,  IV,  208 

Gosnell,  George  W.,  V,  27 

Gosney,  Edward  H.,  IV,  490 

Gossett,  William  L.,  Ill,  S21 

Gouging,  I,   295 

Gourlay,  John,  III,  176 

Governor,  I,  282,  390,  400;  office  of,  I, 
315;  election  of  1816,  II,  582;  succes- 
sion to  office,  II,  586;  term  of  office, 
II,  836 

Governors  of  Kentucky,  II,  1071;  Biog- 
raphies of,  II,  1072 

Gowdy,  Edwin  L.,  V,  102 

Graddy  Family,  III,  607 

Graddy  William  L.,  Ill,  326 

Graddy,  W.  Henry,  III,  607 

Grady,  James   N.,  V,  143 

Gragg,  Charles  L.,  V,  210 

Graham,  Christopher,  I,   113 

Graham,  C.   E.,  V,  50 

Graham,   Edward,  I,  532 

Graham,  Hubert  D.,  V,  471 

Graham,  James,   I,   194 

Graham,  J.   H.,   IV,  381 

Graham,  John    L.,    Ill,   60 

Grand  Ball  of   1834.   II,   1193 

Grange,  The,  II,  987 

Grant,  John,    I,  204 

Grant,  John   D.,   IV,  638 

Grant,  Samuel,  II,   1106 

Grant  County,  1,  201;  II,  11(11,  1106 

Grant's  Lick,  I,  204 

Grant's  Station,    I,    204 

Grape-growing,    I,   499 

Grassham,   K.  O..  V,  360 

Gratz,  Benjamin,  I,  68;  II,  829 

Gratz,  Bernard,   V,  629 

Gratz,  Michael    B.,   V.    630 

Gravely,  William   E.,   Ill,   35 

Graves,  Benjamin,    II,    1106 

Graves  County,  II,  593,  1101,   1106 

Graves,  Edward   G.,   IV,  637 

Graves,  George  K.,  Ill,  355 

Graves,  George  O.,  Ill,  483 

Graves,  Jack   C,   III,  576 

Graves,  Jacob  H.,  Ill,  216 

Graves,  Jacob  H.,  Jr.,  Ill,  217,  342 

Graves,  Pellie  G.,  IV,  494 

Gray,  Elmer  T.,  Ill,  215 

Gray,  James   L.,  Ill,  64 

Gray,  John    I.,   IV,  303 

Gray,  M.  A.,  IV,  459 

Gray,  Thomas  P.,  Ill,  36 

Gray,  William  W.,  IV,  353 

Grayson  County,    II,    1101,    1106 

Grayson,  Frederick  W.  S..  II,  646 

Grayson,  William,    II,    1106 

Great  Cave,    I,    128 

Great  Commoner,  II,  841 

Great  Crossings    Station,    I,   204 

Great  Pacificator,   II,  839 

Great  Revival,  I,  536,  539 

Great  Sandy  Creek,  I,  127 

Great  War,  II,  1015 

Greathouse,  William   W.,    IV,   34 

Green   County,   I.  489;   II,   1100,   1106 

Green,  George   C,  III,  267 


Green,  John,   II,  800 

Green  Lewis  W.,  II,  771 

Green  River,  I,  494,  523,  596,  887 

Green  River  country,  I,  488;  II,  722 

Green  River  Debt,  I,  489 

Green  River  District,  II,  1178 

Green  River  Island,  II,  1000 

Green  River  Knob,   II,  1028 

Green  River  lands,   II,  658 

Green  River  Lock,    II,    899 

Green  River  region,  I,  537;  II,  690 

Green,  Willis,   I,  234 

Green  vs.  Biddle,  II,  661,  664 

Green-backs,   II,  987 

Greenbrier  River,   I,   65 

Greene,  Lucien  D.,  Ill,  72 

Greensburg,  I,  204;  II,  611 

Greenup,  Christopher,    I.    234,    254,    264, 

300,  303,  311,  385,  431,  483,  494,  553;  II, 

1050,  1071,  1073,  1106 
Greenup  County,  II,  745,  1101,  1106 
Greenup,  George  W.,  IV,  605 
Greer,  Creed   C,   IV,   607 
Greer,  George  W.,  V,  41 
Greer,  Marquis  de  L.,  V,  583 
Greer,  Paul  A.,  Ill,  542 
Gregory,  Joseph   R.,   Ill,   508 
Gregory,  William  V.,  Ill,  368 
Grehan,  Enoch,   IV,  106 
Griffin,  Michael   F.,   IV,   324 
Griffith,  Clinton,    III,   280 
Griffith,  Daniel   M.,    Ill,   40 
Griffith,  Dr.  Daniel  M.,  Ill,  297 
Griffith,  David  W.,  V,  638 
Griffith,  Hubbard  F.,  Ill,  68 
Griffith,  Jacob  W.,  V,  639 
Griffith,  Josh  T.,  Ill,  41 
Griffith,  William  R.,  Ill,  229 
Griffiths,  Maurice,   I,  36 
Grigsby,  William   F.,  V,   191 
Grimes,  John   H.,   IV,  396 
Grimes,  J.  Frank,  IV,  530 
Grinstead,  James  F.,   Ill,   143 
Grizzell,  Raymond  F.,   Ill,  407 
Gronnerud,  Paul,  IV,  610 
Grooms,   Hugh   L.,  IV,  496 
Gross,  Amerida  M.,  V,  587 
Grubbs,  Chades  S.,  IV,  50 
Grubbs,  Edward  L.,  V,  455 
Grubbs,  Rodman,   IV,  51 
Grubb's  Station,  I,  204 
Grundy,  Andrew  J.,  V,  66 
Grundy,  Felix,   I,  459,  480,  520,  549 
Grizzell,  Raymond  F..  Ill,  407 
(Gubernatorial  election,  new,  II,  590 
Gubernatorial  succession,  II,  580 
Guenther,  John  E.,  IV,  298 
Guerilla  depredations,  II,  880,  894 
Guerilla  warfare,   II,  893,  903 
Guerillas,  II,  898 
Guess,  Learner  E.,  IV,  394 
Gufify,  A.  C,  III,  550 
Gimther,  Ferdinand  T.,  Ill,  283 
Gunther,  Sophia  S.,  Ill,  283 
Guthrie,  James,  II,  707,  712,  736,  762,  817, 
835,  844,  909,  916,  937,  941,  1084,  1092; 
V,  20 
Guthrie,  James  G.,  II,  1092 
Guthrie,  Robert  R.,  V,  348 
Guyandotte  River,  I,  13  . 

Gwin,   Earl   S.,   IV.  63 


INDEX 


Habeas  corpus,  II,  896,  906. 

Iladden,  Sally   A.,   IV,  21 

Haehnle,  Charles,  III,   120 

Hagan,  Edward  L.,  Ill,  319 

Hagaii,  Robert  M.,  Ill,  65 

Hagan,  Sylvester,  III,  65 

Hagan,  William  B.,  V,  534 

llagcr.   Lawrence  W.,   Ill,  311 

Hager,  Samuel  W.,  Ill,  311 

Haggan,  Henry  C,  IV,  432 

Haggard,  Audley,  V,  330 

Haggard,  Basil,  V,  534 

Haggard,  Clay  F.,  Ill,  42 

Haggard,  Edward  W.,  IV,  85 

Haggard,  Frank  H.,  Ill,  307 

Haggard,  Jeptha  J.,  V,  263 

Haggard,  John   R.,     IV,  80 

Haggin,  James,    II,   631 

Haggin,  James   B.   A.,   IV,  569 

Haggin,  John,   I,   210 

Haggin's  Station,  I,  204 

Hagins,  J.  Wise,  III.  611 

Hagyard,  Edward  W.,  IV,  85 

Hagyard,  John  R.,  IV,  80 

Haldeman,  Annie    B.,    Ill,    12 

Haldeman,  John   A.,   Ill,    12 

Haldeman,  Walter   N.,  Ill,  2 

Haldeman,  William    B.,   Ill,    12 

Hale,  Ben  G.,  Jr.,  Ill,  450 

Hale,  Ben   G.,  Sr.,  Ill,  449 

Hale,  H.  S.,  IV,   117 

Hale,  Jerome  S.,  Ill,  227 

Hale,  Richard  L.,  V,  13 

Hale,  William  L.,  IV,  392 

Haley,  Jesse  J.,   IV,  239 

Haley,  William  W.,  IV,  214 

Hall,  A.  D.,   IV,  545 

Hall,  A.  L.,  Ill,  167 

Hall,  Asa  M.,  IV,  169 

Hall.  Benjamin   W.,  IV,  632 

Hall,  James,   I,   534 

Hall,  Lafayette  B.,  Ill,  167 

Hall,  Malone,   III,   602 

Hall,  W.   P.,   IV,  393 

Hall,  Whitsitt,  V,  255 

Hall,  William  K.,  V,  289 

Hallev,  Henry  S.,  II,  1172 

Halle'v,  John,  II,  1171 

Halley,  John,  Journal  of,  II,  1173 

Hallcy.  Samuel    II.,    11,    1162,   1172,    1183, 

11.%;  Ill,  571 
llalmhubcr,  George,  III,  455 
Ham,  William  P.,  V,  608 
Hambv,  Frazier  L.,  IV,  81 
Hammond,  A.  B.,  V,  361 
Hammond,  Earl  A.,   Ill,  451 
Hammond,  William   R.,   V,  213 
Hamilton,  Henry  W.,  V,  79 
Hamilton,  Joseph,   I,  443 
Hamilton,  Thomas   P.,  V,  78 
Hampton,  Jesse   B.,  Ill,  601 
Hanbury,  Capcl,   I,  67 
Hanbury,  John,   I,  67 
Hancock,  Arthur    B.,    IV,   290 
Hancock  County,  II,  971,  1101,  1106 
Hancock,  Nannie,   V,   328 
Handley,  LeBlonde,  III,  318 
Hanes,  Lon  D.,  V,  472 
Hank,  Gus  E.,  V,  338 
Hankins,  Thomas  M.,  Ill,  136 
llankins,  William   B.,   IV,  475 
Hankla.   Lamont,  III,   516 


Hanks.  John,   I,   155 

Hanly,  John  H.,  Ill,  159 

Hanna,  William  C,  IV,  350 

Hanses,  Alfred,    V,    520 

Hanson,  Charles  IL,  II,  905 

Hanson,  Charles  S.,   II,  903 

Hanson,  Roger  W.,  II,  1144 

Harbeson,  Matthew  L.,  Ill,   101 

Harbeson's  Station,    I,  204 

Harbison,  Shelby   T.,    Ill,    133 

Hardesty,  Frank  J.,   V,   380 

Hardesty,  George  L.,  Ill,  264 

Hardesty,  T.   H.,  V,  76 

Hardin,  Benjamin,   II,  593,  622,  637,  771, 

1076;  V,  620- 
Hardin     County,    I,    489;    II,    656,    1100, 

1106 
Hardin,  John,   I,  376,  382,  386;   II.   1075, 

1106 
Hardin,  Louisa    L.,   II,  995 
Hardin,  Martin  D.,  I,  552,  583;   II,  1083, 

1092 
Hardin,  P.  W.,  II,  1006,  1009 
Hardinsburg,  I,  204 
Hardin's  Station,  I,   204 
Hard  times,  II,  592,  718,  987;  relief  laws 

in,  II,  607 
Hargan,  Roy   R.,   IV,  9 
Harget,  Peter,   I,   194 
Harkins,  Joseph    D.,   IV,  613 
Harkins,  Josephine   D.,  IV,  613 
Harkins,  Reca   B.,   IV,   613 
Harkins,  Walter   S.,   IV,   612 
Harl,  Tandy  L.,  Ill,  287 
Harlan,   II,   1200 
Harlan  County,  II,   1101,  1106 
Harlan,  James  I.,  V,  136 
Harlan,  John   M.,  II,  901,  917,  919,  1001, 

1059;  V,  619 
Harlan,  Silas,  I,  193;  II,  1106 
Harlan's  Station,   I,  204 
Harlison,  Thomas   H.,   IV,  354 
Harman,  Aquilla,  I,   138 
Harman,  Daniel,  I,    138,   153,   159 
Harman,  Henry,  I,   138,   153 
Harman,  Matthias,   I,   135,    136,   141,   148, 

152,  154,  159 
Harman,  Thomas  H.,  IV,  354 
Harman's  Station,   I,    134,   152,    154,   200, 

204;   second   blockhouse  at,   I,   159 
Harmar,  expedition  under,   I,  381 
Harmar's  campaign,    I,   382 
Harmon,  Adam,   I,  78,  90,   153 
Harmon,  Eugene,  V,  151 
Harmon,  John  L.,  V,  618 
Harper,  James   D.,   Ill,    165 
llarralson,  George    G.,    Ill,   436 
Ilarrcl,  Zephaiiiali,    IV,   626 
Harris,  Brig  H.,  IV,  588 
Harris,  Martin  L.,  II,  1187 
Harris,  Samuel  J.,  IV,  184 
Harris,  William   H.,  IV,  26 
Harrison,  Ba.xter,   III,  408 
Harrison,  Benjamin,  II,  1106 
Harrison  County,    I,     194,    204;    II,    887, 

1100,  1106 
Harrison,  Cuthbert,  I,  284 
Harrison,  Erbie  L.,  Ill,  303 
Harrison,  Fred  A.,  V,  226 
Harrison,  Joe   P.,    V,  431 
Harrison,  John  L.,  IV,  252 
Harrison,  Joseph  H.,  Ill,  333 


INDEX 


XXXV 


Harrison,  William  H.,  I,  548,  555;  II,  714, 

718 
Harrison's  Station,  I,  204 
Harrod,  I,  184 
Harrod,  James,  I,  113,  162,  165,  204,  212; 

V,  628 
Harrod,  Samuel,   I,   114 
Harrod,  William,   I,    177 
Harrodsburg,    I,    113,    165,   173,    183,   198, 

201,   219,   499;    II,   611,   735,   745,   771, 

1058,  1194;  convention  of  1776,  I,  169; 

attack  of  1777,  I,  175 
Harrodsburg  Springs,  II,  792 
Harrod's  fort,  II,  1041 
Harrod's  Station,  I,  204,  535 
Harrodstown,  I,  205,  216,  304 
Hart,  Albert  S.,  IV,  633 
Hart  County,   II,   1101,   1107 
Hart,  Joel   T.,   V,  621 
Hart,  Nathaniel,   I,  68,  204 
Hart,  Nathaniel   G.  T.,   II,   1107 
Hart,  Robert  S.,  IV,  600 
Hart,  Thomas,  I,  504,  525 
Hart's  Station,   I,  204 
Hartford,  II,  611 
Hartford  Station,  I,  204 
Harting,  Rudolph   R.,  Ill,  199 
Harvey,  James  B.,  Ill,  546 
Harvie,  Lewis  E.,  V,  551 
Hasten,  Fred  D.,   IV,  257 
Haswell,  John  P.,  Ill,  67 
Hatcher,  Ferdinand  T.,  V,  33 
Hatcher,  George  E.,  V,  393 
Hatcher,  James,   IV,  358 
"Hat  Manufactury,"  I,  301 
Hatter,  David  H.,  V,  264 
Hatterick,  Henry  G.,  IV,  298 
Hausberger,  Emil,  IV,  294 
Haw,  James,  I,  535 
Hawes,  J.  M.,  II,  1144 
Hawes,  John  C,  IV,  347 
Hawes,  Robert,  I,  138,  153;  II,  892 
Hawkins,  Martin,   I,  493 
Hay,  Charles  W.,  Ill,  464 
Haycraft,  Samuel,  I,  205 
Hayden,  Benjamin,   I,  194 
Hayden,  Charles   S.,    Ill,   61 
Hayden,  John  L.,  IV,  351 
Hayden,  John  V.,  IV,  350 
Haydon,  William  C,  IV,  458 
Hayes,  Edward,  IV,  271 
Hayes,  J.  E.,  IV,  574 
Hayes,  Mary,  IV,  271 
Hayes,  Nick,   IV,  271 
Havnes,  Chastain  W.,  V,  371 
Haynes,  Elizabeth  F.,  Ill,  293 
Haynes,  Frank   L.,   IV,   567 
Haynes,  Oliver  C,  III,  296 
Haynes,  Warner  E.,  V,  617 
Haynes,  William  L.,  Ill,  273 
Hays,  David,  V,  564 
Hays,  Fountain  S.,  IV,  327 
Hays,  James  R.,  IV,  312 
Hays,  Joseph  S.,  IV,  178 
Hays,  Lewis,  Jr.,  Ill,  395 
Hays,  Lowell  K.,  V,  159 
Hays,  W.  M.,  V,  37 
Hays,  W.  O.,  IV,  405 
Haywood,  John,  I,  115,  116 
Hazard,  Samuel,   I,   162 
Hazel  Patch,  I,  204 
Hazelrigg,  Albert   A.,    Ill,   562 

Vol.  I--3 


Hazelrigg,  James   H.,   IV,  340 

Hazlitt,  Henry,   I,   126 

Head,  Jesse,  V,  607 

Headley,  Alice  W.,   Ill,   189 

Headley,  Hal  Price,  III,  82 

Headley,  Hal  Petit,  IV,  230 

Headley,  Oscar  F.,   IV,   141 

Head  right  system,  II,  658 

Heady,  J.  Felix,  IV,  112 

Health,  II,  749 

Hearin,  C.  E.,  Ill,  111 

Heathman,  William  F.,  IV,  213 

Hedges,  Florence   A.,   V,  316 

Hedges,  Ollie  C,  V,  316 

Heflin,  William  R.,  V,  150 

Hehr,  Chris,  V,  154 

Helm,  B.  H.,  II,  1144 

Helm,  James  P.,  IV,  73 

Helm,  John  B.,  II,  716 

Helm,  John    L.,    II,    767,   830,   837,   916. 

1071,  1076 
Helm,  Leonard,  I,   177 
Helm,  Nannie  C,  IV,  325 
Helm,  Thomas,  I,  205 
Helm,  Thomas  K.,  IV,  74 
Helm,  Thomas  O.,  Sr.,  V,  258 
Helm's  Station,    I,  205 
Hemp,  I,  SCO,  506;  machine  for  cleaning, 

I,  503;   manufactures,    I,   504;    II,   592, 
739 

Hemphill,  Charles  R.,  Ill,  66 
Hemphill,  Ebenezer  B.,  V,  61 
Hemphill,  Fred  W.,  Ill,  93 
Henderson,   I,  500 
Henderson  and    Nashville    Railroad,    II, 

735 
Henderson  County,  II,  1101,  1107 
Henderson  District,   II,    1178 
Henderson  Grant,  I,  213 
Henderson,  Llewellyn  M.,  IV,  385 
Henderson  Purchase,  I,  55 
Henderson,  Richard,   I,    12,   54,   137,    162. 

165,  172,  201,  212,  517;  II,  1049,  1107; 

V,  627 
Henderson,  Robert  L.,  IV,  21 
Henderson,  R.  W.,   Ill,   524 
Hendren,  Oliver  J.,  IV,  426 
Hendrick,  John   K.,  V,  616 
Henry,  Albert   M.,   Ill,  474 
Henry  Clay  Monument  (view),  II,  840 
Henry  County,  II,  1100,  1107 
Henry,  Jefiferson,  V.  75 
Henry,  Patrick,  I,  162,  163,  168,  170,  252; 

II,  1107 

Henry,  Robert  P.,  II,  646 
Henry,  T.  J.,  II,  1002 
Henry,  Winston  B.,  V,  178 
Herald,  Louisville,  IV,  87 
Herberth,  Louis,  III,   104 
Hermann,  Edward,  V,  210 
Hermann,  George  J.,  IV,  425 
Hermann,  Joseph  G.,  V,  210 
Herndon,  A.  M.,  Ill,  525 
Herndon,  William,  III,  255 
Herold,  Matt,  V.,  209 
Hert,  Alvin  T.,  IV,  23 
Hester,  E.  H.,  IV,  57 
Hester,  James  H.,  IV,  8 
Heuer,  George  H.,  III.  226 
Heyburn,  William,   III,  267 
Hickman,  II,   874,   887;    seized    by    Con- 
federates, II,  858 


XXXVl 


INDEX 


Hickman  County,  II,  593,  1101,   1107 

Hickman,  L.    K.,   V,  48 

Hickman,  Paschal,    II,   1107 

Hickman,  K.,  II,  582 

Hickman,  Richard   B.,  IV,  40 

Hickman,  VVilham,  I,  534 

Hickcy,  William  F.,  Ill,  225 

Hicks,  Charles  R.,  V,  487 

Hicks,  Edna,  IV,  534 

Hicks,  Edward  L.,  Ill,  490 

Hicks,  Elmer  H.,  V,  560 

Hicks,  Harry,  V,  203 

Hieatt,  Clarence  C,  IV,  226 

Hieatt,  William   R,  IV,   132 

Hiestand,  Clement  V.,  V,  85 

Higdon,  James  R.,  III.  328 

HiKKin,  Henry,   III,  206 

Higgins'  Blockhouse,  I,  20S 

Higgins  Family,   IV,   202 

Higgins,  John  M.,  Ill,  327 

Higgins,  Sallic  Ann,  I,  11 

Higher  education,   I,  528;  II,  992 

Highland,  Jesse   P.,   Ill,  558 

High  schools,  II,  991 

Highways  of  wihlerness,  I,  26 

Hilburn,  Tibbis   C,  III,  497 

Hildreth,  Charles  L.,  Ill,  218 

Hiles,  John   B.,  V,  253 

Hill,  Ed,  IV,  470 

Hill,  Edward  G.,  Ill,  77 

Hill,  Fred  P.,  V,  354 

Hill,  G.  W.,  V,  480 

Hill,  Thomas  P.,  V,  581 

Hill,  William  A.,  V,   139 

Hill,  Will  B.,  V,  465 

Hillenmeyer,  Ernest  B.,  IV,  36 

Hillenmeyer,  Hector  F.,   IV,   146 

Hillenmeyer,  Herbert  F.,  Ill,  226 

Hillenmeyer,  Louis  E.,  IV,   111 

Hillenmeyer,  Walter  W.,  V,   119 

Milliard,  Edward  H.,  Ill,  611 

Hilliard,  John  J.   B.,   Ill,  611 

Hindman,  Leslie  L.,  V,  38 

Hindman  Settlement   School,   IV,  647 

Hines,  Lafayette  J.,  IV,  541 

Hines,  Thomas    H.    (portrait),    II,    1146; 

V,  625 
Hinkston,  John,  I,  209 
Hinkston's  Station,  I,  205 
Hinton,  John  T.,   V,  613 
Hiuton,  O.   P.,  V,  613 
Hinton,  Toy  F.,  V,  539 
Hise,  Elijah,  II,  712 
Hisgen,  C.  W.,  IV,  88 
Historical  celebrations,  II,  771 
Historical  documents,  II,  770 
Historians  of  Kentucky,   II,  770 
Hite,  Abraham,   I,    167 
Hobbs,  William  C.  G.,  Ill,  386 
Hobday,  Charles  B.,  Ill,  57 
Hobson,  E.  H.,  H,  901.  905,  911 
Hobson,  Robert  P.,  Ill,  76 
Hobson,  William,  V,  406 
Hobson's  Choice,  I,  205 
Hockcr,  Richard  M.,  V,  411 
Hodge,  Edwin,    IV,    198 
Hodge,  George  B.,  II,  1144 
Hodge,  John  H.,  Ill,  211 
Hodge,  William,  I,  537 
Hodges,  Eli  P.,  IV,  403 
Hodgkin  Grocery  Company,  III,  356 
Ilodgkin,   Henry  C,  III,  53 


Hodgkin,  James   K.,   Ill,  366 

Hodgkin,  Jesse  N.,  IV,  326 

Hodgkin,  John   I\I.,   IV,   186 

Hodgkin,  RifTe,  III,  356 

Hodgkin,  Samuel  P.,  Ill,  356 

Hodgkin,  Samuel     P.,     Winchester,     III, 

368 
Hoeing,  Joseph  B.,  II.  997,   1033 
Hoeing  Survey,  II,  1034 
HofTman,  Harry  G.,  V..  552 
Hogaland's  Station,  I,  205 
Hogard,  William   F.,  Ill,  440 
Hog  cholera,  II,  769 
Hoge,  Eugene  E.,  V,  211 
Hoge,  Myrvin  E.,  IV,  548 
Hoge,  Percy  E.,  IV,  592 
Hoge,  Stephen  F.,  Ill,  418 
Hoge,  William   H.,  V,  182 
Hog  frauds,  II,  878 
Hogg,  James,  I,  167 
Hogg,  Peter,  I,  95 
Hog  orders,  II,  878 
Hogshead  markets,   II,   1180 
Hogsheads,  tobacco,   II,  1168 
Holbert,  George  K.,  Ill,  303 
Hold,  Joseph,   II,  858 
Holden,  Joseph,    II,    1035 
Holder's  Station,  I.  205 
Holeman,  Neville   L.,  V,  498 
Holifield,  Marvin  B.,  V,  277 
Holladay,  Bruce.   III.   394 
Holladay,  John  B.,  Ill,  393 
Holladay,  Mayme.   III.  394 
Holland,  George  A.,  IV,  66 
Holland,  Leander  P.,  V,  415 
Holland,  Reuben  M.,  Ill,  298 
Holland,  Richard  H.,  IV,  58 
Holland,  Simon  K.,  Ill,  129 
Holley,  Horace,  II,  754,  787,  1054,  1057 
HoUiday,  Malcolm   H.,   IV,  607 
Hollingsworth,  Lyman  D.,  V,  145 
Holloway,  E.  T.,   II,   1187 
Ilolman,  Paul   W'.,   Ill,   596 
Ilolman,  Rov,  V,  532 
Holmes,  Andrew,   I,  309,  330 
Holmes,  Luther  B.,  Ill,  584 
Holston  River,  I,  5,  58,  95 
Holston  settlements,   I,   175,   177 
Holston,  Stephen,  I,  5 
Holt,  Chief  Justice,   II,   1005 
Holt,  Edward  W..  V,  397 
Holton.  Milton   D.,  V,  93 
Holy  Cross  Church,  III,  114 
Holy  Cross  School,   III,   115 
Home  Guards,  11,  S8S,  889 
Homecoming  celebration,  II,  995 
Home  industries,  I,  502 
Home  manufactories,   II,  617 
Homemade  products,  I,  505 
Homestead  Act,   II.  913 
Homestead  exemption,    II,   834 
Homestead  law,  II,  719 
Hon,  George,  III,  34 
Honaker,   Harry   P.,   Ill,  22 
Honest  living,  I,  524 
Hood.  Thomas  J.,  II,  767 
Hood's  Station,   I,  205 
Hoover,  John   F.,  V,  386 
Hopewell  treaty,  I,  55 
Hopkins,  Alice  G.,  V,  579 
Hopkins  County,   II,   1028,   1101,   1107 
Hopkins,  Francis  A.,  V,  578 


INDEX 


XXXVll 


Hopkins,  John  C,  V,  579 

Hopkins,  Samuel,    I,    399,    420,   447,    552, 

553;  II,  1107 
Hopkinsville,  II,  781,  1013 
Hopkinsville  District,  II,  1178 
Hopkinsville  High  School,  IV,  82 
Horn,  George  T.,  IV,  490 
Horine,  Irving,    III,    528 
Horse  racing,  I,  295,  525;  II,  740 
Horses,  I,  490,  525 
Hoskins,  J.  W.,  V,  207 
Hoskins,  Leonard  D.,  Ill,  441 
Hoskins,  W.  A.,  II,  901 
Hospital  for   insane,  private,  II,  779 
House,  Leslie  L.,  Ill,  521 
Houston,  Edward  B.,  IV,  362 
Hoiiston,  John  D.,  V,  113 
Hovermale,  L.  T.,  IV,  619 
Howard,  Albert,  IV,  157 
Howard,  Benjamin,  I,  466;  II,  1086 
Howard,  Charles  E.,  Ill,  486 
Howard,  H.  Clay,  V,  446 
Howard,  John,  IV,  453 
Howard,  John  A.,  IV,  382 
Howard,  Moses  W.,  V,  351 
Howe,  John,  I,  149 
Howe,  John  J.,  V,  238 
Howe,  R.  Emmet,  IV,  343 
Howell,  Elsey  W.,  IV,  357 
Howell,  James  R.,  Ill,  80 
Howes,  Frederick,  IV,  560 
Howes,  Harry  C,  III,  483 
Howes,  Henry  S.,  IV,  459 
Howk,  George,  IV,  302 
Hoy's  Station,    I,   205 
Hubbard,  Eugene,  III,  297 
Hubbard,  James  M.,  V,  523 
Huddleston,  A.,  V,  291 
Huey,  Oscar  M.,  Ill,   155 
Huff,  John  W.,   IV,  558 
Huffman  Brothers,  IV,    177 
Huffman,  James  H.,  IV,  177 
Huffman,  L.  R.,  IV,  177 
Huffman,  Robert,   III,  395 
Huffman,  William  T.,  IV,  349 
Huggins,  Clement  W.,  V,  635 
Hughes,  Alexander,   III,   172 
H-ughes,  D.  L.,  IV,  536 
Hughes,  Gabriel  H.,  V,  258 
Hughes,  James  T.,  IV,  493 
Hughes,  John,  I,  58 
Hughes,  John  W.,  V,  608 
Hughes,  W.   R.,   IV,  469 
Hulett,  James  A.,  IV,  154 
Hume,  Benjamin  T.,  Ill,  189 
Hume,  N.  S.,  V,  486 
Hume,  Omer   P.,  Ill,  321 
Hummel,  Harold  R.,  V,  607 
Humphrey,  John  R.,  Ill,  326 
Humphreys,  Charles,  II,  1055 
Humphreys,  Joseph  A.,  V,  463 
Humphreys,  Sarah  G.,  V,  463 
Humphries,  John  C,  V,  503 
Hunt,  Clay  R.,  Ill,  78 
Hunt,  G.  A.,  V,  444 
Hunt,  George  R.,  Ill,  359 
Hunt,  James  H.,  IV,  593 
Hunt,  James  W.,  IV,  422 
Hunt,   Katherine,   IV,   423 
Hunter,  David,  I,  207 
Hunter,  David  C,  IV,  139 
Hunter,  John  A.,  Ill,  555 


Hunter,  R.  Dillard,  III,  338 
Hunter,  W.  G.,  II,  1007 
Hunter,  William,   I,  457,  534 
Hunter,  William  E.,  Ill,  IDS 
Hunters  of  Kentucky,  II,  689,  822 
Huntsman,  Htimphrey  C,  III,  469 
Huntsman,  Rory  O.,  IV,  473 
Hurst,  C.  Hardin,  IV,  622 
Hurst,  Henry  C.  IV,  618 
Hurst,  Taylor,  IV,    187 
Hurt,  Elizabeth,  V,  524 
Hurt,  Harvey,  V,  524 
Hurt,  J.   Smith,  V,   524 
Hurt,  Lester  E.,  V.,  460 
Hurt,  Rollin,  V,  359 
Huston's  Station,    I,  205 
Hutcheson,  Robert   R.,   IV,   233 
Hutchings,  Eusebius  T.,   Ill,   164 
Hutchinson,  E.  L.,  Ill,  83 
Hyatt,  Meredith  W.,  V,  59 
Hynes,  Andrew,   I,  205,  234 

Igleheart,  Louis   I.,  V,  276 

Illinois  Central  Railroad,  II,  735,  923 

Illiteracy,  II,  989 

Imlay,  Gilbert,   I,   296 

Immigration,  promotion  of,  II,  995 

Imprisonment  for  debt,   II,  615 

Indian  attack  on  Drapers  Meadows,  I, 
79 

Indian  attack  on  Walker's  Creek  settle- 
ment, I,  140 

Indian  campaigns  of  Harmar,  St.  Clair 
and   Wayne,   I,   376 

Indian  expedition  of  1791,  I,  384 

Indian  hieroglyphics,   I,   147 

Indian  Mounds,  I,  148 

Indian  Old    Fields,  II,   1169 

Indian  occupancy,  I,  IS 

Indian  remains,  II,   1200 

Indian  school,  II,  783 

Indian  title  to  Kentucky,  I,  49 

Indian  trail,  I,   143 

Indiana  Company,  I,  162 

Indians,  atrocities,  I,  25;  in  Kentucky,  I, 
31;  land  cessions  of,  I,  54;  of  the  Ohio 
Valley,  I,  94;  as  British  allies,  I,  173; 
campaign  of  1780,  1^184;  troubles  after 
Revolution,  I,  185;  campaign  of  1782,  I, 
186;  means  of  defense  against,  I,  227; 
depredations,  I,  237;  wars,  I,  296;  cam- 
paign in  Northwest,  I,  353;  policy  of 
treaty-making,  I,  377;  losses  in  Ken- 
tucky, I,  379;  depredations  in  Ohio 
Valley,  I,  380;  Northwest  Confederacy, 
r,  547;  campaign  of  1812,  I,  553;  power 
in  Northwest  broken,.  I,  561;  Boone's 
adventure  with,  II,  1037 

Individualism,  I,  480 

Industrial  activity,  II,  592 

Industrial  convention,  II,  999 

Industries,  I,  501;  II,  996 

Industry,  Kentucky's   chief,  II,   1177 

Ingles  Family,  I,  75 

Ingles  Ferry,  I,  58,  132 

Ingles,  Mary,  I,  71,  75;  at  the  Shawnee 
villages,  I,  83 

Ingles,  Thomas,  I,  92 

Ingles,  William,  I,  40,  58,  75,  91,  94; 
house  (view),  I,  76 

Ingram,  William  M.,  Ill,   173 

Inheritance  tax,   II,  989 


XXXVIll 


INDEX 


Inncs,  Harry,  I,  217.  2.U,  239,  242,  251, 
252,  254,  257,  264,  270,  271,  279,  283, 
285,  300,  303.  310,  365,  371,  377,  406, 
431,  444.  462,  4(f):  refuses  warrant  for 
Hurr.  I,  446;  connection  with  Spanish 
plots,  I,  461;  inquiry  ordered  by  legis- 
lature. I.  464;  investigation,  I,  465; 
compromise  with  Marshall,  I.  468;  II, 
l()f>4 

Innes,  James,  I,  354 

Insane  Asylum,  II,  781 

Insane,  state  care  of,  II.  779 

Institution  for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb,  11, 
781 

Institutional  development.  I,  212 

Insurance  business,   I,  512 
r  Insurance  companies,   II.  993 

Intellectual  development.   II.  769 

Intellectual  progress.  I.  303 

Internal  development.  I.  490 

Internal  improvements.  II,  584,  693,  695 
710,  715,  1066.  1069;  era  of,  II,  721 
board  of,  II,  725;  state  aid  to,  II,  727 
cost  of,  II,  729 

Interstate  Canal,   II,   726 

Interstate  highway,  II.  724 

Inventions,   new,   I,  503 

Ireland,  Henry  C.   IV.  341 

Ireland,  James,   I,   126 

Ireland.  J.  W.,  IV,  335 

Ireland,  Marguerite,  IV.  342 

Ireson.  Ernest  D.,  V,  261 

Irish,  II.  785 

Irish  Station.  I.  205 

Iron  furnaces.  II.   745 

Iron  industry.   II,  746 

Iron  ores.  II.  745.  997.   1031 

Iron  smelting.  II.  1022 

Iroquois  clans,   I,  24 

Iroquois  Indians,  I,  1,  16,  23 

Irvan,   Patrick  C,  V.  108 

Irvine.  I.  74 

Irvine,  Christopher.    I.    205.   234 

Irvine.  Estill  County.  I.  63,  112 

Irvine'.  William,  I,  205 

Irvine's  Station.  I,  205 

Irwin.  John   L.,   III.  72 

Isaacs.  John  E.,  III.  471 

Isenbcrg.  Ewen  D..  V.  351 

Ison,  Charles  S.,  V.  140 

Ison.  Gideon  D.,  Ill,  603 

Ison,  Jeft.  V,  565 

Ivy  Mountain,  II,  899 

Jackson.  Andrew,  I,  55.  437;  II.  569.  570, 
581.  592.  676,  682.  1107;  people's  presi- 
dent, II.  692;  administration  con- 
demned. II.  703 

Jackson  County.    II.    1102,    1107 

Jackson,  Dave,  III,  374 

Jackson   Democrats,   II,  698 

Jackson.  E.  O..  V.  541 

Jackson,  Francis  I^I.,  V,  511 

Jackson,  George,  III,  149 

Jackson,  Hcrmon,  V,  424 

Jackson,  James  M.,  V,  126 

Jackson,  James  S.,  V,  621 

Jackson,  J.  T.,  IV,  39 

Jackson,  Otis  W,  V,  266 

Jackson  party,  II,  574.  683,  704 

Jackson  Purchase,  I,  52,  56,  519;  II,  592, 
658,  690,  702,   1029 


Jackson,  Robert    L.,   Ill,  33 

Jackson,  William  Z.,  II,   1192;   V,  475 

Jacksonian   Democrats.  II,  682 

Jacob,  Charles  D.,  IV.  630 

Jacob.  Richard  T..  II.  897,  1002 

Jacobs,  George  II.,  IV,  400 

Jacoby,  Jacob  W.,  IV,  309 

Jacoby.  James  S..  III.  556 

Jacoby,  Milton  R..  Ill,  557 

Jaggers,  Woodford   K.,   IV,  524 

James,  B.  M.,  V,  219 

lames,   David   II..   III.  394 

James.  Edward  II.,  V,  508 

James,   Hobson  L.,  Ill,  302 

James,  John  G.,  Ill,  394 

James,  J.   W.,   V,  475 

James,  Ollie  M.,  II,   1015,  1092 

Janiieson,  D.   Marry,   IV,  390 

Jansen,  Henry,   III,   124 

January,  Andrew  M.,  Ill,  588 

January,  E.  B.,  IV,  114 

January's  tavern,  II,  1191 

Jarvis,  Arthur  B.,  Ill,  224 

Jarvis,  R.  N.,  IV,  499 

Jasper,   Henry   C,   III,  250 

Jasper,  Robert  P.,  Ill,  425 

Jay,  John,  I,  356 

Jay,  John,   Treaty,   I,  240,  242,  357,   373, 

403,  471;  II.  1064 
Jeffers.  John  W.,  Ill,  466 
JefTerson  County,    I,    200,    290;    II,    834, 

1099.  1107 
Jefferson.  Shadrach.   I,    126 
JeiYerson,  Thomas.   I.   167,   176,  323.  423, 

524;  election  of,  I,  474;  II,  633,  1063 
Jeffersonian  principles.   II.  674 
Jeffries,  James   H.,   Ill,  445 
Jenkins,  .Arthur,  V,  516 
Jenkins.  Judson  C.  V.  510 
Jenkins.  Thomas  E..  III.  163 
Jennie's  Creek.   I.   144.  156 
lennings,  C.   E..  V,  343 
Jessamine  County,   I,   209,  528;    II,   1101, 

1107 

Jessamine  Dome,  II,  1017 
esse,  William   A.,   Ill,  352 
Jett,  Garrett,  III,  406 
Jett,  George  A.,   V,  270 
Jett,  Nelson  A..  Ill,  108 
Jewell.  Carlos  L..   IV.  518 
Jillson.    Willard    R.,    II,    749,    997,-  1031, 

1034;  V.   14 
Jochum.  George   E..   Ill,  283 
Jochum.  John,  III.  282 
Jochum.  Louis,   III,   282 
iohns.  Albert.   IV,   11 
Johns,  Charles  A..  IV.  10 
John's  Creek.  I,  136,  153,  154 
lohnson.  Andrew  J.,  V.  420 
Johnson.  A.  R..  II.  904 
Johnson    County,    I,    118,    140,    147,    158; 

II.   1102.  1107 
Johnson.  Curtis  B.,  V,  641 
Johnson,  Ella,   III,  569 
Johnson,  Frank   L..   III.  385 
Johnson.  Gabriel.  I.  303 
Johnson.  George  D.,  Ill,  610 
Johnson.  George   I'"..  IV.  637 
Johnson,  George  W..   II.  811,  872,  887 
Johnson,  Goalder.    IV,  386 
Johnson,  Green   L.,  IV,  261 
Johnson,  Guy,   I,  51 


INDEX 


XXXIX 


lohnson,  Jack  S.,  V,  259 

Johnson,  James,  II,  582,  689 

Johnson,  James  B.,  Ill,  268 

Johnson,  James  M.,  V,  92 

Johnson,  James  W.,  Ill,  88 

Johnson,  Jesse   M.,   IV,  343 

Johnson,  Jesse  R.,  V,  272 

Johnson,  John  M.,  V,  349 

Johnson,  John  T.,  II,  646 

Johnson,  J.   Keller,   IV,  586 

Johnson,  Lemuel,   I,  127 

Johnson,  Lewis  Y.,  IV,  63 

Johnson,  Lonie  W.,  V,  548 

Johnson,  Madison   C,  II.  755;  V,  626 

Johnson,  Marion  E.,  V,  268 

Johnson,  Oscar   M.,   V,   580 

Johnson,  Otto  E.,  V,  129 

Johnson,  Richard    M.,    I,    467,    546,    549, 

552,  557,  560,  561;  II,  701,  713,  730,  732, 

783,  792,  831,  1059,  1068,  1083,  1093, 

1107 
Johnson,  Robert,  I,  214 
Johnson,  Samuel,  I,  194 
Johnson,  Sir  William,  I,  50 
Johnson,  Uncle  Barney,  I,  127 
Johnson's  Station,  I,  205 
Johnston,  Albert    S.,    II,    887;    birthplace 

of  (view),  II,  1203 
Johnston,  John  P.,  Ill,  354 
Johnston,  J.  Stoddard,  II,  1053;  III,  110 
Johnston,  J.   Stoddard,  Jr.,   Ill,   111 
Johnston,  Philip   P.,  Ill,  354 
Johnston,  Philip  P.,  Jr.,   IV,   148 
Johnston,  Robert,  I,  270 
Johnstone,  Arthur  W.,  V,  115 
Johnstone,  Alice,  V,   116 
Johnstone,  Lucy  A.,  V,  463 
Jones,  Abner  C.,  V,  517 
Jones,  Beverly  P.,  V,  420 
Jones,  Edward  S.,  V,  25 
Jones,  Fred  A.,  V,  188 
Jones,  Gabriel  John,  I,  170,  174 
Jones,  George  F.,  Ill,  216 
Jones,  George  K.,   Ill,  493 
Jones,  Gorman,  III,  235 
Jones,  Guy  M.,  V,  153 
Jones,  John,  V,  509 
Jones,  John    R.,   V,  385 
Jones,  Joseph   F.,  V,  446 
Jones,  Joseph  R.,  IV,  280 
Jones,  Julia  E.  H.,  IV,  488 
Jones,  J.  Everett,  V,  588 
Jones,  J.  R.,  II,  1187 
Jones,  Kate,   IV,  272 
Jones,  Marcus  A.,  Ill,  186 
Jones,  Mary  L.   (Eubanks),  V,  153 
Jones,  Patrick  M.,  Ill,  586 
Jones,  R.  M.,  V,  107 
Jones,  Samuel  E.,  Ill,  543 
Jones,  Thomas  L.,  II,  849 
Jones,  Thomas  J.,  IV,  610 
Jones,  Thomas   R.,  V,  235 
Jones,  T.  C,  II,  1000 
Jones,  Veachel   Holman,   IV,   501 
Jones,  Walter   M.,  IV,  232 
Jones,  William  Holman,  IV,  217 
Jones,  William  Henry,  IV,  443 
Jones,  William   M.,  Sunny  Valley  Farm, 

IV,  147 
Jones,  William   M.,  V,  447 
Jones,  William  W.,  V,   11 
Jones,  W.  B.,  Ill,  177 


Jordan,  Charles  R.,  IV,  321 

Jouett,  Edward   S.,   Ill,   157 

Judge,  Robert  C.,  IV,  106 

Judges,  under  first  constitution,  I,  283; 
new,  II,  636 

Judicial  District  of  Kentucky,   I,  290 

Judicial  salaries,  I,  483 

Judicial  system,  I,  399,  480 

Judicial  tyranny,  II,  627 

Judiciary,  state,  I,  310,  400;  reorganiza- 
tion of,  I,  311;  struggle  against,  II, 
623;  Federal,  II,  654;  on  slavery,  II, 
833;  under  Third  Constitution,  II,  836 

Judy,  William  D.,  V,  287 

Justice,  M.  C,  V,  345 

Justice,  Robert  B.,  V,  548 

Justice,  W.   H.,  V,  548 

Kagin,  Carl,  V,  164 

Kanawha  River,  I,  48 

Kane,  Edward,   IV,   153 

Kane,  Elizabeth   M.,   IV,   153 

Kane,  John  E.,  III.  530 

Kansas-Nebraska   bill.    II,  844 

Karnes,  Ernest,  IV,  391 

Karsner,  Albert  C,  IV,  201 

Kasey,  Arthur  R.,  IV,  413 

Kash,  William  L.,  IV,  622 

Kaskaskia,   I,  177 

Katterjohn,  Charles   A.,  IV,  301 

Kaufman,  Moses,  III,  351 

Kaufmann,   Robert  J.,  III.  410 

Kavanaugh,   Hubbard   H.,  II,  764 

Kearns,  B.  F.,  IV,  280 

Keeley,  James  E.,  V,  524 

Keen,  Edward  J.,  Ill,  514 

Keen,  George  R.,  V,  416 

Keen,  Sanford,  II,   1192 

Keen,  William   C,  V,  489 

Keene,  John,  III,  486 

Keenc,  Robert   P.,   Ill,  328 

Keeney,  Jacob  H.,  V,  266 

Kehoe,  J.   N.,  II,  1184,  1186 

Keith,  Lula  D.,  Ill,  122 

Keith,  Pendleton  F.  D.,  Ill,  122 

Kellar's   Bridge,   II,  903 

Kellar's  Station,  I,  205 

Kellenaers,  Theophilus,   III,  203 

Keller,  David  A.,  IV,  145 

Keller,  Ferdinand,  III,   184 

Keller,  John  A.,  Ill,  184 

Kelley,  Elihu,  IV,  505 

Kelley,  John  S.,  V,  293 

Kelley,  H.  Lee,  V,  250 

Kelley,  Manford  F.,  Ill,  526 

Kelley,  J.  Robert,  IV,  102 

Kelly,  Benjamin  F.,  V,  206 

Kelly,  Edward  P.,  Ill,  331 

Kelly,  Griffin,  III,  109 

Kelly,  Martin  T.,  IV,  123 

Kemp,  William  C,  III,  174 

Kemper,  Maury,  IV,   197 

Kendall,  Amos,  I,  533;  II,  580,  621,  622, 

686,  690,  692,  757 
Kendrick,  Tobias  J.,  V,  265 
Kennedy,  John,   I,   194 
Kennedy,  John  F.,  IV,  303 
Kennedy,  Thomas,  I,  284;  V,  566 
Kennedy,  William,   I,  234 
Kennedy's  Station,  I,  205 
Kennett,  William  L.,  Ill,  72 


xl 


INDEX 


Kenney,  Andrew,  III,  197 

Kenney,  William,  IV,  291 

Kenton,  I,  178,  184 

Kenton  County,  II,  1101,  1107 

Kenton,  Joe  VV.,  V.  580 

Kenton,  John  T.,  IV,  280 

Kenton,  Simon,  I,  149,  173,  177,  205,  210, 
292;    II,   746,    1107;    (portrait),    1108 

Kenton's  Station,  I,  205 

Kentuc  riverman,  I,  294 

Kentucke,  I,  243 

Kentuckians,  cradled  in  war,  I,  296;  hos- 
tile to  Indians,  I,  378;  oppose  war  with 
France,  I,  411;  threat  of  war  on  New 
Orleans,  I,  428;  foreign  sympathies  of, 

I,  472;  and  free  trade,  I,  505;  in  battle 
of  Tippecanoe,  I,  548;  comprise  Harri- 
son's army,  I,  561;  in  battle  of  New 
Orleans,  I,  565;  at  battle  of  New  Or- 
leans,   II,   569;    sympathy   for    Ireland, 

II,  785;  and  Creek  War  for  independ- 
ence, II,  785;  character  of,  II,  788; 
characteristics.  II,  790;  convivial  na- 
ture of,  II,  791;  opposed  to  immediate 
emancipation,  II,  801;  in  the  Texas 
Revolution,  II,  821;  at  home  and 
abroad,  II,  995;  individualists,  II,  1061; 
ancestry   of,   II,    1205 

Kentucky,  meaning  of,  I,  1;  factors  in 
settlement,  I,  161;  land  companies,  I, 
162;  first  civil  government,  I,  166;  and 
the  Revolutionary  war,  I,  167;  at- 
tempts at  independent  government,  I, 
169;  county  of,  I,  171;  a  state-maker, 
I,  172;  in  the  Revolution,  I,  173;  saved 
by  Clark's  campaign,  I,  180;  in  1779-80, 
I,  182;  after  the  Revolution,  I,  185: 
honored  dead  of,  I,  193;  early  settle- 
ments in.  I.  200;  land  titles,  I,  212; 
separation  from  Virginia,  I,  221;  bar, 
I,  214:  statehood  conventions  in,  I, 
226;  democratic  usages  in,  I,  228;  se- 
cession from  the  Confederation,  I,  236; 
Spanish  intrigues  in,  I,  239:  absolute 
independence  for,  I,  239;  trade  down 
the  Mississippi,  I,  240;  international 
situation  of,  I,  245;  attitude  to  Federal 
Constitution,  I,  253;  shades  of  opinion 
in  1788,  I,  260;  leading  men  in  1789, 
I,  270;  a  living  democracy,  I,  280;  sep- 
aration movement  in,  I,  272;  first  con- 
stitution of,  I,  279;  plan  of  first  state 
government,  1.  282;  admitted  to  Union, 
/  I,  285;  settlement  of,  I,  287;  sources 
I  of  early  population,  I,  289;  character 
'  and  society  at  the  beginning  of  state- 
hood, I,  286;  population  at  statehood, 
I,  292;  attraction  for  young  lawyers, 
I,  293;  frontier  life,  I.  294;  edition  de- 
luxe of  Virginia,  I,  294;  progress  in, 
1775-1792,  I,  297;  and  the  French  Revo- 
lution, I,  319;  the  French  enterprise  in, 
I,  325;  Volunteers  for  Louisiana  Cam- 
paign, I,  330;  interest  in  expedition 
against  Louisiana,  I,  341;  and  the 
I'ederal  government  on  the  opening  of 
the  Mississippi,  I,  346;  volunteers  for 
Wayne's  Indian  campaign,  I,  354;  in- 
dignation over  Jay  Treaty,  I,  357; 
second  separation  movement,  I,  364; 
separation   from   the   Union,  plans   for. 


I,  370;  tires  of  Spanish  plots,  I,  373; 
pivot  of  Spanish  plots,  I,  375;  cam- 
paigns against  Indians,  I,  376;  troops 
for  Wayne's  Indian  campaign,  I,  387; 
part  in  the  development  and  defense  of 
the  West,  I,  389;  second  constitution 
of,  I,  390;  Federal  relations  of,  I,  403; 
alien  and  sedition  law  in,  I,  408; 
resentment  toward  New  England 
States,  I,  422;  and  the  Louisiana  Pur- 
chase, I,  424;  troops  to  take  posses- 
sion of  Louisiana,  I,  430;  security  due 
to  Louisiana  purchase,  I,  431;  and  the 
Aaron  Burr  conspiracy,  I,  434;  loyalty 
to  the  Union,  I,  457;  political  parties, 
I,   469;    at    beginning   of    19th    century, 

I,  485;  agriculture,  I,  499;  manufactur- 
ing, I,  501;  domestic  and  foreign  man- 
ufactures, I,  506;  banking,  I,  511; 
boundary  disputes,  I,  516;  character, 
distinct  from  old  states,  I,  524;  social 
and  intellectual  progress,  I,  524;  in  the 
War  of  1812,  I,  545;  volunteers  in  War 
of  1812,  I,  553,  556;  militia  in  battle 
of  Lake  Erie,  I,  560;  attitude  toward 
peace  in  1814,  I,  563;  character  and  the 
War  of  1812,  II,  569;  leading  power 
in  West,  II,  574;  patriotism.  II,  577; 
decade  following  War  of  1812,  II,  647; 
land  office  warrants,  II,  658;  conflict 
with  United  States  Supreme  Court,  II, 
666;  a  border  state,  II.  697;  pivotal 
state,  II,  702;  and  nullification,  II, 
705;  reply  to  nullification,  II,  708;  re- 
lations with  Southern  States,  II,  708; 
opposed  to  political  tyranny,  II,  784; 
interest  in  Cuban  liberation,  II,  785; 
slavery  in,  II.  796;  common  interest 
with  slave  holding  states,  II,  804;  in 
national  affairs,  II,  820;  in  Mexican 
W^ar,    II,   826;    devoted   to   the    Union, 

II,  838;  a  democratic  state,  II.  849;  and 
secession.  II,  853;  neutral  at  beginning 
of  Civil  War.  II,  855;  declares  for  the 
Union,  II,  858;  trade  relations  with 
North  and  South,  II,  859;  geographic 
position,  II,  864;  final  position  in  the 
Civil  War,  II,  866;  commerce  in  war 
times,  II,  868;  a  difficult  problem  to 
Federal  government,  II,  873;  Confed- 
erate trade  in,  II,  875;  supplies  for 
Northern    and     Southern    armies,     II, 

877;  a  conquered  province,  II,  878; 
commercial  relations  during  the  war, 
II,  883;  anomalous  position  in  war 
times,  II,  884:  civil  and  military  affairs 
during  Civil  War,  II,  885;  battlefield 
between  the  sections,  II,  887;  loyal 
government  of,  II,  888;  reorganized 
war  government,  II,  891;  Morgan's 
raids  in,  II,  892;  freed  from  Confed- 
erate occupation,  II,  893;  guerrilla  war- 
fare in,  II,  894;  under  martial  law,  II, 
897;  military  measures  in  1864,  II, 
898;  Civil  war  battles  in,  II,  899;  Union 
officers  in,  II,  905;  effects  of  the  Civil 
War,  II,  906;  opposed  to  Northern 
radicalism,  II,  912;  in  hands  of  the 
rebels,  II,  915;  rivalry  between  Louis- 
ville and  Cincinnati,  II,  926;  commerce 
centers  at  Louisville,  II,  931;  situation 


INDEX 


xli 


for  river  or  railway  traffic,  II,  985; 
since  the  Civil  War,  II,  987;  char- 
acter of,  II,  99S;  geology,  II,  1016; 
list  of  governors,  II,  1U71;  secession 
and  Clay,  II,  1U69;  U.  S.  Senators  in, 
II,  1082;  county  names  and  divisions, 
II,  1U99;  officers  in  Civil  War,  II, 
1114;  battles  of  Civil  War  in,  II,  I1S5; 
history  of  tobacco,  II,  927,  1162;  pro- 
duction of  tobacco  in,  II,  1173;  tobacco 
industry,  II,  1177 
Kentucky  and    Great    Eastern    Railroad, 

II,  734 
Kentucky  Abolition    Society,    I,    543;    II, 

798,  799,  801 
Kentucky  Academy,  I,  528;  II,  1051 
Kentucky  boat,  I,  380,  490 
Kentucky  Branch   of  Tammany,   II,  675 
Kentucky  Central   Railroad,  II,  734,  940, 

942,  951,  955,   969 
Kentucky  code,  I,  541 
Kentucky  Colonization   Society,    II,  798 
Kentucky  Common    School    Society,    II, 

763 
Kentucky  County,  I,  216,  290;  II,  1099 
Kentucky  courts,   II,   965 
Kentucky  delegates,   opposed   to    Federal 

Constitution,  I,  253 
Kentucky  Democratic  Society,  I,  351,  356 
Kentucky  Democracy,   I,  474 
Kentucky  District,    commercial    interests 

of,  I,  226 
Kentucky  Educational   Society,   II,   762 
Kentucky   Federalists,    I,   475 
Kentucky  Female     Orphan     School,     III, 

569 
Kentucky  Gazette,  I,  229,  243,  306,  532 
Kentucky  Geological     Survey,     historical 

sketch  of,  II,  1031,  1033 
Kentucky  Herald,  I,  532 
Kentucky  Historical     Society,      II,     771- 

library   of,   II,   "m 
Kentucky    Insurance     Company,     I.    444 

511,  513;   II,  599 
Kentucky  journalism,    II,    774 
Kentucky  Light    Artillery,    batteries    and 

officers,  II,  1142 
Kentucky   Manufacturing  Society,   I,   300 
Kentucky  mountaineer,  II,  1207 
Kentucky    Regiments,  Confederate,  names 

of  field   officers,   II,    llSl 
Kentucky  Reporter,    II,   573 
Kentucky  Resolutions,   II,    1063 
Kentucky  resolutions  against   Great   Bri- 
tain, I,  550 
Kentucky  Resolutions    of    1798,  '  I,    416; 
foundation  and  inspiration  of  the  doc- 
trine of  state  rights,  I,  420 
Kentucky  River,  I,  12,  54,   137,  160,   164, 
289,    493;    commerce    stopped    at    New 
Orleans,  I,  426;   II,  725,  740,  746,  931, 
940,  999,   1037;   (view),  II.  748 
Kentucky  River   Company,  I,  494 
Kentucky  salt,  II,  746 
Kentucky  School   for   the    Deaf    (views). 

II.  780,  782 
Kentucky  Society  for   Promoting  Useful 

Knowledge,  I,  303 
Kentucky    Society     for     the     Encourage- 
ment of  Domestic  Manufacture,  II,  600 
Kentucky    Society   for   the    Relief  of   the 
State   from  Slavery,  II,  800 


Kentucky  State  Agricultural  Society.   II 

741 
Kentucky  State  Capitol   (view),  II,  986 
Kentucky  Teachers'   Association,   II,  768 
Kentucky  telegraph,   I,  532 
Kentucky  Temperance  Society,  II,  795 
Kentucky  tobacco,    II,    927,     1112,     1173 

1177 
Kentucky  University,    II,    1058;    (view). 

II,  991 
Kentucky  vs.  Dennison,  II,  808 
Kentucky  Wesleyan   College,   IV,   180 
Kerkow,  Paul   E.,  V,  235 
Kerr,  Charles,  II,   1070;  V,  646 
Kerr,  J.  W.,  V,  106 
Kerr,  Roscoe   I.,  V,  413 
Kerr,  Victor,  II,  786 
Kessinger,  Benjamin   L.,   IV,   525 
Kessinger,  Robert,  IV,  534 
Keune,  Fred,  Sr.,  V,  539 
Keys,  Ben  B.,  IV,  363 
Kidd,  James  S.,  IV,  295 
Kilgore's  Station,  I,  205 
Kimbrough,  Daniel   R.,   IV,   283 
Kimbrough,  William   L.,   V,  459 
Kincheloe,  Allen  L.,  Ill,  51 
Kincheloe,  Allen   R.,   Ill,  331 
Kincheloe,  John  E.,  III.  273 
Kincheloe,  William  P.,  IV,  53 
Kincheloe's  Station,  I,  205 
King,  B.  B.,  V,  205 
King,  J.    D.,   and    Son,    III,   531 
King,  O.  F.,  Ill,  531 
King,  Sam  F.,  Ill,  373 
King  Solomon,  II,  752 
King,  Thomas  E.,  V,  61 
King,  W.  N.,  IV,  11 
Kington,  W.  W.,  V,  172 
Kinkead,  William  B.,  II,  811,  914 
Kinnaird,  James  B.,  Ill,  257 
Kinne,  William  A.,  V,  440 
Kirby,  Samuel  B.,  IV,  11 
Kirk,  Andrew  J.,  V,  574 
Kirk,  Aretaeus,  III,  64 
Kirk,  McClellan  C,  V,  577 
Kirkland,  Robert  R.,  V,  328 
Kirkpatrick,  M.   L.,  II,   1187 
Kirksey,  John   F.,  V,  544 
Klair,  William  F..  IV,  171 
Kloecker,  John,  III,  174 
Kitchen  cabinet,   II,  692 
Knight,  Carrie   C,  III,  342 
Knight,  James,  III,  341 
Knob  Lick,  I,  205 
Knobs  Region,  II,  1021 
Knott  County,  II,  1102,  1107 
Knott,  J.    Proctor,    II,    988,    1002,    1072, 

1079,  1107 
Knox,  A.  T.,  V,  312 
Knox  County,  I,  489;  II,  1101,  1107 
Knox,  James,  I,  202 
Knox,  James  H.,  Ill,  59 
Knox,  John  W.,  V,  20 
Know-Nothing  Convention,  II,  846 
Know-Nothing  party,  II,  845,  848 
Koett,  Albert  B.,  IV,  54 
Korb,  Shelby  M.,  Ill,  106 
Krock,  Arthur,  II,  1183;  IV,  42 
Ku  Klux  Klan,  II,  913,  1001 
Kumbrough,  John  T.,  V,  559 
Kuykendahl's   Station    I,  205 
Kyle,  Andrew   G.,   IV,  258 


xlii 


INDEX 


Labor  conditions.   II,   599,   906 

Labor  shortage,  II,  594 

Labor  situation  in  1800,  I,  503;  after  the 
Civil  War,  II,  920,  995 

Laboring  class,  II,  999 

Lackey,  \V.  H.,  V,  318 

Lacy,  Daniel  G.,  IV,  631 

Lacy,  James  A.,  Ill,  610 

Lacy,  Minnie  W.,   Ill,  610 

Lafayette,  General,  II,  786,  1192 

Lafayette  Academy,  II,  787 

Laflcrty,  William  T.,  IV,   121 

Lafferty,  Mrs.  W.  T.,  I,  219;  II,  1188 

Lair,  Frank,  III,  55 

Lamar,  Edmund   N.,   Ill,  332 

Lancaster,  Joe,  V,  92 

Lancaster  Exporting  Company,  11,  603 

Land,  Charles,  III,  397 

Land  Claim  Court,  I,  215 

Land  claims,  three  classes  of,  I,  212,  310 

Land,  George,   III,   149 

Land  grants,  II,  724 

Land,  Headley,   III,  149 

Land  laws  of  1779,  1.  212,  293;  inherited 
from  Virginia,  II,  658;  Supreme 
Court's  decision,  II,  661 

Land  litigations,  II,  656 

Land  of  Tomorrow,  I,  56 

Land  office,  first,  I,  167 

Land  policy  of  Virginia,  I,  171 

Land  prices,   II,  593 

Land  problems,  cause  for  separation 
from  Virginia,  I,  223 

Land  speculation,   I,  214,  276,  487 

Land  system,  I,  212,  486,  488 

Land  tenure,  after  Supreme  Court's  de- 
cision, II,  671 

Land  tenure  laws,  II,  655 

Land  titles,  confusion  of,  I,  214;  uncer- 
tainty of,  II,  656;   in  general,  II,   1026 

Land  warrants,  I,  213,  299,  511 

Lands,  I,  499 

Lane,  Joseph   H.,   IV,  37 

Lang,  James   M.,  V,  339 

Lang,   Martin,  IV,  295 

Langan,  John  J.,  Ill,  258 

Larkin,  John  C,  IV,  125 

Larkin,  Prestley,  I,  128 

Larkin,  William  R.,  IV,  130 

Larue   County,   II,   1102,   1109 

Larue,  John,   II,  1109 

La  Rue,  John  F.,  IV,  562 

Laslev,  John  B.,  V,  458 

Laslie,  Theophilus  A.   H.,  Ill,  490 

Laswell,  Floyd  J..  IV,  262 

I.aswell,  William   D.,  V,  64 

Laughlin,  Samuel  D.,  Ill,  414 

Laurel  Bridge,  II,  899 

Laurel  County,  I,  117;  11,  996,  1101,  1109 

Lavin,  W.  J.,  IV,  16 

Law,  occupying  claimant,  II,  659 

Law  school,   II,   1053 

Law  School  of  Transylvania  College,  II, 
755 

Law  suits,  I,  480,  525 

Lawless,   Henry,    I,   58 

Lawless,  Lee  A.,   Ill,  533 

Lawlessness,  II,  1012 

Lawrence  County,  II,  1101,   1109 

Lawrence,  Henry   R.,   IV,  462 

Laws,  criminal,  I,  312;  reform  in,  I, 
479;  for  relief  of  settlers,  I,  489;   Eng- 


lish precedents  forbidden,  I,  547;  regu- 
lating elections,  II,  778;  for  fugitive 
slaves,  II,  805;  against  Confederate 
sympathizers,  II,  890 

Lawyer,  every  man  his  own,  I,  479 

Lay,  Lewis  P.,  III.  232 

Layman,  J.  R.,  IV,  614 

Layman,  Reason  T.,  Ill,  321 

Layne,  Will  H.,  IV,  468 

Lazarus,  Joseph,  IV,  62 

Leach,  Ambrose  D.,  V,  62 

Leach,  George  T.,  IV,  409 

Leach,  Jesse  A.,  V,  132 

Leach,  Joseph  L.,  V,  524 

Leach's  Station,  I,  205 

Leachman,  George  C,  IV,  5 

Lead  mines,  I,  150 

Le  Bus,  Clarence,  IV,  107 

Le  Bus,  Frank,  V,   182 

Le  B-us.  Joseph  F.,  V,  180 

Lebanon,  II,  893,  903,  929 

LeCompte,  Joseph,  IV,  188 

LeCompte,  Louis,  V,  165 

Lederer,  John,  I,  42 

Lee  County,   II,   1102,  1109 

Lee,  Charles   H.,  V,  213 

Lee,  D.  Collins,  IV,  218 

Lee,  E.  S.,  V,  294 

Lee,  Hancock,   I,  206 

Lee,  Harrison,  V,  138 

Lee,  Henry,  I,  206,  270 

Lee,  Miles  E.,  V,  366 

Lee,  Richard,   I,  67 

Lee,  Richard   H.,   I,  289 

Lee,  Robert  E.,  II,  1109 

Lee,  Thomas,  I,  67 

Leek,  John  W.,  IV,  300 

Leestown,  I,  206,  309 

Lee's  Station,  I,  206 

Legerwood's  Bend,  I,  309 

Legislation,  special,  II,  954;  local  option, 
II,  992 

Legislative  bills,  II,  834 

Legislative  department,  under  Third 
Constitution,   II,   835 

Legislative  power,   division   of,   I,  281 

Legislative  representation  of  Kentucky 
County,  I,  216 

Legislature  and  the  Federal  authorities, 
II,  889 

Legislature,  composition  of,  I,  282;  first 
state,  I,  307;  salaries,  I,  315;  on  Mis- 
sissippi River  Navigation,  I,  353;  of 
1817,  II,  589;  resolutions  of  1819,  II, 
605;  of  1819,  II,  60S;  inipoachniont  of 
Tudge  Clark,  II,  624;  resolution  of  1821, 
il,  662;  of  1842,  II,  720;  general  ability 
of,  II,  779;  right  of,  to  borrow,  II, 
834;  powers  of,  II,  836;  session  of 
1860-61,  II,  854;  special  session  of 
1862,  II,  891;  of  1867,  II,  916;  of  1871, 
II,  981;  contest  of  1900,  II,  1010 

Lchr,  Rorgias,  V,  237 

Leitch,  David,  I,  206 

Lcitch's  Station,  I,  206 

Lemon,  Clay  G.,  IV,  320 

Lemon,  James  R.,  IV,  319 

Lenton,  Matthew  A„   IV,  362 

Leopold,  Lawrence  S.,  IV,  33 

Leslie  County,  II,  1102,  1109 

Leslie,  G.  W.,  IV,  620 

Leslie,  John   E.,  V,  130 


INDEX 


xliii 


Leslie,  Preston  H.,  II,  919,  980,  1072, 
1078,   1109 

Letcher    County,   II,    1102,    1109 

Letcher,  Robert  P.,  II,  714,  717,  729, 
730,  844,  1071,  1075,  1109 

Letterle,  John  L.,  Ill,  163 

Letton,  John  Will,  IV,  284 

Letton,  John  W.,  V,   17 

Letton,  Lo-u  P.,  IV,  284 

Le  Vesque,  Henry  C,  IV,  299 

Le  Vesque,  May,  IV,  299 

Levi,  Clyde  R.,  V,  595 

Levick,  H.  R.,  Jr.,  Ill,  169 

Levisa,  I,  12,  137 

Lewis,  Andrew,  I,  95 

Lewis  County,    II,    1101,    1109 

Lewis,  George,  I,  207 

Lewis,  Henry  H.,  IV,  8 

Lewis,  Isaac  N.,  V,  575 

Lewis,  James,  V,  628 

Lewis,  James  P..  IV,  340 

Lewis,  James   W.,   Ill,  305 

Lewis,  Joseph  H.,  II,  1144 

Lewis,  Meriwether,   II,   1109 

Lewis,  Preston   O.,  V,  521 

Lewis,  Samuel  D.,  Ill,  44 

Lewis,  Thomas,   I,   135,  284 

Lewis,  William,  I,  555;   III,  504 

Lewis'  Station,  I,  206 

Lexington,  I,  162,  194,  206,  207,  219,  243, 
280,  289,  291,  295,  296,  303,  305,  307, 
309,  310,  320,  356,  398,  405,  438,  453, 
488,  499,  504,  508,  532,  535,  551;  manu- 
facturing, I,  503;  original  court  house 
at,  I,  308;  social  center,  I,  524;  in  1817, 

I,  525;  II,  580,  592,  593,  595,  600,  611, 
630,  651,  680,  695,  704,  710,  715,  721, 
723,  727,  728,  730,  732,  733,  740,  741, 
763,  7S7,  797,  821,  841,  877,  881,  887, 
918,  970,  976,  982,  992,  1058,  1167,  1181, 
1191;  social  and  intellectual  center,  II, 
743;  view  of,  II,  744;  during  cholera 
epidemic,  II,  750;  C.  M.  Clay  case,  II, 
810 

Lexington    &    East    Tennessee    Railroad, 

II,  950 

Lexington  and  Frankfort  Railroad,  II, 
732 

Lexington   and   Ohio   Railroad,   II,  731 

Lexington  Daily  Leader,  The,  III,  352 

Lexington  Dry  Goods  Company,  III,  148 

Lexington   Emigration    Society,    I,    486 

Lexington  Granite  Company,  III,  173 

Lexington  Herald,  I,  357 

Lexington   Hospital,    II,    781 

Lexington  Library,  I,  531 

Lexington  Society,  II,  789 

Lexington  Utilities    Company,    III,    97 

Liberty  Fort,  I,  206 

Libraries,  II,  772 

Licking  Associating  of  Particular  Bap- 
tists,  I,  543 

Licking  River,  I,  13,  186,  493;  II,  726 

Licking  Station,  I,  206,  293 

Lieutenant  governor,   I,  282,  400 

Light,  W.  T.,   IV,  288 

Lightning-rod   agents,    II,  993 

Ligon,  Moses   E.,  Ill,  199 

Lile,  Arthur,  IV,  568 

Liles,  Erwin   B.,   IV,   113 

LiUard,  Charles  K.,  V,  282 

Lilly,  Grant  E.,  Ill,  314 


Limestone,  I,  297,  379 

Limestone  Creek,  I,  173,  184 

Limestone  formations,  I,  288 

Lincoln,  Abraham,     II,     656,    852,    856; 

(portrait),  861;  II,  863,  879;  vote  for,  in 

1864,  II,  898;  birthplace  of  (view),   II, 

1104 
Lincoln,  Benjamin,  II,  1109 
Lincoln  County,  I,  202,  203,  290,  301;  II, 

1099,  1109 
Lincoln   guns,  II,  886 
Lincoln  Memorial   (view),  II,   1104 
Lincoln,  Walter  P.,  IV,  56 
Lindsay,  G.  W.,  IV,  547 
Lindsay,  Horace   C,   IV,  478 
Lindsay,  Joseph,  I,  193 
Lindsay,  William,  II,   1085,   1093 
Lindsay,  William  O.,  IV,  227 
Lindsay's  Station,  I,  206 
Lindsey,  John  B.,  Sr.,  IV,  315 
Lindsey,  John  B.,  Jr.,  IV,  318 
Lindsley,  Philip,   II,   1054 
Linen  manufacture,  I,  506 
Link,  William  F.,  IV,   115 
Linn,  Cyrus  H.,  V,  504 
Linnemann,  J.   B.,  IV,  241 
Linn's  Station,  I,  206 
Lisanby,  Rufus  W.,  Ill,  429 
Lisle,  Rufus,  III,  243 
Lisle,  Virginia,  III,  244 
Lisman,  Marion   R.,  IV,  321 
Literary  culture,  I,  531 
Literary  fund,  II,  759 
Literature,  II,  995,  1208 
Littell's  Station,  I,  206 
Little,  Lucius  F.,  Ill,  274 
Little,  Lucius  P.,  Ill,  274 
Little,  Luther  C,  III,  230 
Little  Fort,  I,  206 
Little  Mudlick  Creek,  I,  149 
Littlepage,  William,  I,  77 
Live  stock,  II,  740 
Livestock  business,  II,  920 
Livestock  export,  II,  742 
Livestock  trade  with  South,  II,  708 
Livingston,  Allen,  IV,  500 
Livingston,  Ova   B.,   V,   176 
Livingston  County,  II,  1100,  1109 
Lloyd,  Arthur  L.,  V,  144 
Lloyd,  Robert   E.,   Ill,  535 
Lockhart,  Charles  J.,   Ill,  61 
Lockhart,  George  C.,  Ill,  57 
Loftus,  M.    E.,   IV,  600 
Locust  Thicket  Fort,  I,  206 
Logan,  I,  184 
Logan,  Benjamin,    I,    187,    193,   206,   227, 

234.   270,   315,   328,   382;    II,   629,    1050, 

1109 
Logan  College    for    Young    Women    IV, 

492 
Logan  County,  I,  489,  537;  II,  1100,  1109 
Logan,  James  L.,  IV,  289 
Logan,  John,  I,  264,  376,  469 
Logan,  John  A.,  II,  786;  V,  437 
Logan,  Leslie,  III,  457 
Logan,  Marvel  M.,  IV,  28 
Logan,  Thomas  L.,  V,  385 
Logan,  William,   I,  494;   II,   1083,   1094 
Logan's  Fort,  I,  175,  206;  II.  1041 
Logsdon,  William  J.,   Ill,  239 
Logging  Scene,   Lee   County    (view),   II, 

748 


xli\ 


INDEX 


London,  seat  of   government,   II,    1010 

London,  Willis,  III,  557 

Long,  Carl  L..  V,  23 

Long,  Charles  R.,  Jr.,  Ill,  146 

Long,  Edward  H.,  Ill,  153 

Long,  George,   IV,   36V 

Long,  George  C,  IV,  104 

Long  Hunters,  expedition,  I,  160 

Long,  Nimrod,  IV,  433 

Long,  W.  A.,  IV,  60 

Looniis,  Arthur,    IV.  23 

Loomis,  Ezra  E.,  Ill,  383 

Looney,  James  T.,  IV,  96 

Looney's  Gap,  I,  59 

Looseleaf  markets,  II,  1179 

Lopez  expeditions,    II,   785 

Lottery,  I,  494,  529;  II,  724,  764,  1005, 
1050 

Loudon's  Station,  I,  206 

Louisa,  I,  86,  98 

Louisa  Company,   I,   162,   163 

Louisa  Fork,  I,  12,  127 

Louisa  River,  I,  64,  137,  145,  148,  153 

Louisiana,  French  scheme  for  tlie  con- 
quest of,  I,  325 

Louisiana  cession,  I,  429 

Louisiana  Purchase,  I,  424 

Louisiana  territory,  I,  373 

Louisville,  I,  162,  177,  182,  184,  185,  203, 
206,  216,  218,  219,  289,  296,  297,  299, 
302,  309,  488,  533;  II,  593,  611,  651, 
676,  695,  702,  709,  721,  722,  727,  728, 
740,  781,  786,  834,  845,  848,  862,  883, 
892,  899,  913,  924,  926,  958,  962,  966, 
972,  984,  996,  1009,  1172,  1180;  city 
currency,  II,  616;  opposition  to  rail- 
roads, II,  731;  commercial  center  of 
state,  II,  743;  during  Civil  War,  II, 
881;  wholesale  and  manufacturing,  II, 
927;  burden  of  railroad  building,  II, 
931;  a  Southern  city,  II,  935;  commer- 
cial position  threatened,  II,  959;  first 
legislative  victory  against  Cincinnati, 
II,  969;  boycott  by  Central  Kentucky, 
II,  970 

Louisville  aid  to  railroad  building,  II, 
929 

Louisville  and  Cincinnati,  rivalry  of,  II, 
925 

Louisville  &  Chattanooga  Grand  Trunk 
Railroad,  II,  960 

Louisville  &  Frankfort  Railroad  Com- 
pany, II,  732 

Louisville  &  Nashville  Railroad,  II,  734, 
736,  738,  863,  868,  880,  887,  923,  928, 
932,  937,  943,  947,  965,  970,  985,  998 

Louisville  &  Portland  Canal  Company, 
II,  727,  945 

I-ouisville  &  Portland  Railroad  Com- 
pany, II,  732 

Louisville   I'-ank  of  Kentucky,  11,  710 
v-imjisville  banks,   II,   1185 

Louisville  canal,  II,  697 

Louisville,  Cincinnati  &  Lexington  Rail- 
road,  II,  929 

Louisville  Commercial,   II,   919 

Louisville  Commercial   Bank,   II,  603 

Louisville  Courier,   II,  911 

Louisville  Gazette,  I,  533 

Louisville  Herald,  IV,  84 

Louisville  Journal,  II,  911 

Louisville  Legion,  II,  826 


Louisville  Legion     in     New     York,     1889 

(view),  II,  827 
Louisville  Railroad  connections,  II,  926 
Louisville  Road,  II,  928 
Louisville,  Short  Line  Railroad,  II,  944 
Louisville  society  and   sports,   I,  295 
Lovell,  Aden  G.,  Ill,  36 
Lovett,  Henry   H.,   IV,  476 
Lovett,  John   G.,  IV,  425 
Loving,  William  V.,  II,  846 
ttjbow  Dutch  Reformed  believers,  I,  214 
Lower  Blue  Licks,  I,  206 
Loyal  Land  Company,  I,  57 
Loyalty,  oaths  of,  II,  890 
Luckey,  William  A.,  Ill,  55 
I.uigart,  Flora,  III,  185 
Luigart,  George,  III,  185 
Luker,  Charles  R.,  IV,  250 
Lumber,  II,  747 
Lusk,  Absalom,  I,  153 
Luten,  Horace,  V,  288 
Luxon,  William  E.,  Ill,  246 
Lydon,  William,  V,  343 
Lyie,  Robert  B.,  V,  78 
Lynch,  John  F.,  IV,  4 
Lynch,  Richard  J.,  Ill,  481 
Lynch's  Station,  I,  206 
Lynchings,  II,   1014 
Lyne,  Edmund,  I,  216 
Lync,  Sandford  C,  IV,  148 
Lynn,  James  F.,  Ill,  195 
Lyon,  Albert  P.,  IV,  492 
Lyon  County,  II,  746,  1102,  1109 
Lyon,  Dandridge   H.,  Ill,  522 
Lvon,  H.  B.,  II,  1144 
Lyon,  Matthew.  I,  435;  II,  585,  1109 
Lyons,  G.  R.,  IV,  334 
Lyons,  Henry,  V,  146 
Lyons,  Samuel,  V,  147 
Lyons,  William   L.,  Jr.,   IV,   141 
Lyttle,   C.   B.,   V,  451 

Macartney,  T.  B.,  II,  1059 
MacCrcady,   Walter   C,   V,  608 
Macey,  Gus,  IV,   146 
Macdonald,  James  W.,  Ill,   125 
Machcn,  Willis    B.,    II,    987,    1000,    1085, 

1094 
Macht,  James  C,  IV,  420 
Mackoy,  Harry  B.,  Ill,  222 
Mackoy,  William  H.,  Ill,  222 
Madden,  John  E.,  Ill,  81 
Maddux,  Connell  R.,  V,  537 
Madison    County,    I,    164,   200,   201,   291, 

490;  II,  886,  1100,  1110 
Madison,  George,  II,  582,  1071,  1073 
Madison,  James,  I,  252 
MalTett,  Logan   H.,  IV,  286 
Maggard,  Elijah  H.,  V,  .586 
Maggard,  Samuel   D.,   Ill,  537 
Magoffin,  Bcriah,   II,   850,   853,   854,   885, 

890,  891,  1072,  1077,  1110 
Magoffin   County,   I,  63;   II,   1102,   1110 
Magraw,  Norris  C,  V,  397 
Magraw,  Richard  A.,  V,  380 
Mahan,  John   B.,  II,  805 
Mahon,  James   C'.,   Ill,   173 
Mahurin,  Cumpton   1.,  V,  38 
Maloney,  Richard,   HI,  284 
Mail   connections,   I,  490 
Mammoth  Cave,  II,  1023 
Manchester,  I,  206 


I 


INDEX 


xlv 


Mandan  Indians,  I,  36 
Mann,  Edward  G.  B.,  IV,  92 
Mann,  Fletcher,  IV,  126 
Mann,  Harry  F.,  V,  228 
Mann,  James  H.,  Jr.,  Ill,  541 
Mann's  Lick,  I,  206 
Manning,  Joseph  A.,  Ill,  310 
Manning,  Lewis,  V,  223 
IVianning,  Peter  F.,  IV,  337 
Mansfield,  Alderson  D.,  V,  533 
Mansfield,  E.  Morris,  V,  241 
Mansker,  Gasper,  I,   160 
Manor,  Jesse  B.,  V,  244 
Man  o'  War,  V,  27 
iManson,  Lewis   L.,   Ill,   134 
Mantle,  Irving  W.,  Ill,  353 
Mantz,  Corydon  F.,  V,  65 
Manufactures,    I,   300,   488,   526;    salt,    I, 
300;  II.  593,  743;  iron,  II,  745;  tobacco, 

II,  1172 

Manufacturing,   II,  600,  739,  920 

Manufacturing  at  Lexington,  I,  503 

Manufacturing  industry  in   1810,  I,  504 

Marble  Creek  Station,  I,  207 

Marcum,  Cornelius,  III,  257 

Marcum,  John  R.,  Ill,  318 

Marcum,  Thomas   D.,   IV,  181 

Maret,  James,  IV,  195 

Marion   County,  II,  1101,  1110 

Mark,  John  F.,  V,  555 

Markey,  James  B.,  IV,  491 

Markey,  Mrs.  James  N.,  Ill,  486 

Marks,  Samuel  B.,  Ill,  390 

Marrs,  William,   IV,    151 

Marsee,   Tackson.  IV.  253 

Marsee,  Noah,  IV,  253 

Marsee,  William  R.,  V,  417 

Marsh,  Augustus  F.,  IV,  303 

Marsh  John  D.,  IV,  416 

Marshall,  Albert    R.,   Ill,    185 

Marshall  County,   II,   1102,   1110 

Marshall,  Humphrey,  I,  253,  270,  303, 
343,  354,  357,  363,  411,  448,  450,  453, 
458,  462,  465,  468,  470,  471,  473,  475, 
478,  505;  II,  674,  754,  770.  826,  889, 
892,  1061,  1065,  1082,  1094,  1144 

Marshall,  James   P.,  Ill,  585 

Marshall.  John,  I,  512;  views  on  separa- 
tion. I.  238;  II,  659,  1010 

Marshall,  John  J.,  II,  622,  647 

Marshall,  Louis,  V,  292 

Marshall,  Martin  P.,  II,  645 

Marshall,  Robert,  II,  1052 

Marshall,  Thomas,  I,  261,  262,  264,  270, 
272,  279;  II,  763,  1050;  V,  620 

Marshall,  Thomas  A.,  II,  755,  1058 

Marshall.  Thomas  F.,  II,  811,  835,  837 

Marshall,  Thomas  J..  V,  43 

Marshall,  T.  A.,  II,  730 

Martial  law.  II.  895;  in  July,  1863,  II,  881 

Martin,  Cambridge  F.,  V,  566 

Martin   County,  II,  1102,   1110 

Martin,  Elijah   L.,  IV,   197 

Martin,   Felix  J.,  V,  94 

Martin,  Flavious  B.,  Ill,  578 

Martin.  George   B.,   II,   1015,   1086,   1095; 

III,  560 

Brown,  George  Burncy,  III,  266 
Martin,  George  C,  V,  195 
Martin,  Gcor.ee   W.,   V,  94 
Martin,  Mrs.  George  W.,  V,  94 
Martin,  Harry  H.,  Ill,  123 


Martin,  Henry  H.,  Ill,  317 

Martin,  Henry  L.,  Ill,  566 

Martin,  Henry  L.,  Jr.,  Ill,  595 

Martin,  James  H.,  V,  635 

Martin,  Jesse  E.,  IV,  498 

Martin,  John,  I,  207,  234 

Martin,  John,  V,   135 

Martin,  John  P.,  II,  1110 

Martin,  Leek,  V,  542 

Martin,  Leslie,  V,  429 

Martin,  Sue  R.,  V,  94 

Martin,  Walter  V.,  IV,  261 

Martin,  William    C,    IV,  485 

Martin's  Station,  I,  183,  194,  207 

Martinsburg,  I,  488 

Marvin,  Charles   E.,  V,  469 

Maschinot,  Raymond  W.  J.,  IV,  481 

Mason,  Brockman,  III,  466 

Mason  County,  I,  73,  115,  201,  202,  206, 
210,  292;  II,  812,  1100,  1110,  1172 

Mason,  Elijah  F.,  IV,  280 

Mason,  George,  I,  67,  176,  292;  II,  1110 

Mason,  Robert  M.,  V,  112 

Mason,  R.  S.,  IV,  409 

Mason,  Silas  B.,  Ill,  392 

Mason,  William  H.,  V,   105 

Massey,  George  T.,  IV,  594 

Massey,  Lewis  D.,  V,  332 

Massie,  Robert  E.,  Ill,  281 

Massie,  Robert  K.,  IV,  84 

Masterson's    Station,   I,   207 

Material  and  intellectual  progress,  I,  297 

Material  development,  I,  523 

Matheny,  John  K.,  V,  99 

Mather,  Otis  M.,  Ill,  318 

Mather,  William  W.,  II,  747,  1031 

Matlock,  F.  v.,  IV,  375 

Mathews,  Letcher,  V,  262 

Matthews,  John  D.,  II,  764 

Matthews,  Thomas  H.,  Ill,  72 

Mattingly,  George,  V,  17 

Mattingly,  Joseph  M.,  V,  76 

Mattison,  Joseph  E.,  V,  314 

Maulding's  Station,  I,  207 

Mauntel,  Robert  B..  IV,  474 

Maurer,  John  J.,  Ill,  412 

Maxwell.  Cicero,  II,  905 

Maxey,  Sam,  IV,  563 

Maxwell  Spring,  I,  527,  563 

May,  Andrew  J.,  Ill,  578 

May,  G.  C,  III,  421 

May,  William   H.,  Ill,   129 

May,  Woodson,  V,  190 

Mayer,  Jake,   IV,  634 

Mayes,  Fred  O..  Ill,  561 

Mayes,  Mary  W.,  Ill,  561 

Mayfield,  II,  875 

Mayhugh,  Elbert  N.,  Ill,  497 

Maynard,  Hayes,  IV,  374 

May's  Lick  settlement,  I,  207 

Maysville,  I,  193,  200,  205,  207,  219,  289, 
292,  297,  486,  490;  II,  680,  696,  715, 
721,  722,  723,  727,  728,  750,  1181,  1191 

Maysville  &  Lexington   Railroad,  II,  734 

Maysville  Road,  II,  696,  697 

McAdams,  Charles  C,  III,  334 

Mc Adams,  George  W.,  II,  828 

McAdams,  Harry  K.,   IV,   174 

McAdoo,  Samuel,  I,  537 

McAfee  brothers,  I,  161 

McAfee,  Clinton   F.,  V,  71 


xlvi 


INDEX 


McAfee,  Robert  B..  II,  643,  692 
McAfee's  Station,  I,  184,  206,  304 
McAllister,  J.   Gray,   III,  67 
McBride,  William,  I,  193 
McCabe,  Eugene,   IV,  534 
McCabe,  John  W.,  Ill,  195 
McCaffrey,  Thomas  J.,   IV,  4/0 
McCall,  David  H.,  Ill,  497 
McCampbcll,  Amos   G.,   V,    157 
McCarroll,  Joe,  Jr.,   IV,  87 
McCary,  Hugh,  I,  196 
McCauley,   Harry  S.,  IV,  278 
McChord,  Charles    H.,   IV,   165 
McChord,  William  C,  V.  73 
McClaid,  Benjamin   F.,   IV,  91 
McCIain,  William  P.,   Ill,  219 
MeClanahan,  Perry,  III,  599 
McClarty,  Clinton,   II,  852 
McClary,   Herbert   B.,  V,  457 
McClean,  Oscar  R.,  Ill,  532 
McClelland,   Byron,  III,  375 
^McClelland,  Frances,  III,  375 
McClelland,  Wallace,    IV,   16 
McClelland's  Fort,   I,   174,  207 
McClintock,  James  D.,  V,  53 
McClintock,  Joshua,   I,   126 
McClintock,  William   G.,   IV,  98 
McClung,  John  A.,  I,  188 
McClurc,  Daniel  E.,  Ill,  346 
McClure,  John    E.,   V,  204 
McClure,  William   B.,  Ill,  392 
McComas,  Less,  V,  484 
McConathy  Family,  IV,  329 
McConathy,   Martha,    IV,   329 
McConnell,  Andrew,    I,    194 
McConnell's   Station,    I,  207 
McCorklc,  James,  I,  11 
McCorkle,  William    11.,    IV,    192 
McCorniack,  Joseph   N.,  IV,  454 
McCormick   Brothers,  III,  38 
.McCormick,  Charlie  T..   Ill,  530 
McCormick,  Clifford,    III,   38 
.McCormick,  Harry  T.,   Ill,  38 
McCormick,  John   T.,   Ill,  38 
McCormick,  Samuel  E.,  Ill,  38 
McCormick,  Samuel  T.j  III,  38 
McCormick,  William  H.,  Ill,  38 
McCormick's  Station,  I,  207 
McCoun,  Thomas   B.,  V,   163 
McCoy,  G.   R.,   IV,  544 
McCoy,  James  L.,  V,  567 
McCov,  John   W.,  V,  230 
McCo'y,  William    R.,   V,  602 
McCracken    County,    II,    593,    737,    1101, 

1109 
McCracken,  Cyrus,  I,  206 
McCracken,  Virgil,   II,    1109 
McCreary  County,    I,   55;    II,    1102,    1109 
McCrearv,  James    B.,    II,   981,   991,    1001, 

11115,   1022.  1078,   11186,   1094,   1109 
McCrcerv,     Thomas     C,     II,    916,     1084, 

1094;   in,  413 
McCubbing,   Isabelle,   IV,  277 
McCubbing,  James,   IV,  277 
McCubbing,  Margaret,  IV,  277 
McCulloch  versus   Maryland,   II,  652 
McCullough,  James,  I,   194 
McDaniel,   Levit   H.,  IV,  388 
McDermott,  Edward   J.,   Ill,    144 
McDonald,   Donald,   III,  380 
McDonald,  Donald,  Jr.,    IV,   216 


McDonald,  James    L.    (Lexington),    III, 

91 
McDonald,  James     L.    (Cynthiana),    IV, 

286 
McDonald,  John  W.,  IV,  395 
McDonald,  V.   C,  IV,  334 
McDonald,  William    IL,    III,    145 
McDowell,  Colonel,  I,  561 
McDowell,  Carter   L.,  V,  82 
McDowell,  Goodloe,  IV,  188 
McDowell,  Mrs.    Henry   Clay,    IV,    183 
McDowell,  John,  I,  397 
McDowell,  Robinson  A.,   IV,  200 
McDowell,  Samuel,  I,  217,  227,  234,  254, 

256,  264,   300,   303,   311,   428,   499,   511; 

II,  1050,  1052 
McDowell,  Thomas   C,   III,  3 
McDowell,  William,  I,  303,  313 
McDowell,  William  A.,  IV,  182 
McDowell,  W.  C,   II,   1186 
McDyer,  William   L.,   IV,  604 
McElroy,  H.  A.,  V,  464 
McElroy,  Lee  D.,  IV,  412 
McFaddcn's  Station,  I,  207 
McFarland,  James   E.,  IV,  200 
McFee's  (James)  Station,  I,  206 
McFerron,  Robert   L.,   Ill,  32 
McGarry's  Station,  I,  175,  207 
McGary,  Hugh,  I,   185,  189,   191,  194 
McGary,  Joseph  R.,  Ill,  312 
McGavock,  James,  I,  77 
McGee,  John.   I,   538 
McGee,  L.  W.,  V,  482 
McGee,  William,   I,  538 
McGee's  Station,  I,  207 
McGeough,  Thomas  A.,  Ill,  209 
McGrath,  Frank  R.,  V,  177 
McGready,  James,  I,  537 
McGregor,  Thomas  B.,  V,  360 
McGuire,   Henry  S.,   IV,  276 
McGuire's  Station,  I,  207 
Mcllenry,  John   H.,  II,  900 
Mclntire,  Ben,  IV,  641 
Mclntvre,  Malcolm  W.,  IV,  225 
McKce  Brothers,  IV,  147 
McKee,  Charles  F.,  IV,  86 
McKee,  Frank,   IV,   147 
McKee,  Henry   C,   IV,  585 
McKee,  James,  IV,  147 
McKee,  John    R.,    IV,    168 
McKee,  Lewis  W.,   V,   172 
McKee,  Miles   S.,   IV,  243 
.\IcKce   Nannie   L.,    IV,   243 
McKee,  Rob    C,    11,  833 
McKee,  Samuel,    I,   438,   553 
McKee  William   R.,  II,  826 
McKenzie,  James  A.,  IV,  71 
McKenney,  John  O.,  IV,  625 
McKinley,  Dixie,  V,  127 
.McKinley's   iilockhouse,  I,  207 
Mc Kinney,  May    .\I.   Paris,   IV,   398 
iMcKinncy,   Roy   W.,   IV,  398 
.McKinney,  Walter,    III,    5.34 
McKinney's  Station,  I,  207 
McLane,  Fred  L.,  IV,  479 
McLean,  Alney,    II,   1110 
McLean  County,  II,   1102,   lllll 
.McLemore,  James,  I,   130 
McLeod,  James  (Paris),  IV,  308 
McLeod,  James    (Lexington),    I V^   323 
Mc.Mahan,  Edgar  T.,  V,  171 


INDEX 


xlvii 


McMeekin,  Charles  F.,  IV,  133 

McMillan,  Charles   A.,   IV,   114 

McMillan,  Mrs.   Charles   S.,   IV,   567 

McMillan,   Mary  C,   IV,  568 

McMillin,  Benton,   II,   1059 

McMillin's  Fort,  I,  207 

McMurtry,   George    E.,   Ill,   302 

McMurtry,  John,   I,   193 

McNeill,  Dee  L.,  V,  280 

McPherson,  J.  E.,  IV,  111 

McVey,  Frank   L.,  II,  992 

Meacham,  Charles   M.,  Ill,  307 

Meade  County,  II,  1101,  1110 

Meade,  David,  I,  524 

Meade.  Fred.  V,  456 

Meade,  James,  II,  1110 

Meade,  Lloyd  G.,  IV,  555 

Meadow  Creek,  I,  61 

Means,  Harry  L.,  Ill,  71 

Medekle,   Pylap,   IV,  440 

Medical      department      of      Transylvania 

University,   II,   1053 
Medical   Institute  of  Louisville,  II,  1058 
Medical  profession,  II,  769 
Medical  school,  II,  754 
Medley,  Charles   L.,   Ill,  96 
Meece,  Leonard  E.,  IV,  447 
Meek,  James  N.,  IV,  561 
Meek,  Zephaniah,  I,  137 
Meek's   Station,   I,  207 
Mefiford's  Station,  I,  207 
Meisburg,  Clarence   T.,    IV,   264 
Melton,  Tony  J..   Ill,  37 
Mcmminger,  C.  G.,  II,  716 
Menageries.   II,   793 
Menaugli,  Thomas   L.,   IV,  261 
Menefee.  Richard  H.,  IV,  26 
Meng,  Charles  H.,  IV,  577 
Mcngel,  Charles  C.  IV,  48 
Menifee  County,  II,  1102,  1110 
Menifee,  Richard   H..   II,    1060,    1110 
Mennc,  Frank   A.,   Ill,  78 
Menzies,  John  W.,  Jr.,  Ill,  100 
Mercer,  Claude,  III,  271 
Mercer  County.  I,  113,  201,  204,  206,  291, 

540;   II,   1100,   1110 
Mercer,  John,   I,   67 
Mercer    Society    for   the    Encouragement 

of  Agriculture,  I,  499 
Merchants,    II,    594;    in    Civil    War   time, 

II,  881 
Meredith,  Thomas   O.,  V,  326 
Merideth,   Eugene   L.,   IV,  526 
Meriwether,  David.   II,    1084,    1095 
Merkle.  Carl  J.,  V,  252 
Merriman,  W.    M.,   V,   69 
Merritt.  Montgomery,   III.   211 
Meshew,  Joshua   W.,  V,   54 
Messenger.  Clarence  O..  V,  417 
Metcalfe  County  II,  n02.  1110 
Metcalfe.  Thomas.  II.  647,  686.  689,  690. 

692.  705.   724.   730.   732.  752.   812,    1060, 

1071,  1074,  1084,  1095,  1110 
Meteer.  Robert.    IV.    166 
Methodist    Church.   I,   535 
Methodists.  II,  794 
Mexican  war,  II,  752.  825,  838 
Mevering.  Aloysius   G.,   iV,   104 
Michaux,  Andre,    I.    296.    325.    328.    333; 

mission  to  Kentucky.  I.  323 
Michaux,  Francois.   I,  214.  485.  525 
Michler  Brothers  Company,  V,  617 


Michler,  L.  A.,  V,  618 

Middelton,  Anthony,  V,  27 

Middle  Creek,   II,  899 

Middle  Station.  I,  207 

Middlesboro,  II,  1199,  1207 

Middleton,  Charles   G.,  IV,  11 

Middleton,  William  A.,  V,  335 

Milam,  James   C,   IV,  80 

Milam,  John   W.,  V,   174 

Milby  &  Henderson,  IV,  385 

Milby,  Walter  F.,  IV,  385 

Miles,  Ezra  L.,  Ill,  91 

Miles,  Leon   L.,   V,    17 

Milford,  I,  490 

Military  Board,  II,  885,  888 

Military  control   of   elections,   II,   896 

Military  interference  with  ballot  box,  II, 

909 
Military  monument.  II,  771,  772 
Military  preparations    for    War    of    1812, 

I,  551 
Military  prowess  of  Kentuckians,  II,  575 
Military  records,  II,  1114 
Military  regime  after  the  war,  II,  906 
Military  service,  I,  400 
Military   surveys,   I,   161 
Militia,   I,  557;  II,  584,  918 
Militia  laws,  II,  772,  885,  891 
Milius,  William,  III,  208 
Milk  sickness,  II,  769 
Millard,  Frederick  A.,  Ill,  573 
Miller,  Allen   R„   III,  282 
Miller,  Arthur  H.,   II,  1016 
Miller,  Arthur  M.,  Ill,  201 
Miller,  C.   B.,  Ill,  425 
Miller,  Elizabeth  B.,  V,  19 
Miller,  Emmett   H.,  Ill,  176 
Miller,  Floyd   E.,  Ill,  38 
Miller,  Harry  B.,   IV,   162 
Miller,  James,  V,  19 
Miller,   loe    H..   III.  264 
Miller.  Matthias.  Ill,  349 
Miller,  Nathaniel  W.,  V,  125 
Miller.  Oliver,  IV,  136 
Miller.  Perry  B.,  IV,  27 
Miller,  Philmore  J.,  Ill,  45 
Miller,  Reuben  A.,  IV,  281 
Miller,  Robert   H.,   III.  39 
Miller,  Samuel,  II.   1206 
Miller.  Thomas  A.,  V,  304 
Miller.  Thomas  M..  III.  348 
Miller.  Wilbur  K.,  IV,  281 
Miller.  William  E.,  V.  485 
Miller,  William   J.,   Ill,   438 
Miller's  Station,  I,  207 
Mills,  I,  503 

Mills,  Benjamin,   II,   762 
Mills,  John  C,  III,  212 
Mills.  Mile  S..  V.  217 
Mills.  Vaught.    IV,   488 
Mill-dams,   I.  493 
Mill  Spring.  II,  888.  899 
Mills'  Station,  I,  207 
Milne,  William  B.,  III.  453 
Milner,  Charles  W..  IV,  18 
Milton,  Bushrod  J.,  III.  381 
Milward.  William   R.,  Ill,  178 
Mimms.  Frank  W.,  IV,  20 
Mims,  Blanch,    IV,   182 
Mineral  Springs,   II,  792 
Mineral  waters,  II,  1022 
Mineral  wealth,   II,  749,  920 


xlviii 


INDEX 


Mines.  II,  998 

Mingo  Chief  Pluggy,  I,   174 
Mingo  Indians,    I,   32 
Minor,  Claude  D.,  IV,  403 
Minor,  Henry   B.,   IV,  418 

Minor,  Spcnce,  IV,  326 

Minter,  Hampton  F.,  Ill,  231 

Mirror.  The,   I,  4S6.  532 

Mississippi  River,  origin  of  word,  I,  3, 
240;  navigation  of,  I,  265,  297,  300,  320, 
346,  354,  355,  366,  568;  closed  to  Ken- 
tucky trade,  I,  426;  11,  859,  925;  Hal- 
ley's  expedition  of  1791,  II,  1174 

Mississippi  River  Question,  I,  269,  322 

Missouri,  name  of,  I,  13 

Missouri  Compromise,   II,  804 

Mitchell,  Albert  L.,  Ill,  560 

Mitchell,  Blaney  C,   III,  404 

Mitchell,  Granderson  E.,  Ill,  272 

Moberley,  Thomas  J.,  V,  553 

Mobile  &  Ohio  Railroad,  II,  735,  923 

Mobley,  James  C,  III,  343 

Moflett,  Homer  S.,  IV,  444 

Monay,  James,   II,   1035 

Money,  I,  298;  in  pioneer  times,  I,  298; 
scarcity  of,  I,  502;  II,  593,  987 

Money  mania,  II,  602 

Moneyhon,  Jacob  A.,  Ill,  405 

Monicd  monopoly,  II,  60S 

Monroe  County,  II,  892,  1101,  1110 

Monroe,  James,  I,  235:   II,  1192 

Montgomery,  Bradley  B.,  III.  422 

Montgomery,  Charles  F.,  V,  197 

Montgomery  County,  I,  203;  II,  1100, 
1110 

Montgomery,  Edwin  W.,  Ill,  304 

Montgomery  Family,   I,  98 

Montgomery,  George,  V,  242 

Montgomery,  Hugh,  III,  493 

Montgomery,  John,   I,  77.  95,   177,  334 
Montgomery,  John    M.,   IV,  557 
Montgomery,  Seth,  I,  126 
Montgomery,  Thomas,  I,  553 
Montgomery.  William,    I,   207 
Montgomery's  Station,  I,  207 
Montour,  Andrew,  I,  69 
Monument  erected  to   Boone,   I,  491;   II, 

1045 
Moody,  William  B.,  IV,  454 
Moonlight  schools,   II,  991 
Moonshining,  II,  1026 
Moore,  Bacon  R.,  IV,  593 
Moore,  B.  H..  Ill,  472 
Moore,  Carter  P.,  V.  233 
Moore,  Charles  W.,  IV.  36 
Moore,  Daniel  L..  V.  331 
Moore  Family,   IV,  517 
Moore,  Francis  M.,  V,  644 
Moore,  James.  II,  1051.  1052 
Moore,  John  W..  V,  454 
Moore,  L.   M..   III.   332 
Moore,  Randolph  G..  IV.  440 
Moore,  Samuel  J.,  III.  313 
Moore,  Thomas  F.,  Ill,  450 
Moore,  Thomas  P.,  II.  692.  714 
Moore,  William  L.,  Ill,  444 
Moore,     William  M.,  IV,  281 
Moorman,  Charles  H.,  Ill,  65 
Moorman,  William  R.,  Ill,  330 
Moores.   llarrv.    III.   2.'?0 
VIoral  reform,  II,  794 


Morehead,  Charles  S.,  II,  712,  725,  734 
762,  846,  889,  1060,  1072.  1076 

Morehead,  James  T.,  I,  191;  II,  762,  763, 
771,  806,  822,  1071.  1074,  1083,  1095 

Moreland,  R.   E.,  Ill,   144 

Morell,  James  M.,  V,  95 

Morgan  County,   II,    1101,   1111 

Morgan,  George,   I,  276 

Morgan,  James,   I,   194 

Morgan,  Jesse,  IV,  649 

Morgan,  John,  II,  877,  887,  889,  901,  90(), 
1144;  raids  into  Kentucky,  II,  880,  892; 
capture  of,  II,  893 

Morgan,  John   H.   (portrait),   II,  902 

Morgan's  Station,  I,  207 

Morgantown.  II,  899 

Morris,  Jackson,  III,  478 

Morris,  James  M.,  V,  167 

Morris,  John    H.,   IV,  293 

Morris,  John  M.,  IV,  139 

Morris,  John  T.,  II,  1055 

Morris,  Leslie  W.,  V,  74 

Morris,  Thomas  T.,  Ill,  125 

Morris,  Thomas  W.,  IV,  97 

Morris,  William   C,  V,  257 

Morrison  College.  II,  1058 

Morrison,  Isaac,  I,  234 

Morrison,  James,  II,  1055,  1056,  1064;  V, 
624 

Morrow,  Kduin   P.,   II,   1015,   1072,    1081, 

1207;  III,  31 
Morrow,  Thomas  Z.,  II,  1002 
Morton,  Frank  A.,  V,  251 
Morton,  Jeremiah  R.,  Ill,  ISO 
Morton,  Mary  C.  G.,  Ill,  151 
Morton,  Tin. mas,  diary,  I,  107 
Morton.  William   (residence),  III,  355 
Mosby.  William  L.,  V,  41 
Moscley,  Charles  J.,  Ill,  503 
Moseley,  George  H.,  V,  469 
Moseley,  John   C,   III,  219 
Moser,  George,  Jr.,   IV,  464 
Moss,  Aaron  G.,  V,  77 
Moss,  Edwin  S.,  Ill,  501 
Moss,  James  L.,  V,  36 
Moss,  Marcellus  J.,  Sr.,  Ill,  444 
Mossing  place,   I,  63 
Mound-builders.  I,  16,  148 
Mountaineers,  II,   1026 
Mountain  people   of   Kentucky,    II,    1204, 

1206;  ballad  literatiire,  II.   1208 
Mountain  region  of  Kentucky,  II,  1025 
Mount  Sterling,  I,  184;  II,  611 
Motts,  John,  I,   126 
Moxley,  Dclozier,  III,  76 
Mud  Garrison,  I,  208 
Muddy  River  Licks,  I.  208 
Mudlick  creek,   I.   147 
Muhlenburg  County,   II,  999,   1028,   1101, 

nil 

Muir,  Elizabeth  A.,  Ill,  357 
Muir,  Mrs.   H.   Chrisman,  III,  357 
Muir,  Wallace,  III,  206 
Muir,  William  T.,  IV,  19 
Muldrow's  Hill.  II,  1021 
Mullen,  Junry  D..  IV,  235 
Mulligan,  James  H.,  IV,  268 
Mulligan,   Kathleen,  IV,  270 
Mullins,  Cam,  III.  57 
Mullins,  E.  Y.,  Ill,  155 
Munday,  Jonathan,  I,  126 


i 


INDEX 


xlix 


Mundy,  Marc,  II,  905 

Munfordsville,  II,  8g8 

Municipal  Improvement,   I,  527 

Munroe,  James,   II,    1053 

Murphy,  Griffin,  V,  598 

Murphy,  Robert  E.  L.,  Ill,  389 

Murphy,  William  T.,  V,  204 

Murphy,  W.  F.,  IV,  523 

Murray,  Eli  H.,  II,  905 

Murray,  Tames  A.,  V,  322 

Murray,  Thomas  A.,  Ill,  302 

Murray,  Thomas  D.,  Ill,  97 

Murray,  William,  I,  416 

Museum  of  Natural    History,   I,   532 

Muter,  George,  I,  217,  234,  242,  254,  256, 
261,  262,  270.  303,  310,  311,  471,  469,  482 

Muter's  Letter,   I,  263 

Mutual  Fire  Insurance  Company  of  Cov- 
ington, IV,  466 

Myers,  Ben,  III,  95 

Myers,  Ernest  L.,   Ill,  543 

Myers,  George  C.,  Ill,  593 

Myers,  Hubert  P.,  V,   18 

Myers,  Jacob,  II,  745 

Myers,  James  W.,  IV,  643 

Myers,  W.  R.,  V,  355 

Nagel,  Wilhelm  R.,  IV,  359 

Nail  cutting  machine,  I,  503 

Names,  origin  and  meaning  of,  I,  1 

Names  of  Kentucky  Officers  in  Civil 
war,   II,   1114 

Napier,  Calloway,  V,  641 

Napier,  Mitchell  C,  V,  586 

Napper,  William  S.,  V.  410 

Narrows,  The,  II,  1199 

Nash,  J.   B.,  Ill,  459 

Nashville  Convention  of  1850,  II,  839 

Natchez  Trace,  I,  298 

National  Bank  of  Kentucky,  II,  1185 

National  problems,   II,  821 

National  Republican   party,   II,   699 

National  Road,  II,  696 

National  Tobacco   Fair,  II,   1173 

National  Union,   II,   852 

Natural  resources,   II,  745,  920 

Natural  Rights,  II,  1063 

Natural  wealth,  II,  747 

Navigation  by  steamboat,  I,  501 

Navigation,  free,  of  Mississippi,  II,  859 

Neal,  William  J.,  Ill,   122 

Neblett,  J.  M.,  IV,  70 

Needham,  James,  I,  47 

Neet,  John  D.,  Ill,  502 

Negroes,  civil  rights  to,  II,  913;  en- 
franchisement of,  II,  917;  education  of, 
II.  990;  and  crime,  II.  994 

Negro  question,   II.   912 

Negro  regiments.   II.  907 

Negro  Suffrage,  II,  916 

Negro  vote.   II,   1000 

Nelson,  C.  J.,  V,  430 

Nelson  County.  I,  200,  202,  291,  487;  II, 
1022,  1100,  1111 

Nelson,  Jack   W.,   Ill,   509 

Nelson,  Robert  W.,  IV,  221 

Nelson,  William.  II,  886,  905 

Nemicolon's  Path.  I,  126 

Nesbit,  Joe  K.,  V,  245 

Netherland,  Benjamin,  I,  194 

"Neutral"  trade  through  Kentucky,  II. 
860 


Neutrality  and  the  Union,  II,  853;  policy 

on.  II.  855 
Neutrality  Laws,  I,  345;  11,  821 
Neville,  John  C,  V,  513 
Nevitt,  Charles  A.,  IV.  125 
New  court,    II,    632;    bill    to    repeal,    II, 

645 
New  Court  party,  II,  638,  644,  677 
New  Holland,  I,  208 
New  Orleans,  I,  425;  II,  922,  924 
New  River,   I,  40,   58,   134;  discovery  of, 

I,  45 

Newell,  Charles  D.,  IV,  319 

Newland,  M.  C,  IV,  331 

Newspaper,  second    west    of    the    AUe- 

ghanies,  I,  229 
Newman,  James  H.,  V,  131 
Newman,  John  W.,  II,  1183 
Newport,  II,  737.  745 
Newspapers,  I,  532;  II,  773;  abolition,  II, 

801 
Newton,  Ernest,  V,  48 
Niceley,  Thomas   J.,   Ill,  52 
Nicholas  County,  I,  200,  203;   II,  764 
Nicholas,  George,    I,   270,   284,    300,   308, 

328,    372,   401,   410,    412,    474;    II,    755, 

1052,  1063,  nil;  V,  627 
Nicholas,  W.  C,  I,  414 
Nic'holasviUe,  II,  918,  955 
Nichols,  Alfred   S.,  V,   157 
Nichols,  Arthur  L..  V,  428 
Nichols,  George,   I,  253 
Nichols,  Henry  L.,  V,  147 
Nichols,  Homer  W.,  Ill,  417 
Nichols,  Jess  F.,  IV,  514 
Nichols,  Washington  F.,  IV,  519 
Nichols,  William  E.,  IV,  335 
Nicholson,  George  W.,  V,  590 
Nicholson,  Thomas   E.,   Ill,  248 
Nickell,  Asa  B.,  Ill,  592 
Nickell,  Asa  W.,  IV,  86 
Nickell,  H.  Volney,  III,  592 
Niehaus,  George,  III,  11 
Night  riding,  II,  1013 
Niles,  Charles  A.,  V,  499 
Niles,  Hezekiah,    II,   603,    609,    611,   645, 

745 
Nineteenth  Amendment,  II,  992 
Nineteenth  Century  in  Kentucky,  I,  424 
Nineteenth  Regiment     Infantry     officers, 

II.  1126 

Ninth   Regiment     Cavalry     officers,     II, 

1139 
Ninth  Regiment     Infantry     officers,     II. 

1121 
Nisbet.  Benjamin  L..  V,  375 
Noe,  William  B..   Ill,  348 
Noland,  John,  III,  249 
Nollau.  Charles  L..  Ill,  267 
Nolte,  Charles,   III,   117 
Non-intercourse  Act,   I,  545 
Non-intercourse  law,   I,   506 
Nonsense  Fort,  I.  208 
Noonan,  Joseph   P.,   Ill,  465 
Norfleet,  Carl,  V,  269 
Normal  schools,  II,  768,  992 
Norman,  Jonathan  V.,  Ill,   139 
North,  Edward   A.,  IV,  222 
Northcutt,  John  K..  IV,  287 
Northcutt,  Robert  L.,  Ill,  361 
Northern  Bank  of  Kentucky,  II,  710,  826 
Northrup,  William,  IV,  623 


1 


INDEX 


Northwest  Indians,  conquest  of,  I,  376 

Norvell,  Joshua,  II,  653 

Norwood,  Charles   J.,    II,   999,    1033;    IV 

573 
Norwood,  Richard  D.,  Ill,  88 
Norwood  Survey,  II,  1034 
Nosworthy,  Charles   F.,   Ill,  422 
Nuckols,  O.  P.,  V,  183 
Nullification,  doctrine  of,  I,  420,  421;  II, 

673,  705 
Nunn,  Clement  S.,  Ill,  473 
Nunn,  Frederick  W.,  V,  373 
Nunn,  William   H.,   Ill,   192 
Nunn.  \V.   H.,  V,  435 
Nuiinclley,   Frank  Y.,   II,   1186 
Nuniiclly,  Spencer   C,   III,  251 
Nusz,   Herbert   K.,   Ill,  321 
Nutini,  Louis,   III,  213 
Nutter,  Leslie,  IV,  210 
Nutter,  Sallic,  IV,  210 

Oath  of  alU-Kianre,    II,   910 

Obcrst,  Albert  B.,  IV,  123 

(Obligation  of  contract,    II,    623 

CrBricn,  James  J.,    Ill,    186 

O'Bryan,  George    J.,    IV,    181 

Occupying  Claimant  Laws,  II,  650,  655; 
constitutionality  of,   II,  661 

O'Conncll,  Cornelius  J.,  Ill,  290 

O'Donnell,  William  F.,  V,  238 

O'Fallon,  James,  I,  276 

Office  holders  appointed,   II,  834 

Offices,  practice  of  selling,  II,  111,  834 

Offutt,  Cordelia,   IV,  309 

Offutt,  Webb,    II,    1182^ 

Ogden,   Benjamin,  I,  535 

Ogden,  Charles  F.,  IV,  78 

Ogden,  Edward  F.,  Ill,   133 

Ogilvie,  Richard  W.,  Ill,  428 

O'llara,  Theodore,  II,  785 

Ohio,  origin  of  name,  I,  2 

Ohio  &  Cumberland   Railroad,  II,  960 

Ohio  Canal   Company,   I,  494 

Ohio  Company,  I,  67 

Ohio  country,  discovery  and  exploration, 
I,  40 

Ohio  County,  1.  200;  II.  1101,  1111 

Ohio  River,  I,  288,  297,  485,  489;  II,  862; 
new  era  on,  II,  727 

Ohio  River  commerce,  II,  923 

Ohio  River  bridges,  II.  943 

Ohio  Valley,  rights  of  the  English  to,  I, 
45;  French  claim  to,  I.  47;  first  visitors, 
I,  160;  conditions  in,  II,  922;  commer- 
cial history  after  Civil  war,  II,  926 

Ohio  Valley  District.  II,  1178 

Oil,  II,  746,  920.  997 

Oil  Carpets.  I.  504 

Old  court  and  new  court,  II,  623;  con- 
troversy, II,  623,  636 

Old  court  judges,  II,  640 

Old  courthouse  at  Washington,  I,  312 

Old  Court  party.  II,  632,  644.  681 

Old  Field  schools.  I.  530,  753 

Old  Fort  at  Boonesborough  (view),  II, 
1045 

Oldham  County,  I,  203;  II,  1101,  1111 

Oldham,  M.  Kate,  IV,  14 

Oldham,  Ronald  C,  III,  252 

Oldham,  William,  I,  376;   11,  692,  1111 

Oldham,  William  E..  IV.  14 

Oliver,  Andrew  J.,   Ill,  4% 


Oliver,  W.  Mike,  IV,  638 
Old  Line  Whigs,  II,  848 
Old  Station  Farm,  I,  63 
Oldtown,  I,  204 
Old  trails,  I,  126 
Olympian  Springs,  II,  792 
O'Neal,  John  B.,  Ill,  101 
"One  Sucker,"  II,  1178 
O'Rcar,  E.  C,  11,  1015 
Oregon  question,  II,  823 
Orman,  Mary  R.  L.,  IV,  427 
Orme,  James  H.,  V,  372 
Orr,  Claude  A.,   IV,  395 
Orton,  Alpheus  E.,  V,  383 
Osborn,  Charles   G.,  Ill,  540 
Osburn,  Charles  O..  V,.514 
Osburn,  George.  Ill,  130 
Osburn,  Roy,  III,   130 
O'Sullivan,   Hugh,  III,  50 
O'Sullivan,  Michael,  V,  549 
Ottenhcim,    11,   1022 
Overbey,  Bob  C,  V,  221 
Overton,  Clough,  I,  194 
Overton   Family,  I,  98 
Overton,  James,  II,  1053 
Overton,  Samuel,  I,  95 
Overstreet,  Jesse  W.,  V,  148 
Overstrcet,  Mary  F.  B.,  V,  149 
Overstreet,  Otie,  V,  324 
Owen,  Abraham,  II,  1111 
Owen  County,   II.  941.   1111 
Owen,  Dale,  II,  749 
Owen,   David  D..   I.   115;  II.  1021,  1031 
Owen,  Ethelbert   D..  IV.  46 
Owen  Survey,   II,   1032,   1034 
Owen,  Thomas,  IV,  46 
Owens,  A.   D.,  IV,  485 
Owens,  Edward   B.,  Ill,  41 
C-Owensboro,  II,  746,  875,  899 
Owen's  Station,  I,  208 
Owings,  Rezin  G.,  V,  570 
Owing's  Station,   I,  208 
Owsley  County,  II,  1102,  1111 
Owslev,  Thomas  M.,  IV,  137 
Owsley.  William.   II,   762,   766.   824.  825, 

826.  1071.  1075,  1111 
Owsley,  William  F.,  V,  7 

Pace,  Claude  C,  V,  348 

Pace,  Daisy  D.,  V,  442 

Pack-Horses,  I,  127 

Paducah,  II.  735.  765,  862,  875,  880,  887, 

893,  899 
Paducah  District,  II,  1178 
Page,   \\.  M.,  Ill,  106 
Page,  William  A.,  V,  214 
Paine,  F.  A.,  II.  880 
Paine,  Thomas.  I.  223,  325 
Paint   Lick,  I,  148 
Paint   Lick  Station.  I.  208 
Painted  Stone.  I,  208 
Painted  trees,   I,   137,   147 
Paintsville,   I,  64,   119,   148;   II,  899 
Palladium.  The.  I,  532 
Palmer.  John   M.,   II,  899.  905,  907,  908, 

1008 
Panic  of  1819,  II,  599 
Panic  of  1837,  II,  713,  715 
Panic  of  1857,  II,  736 
Panic  of  1873.  II,  987 
Panic  of  1893,  II,  988 
Panics,  II,  752 


INDEX 


li 


Paper  currency,  I,  511 

Paper-making,  I,  301 

Paper  money,  I,  298;  II,  593,  597,  616 

Paper  town,  I,  487 

Pardue,  William  A.,  IV,  527 

Park,  Anderson  D.,  V,  637 

Park,  Robert  B.,  Ill,  345 

Parker,  Bessie,  V,  27 

Parker,  John,  V,  419 

Paris,  I,  205,  208,  320,  488;  II,  745 

Paris,  James  L.  F.,  V,  370 

Parraut,  Lewis,  III,  63 

Parrigin,  Perry,  V,  273 

Parrish,  Isaac  W.,  Ill,  567 

Parrish,  James  W.,  IV,  565 

Parrish,  Jeff  D.,  IV,  100 

Parrott,  R.  L.,  V,  521 

Parties,  ReHef   and   Anti-Relief,    II,   622; 

rise  of  national,  II,  674 
Party  names,  II,  704 
Party  newspapers,  II,  773 
Party  politics,  I,  469;  II,  692 
Party  spirit,  II,  584 
Paschall,  Jesse  B.,  V,  299 
Patrick,  Ashland  T.,  V,  453 
Patrick,  Charles  C,  IV,  29 
Patrick,  Robert  A.,  IV,  549 
Patrick,  Urey  W.,  V,  44 
Patterson,  Frank  Y.,  Jr.,  V,  256 
Patterson,  J.  K.,  II,  1059;  III,  27 
Patterson,  Robert,    I,    194,    196,   206,   219, 

220,  234,  330;   (portrait),  I.  233 
Patterson,  Walter  K.,  Ill,  29 
Patton,  B,  W..  II,  631 
Patton,  James,  I,  11 
Paxton,  John  R.,  V,  173 
Payne,  A.  G.,  Ill,  182 
Payne,  Alexander  P.,  Ill,  90 
Payne,  C.  R.,  V,  488 
Payne,  Cora  S.,  V,  488 
Payne,  Edward,  I,  234 
Payne,  George  F.,  Ill,  197 
Payne,  George  W.,  IV,  324 
Payne,  Henry  C,  III,  396 
Payne,  James  A.,   Ill,  346 
Payne,  James  H.,  V,  513 
Payne,  John  H.,  V,  279 
Payne,  J.  Walter,  IV,  291 
Payne,  Mathew  H.,   IV,  430 
Payne,  Robert   D.,  Ill,  325 
Paynter,  Thomas   H.,   II,   1086,    1096 
Peace  Democrats,  II,  896 
Peace,  Shelby   L.,  IV,  72 
Peak,  J.  Hunter,  III,  358 
Pearce,  Lewis  E.,  Ill,  126 
Pearis,  Richard,  I,  94 
Pearson,  E.  Clarence,  IV,  219 
Peavyhouse,  William   W.,  Ill,  471 
Peddicord,  F.  L,,  V,  89 
Peebles,  W.  F.,  V,  iZ 
Peers,  Benjamin  O.,  II,  761,  763,  1058 
Pendleton  County,  II,  1100,  1111 
Pendleton,  George  H.,  II,  966,  967,  968 
Penitentiary,  II,  782,  994 
Pennebaker,  William   F.,  V,   262 
Pennington,  Monroe,  III,  50 
Pentecost,  Fielding  J.,  IV,  191 
Pepper,   Elizabeth,   V,   642 
Pepper,  Robert  P.,  V,  642  "\ 

Pepper,  Thomas,  III,  555 
Perceute,  I,  44 
Perkins,  Harry  S.,  Ill,  156 

Vol.  1-4 


Perkins,  J.  E.,  Ill,  519 

Perkins,  Logan,  III,  519 

Perkins,  William  L.,  IV,  589 

Perkins,  Zachary  T.,  Ill,  93 

Perry  County,  II,   1101,  1111 

Perry,  Edmund  B.,  V,  637 

Perry,  John  R.,  IV,  365 

Perry,  John  T.,  IV,  196 

Perry,  Ollie   P.,   IV,  542 

Perry,  William  A.,  Ill,  71     ' 

Perryvillfi,  Battle  of,  II,  892,  1202 

Pestilences,  II,  749 

Peter,  Alfred  M.,   IV,   14 

Peter,  Arthur,  III,  379 

Peter,  Charles  R.,  Ill,  163 

Peter,  Robert,  II,  1032;  IV,  11 

Peters,  Charles  W.,  Ill,  571 

Peters,  Richard  F.,  IV,  245 

Petersburg,  I,  209,  309 

Petitions  for  separation  from  Virginia,  I, 

221 
Petrey,  Asbel  S.,  V,  589 
Petroleum,  II,  998,  1031 
Pettit,  Thomas  S.,  Ill,  157 
Pettit's  Station,  I,  208 
Petty,  Bailey  B.,  IV,  297 
Petty,  Ludlow  F.,  Ill,  157 
Petty,  William  L.,  Ill,  180 
Peyton,  Warren,  V,  642 
Pfeffer,  James  W.,  Ill,  177 
Pflueger,  Edward  W.,  Ill,  107 
Pharis,  Jolly   B.,  V,   114 
Phelon,  Joseph  S.,  Ill,  310 
Phelps,  J.  A.,  IV,  646  > 

Phillips,  Charles  M.,  IV,  52  '^ 
Phillips,   Edward  P.,  V,  98 
Phillips'  Fort,  I,  208 
Phillips,  James  S.,  Ill,  411'  I 
Phillips,  Jesse,  IV,  417 
Phillips,  Robert  M.,  IV,  312 
Phillips,  Thomas  J.,  V,  531 
Phillips,  Thomas  L.,  Ill,  611 
Phoenix  Hotel,  II,   1191 
Piatt,  Thomas,  IV,  32 
Pickett,  Thomas   C,  II,  692 
Picklesimer,  Edward  J.,  IV,  354 
Pieratt,  Steve,  IV,  606 
Pike  County,  I,  517;  II,  746,  1101,  1111 
Pike,  Sylvester,  V,  406 
Pinckley,  Andrew  C,  V,   120 
Pincville.  I,  60;  II.  1199;  (view),  II,  1200 
Pinson,  Marion,  IV,  352 
Pioneer  furniture,   I,  295 
Pioneer  life    during    the    Revolution,    I, 

174 
Pioneer  life  in   Louisville,  I,  294 
Pioneer  Postal  service,  I,  298 
"Pioneer  Railway  of  the  West,"  II,  1193 
Pioneer  religion  in  Kentucky,  I,  534 
Pioneer  travel,  I,  127 
Pioneer  schools  and  teachers,  I,  530 
Pioneers,  I,   212;    classes    of,    I,    292;    of 

Southeastern   Kentucky,  II,   1207 
Pirkey,  Russell  J.,  Ill,   159 
Pirtle,  Alfred,    III,    289 
Pirtle,  John  B.,  IV,  551 
Pirtle,  John  C,  III,  303 
Pisgah,  I,  528;   II,   1051 
Pitchford,  Roy  R.,  IV,  486 
-Pittman,  Henry  M.,  IV,  568 
Pittman's  Station,  I,  208 
Pittsburgh,  I,   69 


lii 


INDEX 


Pittsburg  Landing,  II,  899 

I'laguc  of  18.«,  II,  750 

riain,  Benjamin  M..  V,  396 

Plan  of  Lonisvilk-    (map),    I.    171 

Planters'  Protective  Association,  II,  1013 

Pleasant  Hill,   I,  540 

Pleune,  Peter  H.,  V,  400 

Plimcll,  George  W..  V,  54 

Pocahontas,  II,  1164 

Point  Pleasant,   I,  98;   battle  of,  I,   162 

Polin  &   Polin,  V,  83 

Polin,  John  O.,  V.  83 

Polin,  Joseph  O.,  V,  83 

Political   beginnings  of   Kentucky,   I,  217 

Political  campaign  of  1896.  II,  1008 

I'olitiral  development,  I,  469 

Political  history    of     Eastern     Kentucky, 

II,  1027 
Political  Liberty,  II,  1063 
Political  organizations,   national,    II,   690 
Political  parties,    II,    845;    in    Civil    war, 

II,  896 
Political  sentiment    in    railroad    building, 

II.  962 
Political  and    social   conditions   after   the 

Civil  war,  II,  908 
Politics,  personal   phase.   I,  477;    II.  692. 
776.  916.   1000;   after   War  of   1812,   11, 
580;  state  and  national,  II,  681;  and  the 
press,    II,    774;    corrupt    practises,    II, 
777;   campaign   of   1844,   II,   823;   cam- 
paign  of    1848,   II,   828:    in    1851    cam- 
paign,   II,   842;    geological    distribution 
of,  II.  1027;  influence  of  Henry  Clay  in, 
II,  1061 
Polk,  James  K.,  II,  823 
Polk,  Leonidas,  II,  872,  1201 
Pollard.  Edwin  T..  Ill,  529 
Pond  Station.  I.  208 
Pool.  R.  M.,  V,  312 
"Poor  Whites,"  II,  796 
Pope,  Curran,  IV,  309 
Pope,  Forrest  A.,  Ill,  115 
Pope.  George  L.,  Ill,  183 
Pope,  George  R.,  V,  518 
Pope,  John.  I.  421.  459.  551;  II,  583.  587, 
622,  650.  667,  675,  755,  758,  1053,  1055, 
1061,  1082.  1096 
Popham,  Austin    E.,   Ill,  68 
Popplcwell,  J.  C.  Ill,  459 
Popular  celebrations,    I,   527 
Popular  interest  in  politics,  II,  776 
Poplar  Level,  I,  208 
Popular  Sovereignty,  II,  844 
Population,  I,  286,  289,  296,  390,  485,  489; 
three    general    classes,    I,   292;    II,   719, 
926:  negro.  II.  996:  sources  of,  II,  1205 
Populist  party,  II,  1006 
Pork,  I.  .500 

Pork  packing,  II,  882,  927 
Port  William,   I,   208 
Porter,  John  W.,   IV,  101 
Porter,  Joseph  W.,  IV,  24 
Porter,  William  H.,  Ill,  175 
Posey,  Thomas,  I,  447 
Posey,  William   H.,  V,  180 
Post,  Edmund  M.,  V,  342 
Post,  Mrs.  Edmund  M.,  V,  .342 
Post,  Josephine  P.,  V,  342 
Post  Roads,  I.  298 
Postage,  II,  616 
Postal  service,  I,  490 


Postlethwaite,  John,   II,   1192 

Potter.  J.  Whit.  V.  473 

Pound  Gap.  I,  74,  128;  II,  899 

Pound,  Jacob.   IV,  344 

Powder-making,  I,  504 

Powder  manufacture,  II,  592,  1023 

Powell,  Ambrose,  I,  6,  58,  61;  II,  741 
Powell,  Bernard   iM.,   IV,   134 

Powell,  Clarence   E.,   IV,   435 

Powell   County,   II,   1102,   1111 

Powell,  Edward  L.,  Ill,  114 

Powell,  George  B.,  IV,  50 

Powell,  Hugh  B.,  Ill,  211 

Powell,  Lazarus  W.,  II,  831,  842,  849, 
914,  1031,  1071,  1076,  1084,  1096,  1111 

Powell,  Levi  W..  III.  243 

Powell,  Lloyd  IL,  III,  304 

Powell,  Otho  B.,  V,  306 

Powell's  River,  I,  60 

Powell's  Valley,  I,  6,  172;  II,  1U39 

Power,  Thomas,   I,  367,  369 

Powers,  Caleb,   II,   1011 

Powers,  Joshua  D.,  IV,  21 

Poynter,  John  M.,  V,  230 

Poynter,  William  H.,  Ill,  420 

Prather,  Gayle.  V.  550 

Prather,  Hugh  E.,  V,  47 

Prather,  James  T.,  V,  72 

Prather,  Rov  M.,  V,  321 

Prather,  Thomas  B.,  V,  200 

I'ratt.   Lawrence  W..  V.  515 

Prentice,  George  D.,  II,  774,  834,  907; 
(portrait).  11,  775 

Prcsbvtcrian    Church,   I,   535 

Presbyterians.    I,   528.   755,   794.   802,   818 

Presbytery  of  Transylvania,  I,  535 

Preservation  of  game,  I,  166 

Press.  I.  3(16.  457,  526,  532;  freedom  of, 
I,  274;  II,  m 

Preston   Family,  I,  98 

Preston,  Francis,  I,  242 

Preston,  George  W.,  IV,  576 

Preston.  James    C.   V,   36 

Preston,  John,   I,   148 

Preston,  John   H.,  IV,  555 

Preston,  William,  I,  77,  80,  95,  218;  jour- 
nal of,  I,  98;  (portrait),  I,  99;  II,  692, 
826,   1144 

Preston,  William.   IV,  244 

Preston.  William    (deceased),  V,   597 

Prestonshurg,  1.  9,  148;  II,  724 

Prewitt,   Ed   R..  V.  599 

Prewitt.  William   G.,  Ill,  484 

Price.  Dillard  S..  V,  522 

Price.   lohn   E..  IV,  32 

Price,  John  W.,  IV,  90 

Price,   Leonard  C,  V,  161 

Price.   Leonard  C,  Jr.,  V,  161 

Price,  S.  S.  <S;  Company,  IV,  32 

Price,  Sterling   S.,    IV,   178 

I'rice,  Vernon  L.,  IV,  563 

Price.  William.   I,  527 

Price,  William  J.,   Ill,  507 

Price,  W.  K..  Ill,  248 

Prices  in  1820,  II,  599 

Prichard,  Leonidas  M.,  HI,  564 

Priestlv.  James.  I,  306 

Prince.  Walter  L.,  V,  646 

Princeton,   II,    611 

Printer  and  Booksellers  Association,  I, 
534 

I'riiiling  press,  I,  231,  243 


INDEX 


liii 


Prison  reform,  II,  781,  994 

Private    banking,    II,    595;    prohibited,    I, 

514 
Proctor,  John   R.,   II,   1032 
Proctor,  Edwin  T.,  V.  324 
Proctor,  J.   R.,   II,  997 
Proctor,  Larkin   J.,   II,   767 
Proctor  Survey,  II,  1033,  1034 
Proclamation  Line,  I,  162 
Prohibition  movement,  II,  920 
Prohibition  party,   II,   1002 
Property  assessment  and  taxation,  II,  988 
Protection    of    American    industries,     II, 

1066 
Protective  tarifT,  I,  506,  523;  II,  693,  1069 
Provisional  Government  of  Kentucky,  II, 

987 
Pryor,  James,   III,  92 
Pryor,  John  R.,  V,  273 
Pryor,  William  S.,  IV,  273 
Public  Lands,   II,  713,  763 
Public-offices,   II,   m 
Pugh,   Benjamin   F.,   Ill,   131 
Pugh,  Clifford    W.,    Ill,    131 
Pulaski   County,   II,   746,  951,   1100,   1111 
Pulliam,  Arch   H.,  V,  407 
Punch,  Richard   E.,   Ill,  563 
Punch,  William   T.,    Ill,    147 
Purcell,  Clyde   E.,   V,  438 
Purcell,  Jefferson    D.,   IV,   149 
Purcell,  Martha   G..   V,  438 
Purchase   Region,   II,   1016 
Pursifull,  Paschal   Y.,  V,  557 
Pursifull,  W.  M.,  V,  634 
Puryear,  John   G.,  V,  267 
Puryear,  Leslie   A.,   V,   547 
Putnam,  Donald  H.,  Ill,  577 

Quantdll.  in   Kentucky,  II,  898 
Queen   City  of  the  West,  II,  937 
Quertermous,  John,    IV,   356 
Quin,   Huston,    III,   488 
Q-uin,  Sherman   T.,   Ill,   556 
Quisenberry,   Hunt,   III,   370 
Quit-rents,   I,   167 

Race   segregation,   II,  996 

Racing,  II,   788 

Radcliffe,  Troilus   M..  V,  52 

Rader,   Roy   E.,   V,  70 

Radical   party,    II,  917 

Rafferty,  Walter  A.,  Ill,  385 

Rahnesque,  Constantine  S.,  II,  1031,  1056 

Rag  money.  II,  616 

Railcy,    Lawrence    A.,    Ill,    568 

Railroad  awakening  of  the  '50s.  II,  736 

Railroad  bridge  across  Ohio  River,  II, 
946 

Railroad  building  after  Civil  war,  II,  929 

Railroad  commission.   II,  998 

Railroad  convention.   II,  970 

Railroad  rates,   II,  932 

Railroad  strike  in   1877,  II,  999 

Railroads,  II,  906,  921,  998,  1026:  begin- 
ning of,  II,  721;  first  in  Kentucky,  II, 
730;  state  aid  to,  II,  lil;  bond  issues, 
II,  737;  changes  caused  by,  II,  924; 
in  1871  (map),  II,  938;  earlv  charters, 
II,  950;  and  the  courts,  II,  965;  build- 
ing   of    Cincinnati    Southern,    II,    984 

Rail  traffic.  II,  940 

Railsback,   Daniel   T.,   Ill,  413 

Kains,  John,   I,  160  Re 


Ralston,    Hardin    D..   IV,   523 

Ramcy,  Albinus    C,    III,  409 

Ramey,  Harry  H.,  IV,  559 

Ramey,  James    F.,    IV,  414 

Ramey,  Jesse    B.,    Ill,   557 

Ramsey,  J.  Basil,  V,   179 

Ramsey,  David   F.,   V,  400 

Ramsey,  Joseph   >I.,  V,  466 

Ramsey,  Tilman,  V,  291 

Randolph,  Edmund,  I,  239,  376 

Randolph,   L.   H.,  V,  217 

Rankin,   Emma  L.,   IV,  243 

Rankin,  James  W.,   V,  599 

Rankin,  Oscar  R.,  V,  643 

Rankin,  Robert  W.,  IV,  270 

Rankins,  Grover  C,   IV,  353 

Ransler,  C.   W.,  V,  206 

Rapier,  James   L.,   Ill,   346 

Rapier,  William  F.,  Ill,  346 

Rardin,  Weslev  M.,  V,  378 

Rash  Family,  V,  286 

Rash,  Thomas,   V,  286 

Rash,  William  S.,  V,  286 

Rate-making,   II,  964 

RatlifT,  Albert  S.,   IV,  374 

Ratliff,  John  E.,  V,  340 

Ratlifif,  Richard    H.,    IV,   358 

Ratliff,  Richard   X.,  V,  288 

Ratliff,  Silas   W.,   Ill,  527 

Rawlings.  John   W.,  V,   502 

Rawls,  Nora  J.,  Ill,  452 

Rawls,  Wylie   B.,  Ill,  452 

Ray,  James,   I,    113 

Ray,  Leslie  G.,  V,  382 

Rayburn,  Lee   R.,    Ill,  485 

Raymond,  Oliver  P.,  Ill,  62 

Read,  John  B.,  Ill,  121 

Reagan,  Jeremiah  J.,  IV,  168 

Reager,  Allen  M.,  Ill,  376 

Reams,  Benjamin  G.,  IV,  249 

Reams,  William  J.,   I,   122 

Reasonover,  Doris  G.,  V,  156 

Rebel   Democracy,   II,  915 

Rebel  element,  I'l,  912 

Reconstruction    Acts    for    Kentucky,    II, 

915 
Record,  James  F.,  IV,  349 
Rector,  William   Q..   IV,  566 
Redd,  Richard   M.,  IV,  27 
Redd.  Ruth  M.,  IV,  28 
Redmon,   Lee   C,   IV,  528 
Redmon,  Thomas  J.,   IV,  407 
Redstone   Fort.  I,  208 
Reed,  Cecil,  V,  313 
Reed.  James   H.,   IV,  209 
Reed.  Roscoe,   III,  69 
Reed,  Shelton,   IV,  285 
Reed,  Stanley   F.,  V,  31 
Reed,  William   M.,  Ill,  68 
Reed's  Station,   I,  208 
Reckers,  Fred  H.,  IV,  231 
Reeves,  E.   W.,  V,   153 
Reeves,  Robert  L.,  V,  302 
Referendum,    II,   637 
Reger,  Ambrose,  III,  238 
Regnat,  Ulrich,   III,  337 
Regulators,  II,  913 
Reid.  Rodney   C,   IV,  625 
Rcid,  Sam.   Ill,  498 
Rcinhardt,  John,   III,   326 
Reister,  Joseph   H.,  IV,  288 
Reiter,  John   B.,   Ill,  114 
lief  laws,  I,  489;  II,  607,  626,  654 


liv 


INDEX 


Relief  methods.  II.  752 

Relief  party,   II.  h22.  6>.  O.10.  632.  681 

Relief  system.   II,  617 

Religion.  I.  534;  II,  794 

ReliKi"""!!  and   education,  II.  755 

ReliRiouN  controversies,   II,   1056 
.   IWisious  denominations,  I,  534;  on  slav- 
^"^ery.   I.  393 

Religious   education.   I,  528 

Religious  enthusiasm,  outburst    of,   I,   536 

Religious  liberty,  II,  1063 
i_Ji«lii;ious  statistics,   I,   540 

Religious  test  for  ofiicc  holding.  I.  2S2 

Remonstrance  of   1H24.   II.  66K 

Renaker.   K.   K,.   I\'.  .102 

Renaker.  John  A..  Ill,  59 

Renaker.  John  F...  IV.  301 

Renaker.  John  G..  V,  232 

Renaker.  J.  G..  III.  218 

Render.  William   F...  III.  284 

Renfro.  Joseph.    I.    121 

Renick.  Abram.  V,   116 

Rcnick.  Abram.  Jr..  V.  117 

Renick.   Harry   P..   IV,   17 

Renick,  James  L.,  IV,  543 

Renick.  James  S..  IV,  17 

Reno.  Lawson,   III.  281 

Replevin  laws.  II.  612.  619,  621,  779;  of 
1820.  II.  608;  and  relief,  II.  607;  abol- 
ished, II,  622;  outside  criticism,  II,  649 

Representation,   I,  282 

Republican  party,  II.  845.  980.  1001;  in 
Kentucky.  II.  897.  917;  in   1871.  II.  919 

Republicans.   II.   1(114 

Republicans  of   1856.   II,  848 

Reiuiblican  vote,  results  of  negro  suf- 
frage.  II,  919 

Repudiation.   II.  719 

Resolutions  of  Danville  conventions,  I, 
227;  of  1798  and   1799,   I,  403;  of  1799, 

I.  421;   on   the   Mississippi    River   ques- 
tion, I.  426;  of  loyaltv,  I.  4^i0;  of  1817, 

II,  581;  of   1798  and   1799.  II,  706 
Resorts,  social,   II.  792 

Respess,  William   B.,  IV,  144 
Reubelt.   Henry    X.,    IV,  344 
Rexischer.   Louis.   IV.  223 
Revolutionary  soldiers.  II.  772 
Revolutionary  War,   I.   173,  286;   greatest 

battle  in    Kentucky,   I,   185 
Reyn<5lds,  Aaron,    I,    194 
Reynolds,   Benjamin   F..  IV,  642 
Reynolds.  John   1...   III.   143 
Reynolds.  J.  Owen.   III.  381 
Reynolds.  William   A.,   IV,  422 
Rhea.  Albert  G..  V,  2.S4 
Rhoades.   Lorenzo  S..   IV.  460 
Rhodes.   Henry   C".,  V.   .121 
Kirr,  David.    I.    283.   302,    528,    535,    542; 

II,   1050 
Rice,  Edward    X.,   Ill,   124 
Rice,  Gordon,  V,  543 
Rice,   Harvey    B..   IV,  465 
Rice,  H.   Edward,   IV,  455 
Rice,  John   W..    IV,  287 
Rice,  Wilford    M.,   V,  69 
Rich,  John    11.,   IV,  398 
Richardson,  Charles   F.,   Ill,   195 
Richardson,  John   M.,   Ill,  291 
Richardson,  John   W.,   Ill,   196 
Richardson,  J.   R..   III.  547 
Richardson.   Robert.  II.  764 
Richardson.  William   H.,  II,   1053 


Richardson,  William  K.,  V,  131 

Richart.   Richard   O.,^  I\',  641 

Richie,   Fevton,    \',   594 

Richmond.   I.  205,  534;   II,  877,  892,  929, 

951.  992 
Richmond.  James   IL,   III,  384 
Richmond,  Isaac,    IV,  402 
Richmond.  William   W..  IV,  575 
Rider,  David  W.,  Ill,  345 
Rider,  George   M.,   Ill,  347 
Rider,   Robert  E.  L.,  III.  .120 
Ridgely.   Frederick,   II,   1052 
Ridgway.  .Samuel    IL,    I\',    550 
Ridkv.  James   U.,   Ill,   215 
Rieckel,   Charles.   IV,  244 
Riffe.  James   P..  Ill,  221 
Rilev,  Edgar  T.,  V,  610 
Riney,  William   G.,   Ill,  226 
Ringo.  Benjamin  D.,   III.  286 
Rivard,  Emile  R..   III.  426 
River  commerce.   II,  923 
River  improvements,  II,  725 
River  navigation.  I.  493;   II.  999 
River  patrol  of  gun-boats.  II,  880 
River   Raisin,  expedition  to,  I,  557 
River  towns,   II,  824 
River  trade,  free  of  military   restrictions, 

II,  883 
River  tratTic,  I.  297.  485.  500;  IT,  940 
River  transportation.  II,  721 
Rivers.   Horace  _T.,   Ill,  443 
Rives,   I'rank.   \'.  137 
Rives.   Robert   C.  Ill,  389 
Road  across  the  C'umberlands,  I,  2?i6 
Ivoad  companies,  II,  723 
Roads.   I.    485,    490;     II,    695,    721.    989; 

maintaining  of.   1.  492;   Federal-  aid   to, 

II.  696;   in   1844.   II,  728 
Robb.   Henry  D..   IV,  348 
Robl.ins.  C.   C  V,   133 
Roberts,  Anna  T.,   Ill,  238 
Roberts,  Anthony  R..  V,  430 
Roberts,  George   M.,   V,  552 
Roberts,  Hilerv  B.,  III.  551 
Roberts.  JohnG.,   V.  17 
Roberts,  Lida   F.,   Ill,  288 
Roberts,  Rankin,  Sr.,  IV,  8 
Roberts,  Samuel  J.,  Ill,  236 
Roberts,  Sam  J.,  V,  396 
Roberts.   William   R..  IV.  7 
Robertson   C'ountv,   II.   1102.   1111 
Robertson.  George.   I.  214;    II.  587.   588, 

623,  627,  632.  638,  641.  647.  7^7,  755,  758, 

823,  829,   1058,   1111;  V,  597 
Robertson,  Thomas  S.,  V,  580 
Robinson,  Benjamin    F.,    Ill,   252 
Rdbinson.  Cieorge.  II,  622 
Robinson,   Henry  S.,  V.  91 
Robinson.  James    F..    II,   891,    1072,    1077 
Robinson,  J.   W.,   Ill,  4.30 
Robinson.  John   C.    IV,  424 
Robinson,  Samuel   B.,  V,  412 
Robinson,  .Samuel  G.,  V,  118 
Robinson,  Stuart,   II,  814;    (portrait),   II, 

815 
Robinson,  William   F.,  Ill,  95 
Robv,  Ora  L.,  V,  4fl3 
Roby.  William   J..   IV.  424 
Roche.  David.   Ill,  288 
Roche,  James   M.,    IV,    175 
Rochester,  II,  899 
Rockcastle  County,  IT.  1101,  1111 
Kockhouse,   I,  142 


INDEX 


Iv 


Rockhouse  Fork,  I,  65 

Rocks  and   Soils,  II,   1017 

Roder,  Max  H.,  V,  549 

Rodes,  Joseph   W.,   Ill,  363 

Rodes,  .Marv  F.  Higgins,  IV,  202 

Rodes,  Wilfiam,  IV,  201 

Rodman,  Charles  D.,  IV,  7 

Rodman,  John  J.,    Ill,   317 

Roebuck,  John  S.,  Jr.,  V,  374 

Roeniele,   Eugen  C.,   IV,  486 

Rogers,  James,  I,  234 

Rogers,  James   R.,   Ill,  474 

Rogers,  Nathaniel  L.,  V,  477 

Rogers,  Paul,  V,  411 

Rogers,   Ray   R..   IV,  447 

Rogers'  Station,   I,  209 

Rohs,   Hermann  A.,  IV,  299 

Roland,  Walter   L.,   V,  218 

Rollings,  J.  D.,  V,  546 

Roney,  J.  W.,  Ill,  454 

Roosevelt,  Nicholas,  II,  721 

Root,  Ira,   II,   767 

Rose,  Leander   C,   V,  316 

Rose,  Lewis,   I,   193 

Rose,  Richard  S.,  V,  536 

Roseberry,  Hiram   M.,   IV,  463 

Rosel,  Charley,   V,    152 

Ross,  Charles  I.,  V,  60 

Ross,  John,   I,  160 

Ross.  Lafayette  W.,  V,  170 

Rousseau,  Lovell  H.,  II,  899,  909 

Rosson,  William  S.,  IV,  330 

Roszell,, Calvert  T.,  Ill,  380 

Rothert,  Otto  A.,  V,  573 

Rounds,  Charles  R.,  IV,  219 

Rounsavall,  Robert  W.,  Ill,  360 

Rountree,  Bert  T.,  IV,   583 

Rouse,  Albert  M.,  V,  334 

Rouse,  Julius   E.,   Ill,  569 

Rouse,  J.    Howard,   III,   569 

Routt,  Grover  C,  III,  500 

Rowan  County.  II,  991,  1111 

Rowan,  John,    I,   449,   465,    520,   548;    II, 

622,  664,  667,  696,  771,  1059,  1083,  1111; 

IV.  596 
Rowe,  Ernest  P.,  Ill,  80 
Rowe,  Jacob   E.,   Ill,  312 
Rowe,  Richard  P.,  Ill,  79 
Rowlett  Station,  II,  899 
Rowley,  James,  V,   176 
Royster,  George    M.,    Ill,   223 
Royster,  S.  B.,  Ill,  148 
Rubv,  W.  J.,  V,  514 
Rudd,  Robert  T.,  V,  284 
Ruddle,  Isaac,  I,  205 
Ruddle's  Station,  I,   183,   194,  209 
Rudv,  James   H.,   Ill,  462 
Rudy,  J.  A.,  Ill,  462 
Ruff,  Rudolph   C,   III,  203 
Rule's  Mill,  I,  118,  128 
Rumsey,  James,   I,  501 
Rupert,  Joseph,  V,  186 
Rush,  William  M.,  IV,  348 
Russell,  Arthur  G.,  IV,  531 
Russell,  Bailey,  IV,  97 
Russell  County,  II,  1101,  1111 
Russell,  C.  M.,  V,  353 
Russell.  Jesse  L.,  V,  461 
Russell,  John   E.,   IV,  505 
Russell,  Rodman,   IV,   116 
Russell,  William,  II,  1111 
RussellviUe,  I,  209,  533;  II,  745,  887 


Ryley,  Claude  L.,  IV,  163 
Ryan,  James  A.,  IV,  472 

Sacramento,  II,  899 

St.  Asaph,  I.  165,  206,  209 

St.  Clair,  Arthur,  I,  272,  380;  campaign 
of,  I,  385;  defeat  of,  I,  386 

St.  Joseph's  Church,  III,  337 

St.  Joseph  College,  II,  756 

Salary  Grab,  II,  993 

Salaries  in  tobacco,   II,   1167 

Salaries  of  state   ofliicials,   I,  315 

Salem  Academy,  I,  306 

Salisbury,  William,  III,  581 

Salley.  John    Peter,  journey   of,   I,   48 

Salmon.  John   G..   IV,  389 

Salmons,   Lee,  V,  454 

Salt.  I,  202;  manufacture,  I,  300;  produc- 
tion of,   II,  746 

Saltpetre,   I,  504 

Salt  River  Garrison,  I,  209 

Salt  Springs,   I,   148 

Salyersville,  I,  63,   127,   130,  206 

Sanchez,  Milton,  IV,  96 

Sanders,  Cortez,  V,  355 

Sanders,  H.   R.,  V,   101 

Sanders,  James   R.,   V,  88 

Sanders,  John,   I,  299 

Sanders,  Perry   C,   V,   502 

Sandlin.  J.   Claude,  V,  645 

Sandusky,   C.   H.,  V,  540 

Sandusky,  James,   I,   209 

Sandusky's  Station,  I,  209 

Sandy  Creek  Voyage,  I,  10,  91,  94;  re- 
sults of,  I,  97 

Sandy  Island,  I,  32 

Sandys,  George,  I,  10 

Sandys,  Sir  Edwin,  I,   10 

Sartin,  Avery,  III,  475 

Saunders,  Miranda  D.,   Ill,   182 

Saunders,  Ulysses    G.,   Ill,    181 

Sayre,   David,   II,  751 

Savre,   David   A.,    III.   200 

Sayre.  Ephraim   D.,  Ill,  201 

Scaggs,   Henry.  I.   160 

Scaling  system,  II,  616 

Scheifers,  William  R.,  Sr.,  IV,  461 

Schild,  William  F.,  IV,  467 

Schmitz,  Frederick    W.,   Ill,    118 

Schmitz.   Hubert,   V,  389 

Schnaufer,  William  T.,  IV,  602 

Schneider,  William  J.,  V,  228 

Scholes,  Walter  S.,  IV,  368 

Scholl,  William,   V,  309 

School  fund,  II,  765,  767,  834 

School  funds,  II,  759.  763 

School  house  of  pioneer  times,  I,  531 

School  legislation,   I,  529 

School  statistics,  II,  762;  in  1840.  II,  765 

Schools,  superintendents  of,  II,  764 

School  system  for  negroes,   II,  990 

Schools  (see  Education),  I,  304,  528;  II, 
590,  723,  753,  758,  768,  784,  920;  in  1853, 
II,  767;  for  Indians,   II,  784 

Schreiber,  Frank,   IV,  232 

Schroeder,  Ralph   L.,  IV,  242 

SchTilte,  H.   B.,   Ill,  255 

Schulte,  John  H.,  Ill,  128 

Schultz.  Jacob,  V,   239 

Schuylkill  Bank  Fraud,  II,  720 

Science,  II,   769 

Scobee,  Rezin   McK.,   Ill,  98 


Ivi 


INDEX 


Scotch-Irish,   II,   1205 

Scott,  Charles,  I,  303,  354.  381,  384,  387. 

476,  483,  S47;  II.  787,   1071,   1073,   1112 
Scutt,  James,  I,  67 
Scott,  James  A.,  V,  362 
Scott,  James  L.,  IV,  307 
Scott,  John   M.,   I,  462 
Scott  County,   I,  203;   II,  783,   1100,   1112 
Scott,  Will  P.,  V,  495 
Scott's  Station,  I,  209 
Scrivncr's  Station,  I,  209 
ScruKKs,  Albert  R,  IV,  254 
Sea,  Andrew  M.,   Ill,   165 
Searcy,  Cheslcy   II.,  IV,  71 
Seaton,  Wayne  C,  V,  345 
Seay,  B.  C,  V,  302 
Sebastian.  Benjamin,  I,  217,  242,  234,  254, 

264,   270,   284,   285,   310,   366,   367,   368, 

370,  371,  458,  460,  469,  482;  resignation 

of,  I,  459 
Sebastian,  J.  H.,  IV,  618 
Secession,  I,  420;  II.  838,  852 
Secessionists,   II,  858 
Second   Bank  of   the   United  States,   II, 

595 
Second    Regiment    Cavalry    officers,    II, 

1135 
Second    Regiment    Infantry    officers,    II, 

1118 
Sectionalism,   II,  821,  852 
Sedition  law,  I,  417 
See,  Frederick  O.,   V,  56 
See,  Ira  W.,  Ill,  576 
Seelbach.  Louis.  IV.  51 
Sceley,  Orland  C.  V,  409 
Segner.  Charles   A.,   IV,  84 
Seiler,  G.  A.,  Ill,   128 
Sellards,   Uezckiah,    I,    134 
Sellards,  Jennie,  I,   135 
Self-government,     I,    290;     in    Kentucky 

County.  I.  217 
Sclligman,  Alfred.   III.  369 
Selligman.  Joseph.   Ill,  369 
Seminary  claims,  11,  658 
Semplc.  Charles   B.,   Ill,  165 
Semple,  Charles  II.,  Ill,  147 
Semple,   Ellen,  II,  1028 
Semple,  Ellen    C,    II,    1206 
Senate,  I.  390,  400 
Senour,  Otis  E.,  V,  326 
Serpen,  John  A.,  IV,  79 
Settle,  Robert    E.,   Ill,  319 
Settle,   Robert   R..   V.   179 
Settle.  Warner  E.,   Ill,  455 
Settlement  of  the  State,   I,  489 
Seven  years'   limitation   law,   II,  672 
Seventeenth     Regiment    Cavalry    officers, 

II,  1142 
Seventeenth    Regiment    Infantry    officers, 

II,  1125 
Seventh   Convention.  I.  260 
Seventh  of  March  Speech,  II,  839 
Seventh    Regiment    Cavalry    officers,    II, 

1138 
Seventh    Regiment    Infantry    officers,    II, 

1120 
Sewell,  Leo  M.,  V,  401 
Shaber,  George    H.,   V,   225 
Shackelford,  J.    M.,    II,   900 
Shackelford,  Samuel   J..   II,   1008 
Shackelford.  W.    Rodes,    III,   250 
Shaikktl.  Thomas  C,  II,   1077 
Shackleltc,  Warner  J.,  Ill,  301 


Shaffer,  J.    II.,    I\',   475 

Shakers,   I.    54U 

Shaler.   Nathaniel   S.,    II,   997,    1027,    1032 

Shaler  Survey.   II.   1032,  1034 

Shallow-Ford  Station,   I,  209 

Shanks,  William    IL,   II,    1187 

Shannon,  Frederick   F.,   Ill,  608 

Shannon,  John   B.,   Ill,   384 

Sharp.  G.   Elgin.  V,  494 

Sharp,  Llewellyn,  IV,   15 

Sharp,  Mettie   E.,  V,  494 

Sharp,  Samuel  L.,  IV,  437 

Sharp,  Solomon   P.,   II,  622,  642,  676 

Sharp,  Waller.  Sr.,  Ill,  552;  V,  494 

Sharp,  Waller,  Jr.,  Ill,  552 

Sharp,  William  A.,   IV,  263 

Shaut,  Theodore  J.,  Ill,  579 

Shavers,  II.   598 

Shaw,  Emison,   III,   109 

Shaw,  Xewton  S.,  V,  442 

Shawnees,  I,  49,  128,  162;  expedition 
against,  I,  91;  relations  to  silver  mines, 
I,   118 

Shearer,  John  H.,  III.  476 

Shearer,  W.   C,   V,  283 

Shearer,  W.   Logan,  IV,  43 

Shcehan,  John   J.,    Ill,  362 

Shelbournc,  Rov   M.,  V,  42 

Shclburne,  Silas',   III,  90 

Shelby,  Benjamin,   II,  Hi 

Shelby  County,  I,  200;  II,  735,  801,  930, 
1100,   1112 

Shelby,  Isaac,  I,  55,  162,  205,  216,  248, 
270,  284,  303,  307,  315,  352  358,  363, 
382,  405,  469,  494,  552,  553.  560;  official 
attitude  to  l''rench  enterprise.  I.  336; 
and  the  Genet  Mission.  I.  342;  II,  575, 
578.  581,  592.  621,  636,  721,  741,  1050, 
1064.  1066,  1071,  1072.  1112.  1170.  1199; 
house  of  (view),  II,  1073;  IV,  433 

Shelby,  Isaac   F.,   IV,  423 

Shelby,  John  T..  V,  3 

Shelbvville,  I,  533;  II.  786 

Shepherd,  Robert   Y.,   V,  84 

Shepherdsville.  I,  li,  208 

Shepperd,  Charles   E.,   IV,  442 

Sheriffs,  II,  777 

Sherman.  William  T.,    II,   889 

Shields,  Benjamin   F.,   V,   167 

Shiloh,  battle   of.    II.   899.   900 

Shindler,  George   B.,   V,   168 

Shinnick,  William  C,  V.  166 

Shively,  Omar    II.,    V,  86 

Shore,  Worley   A..   III.    141 

Short,   Peyton,   I.  248 

Shouse.  Leonard    B.,    Ill,   351 

Shouse.  Lucian   D..   IV,  220 

Showaltcr,  John    H.,   V,  367 

Shrewsbury,   Elza  T..   IV,  535 

Shropshire.  Mrs.   Isaac  C,  IV,  288 

Sidebottom,  Ben   W..   IV,  513 

Sidle,  James   R..   V,  630 

Sights.   11.   Preston.  V.  350 

Sigler,  John   R.,   Ill,   198 

Siler,  Adam   T.,   Ill,  233 

Siler,  L.   Steely,  III,  236 

Siler,  T.  Scott,  III,  234 

Silver,  I,    127 

Silver  mines,  I,   110 

Silver  money,   II,  987 

.Simmons,  George  D.,  Ill,  249 

Simmons,  Willie  A..  V,  478 

Simms.  Lucy.  IV,  211 


INDEX 


Ivii 


Simms,  William  E.,   11,   1184 

Simms,  William  E.   (Paris),  IV,  211 

Simpson  County,  II,  1101,  1112 

Simpson,  James  W.,  V,  434 

Simpson,  John,   I,   552;   II,   1112 

Simpson,  Lucretia  C,   IV,  313 

Simpson,  Minor  Y.,  IV,  313 

Simpson,  R.  D.,  V,  90 

Simpson,  William,    III,   340 

Sims,  James  C,  IV,  532 

Sims,  John  T.,  V,  18 

Sinecure  offices,  II,  778 

Singleton, Garland,  V,   189 

Singleton,  Lewis  G.,  V,  471 

Sinking  fund,  II,  836 

Sinking  Fund  Commissioners,  II,  988 

Sinking   Springs    Meeting   House,    I,   281 

Sinton,  David,   II,  955 

Sipple,  John  D.,   IV,  270 

Sixteenth  Regiment  Infantry  officers,  II, 
1125 

Sixth  Convention,  I,  252 

Sixth  Regiment  Cavalry  officers,  II,  1137 

Sixth  Regiment  Infantry  officers,  II, 
1120 

Sizemore,  John,  IV,  461 

Skaggs,  Boyce  H.,  IV,  421 

Skaggs,  Henry,  I,  137,  149,  153,  157,  159 

Skaggs,  James,  I,  138,  149,  153,  159 

Skaggs,  Romulus,  V,  81 

Skaggs'  Station,  I,  209 

Skain,  John,  IV,  157 

Skinner,  James  L.,  V,  537 

Skinner,  Phineas  L.,  V,  537 

Slack,  Robert  W.,  Ill,  285 

Slate   Blockhouse,   I,  209 

Slaughter,  Gabriel,  I,  494,  582;  II,  588, 
608,  667,  722,  753,  756,  111,  782,  1071, 
1073 

Slave  laws,  II,  805,  809 

Slavery,  I,  283,  302,  315,  392,  401;  opposi- 
tion to,  I,  540;  II,  601,  739,  796,  833,  849, 
865,  906,  1004,  1067,  1204;  Constitu- 
tional Convention  of  1849,  II,  813;  in 
the  new  constitution,  II,  817;  statis- 
tics, II,  819;  in  the   territories,  II,  838 

Slaves,  run-away,  I,  302;  flogging  of,  I, 
526;  state  laws  regarding,  I,  541;  prices 
of,  II,  599;  lot  of,  II,  797;  run-away, 
II,  804;  exodus  after  the  war,  II,  908 

Sledge,   Garland   D.,   IV,   548 

Sloan,  John  A.,  IV,  501 

Sloan,  John  G.,  IV,  509 

Sloan,  Preston   L.,    Ill,   193 

Slone,  William  H.,  V,  410 

Smith,  Benjamin   D.,    II,   764 

Smith,  Bishop,   II,  751 

Smith,  Charles  Morehead,  III,  169 

Smith,  Charles   M.,   IV,  294 

Smith,  David    D.,   V,    185 

Smith,  Edward  S.,  V,  613 

Smith,  E.   Kirby,  II,  892 

Smith,  George   R.,   IV,  39 

Smith,  Granby  C,  V,  591 

Smith,  Gustavus  W.,   II,   1144 

Smith,  Hillard   H.,  V,  29 

Smith,  Ira   D.,   IV,  46 

Smith,  James  Breckinridge,  III,  292 

Smith,  James  B.,  Ill,  167 

Smith,  James  B.   (McKinney),  V,  196 

Smith,  John,  I,  95,  194 

Smith,  John   D.,   Ill,  492 

Smith,  John  H.,  IV,  239 


Smith,  John  S.,  II,  806 

Smith,  Joseph   H.,  IV,   16 

Smith,  J.   Lawrence,   V,  22 

Smith,  J.  R.,  Ill,   179 

Smith,  Kirby,  II,  877,  1204 

Smith,  Lorenzo  O.,   IV,  383 

Smith,  Milton    H.,   Ill,  80 

Smith,  Napoleon   B.,  IV,  397 

Smith,  Oscar   M.,   IV,  437 

Smith,  Robert,  I,  72 

Smith,  Roger  H.,  IV,   153 

Smith,  Samuel,  I,  67 

Smith,  Sawyer  A.,  V,  72 

Smith,  Silas  A.,  IV,  270 

Smith,  S.  G.,  IV,  512 

Smith,  Thomas  p.,  IV,  83 

Smith,  William  B.,  V,  534 

Smith,  William  H.,  V,  141 

Smith,  William  T.,  IV,  143 

Smith,  Winfield  S.,  IV,  401 

Smith,  Zachary  P.,  II,  920,  989 

Smith's  Station,  I,  209 

Smithtield,  II,  862 

Smock,  Napoleon  M.,  Ill,  448 

Snedaker,  Morris,  IV,  321 

Sneed,>chilles,  II,  633,  636 

Snodgrass,  James  T.,  Ill,  548 

Snodgrass,  James  W.,  IV,  279 

Snook,  Sidney  J.,  V,  336 

Snow,  John   C,   III.   120 

Snow,  William  B.,  IV,  307 

Snyder,  Augustus,  IV,  581 

Snyder,  Claude   P.,   Ill,  270 

Snyder,  George   R.,  IV,  606 

Snyder,  Roy  C,  V,  90 

Snyder,  Thomas  J.,  Ill,  597 

Soaper,  Richard   H.,   IV,  209 

Soaper,  William   H.,   Ill,   159 

Social  and  intellectual  development  dur- 
ing Middle  Period,  II,  769 

Social  and  economic  development  after 
Civil  war,  II,  920 

Social  and  intellectual  progress,  1792- 
1810,  I,  524 

Social  classes,  II,  796 

Social  conditions,  II,  788;  and  character, 
II,  791 

Social  reforms,  II,  992 

Soldiers'  land  grants,  I,  161 

Soldiers,  old,  II,  112 

Solomon,  King,  II,  752 

Somerset,  II,  611 

Sommers,  Henry  A.,  Ill,  320 

Sons  of  Temperance,   II,  847 

Sousley,  J.   H.,  II,   1187 

Southard,   Daniel   B.,  V,   189 

South  Carolina's  nullification  ordinance, 
II,  704 

Southeastern  Kentucky,  I,  55;  II,  873 

Southern    Commercial   Congress,    II,  936 

Southern,  L.  P.,  Ill,  344 

Southern  markets,  II,  922 

Southern  trade   to   Louisville,   II,   935 

Southwestern  Agricultural  and  Mechan- 
ical  Association,   II,   741 

Southwestern  Kentucky,  II,  874,  876, 
879;  during  Civil   War,   II.  872 

South  Western   Rail   Road   Bank,  II,  715 

Sovereign  Convention,  II,  887,  1004 

Sowards,  Henry  G.,  IV,  556 

Sowards.  Richard  H.,  V,  19 

Soyars,  William   O.,   V,  67 

Spain   and  the   Genet   episode,   I,  359 


Iviii 


INDEX 


Spalding,  Ignatius   A.,   Ill,   181 

Spalding,  Richard   M.,   Ill,   582 

Spalding,  Victor   L.,   Ill,   187 

Spanish  advances   to   Kentucky,   I,   256 

Spanish  colonization   scheme,   I,  269,  275 

Spanish  conspiracy,  I,  245,  457,  461;  de- 
feat of,  I,  260;  English  influences,  I, 
270;    II,   1061,    1064 

Spanish    Party,  I,   363 

Spanish  plots,   I,  252,  359,  406 

Spanish  territory,  plot  against,  I,  322 

Spears,  Claude   W..   IV,  237 

Spears,  Joseph    M.,    Ill,    566 

Spears,  S.  Winstead,  IV,  194 

Spears.  William    R.,    IV,    194 

Special  legislation,  II.   1005 

Special   session   of   1S62,   II,  891 

Speck,  Frederick,    III,   456 

Speck,  Roy   B.,  V,   134 

Speculation,  I,  488;  in  western  settle- 
ment, I,   162;  II,  592,  651 

Speed,  James,   I,  225,  2.34.  426;    II.    1059 

Speed,  James   B.  W.,   III.  99 

Speed.  Joshua  F..  II,  858 

Speed.  Thomas.   I,  303 

Speed,  William   S.,   Ill,  99 

Spencer  County,   II,   1101,   1112 

Spencer,  Frank  H.,  Ill,  173 

Spencer,  Isaac  J.,  IV,  88 

Spencer,  Spear,   II,    1112 

Spencer,  William,    III.    179 

Speyer,  Jacob,  IV,  145 

Sphar,  Asa  R.,  IV,  474 

Spicer,  Woodson  W.,   Ill,  264 

Spilman,  James,  V,   145 

Spilman,  Lucy  L.   M.,  V,   144 

Spillman,  Porter   B.,  IV,  528 

Spoils   system,    II,  699 

Spoonamore,  Morris   D.,  IV,  266 

Sprague,  George  P.,  IV,  156 

Spratt,  John  B.,  Ill,  562 

Spring  Station,   I,  209 

Spurlock,  Beriah   M.,   IV,   457 

Spurr,   Levi   P.,   Ill,  210 

Squatter  Sovereignty,  II,  844 

Squires,  Richard   M.,  IV,   165 

Stacey,  S.    Windom,    IV,   366 

Stafford,  John,  I,   128 

StafTord,  Ralph.   IV,   471 

Stage  coach,   II,   1190 

Stahr,  Elvis  J.,   Ill,  493 

Stair,  William    C,    IV,   451 

Staley,   Harmon,   I,   126 

Stallins,  John,   IV,  372 

Stalnaker,  Samuel,  I,  58 

Stambaugh,  Harry  G.,   V,  303 

Standiford,  Elisha   D.,  V,  23 

Stanlcr,  E.,   Ill,  92 

Stanley,  Augustus  O.,  II,  1015,  1072, 
1081,   1086,    1096 

Stanley,  John  B.,  Ill,  432 

Stanley,  Ossc   W.,   V,  406 

Stanley,  Rcdford   E.,  V,  259 

Stansifer,  Benjamin  F.,  IV,  444 

Stanton,  Richard  H.,  V,  620 

Staples,  J.   Harry,  III,  206 

Stapp,  Darwin  M.,  Ill,  207 

Starkey,  Nody,  V,   588 

Starkey,  Stella  W.,  V.   589 

Starks  &   Company,   IV,   534 

Starks,  Lconos  C,  V,   110 

Starks,  Richard  S.,  IV,  534 

Starling,  Edmund  L.,  Ill,  265 

Starling,  Edmund  L.,  Jr.,  Ill,  266 


State  bank,   II,  719 

State  bank  notes,  II,  620,  866 

State  banks,  II,  710 

State  courts,   II,  658 

State  election  of  1828,  II,  689 

State  finances,  I,  515;  II,  599,  648,  715, 
752,  988 

State  funds,  II,   993 

State  geologist,  II,  749 

State  government,  first,  I,  307 

State  guards,   II,   885,   887,   894 

State  hospitality  of,   II,  786 

State   Illiteracy   Commission,   II,  991 

State  institutions,  II,  779 

State  laws,  revisal   of,   II,  778 

State  Library,  II,  772 

State  parties,  II,  682 

State  politics,  II,  674 

State  power  to  legislate,  II,  668 

State  rights,  I,  420;  II,  976,  1063 

State  Rights  versus  the  United  States 
Bank,  II,  650 

State  Road   Fork,   I,  64 

State  resources,  II,  997 

State  sovereignty,  I,  345 

State  Tobacco  Fair,  II,  1173 

State  University,   II,  760 

Statehood,  I,  279;  Sixth  Convention,  I, 
252;  Seventh  Convention,  I,  260:  Eighth 
and  Ninth  conventions,  I,  273;  Third 
enabling  act,  I,  273 

Statehood  conventions,  I,  226,  235,  252, 
260,  273 

Statehood  movement,  I,  221 

Statehood  parties,   I,  261 

Statehouse,  temporary,   I,  309 

Statewide  prohibition,   II.  992 

Station  Camp  Creek,   I,  208 

Stations  and  early  settlements  in  Ken- 
tucky, I,  200 

Stations  on    Beargrass    Creek,   I,   209 

Staton,  Willis,   V,   123 

Steamboats,  I,  500;   II,  592,  721,  927 

Steamboat  lines,   II,  923 

Steamboat  traffic,   II,  743 

Steele,  Andrew,   II,   1051;   III,  62 

Steele,  Augustus   R.,  V,  ill 

Steele,  James   R.,   IV,  429 

Steele,  Richard,  I,  234 

Steele,  Richard   D.,   Ill,  363 

Steele,  Susan,  III,  363 

Steele,  William  A.,   Ill,  308 

Steele,  William  K.,  IV,  380 

Steele,  William,  Sr.    Ill,  62 

Steele,  W.   II.,  IV,  251 

Stfincr,  Michael    (Stoner),    I,    135 

Steltenkamp,  J.   Al,    III,   500 

Stcmbridgc,  Stanley   D.,   V,   162 

Stemming  District,  II,  1178 

Stepban,  Leon   B..  V,   551 

Stephens,  Dock  B.,  V,  28 

Stephens,  Edward  L.,   IV,  445 

Stephens,  Howard,  IV,  446 

Stephens,  John   E.,   Ill,  516 

Stephens,  William  C,  III,  519 

Stephenson,  Charles  G.,  IV,   187 

Stephenson,  Elmer  D.,  V,  123     ' 

Stephenson,  John   W.,   II,   1078;    III,   512 

Stephenson,  Martha.   V,  605 

Stephenson,  Mary,   II,    1194;   V,  605 

Stephenson,  Samuel  F.,  IV,  502 

Sti|)henson,  William   W.,  V,   604 

Step  Lightly,  V,  26 


INDEX 


lix 


Stetter,  George,   IV,  233 

Stevens,  E.  A.,  V,  497 

Stevens,  Hubbard  L.,  IV,  434 

Stevens,  John  H.,  IV,  IS 

Stevens,  Lillie  S.,  IV,  16 

Stevenson,  James  M.,  Ill,  406 

Stevenson,  John  M.,  IV,  60S 

Stevenson,  John    W.,    II,    914,    916,    917, 

987,   1072,  108S,   1096 
Stevenson,  Nellie  T.,  V,  114 
Stevenson,  Walter  W.,  IV,  590 
Stevenson,  William   S.,   IV,   228 
Stevenson's  Station,    I,   209 
Stevie,  George  E.,  Ill,  205 
Steward,  Cora  W.,  II,  991 
Stewart,  Charles  I.,  IV,  40 
Stewart,  John,   II,   1035,   1038 
Stewart,  R.  Lee,  V,  52 
Stewart,  V.   H.,  IV,  516 
Stewart,  William,   I,   194 
Stewart,  W.  K.,  IV,  623 
Stewart,  Zebulon  A.,  Ill,  295 
Stice,  William  N.,  V,  392 
Stilz,  Fred  G.,  Ill,  90 
Stites,  Henry  J.,  Ill,  70 
Stites,  John,  IV,  90 
Stites,  William  H.,  Ill,  208 
Stitt,  John  W.,   Ill,  511 
Stivers,  Luther,  IV,  189 
Stivers,  Walter  p.,  V,  268 
Stock-raising,  I,  302 
Stockton's  Station,  I,  209 
Stokes,  Hannah  M.,  Ill,  283 
Stokes,  S.  J.,  Ill,  283 
Stoll,  Charles  C,   IV,  42 
StoII,  John  W.,  Ill,  359 
Stoll,  Richard   C,  V,  571 
Stoll,  Richard  P.,  V,  570 
Stone,  Barton  W.,  I.  540 
Stone,  Fred,  V,  296 
Stone,  Jan.es  C,  II,  1184,  1186;  III,  86 
Stone,  J.  Boyle,  V,  203 
Stone,  Lonie  V.,  Ill,  34 
Stone,  May,  IV,  648 
Stone,  Sam  H.,  Ill,  295 
Stone,  Uriah,  I,  160 
Stone,  William  J.,  II,  1009;  V,  358 
Stone,  William  R.,  IV,  109 
Stone,  William   S.,   IV,  355 
Stoner,  Michael,  I,   114,   162;   II.   1039 
Stout,  John   B.,  IV,  428 
Stout,  Robert  L.,  Ill,  424 
Strange,  Finis  A.,  Ill,  538 
Strange,  William,  IV,   156 
Stratton,  Pemberton  B.,  IV,  379 
Strausburg,  Robert  H.,  IV,  477 
Street,  George  P.,  IV,  508 
Street,  John  O.,  IV,  508 
Street,  Joseph  M.,  I,  457,  475,  476 
Strickler,  Frank  P.,  Ill,  343 
Strikes,  II,  999 
Strodes  Station,  I,  194,  209 
Strode,  William  D.,  Ill,  43 
Strother,  Charles,  V,  143 
Strother,  John  C,  III,  372 
Strother,  William  H.,  Ill,  286 
Stroud's  Station,  I,  209 
Stroud,  Thomas  J.,  V,  44 
Struve,  Felix   K.,   IV,  285 
Stuart,  James,  III,  287 
Stuart,  Robert,  II,  1052,  1054 
Stuart,  R.  M.,   Ill,  287 
Stuck,  W.   G..  Ill,  95 


Stucker,  Jacob,   I,   195 

Stucky,  Joseph  A.,  IV,  88 

Stucky,  William  S.,   Ill,  295 

Stults,  Thomas   R.,   V,  295 

Stumbo  Brothers,  IV,  467 

Stumbo,  Edward,   IV,  468 

Stumbo,  Oliver   H.,   IV,  457 

Stumbo,  Walker  L.,  IV,  468 

Stump,  O.  A.,  IV,  369 

Stump,  Sidney,  III,  54 

Sturgeon,  J.  L.,  IV,  608 

Sturgus'  Station,  I,  200,  209 

Sublette,  Samuel  O.,  IV,  584 

Suffrage,  I,  282 

Sullivan,  Allen  D.,  Ill,  104 

Sullivan,  Garrett   D.,  V,  556 

Sullivan,  James  A.,  V,  183 

Sullivan,  Jere  P.,   IV,  43 

Sullivan's  Old  Station,   I,  209 

Sullivan's  Station,   I,  209 

Summe  &  Ratermann  Company,  III,  106 

Summe,  Frank  B.,  Ill,  106 

Summe,  J.  Herman,  III,  106 

Sumner,  Charles,  II,  915 

Summit  Station.  I,  209 

Sunday,  mails  on,  II,  794 

Superintendent  of  Education,   II,   767 

Superintendent  of  Schools,   II,  759 

Supreme  Court,   I,  217,  400 

Swearingen,  Embry  L.,  IV,  322 

Sweeney,  E.  B.,  Ill,  87   ^ 

Sweeney,  James  J.,   IV,  336 ^i^'' 

Sweeny,  Joseph  A.,  Ill,  398 

Sweets,  Henry  H.,  Ill,   162 

Swift,  John,  I,  110,  121,  126;  and  his  men, 

I.   123;  Journal  of,  I,  129 
Swift's  silver  mines,   I,   110 
^,&«!iss  immigrants,   II,  996  ' 
Swope,  John  W.,  V,  272 
Swope,  Thomas  M.,  Ill,  338 
Swope,  William  M.,  Ill,  358 
Sycamore  Shoals,  I,  163 
Sycamore  Shoals  treaty,   I,  54 
Symonds,  H.  C,  II,  878 

Tabeling,  William  H.,  Ill,  121 

Tachau,  Emil  S.,  Ill,  378 

Talbert,  W.  B.,  Ill,  149 

Talbot,  Isham,  II,  1083,  1097 

Talbot,  John  G.,  V,  483 

Talbott,  Robert   C,   III,  361 

Taliaferro,  Francis  M.,   IV,  517 

Tammany  Society  of  Lexington,   11,  804 

Tan  yard,  I,  301 

Taney,  Roger  B.,  II,  709 

Tanner,  E.  J.,  V,  280 

Tanner,  Kirby  L.,  Ill,  117 

Tanner's  Station,  I,  209 

Tariff,  II,  693 

Tariff  Act  of  1816,  II,  600 

Tariff  of  abominations,    II,   693,   704 

Tariff  of  1832,   II,  694 

Tariff  of  1833,  II,  705 

Tariff  Protection,  I,  507;  II,  1066 

Tariffs,  American  system  of,  II,  689 

Tarter,  Add,  V,  481 

Tarter,  James  B.,  V,  434 

Tarvin,  James  P.,  Ill,  447 

Tarvin,  Pryor  C,  III,  134 

Tate,  Earl  R.,  Ill,  537 

Tate,  James  W.,  II,  917,  993 

Tate,  Robert   L.,  V,  334 

Tate,  Samuel  G.,  V,  640 


INDEX 


Tavern  laws  in  1793,  II,  1189 

Tavern  of  pioneer  days,  II,  1188 

Taxation,  I,   216.   286 

Taxation  of  banks,   II,  651 

Taxes  on  liquors,   I,  405 

Tax  Exemptions,  II,  999 

Taylor,  Asa  P.,  Ill,  291 

Taylor,  Basil  M.,  V,  80 

Taylor,  Coleman,  V,  251 

Taylor  County,  II.   1102,  1112 

Taylor,  Eda,  III,  592 

Taylor.  Edmund   H.,  Jr.,  V,  592 

Taylor,  Jacob  S.,  V,  594 

Taylor,  James,   V,   134 

Taylor,  James  D.,  V,  202 

Taylor,  Jobn,   I,  67 

Taylor,  John  D.,  II,  767 

Taylor,  John   F.,  IV,   136 

Taylor,  Jonathan  G.,  Ill,  70 

Taylor,  J.  H.,   Ill,   135 

Taylor,  Lillie  M.  M.,  IV,  418 

Taylor,  Martin  S.,  IIi;   174 

Taylor,  Nathan  P.,  Ill,  205 

Taylor,  Pigman,  III,  135 

Taylor,  Powell,  V,  165 

Taylor,  Richard,  I,  234,  270 

Taylor,  Robert,   II,  762 

Taylor,  Robert   P.,   II,   1187 

Taylor,  Robert  S.,  IV,  166 

Taylor,  Samuel,  I,  270 

Taylor,  Vardy,  IV,  267 

Taylor,  Wallis  B.,  V,  49 

Taylor,  William  A.,  Ill,  264 

Taylor,  William  C,  III,  47 

Taylor,  William  S.,  II,  1009,  1072,  1080 

Taylor,  William   Spencer,   IV,  478 

Taylor,  William  Sherman,  V,  490 

Taylor,  Zachary,  II,  826,  1112;  (portrait), 

II,  830 
Taylor's  Creek  Station,  I,  209 
Teachers  meeting  in  1833,  II,  763 
Tecumseh,  I,   211,   547,   560,  561 
Teed,  E.  J.,  Ill,   194  _ 
Telegraph  lines,   II,  773 
Tellico  lands,  II,  658 
Temperance  movement,    I,    540;    II,    794, 

847,  992,  1002 
Temperance  party,  II,  848 
Tennessee,  name,  I,  4 
Tennessee  boundary  line,  I,  517 
Tennessee  River,  I,  3,  522;  II,  876 
Tenth  Regiment  Cavalry      officers,      II, 

1139 
Tenth  Regiment  Infantry      officers,      II, 

1122 
Terrell,  Richard,  I,  234 
Terrill,  Edward   B.,   Ill,  204 
Terry,  Newton   S.,   IV,  284 
Terry,  Thomas,  V,  16 
Texan  question,  II,  820,  821 
Texan  Revolution,  II,  821 
Texas,  annexation  of,  II,  825 
Thames   River  battle,  I,  561 
Thatcher,  Anthony,    III,   549 
Thatcher,  Maurice   II.,   IV,  63 
Theatre,  11,  793 
"The  Roughs,"  I,  98 
Third  convention  in  Danville,  I,  231 
Third     Regiment     Cavalry     officers,     II, 

1136 
Third     Regiment     Infantry    officers,    II, 

1119 
Thirteenth  Amendment,  II,  906,  908,  912 


Thirteenth  Regiment  Cavalry  officers,  II, 
1141 

Thirteenth  Regiment  Infantry  officers, 
II,  1123 

Thirtieth  Regiment  Infantry  officers,  II, 
1130 

Thirty-fourth  Regiment  Infantry  officers, 
II,  1131 

Thirty-fifth  Regiment  Infantry  officers, 
II,  1130 

Thirty-ninth  Regiment  Infantry  officers, 
II,  1132 

Thirty-second  Regiment  Infantry  officers, 
II,  1131 

Thirty-seventh  Regiment  Infantry  offi- 
cers, II,  1132 

Thomas,  Charles  T.,  Ill,  567 

Thomas,  Cleo,  V,  196 

Thomas,  George  H.,  II,  1202 

Thomas,  John,  I,  565 

Thomas,  Robert  P.,  V,  243 

Thomas,  William  H.,  IV,  609 

Thomason,  Andrew  B.,   Ill,  383 

Thomason,  William  A.,  Ill,  496 

Thomasson,  Edward  F.,  Ill,  283 

Thompson,  Alexander  B.,  V,   121   ^ 

Thompson,  Andrew  J.,  V,  356 

Thompson,  Charles  R.,  IV,  84 

Thompson,  Columbus   M.,  V,  195 

Thompson,  Grover  C,  iV,  39 

Thompson,  John  B.,  II,  1084,  1097 

Thompson,  J.  Mack,  III,  168 

Thompson,  Linzy  O.,  IV,  144 

Thompson,  William  R.,  V,  644 

Thompson,  W.  Lois,  IV,  607 

Thompson,  Zachariah  A.,  IV,  373 

Thompson's  Station,  I,  209 

Thomson,  John  W.,  V,  381 

Thomson,  Patrick  H.,  V,  114 

Thornbury,  Hiram  W.,   IV,  525 

Thome,  William   P.,  V,  631 

Thornton,  Prestly,  I,  67 

Thorpe,  James  H.,  IV,  195 

Threlkel,  Christopher   C.   Ill,   510 

Thrclkcld,  William  L.,   Ill,  308 

Throckmorton,  John   W.,    Ill,    192 

Thruston,  Buckner,  II.   1082,  1097 

Thruston,  Rogers   C.   B.,   IV,  78 

Thurman,  Everett  D.,  IV,  491 

Thurman,  I.  H.,  II,  1187 

Thurman,  Isaac  H.,  V,  437 

Thwaites,  R.  G.,  I,  114 

Tichenor,  John  M.,  Ill,  510 

Tileston,  Harry   B.,   IV,   142 

Tilghman,  Lloyd,  II,  1144 

Tiltoii,  Arthur  B.,  Ill,  593 

Tilton,  John  W.,  Ill,  505 

Timber,  II,  1020 

Timber  resources,  II,  747 

Timber  supply,  II,  998 

Timmons,  James  D.,  Ill,  462 

Timnions,  Henry  L.,  Ill,   196 

Timmons,  Homer  D.,  IV,  550 

Tippecanoe,  battle  of,   I,  548 

Tippecanoe  and  Tyler  Too,  II,  717 

Tiiisley,  Thomas   D.,  V,  425 

Tobacco,  I,  286,  500;  II,  592,  739,  927, 
992;  business,  II,  996;  pooling  of,  II, 
1014;  romance  of  and  early  use,  II, 
1162;  inspection  of,  II,  1165;  as  medium 
of  exchange,  II,  1167;  industry  statis- 
tics, II,  1168;  varieties  of,  II,  1168; 
early  production  in  Kentucky,  II,  1169; 


INDEX 


Ixi 


manufacture,  II,  1172;  growth  and  cul- 
ture of,  in  Kentucky,  II,  1177;  dark,  IT, 
1178;  losses  to  growers,  II,  1182 

Tobacco  factory,  I,  301 

Tobacco,  field  of  (view),  II,  1180 

Tobacco  market  towns,  II,  1181 

Tobacco  trusts.  II,    1013 

Tobacco  war,   II,    1013,   1181 

Tobacco  warehouses,  II,  1167 

Tobacco  warehouse  receipts,  I,  299 

Todd,  Charles  S.,  II,  583 

Todd  County.   II,  1101,   1112 

Todd,  John.  I,  174,  182,  186,  188,  191,  195, 
198,  304,  305;  !I,  1049,  1112 

Todd,  Levi,  I.  188,  194,  195,  210,  234,  303, 
33(1;   11,  1050,   1052 

Todd.  Robert,  I,  234,  376,  399 

Todd,  Thomas,  I,  227,  254,  303,  316,  320, 
330,  400,  455,  482,  494,  553 

Todd,  Thomas  B.,  II,  1058 

Todd's  Station,    I,   209 

Toll  roads,  I,  492;  II,  729;  raids  against, 
II,  1012 

Tolliver,  James,  V,  562 

Tolliver,  Sampson  H.,  IV,  138 

Tomlinson,  George   E.,   IV,   138 

Tonilinson,  William,   I,  58 

Toof,  Franklin  P.,  V,  329 

Topography,  II,  1017;  relation  to  human 
progress,  II,  1026 

Tories,  I,  293 

Totero  Indians,   I,   11,  149 

Totero  town,  I,  44 

Toulmin,   Harry,  II,   1051 

Towles,  Robert  H.,  Ill,  429 

Town  booms,  I,  487 

Town  development,  I,  488 

Towns,  beijinning  of,  I,  217;  in  1790,  I, 
296 

Townsend,  Robert  P.,  IV,  448 

Townsend,  William  II.,  iV,  211 

Townsend,  W.  H.,  II,  1060 

Trabue,  Edmund  F.,   IV,  64 

Trabue,  Eugene  McD.,  Ill,  412 

Trade,  lines  of,  II,  922 

Trade  relations,  II,  859 

Trade  rights  down  the  Mississippi,  I, 
239 

Trading  companies,  I,  160 

Traflic,  river,   I,  485 

Transportation,  I,  489;  cost  of,  II,  721; 
early,  II.  922 

Transylvania,  and    the    first    settlements, 

I,  160;  Virginia,  petition  to,  I,  168; 
death  knell  of,  I,   171 

Transylvania      College,      II,     754,      1059; 

(view),  II,  1050;  graduates  and  former 

students,  II.  1059 
Transylvania  Company,    I,    137,   162,   163, 

172,  212,  218 
Transylvania  government,  I,   165 
Transylvania  Law  department,  II,  1058 
Transylvania  Seminary,    I,    304,    305;    II, 

1049 
Transvlvania,  University,  I,  526,  528;  II, 

758,'  759,  760,  768,  787,  1049,  1052; 

golden  era  of,  II,  1054;  faculty  in  1821, 

II,  1056 

Trapp,  Claude  W..  Ill,  87 

Trappist  Monks.  II,   1022 

Travel  and  transportation,  I,  297;  facili- 
ties for,  I.  48,^;  in  pioneer  times,  II, 
1190 


Traveling  church,  I.  288,  534 

Travis,  William  C,  V,  60 

Trawick,  John  D.,  Ill,  162 

Treacy,  Barney  J.,   Ill,  300 

Treacy,  Bernard  J.,  Ill,  300 

Treacy,  William  J.,   IV,   190 

Treaty  of  1819,  I,  55 

Treaty  of  Ghent,  I,  566 

Treaty  of  Greenville,   I,   389 

Treaty  of  San    Ildefonso,   I,   425 

Treaty  of  San   Lorenzo,  I,  355,  369 

Tree  growth,  II,   1020 

Trevathan,  Ben   L.,  V,  216 

Trevathan,  L.  C,  IV,  406 

Trigg  County,   II,   1101,  1112  ,o   , 

Trigg,  Stephen,  I,  11,  185,  188,  191,   193,  '"'  ^ 

198,  210,  216;  II,  1049,  1112 
Trigg's  Station,  I,  210 
Trimble  County,  II,  1101,  1112 
Trimble,  John,  II,  631,  646 
Trimble,  Robert,  I,  522;  II,  1055,  1112 
Triplett,  George  V.,   Ill,  280 
Trivette,  Emory  E.,  IV,  366 
Trosper,  William  M.,  IV,  421 
Trotter,  G.  J.,  II,  701 
Trotter,  James,   I,  234,   561 
Trout,  Anna,  III,  238 
True  American,  II,  810,  813 
True  South,  The,  II,  819 
Tuck,  Alfred  H.,  Ill,  499 
Tucker,  Charles  C,  III,  177 
Tucker,  Lenox  M.,  IV,  135 
Tucker,  M.  W.,  V,  98 
Tudor,  James,  V,   122 
Tug  Fork,  I,  12,  65 
Tug  River,  I,  96,  98,  143,  154 
TuniI)Ier's  Run,   I,  63 
Turk.  Alice  B.,  V,  107 
Turk   Family,  V,   106 
Turk,  John  W.,  V,  106 
Turk,  J.  W.,  V,  106 
Turk,  William  L.,  V,  139 
Turkey,  Thomas  J.,   Ill,  322 
Turlington,  William   (William  Spurlock), 

I,  130 

Turnbull,  Lennox  B.,  Jr.,  V,  591 

Turner,  Annie,  IV,  542 

Turner,  Edmond  D.,  IV,  521 

Turner,  James   M.,  V,  398 

Turner,  James  W.,  IV,  617 

Turner,  J.   K.  Polk,  IV,  629 

Turner,  Squire,  III,  553 

Turner,  Thomas  O.,  V,  395 

Turner,  William   C,  V,   522 

Turner,  William   T.,   Ill,   568 

Turnpikes.  II,  696.  721,  722,  920 

Turnpike  legislation,   II,  723 

Turnpike  system,  II,  727 

Tuttle,  John   W.,   Ill,  533 

Tuttle,  Ronald  S.,  V,  162 

Twelfth  Regiment  Cavalry     officers,     II, 

1140 
Twelfth   Regiment  Infantry    officers,    II, 

1123 
Twentieth    Regiment    Infantry    officers, 

II,  1127 

Twenty-eighth  Regiment  Infantry  offi- 
cers, II,  1130 

Twenty-first  Regiment  Infantry  officers, 
II,  1127 

Twenty-fifth  Regiment  Infantry  officers, 
II,   1129 


Ixii 


INDEX 


Twcnty-fourtli  Kegimi-nt  Infantry  ofti- 
cers,  II,  1128 

Twenty-ninth  Regiment  Infantry  offi- 
cers, II,  1130 

Twenty-second  Regiment  Infantry  offi- 
cers, II,  1128 

Twenty-seventh  Regiment  Infantry  offi- 
cers, II,  1129 

Twenty-sixth  Regiment  Infantry  officers, 
II,  1129 

Twentv-lhiril  Regiment  Infantry  ofTicers, 
II,   1128 

Twetty's  Fort,  I,  210 

Twyman,  Iverson   W.,  I  v',  149 

Twyinan,  Louise,  I\',  149 

Twyman,  Judge,  I,  194 

Tye,  John   G.,   V,  414 

Tyler,  John    E.,  V,  467 

Tyler,  William   L.,   Ill,   79 

Tyler's  Station,  I,  210 

Underground  railways,  II,  806,  807 
Underwood,  Joseph  R.,  II,  647,  825,  1084, 

1097 
Underwood,  John  R.,  II,  814 
Underwood,  Thomas   C,   IV,  458 
Underwood,  W.  L.,  IT,  866 
Uniform   roads,  system  of,   I,  492 
Union  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  Asso- 
ciation,  II,  741 
Union,  breaking  the  bonds  of,  II,  842 
Union  County,   II,  999,  1101,  1112 
Union   Democrats,   II,  896,  897,  914 
Union  forces,  arms  for,   II,  886 
Union   Freight  Association,   II,  936 
Union   Labor   party,   II,   1002 
Union  meeting,   Louisville,   11,  707 
Union  military  autliorities,  spoliation  by, 

II.  878 
Union  party,  II,  843,  858,  908 
Union  restoration  policy,   II,  911 
Union  sentiment     in     Kentucky,     I,    440, 

457;  II,  838 
Union  sympathizers,   II,   874 
Union  troops  and  munitions,  II,  885 
Unionists,  II,  858 

United  States  Army,   olTicers   from    Ken- 
tucky in  Civil  war,  II,  1114 
United  States  bank,  I,  511;   II,  606,  608, 
615,  650,  693,  709,  717;  stockholders  of, 
II,  672 
United  States  Senators,  list  of,  II,  1082; 

biographies  of,   II,   1086 
University  of  Kentucky,   II,  992;  women 

admitted  to,  II,  1059 
Universal  suffrage,  I,  280 
Upington,  Fred  W.,  IV,  266 
Upington,  John   V.,   IV,  266 
Upper   I'.lue   Licks,  I,  210 
Upton   Hill,  II,  899 
Urmston,  'I'luimas  D.,  Ill,  410 
Usher,  Luke,  II,  1194 
Utley,  Xewton  W.,  V,  507 
Uttcrback,  James  C,  V,  337 

Vaccination,  II,    1052 
Van  Arsdall,  Rufus   M.,  IV,  259 
Van  H\iren,  Martin,  II,  714 
Vance,  Chester    M.,   V,  305 
Vance,  Eugene  C,  III,  272 
Vance,  Leslie    M.,  V,  404 
Vance,  Robert  D.,  Ill,  228 
Vance,  Samuel   B.,   Ill,  228 


Xance's  Station,    1,   210 

\'ancouver,  Charles,    I,    155 

\'ancouvcr's  Fort,   I,  210 

\'ancouver's  settlement,   I,  155 

\'andalia  project,   I,  162 

\au   Deren,   Edward    F.,    Ill,   55 

\an   l.iew.  John    K.,   IV,   337 

\;an   Meter,   Benjamin  F.,  Ill,  390 

X'anmeter's  Fort,  I,  210 

X'anover,  Roscoe,   IV,  367 

X'astine,   Benjamin   M.,   Ill,  103 

\augban,  Fred  A.,  Ill,  467 

X'aughan,  James  M.,  Ill,  63 

\aughan,  John   M.,   Ill,  541 

Vaughn,  J.   M.,   IV,   194 

Van  Zandt,  John,   II,   808 

Veal,  Marvin   S.,  Ill,  433 

Veech,  Bethel   B.,   IV,  60 

Venable,  Charles  L.,  V,  543 

Venters,  A.   Ray,  IV,  430 

Versailles,  II,  745,  787,  822,  970,   1078 

Vest,  George   G.,  II,   1059 

\'ick,  William  S.,  IV,  48 

N'icksburg,  fall  of,  II,  883 

\  ielc,  Arnold,    I,    160 

X'ienna  Station,   I,  210 

\'igo,   Francis,  I,  179 

\'iley,  Breckinridge,  V,  57 

\inccnnes,  I,  178,  179 

Vine  culture,   I,  499 

\'iney  Grove,  I,  210 

X'inson,  Frederick  M.,  Ill,  563 

\inson,  George  R.,  Ill,  573 

\inson,  Robert  L.,  Ill,  580 

N'irginia,  western  land  claims,  I,  223; 
attitude  toward  Kentucky  statehood,  I, 
235;  relations  with,  I,  273;  debt  of,  I, 
274;  mother  of  Kentucky  statesmen,  I, 
294 

^'irginia  Compact,  I,  274,  516 

Virginia  criminal  code,  I,  312 

Virginia  Military   Lands.   I,  213 

\ital  statistics,   II,  993 

\'iva  Voce  voting,  1,  477,  478;  II,  837 

Volstead  act,   II,    1027 

X'ohinteers  for   War,  of   1812,   I,  552 

Voorhies,  Charles  H.,  Ill,  221 

Votes  for  women,   II,  992 

\'oting,  property  cjualilication  for,  I,  401; 
written  ballot  in,  I,  477;  measures 
against  negroes,  II,  918 

Waddcll,  Roy,   IV,  346 
Waddle,  Robert  B.,  V.  190 
Wade,  John   W.,  V,   111 
Wagers,  James  W.,  III.  245 
Waggcncr,  James   II.,   IV,  260 
Wagner,  Charles  K.,  IV,  441 
Wagoner,  John   W.,   Ill,   583 
Wahle,  Augustus  J.,   V,  299 
Wake,   Frank   G.,   V,  493 
Wake,  Hugh,  V,  505 
Walam  Olum,   I,  22 
Walden,  W.  B.,  IV,  387 
Walker,  Charles  A.  J.,   IV,  466 
Walker,  Claude  L.,  V,  535 
Walker,  Daniel,  1,  217 
Walker,  George,  II,  1082,  1098 
Walker,  George  C,  III,  518 
Walker,   II.  Swayne,  III,  434 
Walker,  John  W.,   IV,  241 
Walker,  Joseph    IL,   IV,  452 
Walker,  Lewis  L.,  IV,  246 


INDEX 


Ixiii 


Walker,  Murray  II..  Ill,  296 

Walker,  St.  Clair,  V,  601 

Walker,  Thomas,  I,  7,  51,  57,  11,  137,  517; 

II.   1031,  1198 
Walker's  Creek  settlement,  I,  134 
Walker's  line,  I,   517 
Wallace.  Caleb,  I,  234,  270,  284,  285,  303, 

310,  529;  II,  1050,  1052,  1064 
Wallace,  David  M.,  Ill,  94 
Wallace,  James  A.,  V,  610 
Wallace,  James   B.,  IV,  441 
Wallace,  J.  Franklin,  III,  329 
Wallace,  Tracy,   III,  96 
Waller,   Edward,   I.  207 
Waller,   Tesse  C,  IV,  82 
Waller,   Frank   F.,   Ill,  294 
Waller,  John,  I,  207 
Waller,  Thomas  S.,  Jr.,  Ill,  177 
Walnut  Hall  Stock  Farm,  IV,  176 
Walsh,  John  J.,   Ill,  552 
Walter,  Anton,  IV,  220 
Walters.  Charles.  Ill,  339 
Walters,  Clifford  L.,  II,  1186 
Walters,  Edford   L.,   V,   550 
Walters,  Henry  N.,  Ill,  602 
Walton,  Edwin  C,  V,  183 
Walton,  Maud,   IV,   182 
Walton,  Alatt  S.,  Ill,  382 
Walton,  Matthew,   I,  234 
Walton,  Samuel   B.,  IV.  143 
Wanner,  John  L.,  V,  319 
War  Hawks,  I,  549 
War  legislation  repealed,  II,  910 
War  of  1812,  I,  545:   II,  1065;  effects  on 

tobacco  planters,  II,  1168 
War  spirit  prior  to   1812,   I,   546 
War  taxes,  II,  880 
War  with   France,   I,  403 
War  with  Mexico,  II,  825 
Ward,  Andrew  H.,   IV,   121 
Ward,  Cora  J.,  Ill,  313 
Ward.  James  A.,  Ill,  313 
Ward,  Jav  Q.,  III.  64 
Ward.  John  H.,  II,  905 
Ward,  J.   Miller,   IV,  359 
Ward,  Samuel  M.,  V,  587 
Ward,  William  A.,  V,  9 
Wardrop,  James,  I,  67 
Ware,  Orie  S.,  V,  56 
Warfield,   EHsha,   II,   1053 
Warfield,  William,    I,   392 
Waring,  Thomas,   I,  209 
Waring's  Station,   I,  210 
Warner's  Station,    T,   210 
Warren  County,   II.   1100,   1112 
Warren   County   High  School,  IV,  544 
Warren,  Edward   Li,  III,  285 
Warren,  Henry  T.,   IV,  626 
Warren,  W.  A.,  V,  603 
Warren's  Station,  I,  210 
Warring,  Thomas,  I,  284 
Warrior's  Path,  I,  60,  62,  69 
Wash.  Thomas  A.,   IV,  262 
Washburn,  Edgar  T.,  V,  335 
Washington.  I,    210,    219,    291,    296,    486, 

488,  533;  II,  745,  1191 
Washington,  Augustine,  I,  67 
Washington  County,   II,  1100,  1112 
Washington,  George,   I,  69,   95,   528;    II, 

1005 
Washington,  Lawrence,    I,   67 
Washington,  Mason  Countv,  I,  73,  115 
Wason,   Robert,  IV,  599 


Watauga  River,  I,  7 

Waters.  William  A.,  V,  73 

Wathen,  John  A.,  IV,  384 

Wathen,  John   B.,  V,  441 

Watkins,  James  A.,  Ill,  361 

Watkins,  James   L.,   Ill,  529 

Watkins,  Mollie  G.,  V,  600 

Watkins,  Philip   T.,   IV,  427 

Watterson,  Henry,  II,  774,  917,  995;  III, 

12 
Watson,  Edward  C,  IV,  622 
Watts,  Herman,  IV,  256 
Watts,  William  D.,  IV,  128 
Waugh,  John  M.,  V,  482 
Wayne  County,  I,  55;  II,  951,  1031,  1101, 

1112 
Wayne,  "Mad  Anthony,"  at  Fort  Massac, 

I,  340;  campaign  of,  I,  353,  387;  training 

his  army,   I,  386 
Wear,  Edward  W.,  V,  224 
Wear,  William  O.,  V,  89 
Weathers,  Edmund    P.,   IV,   399 
Weathers,  Garrett  D.,  IV,  129 
Weathers,  James  M.,  Ill,  539 
Weaver,  George  W.,  V,  427 
Webb,  Annie  P.,  IV,  32 
Webb,  Dermont  G..  Ill,  484 
Webb,  George,  II,  1179 
Webb,  George   M.,   Ill,  283 
Webb,  James  W.,  V,  223 
Webb,  John,  Jr.,  IV,  32 
Webb,  John   A.,  V,  563 
Webb,  John   B.,  V,   160 
Webb.  Kittie.  J.,  Ill,  288 
Webb,  Mary  G.,  IV,  101 
Webb,  N.  M.,  V,  565 
Webb,  Richard    S.,    IV,    101 
Webb,  Richard  S.,  Jr.,  Ill,  184 
Webb,  Robert  G.,  Ill,  43 
Webb,  Robert  L.,  V,  226 
Webster  Cotmty,  II,  1028,  1102,  1113 
Webster.  Daniel,    II.   787.   839 
Webster,  Delia  A.,  II,  807 
Weddle.  John  M.,  V,  46 
Weille,   Ben,   III,  472 
Weille,  James,  III,  473 
Weir,  James,  III,  276 
Weir,  James  (deceased).  III,  276 
Weisenberger,  Philip  J.,  Ill,  595 
Welch,  Charles  W.,  Ill,  166 
Welch,  Dan  H.,  Ill,  575 
Welch,  James,  II,  1052 
Welch,  John  W.,  IV,  274 
Welch.  M.   M.,   IV,  369 
Weldon,   William  A..  IV,  604 
Wellman,  Harrv  G.,  IV,  137 
Wells,  Carl   A.,"  V,  318 
Wells,  Clarence  W.,   III.  275 
Wells,  Jimison  K.,  IV,  552 
Wells,  John  R.,  V,  100 
Wells,  Marcus  L.  K.,  IV,  438 
Wells,  Walter  S.,  V,  10 
Wells'  Station,   I,  210 
Welsh   Indians,  I,  34 
Welsh  tradition,  in  early   Indian   history, 

I,  32 
Welsh,  Walter  S.,   Ill,  273 
Wesley,  Elbert  T.,  IV,  513 
Wesley,  Eli  G.,  V,  202 
Wesley.  Isaiah  S.,  V,  201 
West,  Edward,  I,  501,  503 
West,  James  O.,  IV.  590 
West  Liberty,  II,  899 


Ixiv 


INDEX 


Western  American,  I,  532 

Western  migration,  I,  288 

Western   World,  I,  441,  457,  475 

Westfall,  John  A.,  Ill,  591 

Wcsterlicid,  Aretus  A.,  Ill,  46 

Westerl'ield,  Clarence,  III,  S3 

Wetzels,  Joseph,   IV,  227 

Whalcy,  Clyde  H.,  IV,  59 

Whaley,  Rice   B.,   IV,  278 

VVhalcy's  Station,  I,  210 

Wheat,  11,  739 

Wheat,  William   H.  D.,   IV,  225 

Wheeldon,   Milton   E.,   V,   193 

W  heeled   vehicles,    I,   297 

Wheeler   &    Wheeler,    III,   517 

Wheeler,  A.    I'.,    IV,   79 

Wlueler,  Blakemore,   III,  139 

\\  heeler,  Columhns  B.,  V,   100 

Wheeler,  John   \V.,   Ill,  517 

Wheeler,   Leora  O.  A.,  Ill,  545 

Wheeler,  M.  O.,   Ill,  517 

Wheeler.  Peter  T.,  Ill,  544 

Whclan.  James  L.,  Ill,  327 

Whigs,  II,   692.   693,   709,    714,   716.    717, 

845;  defeat  of,  1844,  II,  824;  in  1848,  II, 

828 
Whig  party,  decay  of.  II,  843 
Winston,  Philip   H.,  Ill,  168 
Whipp.  Patrick  W.,  V.  301 
VVhippoorwill  Creek,  I.  210 
Whisky,  manufacture  of,  I,  503;  II,  996 
Wliisky  Rebellion,   I,  405 
Whisky  taxes,  I.  319 
Whitaker.  Aquilla,   I,  210 
Whitaker,  Little,  IV,  650 
Whitaker's  Station,   I,  210 
White,  Beverly   P.,   Ill,  289 
White,  Frank  M.,  V,  13 
White,  George  W^,  III,  112 
White,  Henry  A.,  IV,  275 
White,  Henry   C,  III,  116 
White,  James  A.,  IV,  412 
White,  James  W.,  IV,  597 
W'hite,  Jerome  B.,  V,  40 
White,  John   C.  V,  382 
WHiite,  John  W.,  IV,  480 
White.  Xaret  M.,  V,  453 
White  Oak  Spring  Station,  I,  210 
White,  Otis,  III,  495 
White,  S.  J.,  Ill,  523  \ 

White  Sulphur  Springs,  II,  792  ,V 

White.  William.   Ill,  367  *U     ■ 

Whiteakcr,  J.   D.,  V,  613  ^ 

Whitehouse.  F.dgar,  III,   198 
Whitehouse.  James  U..  IV,  436 
Whitfield,  Augustus   F.,  V,  450 
Whitfield.   Brvaii  W..  V.  450 
Whitfield   1-amilv.   V.  440 
Whitley  CouMtv,  I.  55.  489;  II,  llnl.  111,1 
Whitley.  William,   I.  210;   II.    1113 
Whitley's  Station.   1.  210 
Whitlock    Pete  S..   Ill,  244 
Whitney,  Asa,  II,  735 
Whitson,  James   H.,   Ill,   1.^2 
Whitt,  B.  E.,  IV,  556 
Wicker,  Melvin   V.,  V,  297 
Wickliffe,  Charles,   II,  701,  754 
Wickliffe,    Charles   A.,    11,   673,   712,    732, 

767,  897.  1(171.  1075;  V.  624 
WicklilTe.  t  harks  Arthur,  V,  341 
Wickliffe,  I).  C,  II,  899 
Wickliffe,  George,   II,  622 
Wickliffe,   Robert,    II,   .589,  597,   637,   648, 

1.67,  762,  763,  774,  1055 


Wiggins,  Arris,   V,   581 
\\  iggins,  John   S.,  \',  324 
Wiggins,  Orville  J.,  V,  324 
\\igles\vorth,  James  M..  IV,  616 
Wilcoxson.  George   E.,   Ill,  548 
Wildcat  Mountain,  II,   1204 
U  ilder,  George  W..  IV,  360 
Wilder,  Jesse  F.,  Ill,  161 
Wilderness  explorations.  I,  41 
Wilderness   Road.    I.    60,    211,    235,    376, 

485,  490;   II,  723,   1197,   1199 
\\  ilderness  trails,  I,  126,  288,  289,  297 
W  iky,  Adam  P.,  I,  134 
Wiley,   Harvey  W.,   II,   1206 
Wiky,  Mrs.,   captivity   of,   I,   142;   in   the 

Indian  camp,  I,  150;  escape  and  rescue, 

I,  155;  late  life  of,  I,  158 
Wiley,   R.  L.,  Ill,  458 
Wiley,  Samuel,  I,  l.-?5 
Wiley,  Thomas,  I,  135,  139,  140,  152,  158 
Wilhitc,   Everett  C,  V,  584 
\\  ilhoit.  James   T.,   IV,  293 
Wilkie,   Lonnic  H.,  V,  511 
Wilkins,  Charles,   I,  458 
Wilkinson,  James,    I,   231,   2,W,   237,  242, 

246,   256,   257,   275,   279,   309,    362,   364, 

369,   372,  384,   387,   435,   440,   453,  462; 

and  the  Spanish  trade,  I,  245;  at  New 

Orleans,  I,  247;  II,  592,  746,  1170 
Wilkirson,  Snelling,    IV,    193      — ~ 
Wiilenborg,  Harry  J.,  IV,  221 
Williams,  A.   Lee,  III,  463 
Williams,  Casper  C,  III,  46 
Williams,  Charles,  III,  305 
Williams,  Charles  S.,  IV,  13 
Williams,  Claude  S.,  Ill,  550 
Williams,  George   W.,   II,  847 
Williams,  James  T.,   Ill,  570 
Williams,  John  A.,  V,  606 
Williams,   lohn   N.,   IV,  454 
Williams,  John  S.,  II,  1085,  1098,  1144 
Williams,  John  W.   F.,  IV,  494 
Williams,  J.  C,   III,  340 
Williams,  J.   Mott,  V,  468 
Williams,  Paul  M.,  IV,  127 
Williams,   Roger  D.,  IV,  487 
Williams,  Robert  D.,   IV,  489 
Williams'  Station,  I,  211 
Williams,  Willie   D.,   III.  82 
Williams.  W.  R.,  IV,  208 
Williams,  W.  W.,  V,  219 
Williamsburg,   I,  61 
Williamson,  Cyrus  M.,  V,  406 
W  illiamson,  George  ^I.,   IV,  581 
Williamson,  John   H.,  Ill,  591 
W  illiamson,   Laurence  J.,  Ill,  404 
\\  illiamson,  Thomas  J.,  V,  358 
Williamson,  Vincent  M.,  V,  405 
W  illiamstown,  I,  206 
W  illm.ith.  Argus   D.,   IV,   19 
U  illmott,  Curtis  S.,  Ill,  213 
Willoughbv,  G.  A.;  V,  464 
Willis.  (;.  v..  III.  494 
Willis.  James  E.  H.,  Ill,  400 
Willis,  Luther  C,  IV,  352 
Willis,  L.  C,  IV,  582 
Willis,  N.,  I,  534 
Willis,  Simeon   S.,   Ill,  577 
Wills,   Edwin  S.,   IV,  .106 
Willson.  Augustus  E.,  II,  loll,  1014,  1072. 

1(181;  III,  24 
Willson,  James  C,  IV,  .53 
Wilson,  Charles  IL,  V,  96 
Wilson,  Durbin,  IV,  272 


INDEX 


Ixv 


Wilson,  Edward,  V,   165 

Wilson.  Garret  D.,  Ill,  288 

Wilson,  George,   I,  234 

Wilson,  George  S.,  Ill,  299 

Wilson,  Harry  B.,  IV,  246 

Wilson,  Henry,  I,  194 

Wilson,  John,  I,  194 

Wilson,  John    Edwin,  V,  212 

Wilson,  John   Elmer,  V,  220 

Wilson,  John   R..  Ill,  490 

Wilson,  Joseph  H.,  Ill,  594 

Wilson,  Joshua,  II,  1192 

Wilson,  L.  B.,  Ill,  127 

Wilson,  Martin   G.,   IV,  43 

Wilson,  Ralph  R.,  V,  185 

Wilson,  Richard  E.,   IV.  410 

Wilson,  Samuel  M.,  Ill,  365 

Wilson,  Samuel  R.,  Ill,  364 

Wilson.  Sylvanus.  V,  480 

Wilson,  Thomas   H.,   IV.  309 

Wilson,  Walter  A.,  V,  58 

Wilson,  William,  III,  102 

Wilson,  William  H.,  IV,  174 

Wilson,  William  Henry,  IV,  599 

Wilson.  Woodrow.   I.   531 

Wilson's  Station.   I,  211 

Wilton,  William.  'I.    126 

Winchester.  II,  821 

Winchester  Sun.  V.   133 

Winfrec,  William   P..  IV,  44 

Winfrey.  Mike   C.   Ill,  481 

Wing.   E.   R..  II.  917 

Winn.  John  B..  II,  1186 

Winslow,  George   B.,   V,  240 

Winstcad.  Frank  V.,  Ill,   172 
Winston,  Philip  H.,  Ill,  168 
Winter  of  1780.  II.  1045 

iVise.  Edward  A..  III.  152 
Wise.  James   E..  Ill,  344 
Wise.  John   F..   III.  570 
Wisehart.  James   H.,  V.  357 
Withers.  Garrett  L..  III.  148 
Withers,  William   T.,   Ill,   188 

VVitherspoon.  Ambrose   H.,  V,   169 
Witherspoon,  Ezra  O.,  IV,  7 
Witherspoon,  Lister,  IV,   112 
Withrow.  James   M.,  V,  403 
Withrnw,  Maude   D..  V.  404 
Witt.   Bernard  G..  Ill,  269 
Wolf.  Moses  J..  IV.  282 
Wolf,  Simon,  IV,  83 
Wolfe  County,  I.  112:  II,  1102.  1113 
Wolfe   Island.  II.   1000 
Wolfe.  Nathaniel,  II.   1113 
Wolford.  John  A.,  Ill,  478 
Women  as  teachers,   II.  765 
Woman   suflrage.    II.   920,   992 

W'ojnen.  aid    to    Volunteers    of    1812,    I, 
554:   exempted  from  imprisonment  for 
debt.  II,  614 
Wood.  Abraham,  I.  43 
Wood.  A.  T..  II.   lO'K'i,   1007 
Wood.  A.  W.,  IV,  56 
Wood.  C.  M.,  III.  436 
Wood.  James.    I.   11 
Wood.  John,  I,  457 
Wood,  John  K.,  IV,  546 
Wood.  William.  I,  210,  270 
Wood.  W.  Logan,  V.  140 
Woodard,  Ernest,   III,  428 
Woodl)urv.  II.  899 
Woodford.  Catesby.    IV.   254 
Woodford  County,    I,    74.    291;    II,    685, 
807.  1100.  111,3 


Woodford,  Maria,  IV,  258 
Woodford,  Samuel  A.   B.,   IV',  257 
Woodrow,  William  E.,  V,  433 
Woodruff,  Willis  B.,  IV,  361 
Woods,  Alva.  II,  761,  1057 
Woods'  Station,   I.  211 
Woodson,  Hylan   H.,  V,  281 
Woodson,  Obadiah,  I.  95 
Woodson,  Silas,  II,  1206 
Woodson,  Urey,  V,  456 
Woodv,  Albert   P..   IV,  338 
Woolcott.  Nelson,  III,  164 
Wooldridge,  Sam  L..  V,  569 
Woolev.  Aaron   K.,   II,   1058 
Woolfolk.  William  T.,   IV,  92 
Wootton.  Bailey  P.,  V,  541 
World  War.  II.   1015;  lesults  in  tobacco 

sections,  II.   1182 
Worsham,  John   C.  Ill,  265 
Worsham.  Walter  H..  IV,  419 
Worthington,  Edward,    I,   211 
Worthington.  Edward    L..   V,   585 
Worthington,  \\'iniam.   IV,   120 
Worthington.  William  A.,  V.  413 
Worthington's  Station.  I,  211 
Wright.  Ben  F.,  V,  30 
Wright,  Ben  T.,  II.  1187;  III.  554 
Wright.  Fonse.  V.  45 
Wright,  Georee,  I.   1 
Wrieht.  John  R.,  Ill,  265 
Wright,  S.  Leo,  III,  536 
Wright,  T.  G.,  V,  520 
Wright.  William  M.,  V,   107 
Wright,  Walter   S.,   IV,  531 
Wvandots,  I.  1 
Wyatt,  Charles  C,  V,  49 
Wyles.  John   P.,   IV,  304 
Wvman.   Burton   E..  V,  33 
Wynns,  John  G.,  Ill,  160 
Wythe.  George,   I.   176 

Yakcl.  Ralph.   V,   344 

Yancey,   Hogan,   IV,  207 

Yandell.   Lunsford  P..  V,  624 

Yantis.  Samuel    S..   Ill,   320 

Yates,  John  A.,  Ill,  480 

Yazoo  colonization   scheme,   I,  276 

Yeager,  John    R.,   V,   152 

Yeaman,  Malcolm.  Ill,  414 

Yellowfever,  II,  1078 

Yewell,  Algernon   S.,   Ill,  61 

Yewell,  Lewis  E.,  Ill,  82 

Yewell.  Morgan.  Ill,  416 

Yocum.  Jesse.   I.   193 

York,  Leonidas  H.,  V,  529 

Young.  Amljrose   P.,  V,  200 

Young.   I'rank   O.,   Ill,    170 

Young,  James  F.,  V,  432 

Young,  John    C,    II,    763,    802,    814;    V, 

624 
Young.  John  G.,  V,  401 
Young,  Lewis  W.,  IV,  641 
Young,  Lucien,  III,  171 
Young,  Lucy  S.,  Ill,  181 
Young,  Milton,   III,   180 
Young.  Richard  B.,  V,  196 

Zimmerman.  James   R.,    IV,   554 
Zinn,  Newton  G.,  IV,  226 
Zinszer,  Julia  E..  III.  319 
Zinszcr.   Louis  J..  Ill,  319 
ZollicofTer,  General.   II,  887,  888 


History  of  Kentucky 

CHAPTER  I 
ORIGIN  AND  MEANING  OF  NAMES 

To  determine  the  true  origin  and  meaning  of  historical  and  geo- 
graphical names  is  frequently  a  difficult  matter.  Sometimes  it  is  impos- 
sible. It  has  required  many  years  to  work  out  the  origin  and  meaning 
of  some  of  the  important  names  connected  with  the  history  of  Ken- 
tucky.    It  is  believed,  however,  that  these  points  are  finally  settled  here. 

Kentuckv  is  a  beautiful  word,  derived  from  the  Wyandot  dialect  of 
the  Iroquoian  tongue.  As  a  name  for  the  state  it  is  splendid.  No  other 
state  has  a  name  of  more  beauty,  dignity,  sublimity.  Its  significance  is 
prophetic  of  coming  greatness,  of  progress,  of  leadership  in  free,  inde- 
pendent, and  untrammeled  government  for  and  by  the  people  under  the 
law,  of  which  she  was  the  pioneer  in  the  Mississippi  Valley — if,  indeed, 
not  in  all  America. 

Kentucky 

I'he  origins  urged  for  the  name  of  Kentucky  are  erroneous.  "Mead- 
ow-lands," "At  the  Head  of  a  River,"  "The  Dark  and  Bloody  Ground," 
are  all  applications  of  misapprehensions.  "The  River  Red  with  Blood" 
or  "Bloody  River,"  attached  to  the  Ohio  River.  From  this,  the  name 
"Bloody  River"  became  fixed  upon  the  Kentucky  River,  and  possibly 
other  branches  of  the  main  stream.  This  connection  is  the  progenitor 
of  the  "Dark  and  Bloody  Ground"  of  Boone  and  other  explorers. 

The  Iroquois  conquered  the  Ohio  Valley  and  expelled  or  extermi- 
nated the  Indian  tribes  living  there  and  with  whom  they  battled.  It 
was,  no  doubt,  a  bloody  conquest.  Memory  of  it  remained  among  the 
victors  as  well  as  the  defeated  tribes,  for  a  fair  land  was  made  a  soli- 
tude. None  dared  live  there.  The  conquerors  might  have  done  so,  but 
the  time  for  their  removal  thither  never  came.  The  land  included  in 
the  State  of  Ohio  was  a  part  of  the  conquest.  In  fact,  it  embraced  the 
larger  part  of  the  Ohio  Valley. 

The  Iroquois  desired  to  retain  this  conquered  domain.  They  set 
the  Wyandots  (Iroquoian)  as  over-lords  of  it  to  live  in  it,  and  to  man- 
age it  in  their  name.  They  had  seen  the  ruin  of  other  Eastern  tribes 
and  could  but  believe  that  they  might  share  the  same  fate.  In  that 
case,  they  too,  would  take  refuge  in  the  West — in  the  Ohio  Valley. 
They  saved  their  possessions  there  for  that  purpose.  And  in  speaking  of 
their  fine  holdings  in  that  valley  they  designated  them  as  "The  Land 
of  To-morrow"  that  is,  the  land  in  which  they  intended  to  live  in  the 
future  if  thrown  out  of  their  present  home. 

Hah-she'-triih,  or  George  Wright,  was  the  sage  of  the  Wyandots. 
He  lived  to  a  great  age,  and  died  on  the  Wyandot  Reserve,  in  what  is 
now  Oklahoma,  in  1899.  His  father  was  a  St.  Regis  Seneca,  and  his 
youth  was  spent  among  the  Iroquois  in  New  York  and  Canada.     He 

1 

Vol.  I— 5 


2  HISTORY  OI-  KENTUCKY 

was  a  mail  of  great  intelligence,  and  he  had  the  instinct  of  the  historian. 
He  belonged  by  both  kinship  and  adoption  to  the  Wolf  Clan  of  the 
W'yandots,  and  his  name  signified  "The  Foot-print  of  the  Wolf."  The 
writer  knew  him  well  for  a  quarter  of  a  century.  Much  of  what  is  writ- 
ten here  under  the  head  of  "Kentucky,"  was  acquired  from  him.' 

And  he  said  more.  The  word  Kah'-ten-tah'-teh  is  of  the  Wyandot 
tongue.  It  means,  in  the  abstract,  a  day.  It  may  mean  a  period  of  time, 
and  can  be  used  for  past  or  future  time.  When  shortened  to  Ken-tah'- 
teh  it  means  "to-morrow,"  or  "the  coming  day,"  though  it  is  nt)t  the  word 
ordinarily  used  for  those  terms.  But  it  came  to  be  the  word  used  to  apply 
to  the  Iro([iioian  possessions  on  the  CJiiio,  and,  gradually,  to  those  on  the 
south  side  of  the  Ohio.  That  is,  these  holdings  constituted  "The  Land 
of  To-morrow,"  or  "The  Land  where  we  will  live  To-morrow" — "The 
Land  where  we  will  live  in  the  future."  A  good  translation  of  the  word 
as  it  came  to  a]3])ly  to  the  country  of  Kentucky  is  "The  Land  of  To- 
morrow." 

This  Wyandot  word,  like  other  Indian  jjroper  names,  was  corrupted 
by  the  whites.  "Ken-tah'-teh"  easily  became  "Cantocky,"  "Cantuckee," 
or  "Kaintuckee,"  and,  linally,  through  various  changes,  assumed  its 
present   form — Kentucky,  "The  Land  of  To-morrow." 

There  can  be  little  or  no  tloubt  as  to  this  being  the  true  origin  and 
correct  significance  of  the  name  Kentucky. 

Ohio 

It  is  strange  that  students  still  perpetuate — or  attempt  to  perpetuate 
the  errors  which  have  long  surrounded  the  origin  of  this  name.  There  is 
no  doubt  but  that  the  I'Yench  called  the  Ohio  River  "La  Belle  Riviere" 
or  "Beautiful  River."  lUit  they  got  no  such  name  from  the  Indians. 
It  was  their  own  name  for  this  fine  stream.  In  Colonial  times  it  was 
often  spoken  of  as  "The  River  Red  with  Blood,"  or  "The  Bloody 
River."  These  allusions  later  attached  to  the  Kentucky  River  through 
the  misapprehension  of  the  explorers  and  pioneers. 

The  word  Ohio  means  great — not  beautiful.  It  is  an  Iroquoian  word. 
In  W'yandcjt  it  is  O-he'-zhu  (o-hO'-zhfi).  In  the  Mohawk  and  Cayuga 
it  is  O-htV-yo  (6-he'y6).  In  the  Oneida  it  is  O-he'  (6-Iie').  In  the 
Seneca  it  is  the  same  as  in  the  Wyandot.  The  Wyandots  called  the 
river  the  O-he'-zhu  (o-ho'-zhu) — the  Great  River.  All  the  Iroquois  called 
it  the  Great  River.  It  ran  from  their  western  possessions  to  the  gulf — 
the  sea.  They  considered  it  the  main  stream.  With  them  it  was  the 
Ohio  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

The  State  of  Ohio  got  its  name  from  the  Ohio  River. 2 


1  The  author  makes  apology  for  speaking  here,  and  at  another  point  in  this 
paper,  in  a  personal  way.  The  meaning  could  be  better  expressed  by  doing  so,  and 
expressed  much  more  briefly. 

^  Ohio  is  derived  from  the  Iroquois.  The  original  is  variously  spoken  in  the 
different  dialects.  In  Wyandot  it  is  6-hc'-zhu;  in  Mohawk  and  Cayuga  it  is 
n-hc'-yo;  in  Onondaga  and  'luscarora  it  is  6-hc'-ye;  in  Oneida  it  is  o-he';  in 
Seneca  it  is  very  nearly  tlie  same  as  in  Wyandot.  Darlington,  in  his  Christopher 
Gist's  Journals,  p.  94,  and  Morgan  in  his  Li'iKjitc  of  the  Iroquois,  say  this  word  means 
"fair,"  "beautiful."  and  that  the  Iroquois  called  the  Ohio  the  Beautiful  River. 
The  French  so  called  it  CLa  Belle  Riviere),  but  there  is  no  evidence  that  they  secured 
the  name  from  any  Indian  original. 

The  word  does  not  mean  "fair."  neither  does  it  mean  "beautiful."  It  means  i/reat. 
The  Iro(|uois,  therefore,  called  the  Ohio  the  Great  River.  The  Wyandots  called  it 
o-he'-zhu  Yiin'-da-w.-i'-yi- — (jreat  River,  .^nd  in  the  various  dialects  of  the 
Iroquois  it  is  so  called  without  exception.  Tiiey  give  the  stream  that  name  from 
its  source  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico;  with  them  it  is  the  main  stream  and  has  but 
one  name.  When  I  became  acquainted  with  the  Wyandots  they  told  me  of  hunt- 
ing trips  to  the  "Sunken  Lands"  on  the  Ohio.  "But,"  I  replied,  "there  are  no  sunken 
lands  on  the  Ohio."     "Yes,"  they  said,  "plenty  on  Ohio ;   plenty  by  New   Madrid." 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 


Mississippi 


This  name  is  of  Algonquian  origin.  Sipu  in  that  tongue  means  river. 
The  traditions  of  the  Delawares  tell  of  migration  of  that  people.  They 
came  to  a  mighty  river,  now  believed  to  have  been  the  Mississippi. 
They  called  it  A^aiuaesi-sipu,  that  is,  Fish  River.  They  always  spoke  of 
it  as  the  Namaesi-sipu.  Whether  they  had  in  fact  crossed  this  river  or 
not,  their  descendants  believed  they  had  and  applied  to  it  always  the 
name  given  it  by  their  ancestors  in  an  early  age.  In  its  widespread 
usage  through  the  centuries,  the  name  became  modified  or  slightly  short- 
ened. But  it  remains  to  this  day  the  Macsisipu  or  Fish  River.  The  name 
of  the  river  gave  name  to  the  State  of  Mississippi.  There  is  no 
significance  in  the  name  even  approaching  "Gathering  in  all  the  Waters," 
or  "Great  Long  River,"  or  "Father  of  Waters,"  or  "Mother  of  Floods." 
White  people  may  rightly  attribute  these  qualities  to  the  great  river,  but 
it  is  erroneous  and  wrong  to  contend  that  the  Indian  name  carried  any 
such  meaning.     For  it  does  not. 

The  Tennessee  and  Tributaries 

On  the  map  of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  1733,  published  in  Lon- 
don in  that  year,  in  a  pamphlet  supposed  to  have  been  written  by  Gen- 
eral Oglethorpe,  the  Tennessee  River  is  marked  "Cussetaolias  Hoche- 
lepe"  River.  It  is  there  marked  down  as  a  long  straight  river  rising 
east  of  the  "Meridian  of  Charles  Town,"  and  flowing  west  into  the 
Ohio.  Ramsey  says  that  the  Indians  called  this  river  Kallamuchee, 
which  he  believed  to  be  the  original  name  of  the  stream.  He  believed 
that  the  first  explorers  named  it  Riviere  des  Cheraquis,  or  Cosquinan- 
beaux.  If  he  is  correct,  the  first  Europeans  to  explore  and  map  the  Ten- 
nessee River  were  the  French.  One  of  the  principal  Cherokee  towns,  in 
1730,  was  Nequassee,  which  is  located  by  Adair  in  the  mountains  at  the 
sources  of  the  Hiwassee  River.  Here  Sir  Alexander  Gumming  held  a 
treaty  with  all  the  chiefs  of  the  Cherokees  in  that  year.  He  designated 
a  chief  named  Moytoy,  of  Telliquo,  to  be  the  head  chief  of  the  whole 
Cherokee  Nation,  which  consisted  at  that  time  of  the  Lower  Town,  the 
Middle  Towns,  the  Valley  Towns,  and  the  Overhill  Towns.  Like  all 
other  kings,  Moytoy  wanted  to  take  high  place  among  sovereigns.  He 
wanted  to  open  an  acquaintance  or  correspondence  with  the  ruler  of 
England,  so  he  was  sent  on  an  embassy  to  that  august  personage.  He 
carried  the  crown  of  the  Cherokees  with  him.  It  consisted  of  five  eagle- 
tails,  and  four  scalps  of  enemies  of  the  Cherokees.  The  Crown  had  to 
be  brought  from  the  chief  town  of  the  Cherokee  Nation,  which  was 
named  Tanassee.  This  town  was  in  the  country  of  the  Overhill  Chero- 
kees, which  seems  to  have  always  been  the  principal  community  of  the 
Cherokee  people.  Ramsey  says  that  this  is  the  first  mention  of  Tanassee. 
He  says  the  town  was  on  the  west  bank  of  the  present  Little  Tennessee 
River,  a  few  miles  above  the  mouth  of  Tellico,  and  afterwards  gave  the 
name  to  Tennessee  River  and  to  the  state.' 

In  speaking  of  the  Cherokees,  in  1702,  M.  Pericaut  mentions  the  Ten- 
nessee River.  He  says  "ten  leagues  from  the  mouth  of  this  river  (Ohio) 
another  falls  into  it  called  Kasquinempas  (Tennessee).  It  takes  its 
source  from  the  neighborhood  of  the  Carolinas  and  passes  through  the 
village  of  the  Cherokees."  * 

"But  New  Madrid  is  on  the  Mississippi,"  I  insisted.  "We  call  him  Ohio— all  along, 
Ohio;  not  call  him  Mississippi  any  place."  The  Iroquois  must  have  had  at  some 
time  a  name  for  the  Mississippi  above  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio,  but  those  I  have 
met  do  not  remember  it. — The  Heckewelder  Narrative,  edited  by  William  Elsey 
Connelley,  The  Burrows  Brothers  Company,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  pp.  162,  163,  note. 

*  Ramsey's  Annals  of  Tennessee,  47,  note. 

*  Fifth  Annual  Report  Bureau  of  FJhnnlnrjy,  139. 


4  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

Bartrani,  who  traversed  the  Cherokee  Countr)-  between  1773  and  1778 
furnishes  an  enumeration  of  the  village  of  the  Cherokees  with  their  lo- 
cations.*   He  gives  a  list  of — 

Four  towns  "On  the  Tanase  east  of  the  Jove  Mountains." 
I'^our  towns  "Inland,  on  the  branches  of  the  Tanase." 
Fight  towns  "On  the  Tanase  over  the  Jove  Mountains." 
l*"ive  towns  "Inland  towns  on  the  branches  of  the  Tanase  and  other 
waters  over  the  Jove  .Mountains." 

IClcven  towns  "Ovcrhill  towns  on  the  Tanase  or  Cherokee  River." 
In  the  last  enumeration,  the  "Tanase  or  Cherokee  River"  would  seem 
to  imply  that  the  name  Tanase  applied  to  the  whole  Cherokee  River  at 
that  time.  The  name  first  was  the  name  of  the  river  now  known  to  us  as 
the  Little  Tennessee.  If  the  words  "Tanase  or  Cherokee  River"  is  cor- 
rect, then  the  name  Tanase  became  the  name  of  the  whole  river  from  the 
mountains,  by  way  of  the  I-.ittle  Tennessee,  to  the  Ohio  before  the  year, 

On  the  "l-,arliest  Maj)  showing  the  location  of  the  Cherokees,  1597,"" 
the  Tennessee  Ri\er  is  laid  down  but  not  named.  The  map  was  made 
by  Coverely  W'yttliet  from  the  knowledge  of  the  country  obtained  by  De 
Soto's  Expedition."  It  is  correctly  divided  into  two  branches  or,  perhaps, 
valleys,  the  Little  Tennessee  and  Iliwassee,  and  the  Holston.  It  is  now 
generally  believed  that  De  Soto  was  in  East  Tennessee,  and  that  the  Ten- 
nessee River  was  first  explored,  or  at  least  seen  by  Spaniards. 

Haywood  says  that  the  Cherokees  have  always  designated  the  Ten- 
nessee by  the  name  of  the  "I'ig  River."** 

King's  Handbook  of  the  United  States  says  "the  name  Tennessee  is 
a  Cherokee  word,  meaning  'a  Curved  Spoon,'  or  'A  Bend  in  the  River.' 
It  was  derived  from  Tanassee,  the  chief  village  of  the  Cherokee  tribe, 
which  stood  on  the  shore  of  the  river.  The  name  was  applied  (to  the 
State)  upon  motion  of  Andrew  Jackson." 

I'he  name  could  not  mean  a  "curved  spoon"  unless  the  Cherokees  had 
among  them  seers  or  projihets,  who  were  able  to  look  forward  some 
hundreds  of  years,  perhaps,  and  see  spoons  in  the  possession  of  the  Euro-  . 
pcans  who  were  to  visit  them  after  the  discovery  by  Columbus.  The 
theory  that  the  word  might  mean  "a  bend  in  the  river,"  or  "the  river 
with  the  great  bend"  might  lie  plausible  if  we  knew  that  the  name  always 
attached  to  the  whole  river.  The  signification  of  the  word  Tanase  is 
probably  lost  for  all  time.  Its  origin  is  lost  also.  We  only  know  when 
it  first  appeared  in  the  writings  of  the  Europeans  and  to  what  it  then 
api^lied.  We  know  also  that  it  is  an  Indian  word  of  great  beauty,  and 
we  can  commend  the  wisdom  that  selected  it  as  the  name  for  a  great 
state.» 

The  French  bestowed  the  name  Cherokee  on  the  Tennessee  River  and 
it  was  thus  known  to  the  earlier  settlers  and  explorers,  imtil  that  name 
was  replaced  by  Tennessee.  Haywood  says  "the  river  to  the  south  of 
Holston  as  laid  down  in  the  old  maps  is  called  the  Tanses  or  Tanasees. 
The  Big  Tennessee,  below  that,  is  called  the  Hogoiieegee."  ^^  Ramsey 
says  that  it  was  the  Holston  which  was  known  as  the  Hogoheegee." 

'  Bartram's  Travels  in  North  .■i)iu'rica,  371. 

"  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  Fifth  Annual  Report,  128. 

•  Ibid.,  135.  136. 

*  Haywood's  Civil  and  Political  History  of  Tennessee,  30. 

"Tennessee  (Ta-nasi  or  Tansi).  The  name  of  two  or  more  Cherokee  settlements 
at  an  early  period.  The  principal  one  was  on  Little  Tennessee  River,  a  short  distance 
above  its  junction  with  the  main  stream,  in  East  Tennessee.  Another  was  on  an 
extreme  head  branch  of  Tuckasegce  River,  above  the  present  Webster,  North  Caro- 
lina. The  name  has  lost  its  meaning,  all  the  so-called  derivations  being  fanciful. — 
Handbook  of  .-Uncrican  Indians,  Vol,  2.  p.  729. 

'"  Haywood's  Civil  and  Political  History  of  Tennessee,  39. 

''  Ramsey's  Annals  of  Tennessee,  87. 


I 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  5 

The  Holstoii  River  was  known  to  the  Enghsh  at  an  early  date.  It  is 
one  of  the  most  noted  rivers  in  the  annals  of  the  settlement  of  the  coun- 
try west  of  the  Alleghaiiies.  A  Mr.  Vaughan,  of  Virginia,  passed  down 
the  Holston  in  1740,  in  company  with  some  Virginians  who  were  trading 
with  the  Cherokees.^-  Haywood  says  that  the  Holston  was  known  to 
the  Cherokees  by  the  name  of  Watauga,  and  that  this  name  was  lost  by 
the  settlement  upon  it  of  one  Stephen  Holston  some  years  before  I758.i'^ 
Haywood  also  says  that  "the  Indians  called  the  Holston  the  Coot-cha." 
But  Ramsey  points  out  that  it  was  only  that  part  of  the  river  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Little  Tennessee  to  the  mouth  of  the  French  Broad  that 
was  known  as  the  Cootcha  to  the  Indians.  The  Holston  was  believed 
to  be  the  head  or  main  branch  of  the  Tennessee  River  by  the  early  ex- 
plorers, and  as  such  was  called  the  Cherokee  River."  The  Holston  is 
sometimes  called  Holstein  by  early  writers,  and  on  Lewis  Evans'  Map, 
1775,  it  is  marked  "Helston  R."  It  is  laid  down  on  the  Nuremberg 
Map,  I75<'i,  as  "Holston's  R."  On  this  map  the  Tennessee  River  is 
marked  "Hogehege  or  Cherakees  R."  On  the  Little  Tennessee,  which 
is  not  named,  a  town  is  marked  "Tonase." 

The  date  when  Stephen  Holston's  name  attached  to  this  river  is  not 
known.  It  seems  to  have  been  widely  known  as  Holston  River  before 
1750.  At  that  time  it  was  not  known  by  any  other  name.  Doctor  Draper 
says  that  prior  to  1748,  Holston,  during  a  hunt,  had  discovered  this  river. 
The  river  had  been  known  to  the  whites  for  many  years  before  this. 
Mr.  Vaughan  had  passed  down  it  and  described  it  in  1740.  In  view 
of  this,  it  would,  in  all  probability,  require  more  than  a  mere  discovery 
by  Holston  to  fix  his  name  on  the  river.  He  must  have  settled  there 
and  remained  for  a  sufficient  time  for  it  to  become  known  to  the  traders 
and  frontiersmen  in  order  to  give  his  name  to  the  river.  And  this  niust 
have  been  prior  to  1748,  as  the  river  was  then  called  Holston.  He  lived 
in  South  Carolina  in  1753,  and  after  that  date,  again  settled  on  the  Hol- 
ston. Doctor  Draper's  statements  are  contradictory  on  this  point.  In 
one  place  he  says  that  the  river  was  known  as  the  Holston,  before  April, 
1748.  In  another,  he  says  that  Holston's  name  did  not  become  fixed  to 
the  noble  stream  which  he  had  discovered  until  after  his  return  from 
Natchez,  which  was  later  than  1753.'-''' 


12  Haywood's  CiViV  and  Puliticut  History  of  Tciniessee,  40. 

13  Jhid,^  A2. 

1*  "In  the  map  accompanying  Adair's  book,  the  river  from  the  head  of  Holston 
to  the  confluence  of  the  Tennessee  and  Ohio  is  called  Cherakc.  The  Cumberland  is 
called  Old  Shawvanon,  or  river  of  the  Shawnees.  Near  the  source  of  the  latter 
stream,  a  tributary  of  the  Tennessee  takes  its  rise;  it  is  probably  intended  for  the 
modern  Clinch.  The  Hiwassee  is  called  Euphasee,  of  which  Chestoe  is  a  confluent. 
Tennase  is  the  stream  now  known  as  Little  Tennessee."— Ramsey's  Annals  of  Tennes- 
see, 80.  ■  £     \r 

IS  "There  were  settlers  on  both  New  and  Holston  Rivers  prior  to  1756— Vause, 
Stalnacker  and  others  on  New  River;  and  Stephen  Holston,  at  least,  on  the 
river  bearing  his  name,  which  was  known  as  such  anterior  to  April,  1748,  when 
Dr.  Walker,  in  his  Journal  of  1750,  refers  to  it  by  that  designation  at  that 
date. 

"A  further  notice  of  Stephen  Holston,  or  Holstcm,  seems  fitting  in  this  con- 
nection. He  was  of  an  adventurous  turn,  and  prior  to  1748  had,  during  a  hunt, 
discovered  the  river  named  after  him.  It  was  after  this  discovery  that  he 
settled  on  the  Little  Saluda,  near  Saluda  Old  Town,  in  South  Carolina,  where, 
in  the  summer  of  1753,  a  party  of  Cherokees  returning  from  a  visit  to  Gov. 
Glen,  at  Charleston,  behaved  so  rudely  to  Mrs.  Holston,  in  her  husband's  absence, 
as  to  frighten  her  and  her  domestics  away,  fleeing  several  miles  to  the  nearest 
settlement,  when  the  house  was  robbed  of  utensils  and  corn,  and  two  valuable 
horses  were  also  taken.  Holston  and  some  of  his  neighbors  settled  on  Holstons 
River,  in  what  subsequently  became  Botetourt  county;  soon  after  this,  they 
constructed  canoes,  and  passed  down  the  Holston  into  the  Tennessee  River, 
through  the  Muscle  Shoals,  and  down  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  as  far  as 
Natchez.  Returning  from  this  notable  adventure,  his  name  became  fixed  to  the 
noble    stream    wliich    he    discovered,    and    upon    which    he    made    the    primitive 


6  HISTORY  oi-  KI•:^'TUCK^■ 

Ihc  Clinch  River  was  not  explored  and  named  until  long  after  the 
ii<jlston  was  well  known.  Haywood  relates  that  the  Clinch  River  and 
Clinch  Mountain  were  named  from  the  following  circumstance.  "An 
Irishman  was  one  of  the  com]3any ;  in  crossing  the  river  he  fell  from  the 
raft  into  it,  and  cried  out,  'Clinch  me!  Clinch  me!'  meaning  lay  hold 
of  me.  The  rest  of  the  company,  unused  to  the  phrase,  amused  them- 
selves at  the  expense  of  the  poor  Irishman,  and  called  the  river  Clinch."  "■ 
This  can  hardly  ha\e  heen  the  origin  of  the  name  Clinch,  for  llic  circum- 
stance is  descriljcd  as  having  occurred  after  the  year  1761.  Doctor 
Walker,  in  his  Journal  of  1750.  speaks  of  "a  river,  which  I  suppose  to  he 
that  which  the  hunters  call  Clinches  River  from  one  Clinch  a  Hunter, 
ulio  first  found  it."''"  Doctor  Walker's  account  of  how  tiic  river  oh- 
taini  d   its  name  is  the  correct  one. 

.Xnihrose  Powell  was  one  of  Doctor  Walker's  i)arty  in  1750.  1  hm- 
ters  and  explnrers  were  much  in  the  habit  of  cutting  their  names  on  the 
smooth  hark  (jf  the  great  beeches  growing  in  ihe  wilderness.  There  are 
ni:iny  references  to  this  practice,  in  Doctor  Walker's  Journal,  and  in 
otiier  works.  In  1761,  a  party  of  hunters,  ccjnsisting  of  nineteen  men, 
went  into  what  is  now  Lee  County,  Virginia,  and  established  a  hunting 
siation  on  a  creek  which  they  named  Walden's  or  Wallen's  Creek  from 
the  fact  that  Elisha  Wallen  or  Walden  was  one  of  the  principal  men 
of  the  company.  Haywood  writes  the  name  IVallcn.  Withers  and 
Dr.  Draper  write  it  Walden,  w-hich  is  probably  correct,  although  the  name 
which  the  creek  and  mountain  retain  is  IVallcn.  This  ])arty  gave  names 
to  many  creeks,  rivers,  and  mountains  in  \  irginia;  while  hunting  there 
in  1761.  On  a  birch  tree  on  Powell's  River,  near  the  mouth  of  Wallen's 
Creek,  tliey  found  cut  the  name  "Ambrose  Powell."  ]''rom  this  circmn- 
stance  they  named  the  river,  Powell's  j^iver,  and  from  this  came  the 
names  of  Powell's  Valley  and  Powell's  Mountain.  For  Wallen,  they 
also  named  Wallen's  Ridge,  and  for  other  men  in  the  company,  they 
named  Scaggs'  Ridge,  and  Newm;m's  Ridge.  They  named  Copper  Creek 
from  a  yellowish  iron  ore  which  they  found  there.'* 

The  following  quotation  from  Ramsey,  on  the  origin  of  the  name 
French  ISroad,  may  be  of  interest:  "V>\  prior  discovery,  if  not  by  con- 
quest or  occupancy,  France  claimed  the  whole  valley  of  the  Mississippi. 
'Louisiana  stretched  to  the  head-springs  of  the  Alleghany  and  the  Monon- 
gahela,  of  the  Kenhawa  and  the  Tennessee.  Half  a  mile  from  the  head 
of  the  southern  branch  of  the  Savannah  river  is  Herbert's  Spring,  which 
flows  to  the  Mississippi ;  strangers  who  drink  of  it  would  say  they  had 
tasted  of  French  Waters.'  This  remark  of  Adair  may  probably  explain 
the  English  name  of  'the  princii)al  tributary  of  the  Holston.  Traders 
and  hunters  from  Carolina,  in  exploring  the  country  and  ])assing  from 
the  head  waters  of  Broad  River,  of  Carolina,  and  falling  upon  those 
of  the  stream  with  which  they  inosculate  west  of  the  moimtain,  would 
hear  of  the  l'"rench  claim,  as  Adair  did,  and  call  it,  most  naturally, 
French  Broad."  »» 


settlement.  His  location  on  Holston  was  at  the  head  spring  of  the  Middle  Fork ; 
his  loR  cabin  was  on  the  hill  side  some  thirty  rods  from  the  spring.  In  1774,  one 
Davis  occupied  tlie  place,  and  related  that  Holston  had  left  .several  years  before  that 
date.  On  the  Ijreaking  out  of  the  Indian  war  in  1754,  he  seems  to  have  returned 
with  his  family  to  Cull)eper  county,  which  was  tlien  not  exempt  from  Indian 
forays;  and  Holston,  about  1757,  was  captured  by  Indians.  But  in  due  time  he 
returned  to  the  Holston  country,  served  in  the  battle  of  Point  Pleasant  in  1774, 
on  Christians's  campaif^n  afjainst  the  Cherokecs,  in  1776,  and  was  reported  in 
service  in  1776,  or  1777.  .'Xs  we  hear  no  more  of  him,  he  probably  did  not  long 
survive  this  period." — li'ithcr's  Ilorclcr  \i\ufarc,  SO-     Note  by   Lyman   C.   Draper. 

'"  Haywood's  Chit  and  Poliliail  History  of   Tennessee,  4.S. 

"  Dr.  Walker's  Journal   mider  date  of  .April  g,   1750. 

'"  Haywood's  Civil  and  Political  Ilislory  of  Tennessee,  45,  46. 

'"  Ramsey's  Annals  of  Tennessee,  45. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  7 

Watauga  River  signifies  in  the  Cherokee  tongue  the  River  of  Islands. 
The  name  Watauga  was  once  appHed  by  the  Indians  to  the  Holston.^" 
After  the  Holston  was  given  its  present  name,  its  ancient  name,  in  some 
unaccountable  manner,  was  transferred  to  the  stream  we  now  know  as 
the  Watauga. 

Walker's  Creek  and  Walker's  Mountain,  both  west  of  the  New 
River,  in  Virginia,  were  so  called  in  honor  of  Dr.  Thomas  Walker,  who 
explored  to  the  west  in  the  years  1748,  and  1750. 

Cumberland — ^River — -Mount.mn — Gap 

Dr.  Thomas  Walker  and  his  companions  discovered  the  Cumber- 
land River  on  the  17th  day  of  March,  1730.  They  had  come  through 
that  pass,  which  is  now  known  as  Cumberland  Gap,  on  the  13th,  and 
followed  the  Great  War  Road  or  Warrior's  Path  leading  from  the 
countries  of  the  Northern  Indian  tribes  to  those  of  the  Southern  tribes. 
They  had  camped  on  the  14th  on  the  stream  now  known  as  Yellow 
Creek.  The  15th  was  Easter  Sunday.  The  company  did  not  usually 
travel  on  Sunday,  but  the  site  of  the  camp  being  bad,  they  moved  seven 
miles,  following  the  War  Road,  and  camped  on  what  is  now  Clear  Creek, 
though  they  named  it  Clover  Creek,  finding  there  an  abundance  of 
clover  and  hop  vines — later  known  as  pea-vine,  and  which  furnished 
pasturage  for  cattle  equal  to  that  of  clover.  Because  of  rain,  camp  was 
not  moved  on  the  i6th.  It  was  still  raining  on  the  17th  and  the  party 
could  not  travel.  But  Doctor  Walker  went  hunting  down  the  creek. 
A  mile  below  the  camp,  at  the  mouth  of  Clear  Creek,  he  came  to  a  river, 
which  he  says  in  his  Journal,  "I  called  Cumberland  River." 

So  far  as  has  been  found,  historians  have  said  that  Doctor  Walker 
gave  the  name  Cumberland  to  the  range  now  known  as  Cumberland 
Mountains,  and  the  pass  through  this  range  which  we  know  as  Cum- 
berland Gap.  But  Doctor  Walker  did  nothing  of  the  kind.  When 
he  and  his  companions  arrived  at  the  gap  on  the  13th  it  must  already 
have  had  a  name — Cave  Gap — and  this  name  Doctor  Walker  used  for 
the  pass.  Later,  in  his  Journal  he  calls  it  Cave  Gap.  He  found  it  Cave 
Gap  and  left  it  Cave  Gap.-'  The  Cumberland  Mountains  Doctor  Walker 
named  the  Steep  Ridge.  There  is  no  mistaking  Doctor  Walker's  lan- 
guage, nor  his  intentions  in  bestowing  this  name  of  "Steep  Ridge." 
It  was  the  Cumberland  Range  which  he  so  named.  For  he  put  down  in 
his  Journal  a  good  description  of  the  Cumberlands,  and  gave  the  range 
its  name  from  the  steep  character  of  it  on  the  north  side — "The  Moun- 
tain on  the  North  Side  of  the  Gap  is  very  Steep  and  Rocky,"  he  said.22 

2"  Haywood's  Civil  and  Political  History  of  Tennessee,  41,  42. 

=1  See  Dr.  Walker's  Journal.  Also  see  Chapter  V  "Explorations  of  Dr.  Thomas 
Walker"  in  this  work. 

--  J.  Stoddard  Johnston,  in  his  First  Explorations  of  Kentucky,  a  Filson  Club 
publication,  says,  at  page  48,  in  speaking  of  the  Gap,  that  it  was  "Named  later! 
by  Dr.  Walker  Cumberland  Gap."  Mr.  Johnston  would  have  saved  many  students 
much  valuable  time  if  he  had  said  when  he  later  named  it  Cumberland  Gap,  and 
inhere  he  made  any  record  of  having  so  named  it.  The  ivhen  and  n'herc  have 
not  been  found. 

As  a  still  further  and  conclusive  evidence  that  Doctor  Walker  did  not  bestow  the 
name  Cumberland  on  the  mountains  and  the  gap,  see  An  Analysis  of  a  General  Map 
of  the  Middle  British  Colonies,  by  Lewis  Evans  to  accompany  his  map  of  that  date. 
He  names  the  Cumberland  Mountains  the  Ouasioto  Mountains,  and  says  he  obtained 
his  information  from  Doctor  Walker  as  to  names.  He  says:  "As  for  the  Branches 
of  Ohio,  which  head  in  the  New  Virginia  (so  they  call,  for  Distinctionsake,  that  Part 
of  Virginia  South  East  of  the  Ouasioto  Mountains,  and  on  the  Branches  of  Green 
Briar,  New  River,  and  Holston  River)  I  am  particularly  obliged  to  Dr.  Thomas 
Walker,  for  the  Intelligence  of  what  Names  they  bear,  and  what  Rivers  they  fall 
into  Northward  and  Westward." 

And  this  name — Ouasioto — carried  with  it  the  proof  that  the  Si.x  Nations,  or  the 
Wyandots  for  them,  named  the  Cumberland  range  the  Ouasioto  Moimtains.     "Oua" 


8  IirsroRV  OF  KENTUCKY 

'I'lie  Cimiberland  .Muiintains  and  ilie  Cuinborland  Gap  got  the  name 
Ctunbcrland  by  indirection.  Doctor.  Walker's  name  Cumberland  as  ap- 
plied to  the  river  stuck.  There  was  never  any  doubt  as  to  its  identity, 
such  as  gathered  about  some  of  the  other  rivers.  It  was  the  Cumber- 
land and  nothing  else.  No  other  river  was  the  Cumberland.  The  maps 
were  correct  as  to  both  name  and  river.  .And  from  this  circumstance 
the  jiass  and  the  main  mountain  range  took  by  usage  the  name  Cumber- 
land. Doctor  Walker  attached  the  name  to  the  river.  Later  the  name 
attached  itself  to  the  mountain  and  the  remarkable  pass  through  it. 

Some  additional  information  has  been  compiled  and  is  set  out  here. 

Haywood  in  speaking  of  the  hunting  party  of  1761  which  gave  names 
to  Powell's  River  and  other  physical  features  of  Southwestern  Virginia 
says :  "They  then  went  through  Cumberland  Gap,  and,  when  there, 
agreed  that  Wallen  should  name  the  mountain.  He,  having  come  from 
Cumberland  County,  \'i\..  gave  it  the  name  of  Cumberland  Mountain. 
They  proceeded  to  the  river  now  called  Cumberland,  and  called  it  Xorlh 
Cumberland.''  -^  It  is  somewhat  strange  that  so  good  a  historian  as 
Haywood  should  fall  into  such  an  error  as  this.  And  it  is  still  more 
strange  that  Collins  should  follow  him  without  investigation,  and  make 
the  same  mistake. -^  It  has  been  said  that  Doctor  Walker  bestowed 
these  names  in  1748,  while  on  his  first  exploring  expedition.  But  Hall 
states  that  he  had  examined  a  manuscript  affidavit  of  Doctor  Walker 
in  which  it  was  stated  that  in  the  month  of  April,  1750,  he  visited  the 
waters  of  the  Cumberland,  and  gave  its  present  name  to  that  river.-'' 
Ramsey  says  the  Duke  of  Cumberland  was  then  jirinie  minister  of 
England. -''  And  Shaler  in  speaking  of  him  says  "the  very  unsavory 
(jeorge,  Duke  of  Cumberland.''  -' 

On  the  old  maps  the  Cumberland  River  is  laid  down  and  called  the 
Shawnee  River  because  the  Shawnees  dwelt  in  its  galley.  Speed,  in  his 
IVildcruess  Koad  makes  the  mistake  of  calling  this  the  Cherokee  River. 2* 
It  was  never  known  as  the  Cherokee  River. 

The  Indian  name  of  the  Cumberland  Mountain  was  Ouasioto,^'' 
Waseoto,  or  Ono-Sciota.-'"  These  are  only  different  forms  of  the  same 
name.  The  name  is  of  Iroquois  or  Huron  origin  and  signified  "the 
mountains  where  deer  are  plenty."  •"  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the 
beautiful   Indian  name  of  this  mountain  range  was  supplanted  by  one 

sioto"  is  an  Iroquoian  word — not  a  Shawnee  word.  It  is  derived  from  skanoto,  the 
Wyandot  or  Iroquoian  word  for  deer.  The  word  is  nearly  the  same  in  all  other 
Iroquoian  dialects.  This  is,  too,  further  evidence  of  the  complete  conquest  by  the  Six 
of  all  the  Ohio  \'alley  south  to  the  Tennessee  including  the  Holston.  They  imposed 
their  name  on  these  mountains,  which  they  could  not  have  done  had  the  country 
containing  the  mountains  hclonged  to  any  other  tribe. 

2-'  Haywood's  Cw'd  and  Political  Ilislory  of  Tennessee,  46. 

-*  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  2,  416,  Josh  Bell  County. 

-°  Hall's  Romance  of  Western  History,  148. 

2"  Ramsey's  Annals  of  Tennessee,  66. 

-'  Shaler's  Kentucky,  60. 

-"  Wilderness  Koad,  72. 

-"Gist's  Journals,  271,  272. 

■'"Ihid..  118. 

■'■'  ".Scioto,  deer.  Where  deer  are  |)Ienly.  Deer.  Scaenoto,  Magna,  Zeisberger  and 
other  Moravian  Missionaries.  The  language  of  the  Hurons  and  Wyandots  comes 
near  the  Magna.  John  Johnston  observes  in  'Howe's  History  of  Ohio,'  p.  600  that 
'the  Sci-on-to  River  was  named  by  the  Wyandots,  who  formerly  resided  on  it ;  signifi- 
cation unknown.'  On  p.  588  of  the  same  volume  he  gives  specimens  of  the  Wyandot 
language;  in  the  list  deer  is  Ough-Sca-noto.  In  the  Onondaga  tongue  deer  is  Skan- 
o-do.  The  Wyandots  or  Hurons,  and  Iroquois  or  Five  Xations.  were  of  the  same 
original  stock.  »  ♦  ♦  Tlie  name  Ona-Sciota,  mountains  in  Southeastern  Kentucky, 
on  Evans'  Map  of  17.SS  and  Hutchins  of  1778,  doubtless  meant  mountains  where  deer 
are  plenty." — Gist's  Journals,  117,  118. 

Imlay  quotes  from  "Gordon's  Journal,"  as  follows:  "By  reason  of  the  difliculty 
of  passing  the  Ouasioto  Mountains,  I  thought  them  a  very  natural  boundary  between 
Virginia  and  Ohio  in  these  parts ;  and  for  that  rea.son  made  them  the  bounds  of  the 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  9 

which  is  wholly  foreign  and  which  has  nothing  of  fitness  to  recommend 
it.  Speed,  in  his  Wilderness  Road  makes  as  good  a  plea  for  the  new 
name  as  can  well  he  made,^'  but  nothing  which  may  be  said  will  recom- 
pense for  the  loss  of  the  musical  and  appropriate  Indian  name. 

The   Big   Sandy   River — Louisa — Totero — Shattara — Totteroy 

Where  did  the  name  "Sandy,"  as  applied  to  the  Louisa  River,  origi- 
nate? When  did  it  first  come  into  use?  Who  first  bestowed  it?  Shaler 
attributes  it  to  Dr.  Thomas  Walker.'''''*  But  this  is  most  certainly  an 
error.  The  Earl  of  Bellomont,^-*  in  discussing  Indian  affairs,  writes  in 
1699  "that  the  Shateras  were  supposed  to  be  the  Toteros,  on  Big  Sandy 
River,  Virginia."  '^^  Here  we  have  the  name  Big  Sandy  River  in  use 
in  1699,  and  later  it  is  mapped  down  and  identified  so  that  there  can 
be  no  mistake  about  it.  Some  Totero  Indians  dwelt  on  the  Big  Sandy 
River  at  that  time,  and  this  gave  their  name  to  the  river.''"  Pownall 
in  his  map  of  North  America,  1776,  gives  the  Totteroy  (i.  e.,  Big 
Sandy)  Ri\er.'''  On  Lewis  Evans'  Map,  1775,  it  is  marked  "Tottery 
or  Big  Sandy  C."  On  the  Nuremberg  map,  1756,  it  is  marked  "Gt. 
Sandy." 

If  is  evident  from  the  foregoing  that  the  early  Virginians  were  much 
better  acquainted  with  the  Big  Sandy  Valley  than  has  been  supposed. 
The  Earl  of  Bellomont  wrote  in  1699,  twenty-eight  years  after  the 
discovery  of  the  Great  Kanawha  by  the  expedition  of  Gen.  Abraham 
Wood.  It  is  very  probable  that  during  this  time  the  Big  Sandy  River 
was  explored  and  given  its  present  name,  but  by  whom  we  cannot  tell. 
Shaler  says  that  "Raffinesque,  in  his  most  untrustworthy  annals  of 
Kentucky,  says  that  a  Captain  Bolt  came  from  \'irginia  to  Kentucky  in 
1660."  •''*'     The   first   route    from   Virginia   to   Kentucky   was   down   the 

different  territories,  not  that  there  is  any  difference  of  right  between  one  side  and  the 
other.  Louisa,  New  River  and  Green  Briar  are  fine  large  branches  of  Kanhaway, 
which  in  future  time  will  be  of  service  for  the  inland  Navigation  of  New  Virginia, 
as  they  interlock  with  the  Monongahela,  Potomac,  James  River,  Roanoke,  and  the 
Cuttawa  River." — Imlay's  America,  London,  1797,  p.  118. 

Doctor  Walker  traced  none  of  the  rivers  which  he  discovered  to  the  Ohio,  nor  to 
their  mouths,  and  did  not  know  the  rivers  which  they  emptied.  He  supposed  that 
his  Louisa  River  emptied  into  Kanawha,  and  it  came  to  be  so  marked.  It  was  the 
■West  Fork  of  the  Big  Sandy  River. 

32  "The  name  Cumberland,  however,  perpetuated  in  the  everlasting  mountain 
range,  and  in  the  beautiful  river,  is  one  hoary  with  antiquity.  It  came  down  to  the 
Duke  of  Cumberland  through  the  Cumbrians  of  the  British  Isles — the  Cymry  of  the 
continent,  and  tlie  Cimmerians  about  the  Black  Sea — directly  from  Corner  the  son 
of  Japhet.  The  Duke  of  Cumberland  was  a  distinguished  character,  when  Dr. 
Thomas  Walker  planted  the  name  imperishably  in  the  West.  He  was  the  son  of 
George  II,  and  commander  in  chief  of  the  British  armies  at  the  time  troops  were 
sent  over  from  England  under  Braddock  to  aid  the  colonists  in  the  French  and 
Indian  wars." — Wilderness  Road,  69,  70. 

••^  Shaler,  History  of  Kcntueky,  60. 

■■"  Richard,  Earl  of  Bellomont,  was  appointed  governor  of  New  York  June  18, 
1697.  The  correspondence  referred  to  was  with  Count  Frontenac,  relative  to  the  ex- 
change of  prisoners  consequent  upon  the  peace  of  Ryswick.  Bellomont  included  in 
his  demand  the  Indians  detained  in  captivity  in  Canada,  claiming  their  liberty  as 
British  subjects.  He  was  one  of  the  best  of  New  York's  governors.  He  died  sud- 
denly on  the  sth  of  March,  1701. — Carpenter  and  Arthur's  History  of  Neiv  York, 
130,  134,  136, 

^■' yth  Annual  Report  Bureau  Ethnology,  114. 

3"  There  was  memory  among  the  pioneers  of  the  Big  Sandy  Valley  of  at  least 
two  Totero  villages  there.  One  was  on  the  Lick  Fork  of  Jennie's  Creek  at  what  was 
later  known  as  Hager  Hill,  Johnson  County.  The  other  was  on  the  high  view 
river  bottom  below  Prestonsburg,  Floyd  County,  nearly  opposite  the  mouth  of  the 
stream  now  known  as  Abbott's  Creek.  It  was  a  little  below  this  point  and  back  from 
the  river  on  a  farm  once  owned  by  the  May  family,  as  nearly  as  it  could  be  located. 
There  must  have  been  other  towns  of  the  tribe  both  above  and  below  these. 

•"  Ibid. 

3*  Shaler,  History  of  Kentucky,  59,  note. 


10  IllSrtJRV  Ol"  KENTUCKY 

Big  Sandy.  Virginia  sent  an  army  (jf  mure  than  400  men  toward  the 
Ohio  by  the  way  of  the  Tug  Fork  in  1756,  on  the  "Sandy  Creek  Voy- 
age." Boone  tried  to  reach  Kentucky  by  the  way  of  the  Sandy.  The 
Big  Sandy  \'alley  may  have  l)cen  the  first  part  of  Kentucky  to  be  ex- 
plored by  Englishmen.  While  other  western  rivers  were  spoken  of  by 
vague,  indefinite  and  constantly  varying  names,  tiie  liig  Sandy  was 
definitely  located  and  in  possession  of  the  name  which  it  yet  retains. 
And  the  designation,  Big,  or  Great  Sandy,  would  indicate  that  the 
Little  Sandy  had  also  been  discovered  and  named. 

Some  have  supposed  that  the  name  "Sandy"  was  given  because 
of  the  sand  in  and  along  the  bed  of  the  stream.  But  the  stream  is  even 
yet  singularly  free  from  large  accumulations  of  sand.  In  early  days, 
before  the  timber  had  been  cut  from  its  banks,  there  was  almost  no 
sand  to  be  found  along  the  bed  of  the  river.  .\.fter  the  people  had  cut 
the  timber  from  its  banks,  there  was  considerable  washing  away  of 
unprotected  points,  and  some  accumulation  of  sand,  but  not  enough 
to  make  it  a  noticeable  feature  of  the  river. 

In  the  early  settlement  of  \'irginia  there  were  two  persons  by  the 
name  of  Sandys  famous  in  the  annals  of  the  colony.  The  first  of  these 
was  .Sir  Edwin  Sandys.  He  was  a  man  of  great  force  of  character 
and  persistency  of  ])urpose.  In  1621  he  obtained  for  the  \irginians  a 
written  charter  guaranteeing  to  them  a  free  government.  So  zealous 
was  he  in  behalf  of  the  colcjuists  that  he  incurred  the  displeasure  of  the 
King.  In  discussing  the  matter  of  a  treasurer  and  suitable  persons  there- 
for the  King  said:  "Choose  the  devil  if  you  will,  but  not  Sir  Edwin 
Sandys."  ■'"  His  efforts  did  not  cease  with  obtaining  free  government 
for  the  Virginians.  He  continued  to  exert  himself  in  their  behalf.  He 
sent  over  a  shipload  of  "maids"  to  become  wives  of  the  colonists.'"' 
The  settler  was  to  pay  for  the  wife  he  selected,  or  that  selected  him,  in 
tobacco.  The  price  was  fi.xed  at  £120  of  that  plant,  amounting  to  about 
SXo.'"  This  was  a  wise  provision.  The  plan  of  sending  maids  "voung, 
handsome  and  chaste"  to  \'irginia  was  a  success.  Il  changed  the  whole 
course  of  the  colony.  Most  of  the  settlers  had  gone  to  \'irginia  for  the 
purpose  of  making  a  fortune.  Their  intention  was  to  return  to  Eng- 
land when  this  was  accomplished.  But  "soon  the  wise  device  of  Sir 
Edwin  -Sandys  bore  its  fruit.  The  careless  adventurers  became  '])rovi- 
dent  fathers  of  families,  solicitous  about  the  prosperity  of  a  country 
which  they  now  considered  as  their  own.'  The  colony,  under  the  etTect 
of  these  virtuous  home-ties,  grew  to  be  a  settled  and  well  ordered 
society."  *^ 

George  Sandys  was  a  brother  of  Sir  Edwin,  lie  came  to  X'irginia  in 
1621  with  Governor  Wyatt.  He  was  a  scholar  and  a  famous  ])oet. 
He  was  the  treasurer  of  the  colony.  His  greatest  service  to  X'irginia 
was  the  introduction  of  the  water-mill.  He  "introduced  llic  first  icater- 
mill  in  America."  *^ 

The  services  rendered  Virginia  by  these  brothers  were  of  great  im- 
])ortance.  The  people  manifested  their  gratitude  in  various  ways,  one  of 
which  was  in  giving  their  name  to  mountain  and  stream.  Sandys  Rivers, 
.Sandys  Creeks,  and  .Sandys  Kidges,  were  all  over  the  colony.  .Some 
of  these  yet  remain.     Some  Virginian  milst  have  explored,  or,  at  least, 

8"  "The  meeting  of  the  first  Assembly  in  1619  was  followed  in  ifiji  by  the  formal 
grant  to  the  Virginians  of  free  government  by  written  charter:  'a  constitution  after 
their  heart's  desire,'  says  Beverly.  This  was  the  work  of  Sir  Edwin  Sandys,  the 
head  of  the  Virginia  party,  of  whom  James  I  said,  when  he  was  spoken  of  for 
treasurer,  'Choose  the  devil  if  you  will  hut  not  Sir  Edwin  Sandys.'  Under  his  lead- 
ership, the  Company  persisted  in  their  Hberal  policy." — Cooke's  Viryinia,  118. 

*»  Cooke's  Virginia,  119. 

^'  Ibid.,  120. 

*^  Ibid ,  122. 

*^Ibid.,  140. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  11 

discovered  the  Big  Sandy  River  before  the  year  1699,  and  remembering 
that  his  mother  or  grandmother  was  one  of  the  maids,  "young,  hand- 
some and  chaste"  sent  over  by  Sir  Edwin  Sandys,  in  grateful  remem- 
brance, gave  it  the  name  Sandys  River.  Or,  perhaps,  the  discoverer 
was  a  man  who  appreciated  the  tirst  pact  of  Virginia,  and  gave  the  name 
in  his  honor.  Or  he  may  have  been  a  backwoodsman  who  remembered 
the  rude  mill  on  some  sluggish  stream  in  the  tidewater  region,  which 
he  or  his  father  had  been  enabled  to  build  by  the  aid  of  the  invention  of 
George  Sandys,  and  in  commemoration  of  the  introduction  of  that 
useftil  and  indispensable  device,  called  the  stream  he  had  found  Sandys 
River.  Whatever  the  circumstances  of  the  discovery  and  bestowal  of 
the  name,  there  is  probability  that  the  Big  Sandy  River  was  given  its 
present  name  by  a  Virginian   in  honor  of  one  of  the  Sandys  brothers. 

The  name  Chaterawha,  or  Chatterawah,  or  Chatteroi,  is  sometimes 
applied  to  the  Big  Sandy  River.  Shaler  seems  to  imply  that  this  was 
the  Indian  name  of  the  stream. ■*■*  The  Bureau  of  Ethnology  says  "the 
origin  of  Chatterawha  is  not  clear.  By  location  it  seems  to  belong  with 
Chattahoochi  and  Chattanooga,  but  as  it  contains  an  r  sound  it  can 
scarcely  belong  to  the  Muskhogean  language  unless  the  r  is  really  only 
a  rough  /.  Cliattu  is  the  Creek  word  for  'rock,'  but  what  lawha  would 
mean,  if  anything,  might  require  considerable  research."  ^^ 

As  said  before,  the  Big  Sandy  River  was  the  dwelling  place  of  a 
tribe  of  Indians  of  the  Siouan  linguistic  family.  The  name  of  this  tribe 
was  Totero.  From  this  it  was  called  Totero  River  or  Totero  Creek, 
and,  later,  as  we  have  seen,  it  was  marked  down  on  the  maps  as  "Tot- 
teroy"  and  "Tottery"  River,  the  river  where  the  Toteros  dwelt.  The 
name  Chatterawha  is  derived  from  another  name  of  this  same  tribe 
of  Indians.  The  usual  name  of  these  Indians  seems  to  have  been  Shat- 
tara.  The  Earl  of  Bellomont  says  that  the  Shattaras  dwelling  on  the 
Big  Sandy  River  are  supposed  to  be  the  Totero  Indians.  Chattarawha 
is  only  a  different  form  of  Shattara,  as  Totteroy  is  only  a  different  form 
of  Totero.  These  names  were  not  bestowed  upon  the  river  by  the  In- 
dians, and  cannot  properly  be  said  to  be  the  Indian  names  of  the  river. 
The  Indians  did  not  give  these  names  to  the  river  except  in  an  indirect 
manner,  by  their  presence.  The  names  were  used  by  white  men  to 
denote  the  .stream  upon  which  the  Toteros  or  Shattaras  dwelt.  And  a 
man  used  either  the  name  Totero,  or  Shattara,  as  he  chanced  to  call  this 
tribe  the  Toteros,  or  the  Shattaras.  Totteroy  was  fomierly  the  more 
common  name,  but  afterward  Chattarawha  almost  entirely  superseded 
it.  For  the  sake  of  uniformity  with  Kanawha,  this  name  should  be 
written   Chatarawha.'**' 

The  Miami  Indians  called  the  Big  Sandy  River,  the  Wepepocone- 
cepewe.*^      [We-pep-o-con-ne-sippi.] 

The  Delawares  called  it  Sikea-cepe,**  which  means  .Salt  Creek. 

The  Shawnees  had  two  names  for  the  Big  .Sandy  River.  They 
must  have  been  bestowed  at  different  times  between  which  a  long 
period   had   elapsed.    The   older   one   was    Mich-e-cho-be-ka-sepe,   which 

■»*  Shaler,  History  of  Kentucky,  60. 

<5  Letter  to  autlior,  Dec.  14,  1895. 

•"•  "Totteroy  falls  into  the  Ohio  on  the  same  side  (as  the  Kanawha)  and  is  pass- 
able with  boats  to  the  mountains.  It  is  long,  and  has  not  many  branches,  interlocks 
with  Red  Creek,  or  Clinch's  River  (a  branch  of  Cuttawa).  It  has  below  the  moun- 
tains, especially  for  15  miles  from  the  mouth,  very  good  land.  And  here  is  a  visible 
efifect  of  the  difference  of  climate  from  the  upper  parts  of  Ohio.  Here  the  long 
reed  or  Carolina  cane  grows  in  plenty,  even  upon  the  upland,  and  the  severity  of  the 
winter  does  not  kill  them ;  so  that  travelers  this  way  are  not  obliged  to  provide  any 
winter  support  for  their  horses.  And  the  same  holds  all  the  way  down  Ohio,  espe- 
cially on  the  southeast  side  to  the  Falls,  and  thence  on  both  sides." — hnlay's  Awcrka, 
London,  1797,  p.  116. 

*''  Thomas  Speed,  in  The  Wilderness  Road,  71. 

"  Ibid. 


12  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

means  the  Big  Medicine  Kiver,  or  the  River  of  the  Great  Mystery. 
Tlic  other  was  Me-tho-to-sepe.  tlie  river  where  buffalos  are  plenty. 
The  Shawnees  were  greatly  attached  to  the   Big  Sandy  Kiver  coimtry. 

The  Wyandots  called  the  Big  Sandy  River  Sees-ta-ye-an-da-wa, 
the  Fire  River,  from  the  many  burning  springs  caused  by  escaping 
natural  gas  found  on  its  waters. 

These  Indian  names  applied  to  the  whole  river  without  reference 
to  any  one  of  its  branches. 

The  Tug  Fork  obtained  its  name  from  the  circumstance  of  the 
starving  soldiers  of  the  expedition  of  1756,  known  as  the  "Sandy  Creek 
X'oyage,"  cutting  butTalo  hides  into  broad  tubs  and  roasting  them  for 
food  over  the  flames  of  the  Inirning  spring  opjiosite  the  town  of  War- 
lield,  to  which  point  some  of  them  must  have  penetrated.  It  was 
afterward  known  as  the  Tug  Fork  or  the  Tug  River.  There  was  a 
tradition  in  the  Big  Sandy  \'alley  that  it  was  called  Tug  River  because 
of  the  hard  tug,  or  pull,  or  efYort  the  soldiers  of  that  expedition  were 
compelled  to  make  to  get  back  through  its  valley  to  Virginia.  From 
one  of  these  circumstances,  the  Tug  Fork  certainly  obtained  its  name. 

The  Louisa  Fork  ok  the  Big  Sandy  River 

The  name  Louisa  was  given  to  this  river  by  Dr.  Thomas  Walker, 
on  Thursday,  the  7th  day  of  June,  1750.  The  entry  in  Doctor  Walker's 
Journal  describing  this  event  is  as  follow's :  "June  7th.  The  Creek 
being  fordable,  we  Crossed  it  &  kept  down  12  miles  to  a  River  about 
100  yards  over.  Which  We  called  Louisa  River.  The  Creek  is  about 
30  yards  wide,  &  part  of  ye  River  breaks  into  ye  Creek — making  an 
Island  on  which  we  Camped." 

In  the  early  days  of  the  settlement  of  the  Big  Sandy  \'alley  this 
stream  was  universally  known  as  the  Louisa  River.  Up  to  about  1825 
it  was  generally  called  the  Louisa  Fork.  After  that  time,  and  to  some 
extent  before,  the  name  began  to  be  corrupted  to  that  of  Levisa.  The 
name  Levisa  is  now  used  almost  entirely.  It  appears  that  the  name 
Louisa  once  attached  to  the  whole  state  of  Kentucky,  but  of  how  wide 
application  this  name  was  is  not  known.  It  appears  too,  that  as  early 
as  1775  the  name  Louisa  was  corrupted.  Speed,  in  the  IVildcruess  Road 
says  "that  I-'elix  Walker,  with  Captain  Tvvetty  and  six  others,  left 
Rutherford,  North  Carolina,  in  February,  1775  (according  to  'Felix 
Walker's  narrative),  'to  explore  the  country  of  Leowvisay,  now  Ken- 
tucky.' " 

The  Kentucky  River  was  sometimes  called  the  Louisa  Riser  by  the 
pioneers  and  explorers,  and  it  was  called,  also,  the  Cherokee  River. 
In  the  deed  from  the  Chcrokees  to  Richard  Henderson  and  the  other 
proprietors  of  the  Transylvania  Company,  conveying  the  tract  of  land 
known  as  the  Great  Grant,  we  tind  the  description  of  the  land  beginning 
as  follows:  "All  that  tract,  territory,  or  parcel  of  land,  situated,  lying 
and  being  in  North  America,  on  the  Ohio  River,  one  of  the  eastern 
branches  of  the  Mississippi,  beginning  on  the  said  Ohio,  at  the  mouth 
of  Kentucky,  Cherokee,  or  what  by  the  English  is  called  Louisa  River." 
This  calling  of  the  Kentucky  River  by  the  name  Louisa  was  caused  by 
a  misappreliension.  It  was  not  certainly  known  what  river  had  been 
called  Louisa  by  Doctor  Walker  as  he  traced  none  of  the  rivers  which 
he  named,  to  the  Oiiio.  But  that  he  did  not  call  the  Kentucky  River, 
Louisa,  is  shown  by  Lewis  Evans'  Maj),  1775,  on  which  the  Louisa  River 
is  marked  as  flowing  into  the  Great  Kanawha,  and  the  upper  course  of 
the  "Tottery  or  Big  Sandy  C."  is  marked  "Frederick  R."  Frederick's 
River,  now  the  Licking  River,  was  discovered  and  named  by  Doctor 
Walker,  on  the  second  of  June,  1750,  five  days  before  he  discovered 
and  named  Louisa  River. 


i 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  13 

Doctor  Walker  gave  this  river  the  name  Louisa  in  honor  of  Louisa, 
the  sister  of  the  Duke  of  Cumberland.  Louisa  is  a  good  old  English 
name,  coming  down  from  the  ancient  Germans.  It  is  a  name  of  much 
beauty,  and  it  was  in  great  favor  with  our  forefathers.  It  should  be 
restored  to  the  river  on  which  Doctor  Walker  bestowed  it.  The  Louisa 
Fork  should  be  called  the  Louisa  River.  The  Tug  Fork  should  be  called 
the  Tug  River.  The  river  formed  by  their  junction  should  be  called 
the  Big  Sandy  River.-''' 

Licking  River — Frederick's  River 

The  Licking  River  has  a  name  of  beautiful  significance.  "Licking" 
denotes  a  country  or  a  land  diversified  with  springs  and  meadows.  The 
Upper  and  Lower  Blue  Licks  are  upon  its  banks.  These  Licks  were 
discovered  by  a  party  of  explorers  from  Pennsylvania,  in  July,  1773.°'^ 
They  at  once  became  famous,  and  were  the  principal  source  of  the 
supply  of  salt  for  the  early  settlers  in  Central  Kentucky.  Boone  was 
captured  by  Indians  near  the  Lower  Blue  Lick,  where  he  and  others 
had  gone  to  make  salt,  on  February  7,  1778.  The  beauty  and  fertility 
of  the  lands,  and  the  thousands  of  buffalo,  deer,  and  elk  which  were 
seen  pasturing  on  the  cane  in  its  broad  bottoms,  caused  the  early  settlers 
to  add  the  old  Saxon  word  ing,  meaning  "a  pasture  or  meadow,  gener- 
ally one  lying  low,  near  a  river,"  to  the  word  Lick,  thus  forming  this 
appropriate  name.  It  was  at  first  called  Great  Salt  Lick  Creek,  and  was 
marked  on  the  old  maps  by  that  name. 

The  Licking  River  was  discovered  by  Dr.  Thomas  Walker  and  his 
party  on  the  2d  of  June,  1750,  and  named  Frederick's  River.  See 
chapter  '"Explorations  of  Dr.  Thomas  Walker"  in  this  work. 

The  Guyandotte  River 

The  Guyandotte  River  was  one  of  the  first  of  the  smaller  rivers  or 
tributaries  of  the  Ohio  to  receive  a  permanent  name.  It  is  marked  on 
the  Nuremberg  map  (1756),  as  flowing  into  the  Ohio  almost  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Great  Kanawha,  and  is  called  the  "Guyendet."  On  the 
map  of  Fry  and  Jefferson  (1755),  it  is  laid  down  as  flowing  into  the 
Ohio  near  the  mouth  of  the  Great  Kanawha,  and  is  called  "Guyondot 
River."  On  the  map  of  Lewis  Evans  (1775),  it  is  laid  down  as  a  very 
short  stream,  and  marked  "Guyandotte  C." 

There  is  a  tradition  that  the  Wyandots  had  a  town  or  settlement 
near  the  mouth  of  this  beautiful  stream,  and  that  the  French  called  it 
Wyandotte  Creek.  H.  Clay  Ragland,  in  his  history  of  Logan  County, 
W.  Va.,  says  it  "certainly  received  its  name  from  Henry  Guyan,  a  French 
trader,  who  established  a  trading  camp  at  its  mouth  about  1750,  which 
was  broken  up  by  the  Indians,  and  he,  escaping  to  Virginia,  was  with 
Lewis  on  his  Sandy  Creek  Expedition."  The  form  of  the  name  as 
now  written  is  French,  but  it  was  bestowed  for  the  Wyandot  Indian 
tribe.  Hale  says  that  it  was  named  after  a  tribe  of  Indians  of  the  same 
name  ( Guyandotte ).''^'  But  there  was  no  tribe  of  that  name.  The 
Miami  Indians  called  it  La-ke-we-ke-to  Ce-pe-we.  The  Delawares  called 
it  Se-co-nee,  Narrow  Bottom  River.^^ 

Missouri 

The  State  of  Missouri  has  been  called  the  daughter  of  Kentucky, 
for  the  people  of  Kentucky  settled  there  in  great  numbers.     They  were 

■*'  See  Qiapter  V,  "Explorations  of  Dr.  Thomas  Walker,"  this  work. 
60  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  under  head  of  Nicholas  County. 
51  Traiis-Allc(jliciiy  Pioneers,  47. 
"  Ibid.,  47- 


14  HISTOKV  f)F  KENTUCKY 

the  pioneers  of  Missouri,  many  of  them  passing  beyond  its  western 
bounds  and  becoming  the  explorers  and  pioneers  of  the  mighty  West, 
even  to  shores  of  tlie  Pacific.  Doniphan  was  a  Kcntuci-cian,  and  his  men 
in  his  famous  exijedition  were  largely  Kentuckians.  Because  of  the 
close  rclali(jns  between  the  two  states,  it  is  beiiexed  a[)proi)riate  to  in- 
sert here  an  account  of  the  origin  of  the  name  Missouri. 

The  origin  and  the  meaning  of  this  word  are  both  lost.  It  is  prob- 
ably of  Algonquian  origin.  I'eo])le  of  that  stock  lived  on  the  east  bank 
of  the  Mississipjji  in  what  is  now  Illinois.  Perhaps  they  spoke  of  the 
river  and  country  to  the  west  as  the  Missouri  River  and  the  Missouri 
country.  The  cause  for  the  use  of  this  name  and  the  circumstances 
under  which  it  came  to  be  applied  are  no  longer  known,  .\niong  the 
people  from  whom  the  Towas  separated  on  the  Vox  River  was  another 
i)and  calling  themselves  Miutarlii.  They,  too.  wandered  in  this  western 
land  through  which  flows  the  great  river.  It  may  be  that  on  this  ac- 
count, their  Algonquian  neighbors  called  them  Missniiris.  At  any  rate, 
they  became  known  as  the  Missouri  tribe  of  Indians.  They  belong  to 
the  great  Siouan  family.  Members  of  this  tribe  are  still  to  be  found 
on  reservations  in  Kansas  and  Nebraska.  Their  applied  name  attached 
itself  to  the  great  river,  and  from  the  river  the  State  of  Missouri  got 
its  name.  There  is  no  sufficient  evidence  that  the  name  has  anj'  refer- 
ence to  the  muddy  water  of  the  Missouri.  If  it  should  turn  out  that  it 
is  of  Sioux  origin,  then  it  certainly  has  not.  The  Sinux  word  for  water 
is  inc-iic.  Mc-nc-so{a,  A/r-»c-ai)olis,  il/c-nr-haha,  are  good  examples  of 
its  extensive  use  for  present-day  geograi)hical  names.  It  was  shortened 
to  ne  by  the  Osages,  who  named  the  Neosho — iiCj  water,  and  Osho, 
bowl,  a  river  of  deep  places — bowls  or  basins.  So.  Missouri,  so  far 
as  now  known,  does  not  mean  muddy  water.  In  all  probability  it  has 
no  reference  to  water  of  anv  kind. 


CHAPTER  II 
EARLY  INDIAN  OCCUPANCY  OF  THE  OHIO  VALLEY 

It  would  be  impossible,  of  course,  to  ascertain  what  people  first  lived 
in  any  country,  for  man  has  been  on  the  earth  for  ages.  Recent  dis- 
coveries show  that  he  was  here  possibly  as  long  as  a  million  years  ago. 
There  is  no  record  to  indicate  what  his  wanderings  may  have  been.  The 
most  that  can  be  hoped  for  in  any  region  in  North  America  is  that  the 
origin  and  movements  of  tribes  encountered  by  the  first  Europeans  may 
be  traced  through  migrations  back  to  that  curtain  of  obscurity  behind 
which  nothing  can  be  seen.  There  is  a  common  tendency  of  develop- 
ment in  the  human  race.  Tribes  of  savages  on  opposite  sides  of  the 
earth  have  followed  identical  lines  of  progress,  the  best  evidence  of 
which  is  found  in  the  implements  made  of  stone  and  left  in  the  soil. 
To  the  archffiologist  these  are  books,  easily  read.  They  are  far  better 
than  many  of  the  records  of  this  day.  The  written  page  may  be  de- 
ceptive or  inadequate,  but  the  wrought  instrument  of  ancient  days  is 
infallible  in  revealing  the  mind  and  character  of  its  maker. 

When  the  length  of  time  man  has  lived  in  America  (North  and  South 
America)  is  considered,  the  same  problems  arise  as  when  other  continents 
are  studied.  There  exist  ruins  of  temples  and  cities  along  the  Andes  of 
which  the  people  found  living  there  by  Europeans  could  tell  nothing  in 
the  matter  of  construction  or  history.  Hills  were  scientifically  terraced 
there  for  irrigation  and  cultivation  before  the  beginning  of  our  Christian 
era.  In  Mexico  and  Central  America  lie  buried  cities  which  equaled  the 
ancient  cities  of  the  old  world.  The  inhabitants  of  the  new  world  had 
developed  Indian  corn,  tobacco  and  the  potato  from  original  wild  progeni- 
tors. That  required  a  very  long  lime.  There  must  have  been  culture 
and  orderly  society  and  comi)etent  government  in  tropical  America  as 
early  as  these  institutions  appeared  on  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates.  And 
the  people  responsible  for  these  things  must  have  had  knowledge  of  the 
country  to  the  north.  But  what  explorations  they  made,  and  what  col- 
onies they  sent  out,  if  any,  may  never  be  known.  And  if  any  light  is 
ever  had  on  that  period,  it  may  be  shown  that  these  city-builders  went 
down  from  the  North.  Who  can  tell  ?  For,  while  it  is  generally  believed 
that  man  originated  in  Asia,  it  might  turn  out  that  America  is  the  cradle 
of  the  human  race.^ 

Mention  of  these  matters  is  made  here  to  show  the  knowledge  of  pre- 
historic times   is   very   limited.     Remote   periods  cannot  be   approached 

1  The  following  appeared  in  the  daily  papers  in  December,  1921  : 

"London,  Dec.  11. — Scientists  say  the  Darwinian  theory  that  Africa  may  have 
been  the  original  home  of  the  human  race  received  partial  corroboration  from  the 
discovery  just  made  in  northern  Rhodesia  of  a  fossilized  skull  which  gives  a  new 
orientation  to  the  early  history  of  primitive  man. 

"The  skull,  which  is  complete  save  for  the  lower  jaw,  resembles  that  of  the 
ape  man  (pithecanthropus  erectus)  discovered  in  Java  in  1892,  which  has  been 
regarded  as  the  most  primitive  human  skull  known  until  now.  The  Java  skull, 
however,  lacked  a  face.  In  this  respect,  the  Rhodesian  fossil  reveals  a  type  curiously 
similar  to  what  is  known  as  the  Gibraltar  skull. 

"Moreover,  a  collar  bone,  a  leg  bone  and  part  of  a  hip  bone  believed  to  belong 
to  the  skull  have  also  been  unearthed,  and  these  may  enable  anatomists  to  recon- 
struct the  main  parts  of  the  whole  Rhodesian  skeleton." 

15 


16  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

with  any  assurance  of  accurate  treatment.  But  of  tlic  inhabitants  of  the 
Ohio  Valley,  say  2,000  years  ago,  it  may  be  possible  to  discover  some- 
thing. Some  of  tlic  American  Indians  were  mound-builders,  and  they, 
or  certain  tribes  of  them,  occupied  the  country  drained  by  the  Ohio 
River.  It  is  fully  established  that  the  Cherokees  erected  mounds.  The 
North  American  Indians  Ijclongcd  to  certain  well-defined  linguistic  fam- 
ilies or  groups.  Among  these  groups  was  the  Iroquoian  linguistic  fam- 
ily— many  tribes  speaking  dialects  of  an  older  common  tongue.  The 
people  of  this  group  were  strong,  daring,  bold,  courageous.  When  first 
known  to  white  men  they  occupied  the  country  stretching  from  Central 
(jeorgia  to  the  Georgian  Bay  of  Lake  Huron,  though  there  was  not 
entire  coiUinuity  of  territory.  Like  most  other  inhabitants  of  jirimitive 
America,  the  lro(|uoians  had  traditions  of  migration  from  the  West  or 
Northwest,  where  their  original  habitat  had  been  located,  perha])s  the 
coimtry  about  the  head  of  the  Mississippi  and  to  the  northwestward 
thereof. 

This,  the  first  band  to  break  away  from  the  parent  stock  and  strike 
out  to  have  a  country  to  itself,  has  been  traced  through  Iowa,  Illinois 
(north  part)  and  Indiana,  into  Ohio  and  the  country  immediately  to  the 
eastward.  The  people  of  this  migrating  band  were  warlike,  and  they 
seated  themselves  firmly  in  the  country  embraced  in  the  present  State 
of  Ohio,  .some  parts  of  the  country  alojig  the  Detroit  River,  and  along 
the  Alleghany  River.  There  they  attained  to  as  advanced  a  social  con- 
dition as  the  North  American  Indians  are  Icnown  to  have  achieved.  They 
were  numerous,  and  it  may  be  estimated  that  they  numbered  at  one  time 
100.000  souls.  They  had  many  extensive  towns,  and  they  lived  prin- 
cipally by  the  cultivation  of  the  soil.  Indirin  corn,  beans,  jnunpkins  and 
tobacco  were  produced. 

As  to  why  these  jjcople  did  not  inhabit  the  country  on  the  south 
side  of  the  Ohio,  now  largely  embraced  in  Kentucky,  is  not  certainly 
known.  lliU  living  in  a  territory  stretching  from  the  Tidewater  of  the 
.\tlantic  up  and  over  the  .Mleglianies  into  the  \'allcy  of  Ohio  was  a  virile 
]jeople  known  now  as  the  Siouan  linguistic  fanu'ly.  \Vhile  it  has  not 
yet  been  established  that  the  Siouans  inhabited  most  of  what  is  now 
Kentucky,  they  may,  in  fact,  have  been  there  at  that  time.  It  is  certain 
that  some  tribe  strong  enough  to  withstand  this  Iroquoian  intrusion 
occupied  the  country  south  of  the  Ohio  in  that  day.  For  nothing  has 
been  found  to  indicate  that  these  invaders  ever  dwelt  to  any  appreciable 
extent  along  the  south  banks  of  the  Ohio.'" 

How  long  it  was  after  this  first  Irocjuoian  migration  to  the  eastward 
before  the  remaining  |)ortion  of  their  stock  began  to  move  in  a  bodv  in 
the  same  direction  cannot  now  be  told.  But  there  came  a  time  when  not 
only  the  Iroquois  but  other  tribes  left  their  original  seats  in  those  regions 
to  seek  a  home  in  the  East.  This  parent  body  had  so  far  forgotten  the 
first  band  that  no  atteiupt  appears  to  have  been  made  to  establish  any 
friendly  and  helpful  relations  with  its  descendants.  And  the  descendants 
of  this  original  colony,  having  now  occupied  the  land  and  set  up  claims 
of  possession  to  a  vast  territory,  seem  to  have  made  no  offer  of  a  home 
to  their  kinsmen.  Or,  matters  of  state  policy  might  have  made  it  inex- 
pedient or  impossible  for  them  to  do  so,  for,  with  the  Indians,  as  with 
Europeans,  kindred  people  were  often  at  war.  W'hen  the  later  migra- 
tion had  reached  a  certain  great  river  they  were  halted  by  hostile  forces, 
and  the  eastward  advance  brought  to  a  complete  stop. 

There  was  living  in  the  far  Northwest  at  that  day  another  linguistic 
family  of  Indians.  This  was  the  Algonquin  stock,  the  most  numerous 
and  widespread  on  the  continent.     Some  ]i(irtion  of  this  ])eo])le.  includ- 

"  See  "Early  Indian  Occupancy  of  the  Great  Plains,"  by  William  E.  Connellcy, 
in  Kausas  Historical  Collections,  Vol.  14,  pp.  438,  el  scq. 


i 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  17 

ing  the  progenitors  of  what  became  the  Delaware  or  Lenape  nation,  began 
a  migration  eastward.  When  the  Algonquins  came  to  this  large  river 
they  found  the  Iroquois  halted  there,  and  they  were  themselves  unable 
to  force  a  passage.  Those  who  dwelt  there  fought  stubbornly  and  suc- 
cessfully to  throw  back  these  invasions.  The  Delawares  have  shown  an 
inclination  to  make  records  of  their  doings,  and  it  is  to  this  trait  that  we 
owe  any  account  of  these  ancient  movements  and  wars.  And  their  tradi- 
tions extend  back  to  those  dim  and  shadowy  transactions  with  some  cer- 
tainty and  distinctness.  That  account  dealing  with  their  coming  to  live 
in  the  East  has  been  preserved  by  John  Heckewelder,  who  was  long  a 
Moravian  missionary  to  a  sub-tribe  of  the  Delawares.  This  account  is 
as  follows :  - 

"The  Lenni  Lenape  (according  to  the  traditions  handed  down  to  them 
by  their  ancestors)  resided  many  hundred  years  ago  in  a  very  distant 
country  in  the  western  part  of  the  American  continent.  For  some  reason, 
which  I  do  not  find  accounted  for,  they  determined  on  migrating  to  the 
eastward,  and  accordingly  set  out  together  in  a  body.  After  a  very  long 
journey  and  many  nights'  encampments  -^  by  the  way,  they  at  length 
arrived  on  the  Naniacsis  Sipu,^^  where  they  fell  in  with  the  Mengwe,-'' 
who  had  likewise  emigrated  from  a  distant  country,  and  had  struck 
upon  this  river  somewhat  higher  up.  Their  object  was  the  same  with 
that  of  the  Delawares ;  they  were  proceeding  on  to  the  eastward,  until 
they  should  find  a  country  that  pleased  them.  The  spies  which  the 
Lenape  had  sent  forward  for  the  purpose  of  reconnoitering  had  long 
before  their  arrival  discovered  that  the  country  east  of  the  Mississippi 
was  inhabited  by  a  very  powerful  nation,  who  had  many  large  towns 
built  on  the  great  rivers  flowing  through  their  land.  Those  people  (as 
I  was  told)  called  themselves  Talligcu  or  TalUgenn.  Col.  John  Gibson,-'' 
however,  a  gentleman  who  has  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  Indians  and 
speaks  several  of  their  languages,  is  of  opinion  that  they  were  not  called 
Talligezvi,  but  Alligewi,  and  it  would  seem  that' he  is  right,  from  the 
traces  of  their  name  which  still  remain  in  the  country,  the  Alleghany 
River  and  mountains  having  indubitably  been  named  after  them.  The 
Delawares  still  call  the  former  Alligewi  Sipit,  the  River  of  the  Alligewi. 
We  have  adopted,  I  know  not  for  what  reason,  its  Iroquois  name,  Ohio, 
which  the  French  had  literally  translated  into  La  Belle  Riviere  ( the  Beau- 
tiful River)  .2°  A  branch  of  it,  however,  still  retains  the  ancient  name 
Allegheny. 

2  History,  Manners,  and  Customs  of  the  Indian  Nations,  Heckewelder,  47,  48, 

49.  50.  .  ,      , 

-*  "Night's  encampment"  is  a  halt  of  one  year  at  a  place. 

^^The  Mississippi,  or  River  of  Fish;  Namaes,  a  Fish;  Sipit,  a  River. 

-<^  The  Iroquois,  or  Five  Nations. 

-'■  Col.  John  Gibson,  to  whom  Mr.  Heckewelder  frequently  alludes,  was  born  at 
Lancaster,  Pa.,  in  1740.  At  the  age  of  eighteen  he  made  his  first  campaign  under 
Gen.  Forbes  in  the  expedition  which  resulted  in  the  acquisition  of  Fort  De  Quesne 
from  the  French.  At  the  peace  of  1763  he  settled  at  that  post  (Fort  Pitt)  as  a 
trader.  Some  time  after  this,  on  the  resumption  of  hostilities  with  the  savages, 
he  was  captured  by  some  Indians,  among  whom  he  lived  several  years,  and  thus 
became  familiar  with  their  language,  manners,  customs  and  traditions.  In  the 
expedition  against  the  Shawanese  under  Lord  Dunmore,  the  last  royal  governor  of 
Virginia,  in  1774,  Gibson  played  a  conspicuous  part.  On  the  breaking  out  of  the 
Revolutionary  war  he  was  appointed  to  the  command  of  one  of  the  Continental 
regiments  raised  in  Virginia,  and  served  with  the  army  at  New  York  and  in  the 
retreat  through  New  Jersey.  He  was  next  employed  in  the  Western  department, 
serving  under  Gen.  Mcintosh  in  1778,  and  under  Gen.  Irvine  in  1782.  At  one  time 
he  was  in  command  at  Pittsburgh.  In  1800  Col.  Gibson  was  appointed  Secretary 
and  acting  Governor  of  the  territory  of  Indiana,  a  position  which  he  filled  for  a 
second  time  between  181 1  and  1813.  Subsequently  he  was  Associate  Judge  of 
Allegheny  County,  Pa.  He  died  near  Pittsburgh  in  1822.  He  was  an  uncle  of 
the  late  John  B.  Gibson.  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Pennsylvania,  be- 
tween 1827  and  1851. 

-"  Loskiel's  History  of  the  Mission  of  the  United  Brethren,  Part  I,  ch.   i. 

Vol.  1—6 


18  HISTORY  nv  KENTUCKY 

"Many  wonderful  things  are  told  of  this  famous  people.  They  are 
said  to  have  been  remarkably  tall  and  stout,  and  there  is  a  tradition  that 
there  were  giants  among  them,  people  of  a  much  larger  size  than  the 
tallest  of  the  I.enape.  It  is  related  that  they  had  built  to  themselves 
regular  fortifications  or  entrenchments,  from  whence  they  would  sally 
out,  but  were  generally  repulsed.  1  have  seen  many  of  the  fortifications 
said  to  have  been  built  by  them,  two  of  which  in  particular  were  re- 
m.irkable.  One  of  tluni  was  near  the  mouth  of  the  River  Huron,  which 
empties  itself  into  the  Lake  St.  Clair,  on  the  north  side  of  that  lake,  at 
the  distance  of  about  20  miles  \.  E.  of  Detroit.  This  spot  of  ground 
was,  in  the  year  i/Hf\  owned  and  occupied  by  a  Mr.  Tucker.  The  other 
works,  properly  entrenchments,  being  walls  or  banks  of  earth  regularly 
thrown  up,  with  a  deep  ditch  on  the  outside,  were  on  the  Huron  River, 
east  of  the  Sandusky,  about  six  or  eight  miles  from  Lake  Erie.  Outside 
of  the  gatewavs  of  each  of  these  two  entrenchments,  which  lay  within 
.•I  mile  of  each  other,  were  a  number  of  large  flat  mounds  in  which 
the  Indian  jiiiot  said  were  buried  lumdreds  of  the  slain  Talligewi,  whom 
I  shall  hereafter,  with  Colonel  Gibson,  call  Alligc'^'i.  Of  these  entrench- 
ments, Abraham  Steiner,  who  was  with  me  at  the  time  when  I  saw 
them,  gave  a  very  accurate  description  which  was  published  at  Phila- 
delphia in  1789  or  1790.  in  some  periodical  work,  the  name  of  which 
I  cannot  at  present  remember.-' 

"When  the  Lenape  arrived  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  they  sent 
a  message  to  the  Alligewi  to  request  permission  to  settle  themselves  in 
llieir  neighbourhood.  This  was  refused  them,  but  they  obtained  leave 
to  pass  through  the  cotnitry  and  seek  a  settlement  farther  to  the  eastward. 
They  accordingly  began  to  cross  the  Naniaesi  Sipu.  when  the  Alligewi, 
seeing  that  their  numbers  were  so  very  great,  and  in  fact  they  consisted 
of  many  thousands,  made  a  furious  attack  on  those  who  had  crossed, 
threatening  them  all  with  destruction  if  they  dared  to  persist  in  coming 
o\pr  to  their  side  of  the  river.  Fired  at  the  treachery  of  these  people 
,ind  the  great  loss  of  men  they  had  sustained  and,  besides,  not  being 
jirepared  for  a  conflict,  the  I,enape  consulted  on  what  was  to  be  done; 
whether  to  retreat  in  the  best  manner  they  could,  or  try  their  strength, 
and  let  the  enemy  see  tliat  they  were  not  cowards,  but  men,  and  too 
high-minded  to  suffer  themselves  to  be  driven  off  before  they  had  made 
a  trial  of  their  strength  and  were  convinced  that  the  enemy  was  too 
powerful  for  them.  The  Mengwe,  who  had  hitherto  been  satisfied  with 
being  spectators  from  a  distance,  offered  to  join  them,  on  condition  that, 
after  conquering  the  country,  they  shoidd  be  entitled  to  share  it  with 
them;  their  proposal  was  accepted,  and  the  resolution  was  taken  by  the 
two  nations  to  con(|uer  or  die. 

"Ha\ing  thus  imited  their  forces,  the  Lenape  and  Mengwe  declared 
war  against  the  .Mligewi,  and  great  battles  were  fought,  in  which  many 
warriors  fell  on  both  sides.  The  enemy  fortified  their  large  towns  and 
erected  fortification,  especially  on  large  rivers  and  near  lakes,  where 
they  were  successively  attacked  and  sometimes  stormed  by  the  allies. 
An  engagement  took  place  in  wliich  hundreds  fell,  who  were  afterwards 
buried  in  holes  or  laid  together  in  heaps  and  covered  over  with  earth. 
No  quarter  was  given,  so  that  the  Alligewi  at  last  finding  that  their 
flcstruction  was  inevitable  if  they  jiersisted  in  their  obstinacv.  abandoned 
the  coimtry  to  the  conquerors  and  fled  down  the  Mississippi  River,  from 
whence  they  never  returned.     The  war  which  was  carried  on  with  this 

-'In  1780  Mr.  HeckcwclfiiT.  accompanied  by  .Miraham  Steiner  (.subsequently  a 
missionary  to  tbc  Cberokcos  of  GcorRia),  visited  tlie  mission  at  New  Salem,  on 
the  Pet(|uottinK  (now  tbc  Huron),  in  Eric  County,  Ohio,  on  business  relating  to 
the  survey  of  a  tract  of  land  on  tbc  Tuscarawas  which  Congress  had  conveyed 
to  tlic  Moravians  in  trust  for  their  Indians.  This  was  to  indemnif_v  them  for  losses 
incurred  at  theif  sctllcniiiils  ihirini;  llie  liordcr -war  of  the   Revolution. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  19 

nation  lasted  many  years,  during  which  the  Lenape  lost  a  great  number 
of  their  warriors,  while  the  Mengwe  would  always  hang  back  in  the  rear, 
leaving  them  to  face  the  enemy.  In  the  end,  the  conquerors  divided 
the  coimtry  between  themselves;  the  Mengwe  made  choice  of  the  lands 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  great  lakes  and  on  their  tributary  streams,  and  the 
Lenape  took  possession  of  the  country  to  the  south." 

This  tradition  is  confirmed  by  the  H'alain  Oluiii,  the  historical  account 
of  the  Delawares,  that  portion  describing  these  events  being  as  follows  :^ 

"And  said,  'They  are  many;  let  us  go  together  to  the  east,  to  the 
sunrise.' 

They  separated  at  Fish  River ;  the  lazy  ones  remained  there. 

Cabin-Man  was  chief;  the  Talligewi  possessed  the  east. 

Strong-Friend  was  chief ;  he  desired  the  eastern  land. 

-Some  passed  on  east;  the  Talega  ruler  killed  some  of  them. 

All  say,  in  unison,  'War,  war.' 

The  Talamatan,  friends  from  the  north,  come,  and  all  go  together. 

The  Sharp-One  was  chief;  he  was  the  pipe-bearer  beyond  the  river. 

They  rejoiced  greatly  that  they  should  fight  and  slay  the  Talega  towns. 

The  Stirrer  was  chief;  the  Talega  towns  were  too  strong. 

The  Fire-Builder  was  chief;  they  all  gave  to  him  many  towns. 

The  Breaker-in-Pieces  was  chief;  all  the  Talega  go  south. 

He-has-Pleasure  was  chief;  all  the  people  rejoice. 

They  stay  south  of  the  lakes;  the  Talamatan   friends  north  of  the 
lakes. 

When  Long-and-Mild  was  chief,  those  who  were  not  his  friends  con- 
spired. 

Truthful-Man  was  chief ;  the  Talamatans  made  war. 

Just-and-True  was  chief;  the  Talamatans  trembled. 

All  were  peaceful,  long  ago,  there  at  the  Talega  land. 

The  Pipe-Bearer  was  chief  at  the  White  river. 

White-I.ynx  was  chief;  much  corn  was  planted. 

Good-and-Strong  was  chief ;  the  people  were  many. 

The  Recorder  was  chief;  he  painted  the  records. 

Pretty-blue-Bird  was  chief;  there  was  much  fruit. 

Always-There  was  chief ;  the  towns  were  many. 

Paddler-up-Stream  was  chief;  he  was  much  on  the  rivers. 

Little-Cloud  was  chief;  they  departed. 

The  Nanticokes  and  the  Shawnees  .going  to  the  south. 

Big-Beaver  was  chief,  at  the  White  Salt  Lick. 

The  Seer,  the  praised  one,  went  to  the  west. 

He  went  to  the  west,  to  the  southwest,  to  the  western  villages. 

The  Rich-Down-River-Man  was  chief,  at  Talega  river. 

The  Walker  was  chief;  there  was  much  war. 

Again  with  the  Tawa  people,  again  with  the  Stone  people,  again  with 
the  northern  people. 

firandfather-of-Boats  was  chief;  he  went  to  lands  in  boats. 

Snow-Hunter  was  chief ;  he  went  to  the  north  land. 

Look-About  was  chief;  he  went  to  the  Talega  mountains. 

East-Villager  was  chief;  he  went  east  of  Talega. 

A  great  land  a  wide  land  was  the  east  land. 

A  land  without  snakes,  a  rich  land,  a  pleasant  land. 

Great  Fighter  was  chief,  toward  the  north. 

At  the  Stright  river,  River-Loving  was  chief. 

Becoming-Fat  was  chief  at  Sassafras  land. 

All  the  hunters  made  wampum  again  at  the  great  sea. 

Red-Arrow  was  chief  at  the  stream  again. 

The  Painted-Man  was  chief  at  the  Mighty  Water. 

3  Brinton,   The  Lcnaf>c  and   Their  Lcgeuds,   199  ct  seq. 


20  HISTORY  01'   KENTUCKY 

The  Easterners  and  the  Wolves  go  northeast. 

Good-Fighter  was  chief,  and  went  to  the  nortli. 

The  Mengwe.  the  Lynxes,  all  trembled. 

Again  an  Affable  was  chief,  and  made  peace  with  all. 

All  were  friends,  all  were  united,  under  this  great  chief. 

( Ireat-Beavcr  was  chief,  remaining  in  Sassafras  land. 

White-Body  was  chief  on  the  sea  shore. 

I'eace-Maker  was  chief,  friendly  to  all. 

He- .Makes-Mistakes  was  chief,  hurriedly  coming. 

.\t  this  time  whites  came  on  the  Eastern  sea. 

Much-Honored  was  chief;  he  was  prosperous. 

W'ell-I'raised  was  chief;  he  fought  at  the  south. 

1  le   fought  in  the  land  of  the  Talega  and   Koweta. 

White-Otter  was  chief;  a  friend  of  the  'I'alamatans. 

White-Horn  was  chief;  he  went  to  the  Talega, 

To  the  Hilini,  to  the  Shawnees.  to  the  Kanawhas." 

It  is  possible  at  this  point  to  make  identifications  with  some  degree 
of  certainty.  The  Mengwe  were  the  ])rogenitars  of  the  Iro(|uois.  They 
had  not  broken  yet  into  the  divisions  and  tribes  later  known  to  the  whites 
as  the  Hurons,  the  Six  Nations  and  others. 

The  Tallegewi,  Tallegeu,  Allighewi  or  Tallegwi  were  the  ancient 
Cherokees.  \\'hen  they  were  conquered  by  their  kinsmen,  the  Mengwe 
and  the  I.enape,  they  were  compelled  to  seek  a  new  country  wherein  to 
dwell.  In  this  necessity  they  turned  southward.  The  conflict  bad  been 
long.  Cusic,  the  Tuscarora  historian,  says  it  continued  for  lOo  years. 
The  fact  that  a  new  home  would  have  to  be  found  may  have  been 
ap])arent  for  some  years  before  the  war  ceased.  An  accommodation 
may  have  been  reached  with  the  tribes  south  of  the  Ohio  for  ])ermission 
to  pass  through  their  country.  And,  it  may  be,  no  agreement  could  be 
reached.  Possibly  none  was  attempted.  In  any  event  the  Tallegwi 
crossed  the  river  we  know  as  the  Ohio  and  began  to  move  slowly  ujj  the 
stream  known  to  us  as  the  Kanawha  or  New  River.  At  the  point  known 
as  Grave  Creek  they  sto]i])ed  and  erected  the  Grave  Creek  mounds. 
Others  were  built,  especially  about  Charleston,  showing  that  this  retreat 
was  deliberate  and  halting,  as  Indian  migrations  always  were.  lUit  the 
Tallegwi  finally  reached  the  country  about  the  headwaters  of  the  Ten- 
nessee, where  they  were  found  by  the  white  people. 

At  some  period  about  the  time  of  this  conquest  of  the  country  north 
of  the  Ohio  by  the  Lenape  and  the  Mengwe,  the  Siouan  family  west  of 
the  great  Ai)palacbian  chain  began  a  movement  to  the  westward,  finally 
seating  themselves  in  the  land  of  the  great  herds  of  buffalo — the  Great 
Plains.  There  are  two  principal  causes  for  the  migrations  of  primitive 
peoples.  The  first  is  war.  .Savages  make  a  war  of  extermination.  They 
destroy.  To  escape  such  a  fate  the  defeated  party  moves  bodily — aban 
dons  com])letely  the  homeland  to  seek  a  new  one  with  safety.  The  sec- 
ond cause  is  famine,  or  any  prolonged  scarcity  of  food.  Sometimes  these 
calamities  are  combined,  when  there  is  a  double  motive  for  migration 
No  record  has  been  jireserved  to  tell  why  the  Siouans  abandoned  the 
country  on  the  south  side  of  the  Ohio,  but  the  most  probable  cause  was 
the  invasion  of  the  Lena])e  and  the  Mengwe  and  the  consequent  disjjlace- 
ment  of  the  Tallegwi.  The  Siouans  may  have  been  severed  in  twain, 
the  western  fragments  finding  their  way  down  the  Ohio  or  northwest 
into  the  country  left  by  the  Lenape  and  the  Mengwe.  The  Tallegwi  may 
have  been  defending  themselves  on  the  north  and  fighting  an  ofl'ensive 
war  in  what  is  now  Kentucky  with  the  western  Siouans.  This  is  only 
speculative — a  suggestion  for  future  students.  But  there  attached  always 
a  vague  legend  to  Kentucky  of  bloody  and  continuous  wars  between  llie 
savages  living  in  reach  of  the  Ohio  \'alley. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  21 

When  the  matter  of  proof  of  the  early  occupancy  of  the  Ohio  Valley 
by  the  Cherokees  and  that  the  ancient  Cherokees  were  the  Tallegwi 
much  evidence  is  found  available.  In  his  The  Cherokees  in  Pre- 
Columbian  Times,  Cyrus  Thomas,  an  eminent  authority,  traces  the 
ancient  Cherokees  from  the  Northwest,  through  Iowa,  across  Illinois 
and  Indiana,  and  into  Ohio.  There  they  remained  until  the  coming 
of  the  Lenape  and  the  Mengwe.  \\'hat  space  of  time  had  elapsed 
from  their  departure  to  the  arrival  of  these  invaders  cannot  be  exactly 
determined.  But  it  had  been  sufficient  in  duration  for  the  immense 
growth  of  the  band,  for  it  had  spread  over  portions  of  Indiana, 
Michigan,  Ohio,  Pennsylvania  and  New  York.  They  had  retained  their 
original  name,  which  the  first  annalists  wrote  Allighezvi,  Talligciui,  Tal- 
ligeii,  and  possibly  in  other  forms.  They  had  constructed  mounds  and 
other  earthworks  in  their  country  which  remain  to  the  present  time. 
Some  of  these  show  engineering  skill,  and  it  would  seem  to  indicate 
that  the  builders  recognized  the  importance  of  making  their  structures 
conform  to  the  lines  of  the  four  cardinal  points.  Some  of  these  were 
houses,  some  were  villages,  some  were  fortifications  for  defense  against 
enemies.  Others,  as  the  Great  Serpent,  must  have  had  a  religious  sig- 
nificance, though  this  and  other  mounds  may  have  been  the  work  of 
an  older  people  who  dwelt  there.  Many  of  the  mounds  were  the  repos- 
itory of  the  dead.  These  Allighewi  dwelt  in  great  numbers  on  the 
Alleghany  River,  for  their  name  attached  to  the  stream  in  its  present 
form  of  "Alleghany."  And  the  origin  of  the  name  "Alleghany"  as  ap- 
plied to  the  Alleghany  Mountains  is  the  same  as  that  of  the  river.  These 
names  would  seem  to  prove  that  this  people  had  occupied  that  land  from 
a  very  remote  period. 

Thomas  sums  up  the  reasons  for  identifying  the  ancient  Tallegwi 
with  the  modern  Cherokees  thus : 

"The  reasons  for  identifying  the  Tallegwi  or  Talega  of  this  tradi- 
tion with  the  Cherokees,  which  will  be  more  fully  referred  to  hereafter, 
are  briefly  as  follows:  ist.  The  very  close  agreement  in  sound  between 
Tsalake,  the  name  the  Cherokees  gave  themselves,  and  Tallegxvi  or  Talega 
as  given  in  the  tradition.  [These  names  are  pronounced  Tsal'-a-ke,  TaV- 
le-gzvi  and  Tal'-c-ga.]  2d,  The  fact  that  the  traditions  of  the  Cherokees 
refer  to  the  region  of  the  Upper  Ohio  as  their  former  home ;  3d,  The 
statement  of  Bishop  Ettwein  that  the  last  of  the  Cherokees  were  driven 
from  the  Upper  Ohio  about  the  year  1700  (see  Brinton's  'Lenape  and 
Their  Legends,'  p.  18)  ;  4th,  The  testimony  of  the  mounds;  and,  5th,  The 
apparent  identification  of  the  two  peoples  in  the  'Walam  Olum'  itself  in 
verses  42  and  43,  Part  V,  where  it  states  that 

"  'Well-praised  was  chief ;  he   fought  at   the  south. 
He  fought  in  the  land  of  the  Talega  and  Kovveta.' 

"As  this  part  of  the  record  refers  to  a  much  later  period  than  that 
heretofore  quoted,  a  date  subsequent  to  the  appearance  of  the  whites  on 
the  continent  (verse  40,  Part  V),  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  it  alludes 
to  the  Tallegwi  in  their  southern  home,  to  which,  as  stated  in  verse  59, 
Part  IV,  they  had  been  driven.  This  supposition  is  apparently  confirmed 
by  the  fact  that  it  connects  with  them  the  Koweta,  or  Creeks.  This, 
together  with  the  statement  that  the  fighting  was  at  the  south,  would  seem 
to  imply  they  were  then  in  their  mountain  home  or  historic  seat.  It  is 
probable,  as  will  be  shown  hereafter,  that  where  it  is  stated,  in  verses 
19  and  20, 

"  'Look-About   was  chief ;   he   went   to  the  Talega   mountains ; 
East- Villager  was  chief ;  he  was  east  of  Talega.' 

their  position  in  the  Kanawha  Valley  is  referred  to,  where,  as  the  evi- 
dence indicates,  they  halted  for  some  time  on  their  way  south." 


22  HISTORY  OF  KKNTICKV 

The  best  authorii\  (Ui  the  traditions  coiineciiiig  the  Cherokees  with 
the  Ohio  Valley  are  mentioned  by  Judge  Haywood  in  his  Natural  and 
Aboriginal  History  of  Tennessee.     There  he  records: 

"The  Cherokees  had  an  oration  in  which  was  contained  the  history 
of  their  migrations,  which  was  Lenthy.  This  related  'that  they  came 
from  the  upper  ])art  of  the  Ohio,  where  they  erected  the  moimds  on 
( irave  Creek,  and  that  they  removed  hither  [East  Tennessee]  from  the 
country  where  Monticello  is  situated.'  This  tradition  of  their  migrations 
was,  it  seems,  preserved  and  handed  down  by  their  ofificial  orators,  who 
repeated  it  annually  in  public  at  the  national  festival  of  the  green-corn 
dance.  Haywood  adds:  'It  is  now  nearly  forgotten;'  and  Dr.  D.  G. 
Krintim  informs  us  in  'The  Lenape  and  Their  Legends'  that  he  has  en- 
deavored in  vain  to  recover  some  fragments  of  it  from  the  present  resi- 
dents of  the  Cherokee  nation." 

In  addition  to  these  proofs,  Thomas  treats  at  great  length  the  evi- 
dence found  in  similarity  of  moimd-relics  and  contents  found  from  Iowa 
over  the  route  taken  by  the  Cherokees  in  their  migration  ending  in  that 
country  about  the  headwaters  of  the  Tennessee.  And  it  is  shown  that 
in  the  last  named  country  mound-building  was  continued  by  them.  In 
another  work.  The  Problem  of  the  Ohio  Mounds,  published  as  Bulletin 
\o.  8,  fUireau  of  Mthnology,  the  evidence  set  down  in  his  first  work  is 
reviewed  and  further  proofs  adduced  in  support  of  it. 

Quotations  have  been  herein  made  from  the  Walam  Olum,  the  Painted 
Record  of  the  Delawarcs.  This  is  one  of  the  most  important  documents 
pertaining  to  the  aboriginal  inhabitants  of  North  America.  It  is  a  history 
of  the  Lenape — or  the  Delawares — written  by  themselves.  It  goes  back 
at  least  2,000  years,  and  all  the  tests  applied  to  historical  documents  have 
only  served  the  more  to  prove  its  accuracy  and  value.  It  was  obtained  in 
1820  by  a  Doctor  Ward,  of  Cynthiana,  Kentucky,  from  the  Delawares 
living  on  the  White  River  in  Indiana.  The  doctor  had  effected  a  cure 
for  some  sick  Delaware,  and  for  that  service  (or  through  that  service) 
secured  this  valuable  record.  Doctor  Ward  and  Constantine  Rafinesque, 
then  a  teacher  in  the  Transylvania  University,  were  friends.  Doctor 
Ward  is  said  to  have  been  an  enthusiastic  student  of  archaeology,  which 
will  account  for  his  friendship  with  Rafinesque,  who  is  known  to  have 
visited  him  at  Cynthiana.  He  turned  over  this  Delaware  document  to 
the  Transylvania  professor.  This  included  only  the  painted  hieroglyphics. 
Later  the  "songs"  or  inscriptions  to  accompany  the  pictures  were  ob- 
tained from  another  Indian.  This  was  in  1822.  Being  unable  to  read 
these  "songs,"  Rafinesque  was  under  the  necessity  of  learning  the  Del- 
aware language.  This  was  a  weary  and  slow  business,  but  in  1833  he 
was  able  to  translate  the  "songs"  or  ex]jlanations  of  the  pictures  into 
English.  The  accuracy  of  this  translation  has  never  been  questioned, 
only  some  minor  changes  having  been  found  necessary.  This  was  a  great 
service  to  science,  and  the  work  thus  secured  is  one  of  the  greatest  con- 
tributions to  Indian  literature  ever  made.  It  was  not  published  until 
after  Rafinesque's  death.  E.  G.  Squier  first  published  it  in  18.49,  ui  the 
(I^'cbruary)  Anieriean  Review.  In  1885  Dr.  D.  G.  Brinton  published  at 
I'hiladelphia  The  Lenaf'e  and  Their  Legends,  with  the  Complete  Text 
and  .'symbols  of  the  Walam  ( )limi,  making  it  accessible  to  all  students. 
At  page  165  he  says: 

"Were  I  to  reconstruct  their  ancient  history  from  the  walam  glum 
as  I  understand  it,  the  result  would  read  as  follows: 

"At  some  remote  period  their  ancestors  dwelt  far  to  the  northeast, 
on  tide- water,  probably  at  Labrador  (compare  ante,  p.  145).  They 
journeyed  south  and  west  till  they  reached  a  broad  water,  full  of  islands 
and  abuuiiding  in  tish,  perha])s  the  St.  Lawrence  about  the  Thousand 
Isles.      They  crossed  and   dwelt   for  some  generations  in   the  pine  and 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  23 

hemlock  regions  of  New  York,  fighting  more  or  less  with  the  Snake  peo- 
ple and  the  Talega,  agricultural  nations  living  in  stationary  villages  to 
the  southeast  [southwest]  of  them,  in  the  area  of  Ohio  and  Indiana. 
They  drove  out  the  former,  hut  the  latter  remained  on  the  upper  Ohio 
and  its  branches.  The  Lenape  now  settled  on  the  streams  in  Indiana 
wished  to  remove  to  the  East  to  join  the  Mohegans  and  other  of  their 
kin  who  had  moved  there  directly  from  northern  New  York.  They, 
therefore,  united  with  the  Hurons  (Talamatans)  to  drive  ou  the  Talega 
(Tsalaki,  Cherokees)  from  the  upper  Ohio.  This  they  only  succeeded 
in  accomplishing  finally  in  the  historic  period  (see  ante,  p.  17).  But 
they  did  clear  the  road  and  reached  the  Delaware  valley,  though  neither 
forgetting  nor  giving  up  their  claims  to  their  western  territories  (see 
ante,  p.  144). 

"In  the  sixteenth  century  the  Iroquois  tribes  seized  and  occupied  the 
whole  of  the  Susquehanna  valley,  thus  cutting  off  the  eastern  from  the 
western  Algonkins,  and  ended  by  driving  many  of  the  Lenape  from  the 
west  to  the  east  bank  of  the  Delaware  (ante,  p.  38)." 

The  Delawares  went  on  to  the  eastward  and  were  found  by  the 
Euro{)eans  living  in  what  is  now  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania,  prin- 
cipally on  the  Delaware  River.  This  river  had  been  named  for  Lord 
Delaware.  Found  living  on  this  stream,  the  Lenape  were  called  from 
its  name,  Delawares,  an  English  appellation  and  not  Indian  at  all.  They 
were  forced  slowly  westward  by  the  white  settlements  and  came  again 
into  Ohio  to  live. 

The  Mengwe,  in  the  centuries  which  passed  after  the  conquest  of 
the  Tallegwi,  separated  into  bands  which  became  tribes.  These  were 
to  be  found  in  the  regions  of  the  River  St.  Lawrence  and  about  the 
Great  Lakes.  A  group  of  them  occupied  what  is  now  Central  and  North- 
ern New  York  and  became  known  as  the  Iroquois.  The  origin  of  this 
name  is  not  definitely  known.  One  account  says  it  is  the  French  adapta- 
tion of  the  Iroquois  Hiro,  used  to  conclude  a  speech,  and  Koiic,  an  ex- 
clamation.-'"' 

This  group  constituted  the  Iroquois  proper  and  was  composed  of  the 
following  named  tribes — Mohawk,  Oneida,  Onondaga,  Cayuga  and  Sen- 
eca. When  the  white  man  first  came  in  contact  with  them  they  were 
formed  into  a  league  or  confederacy.  They  denominated  this  as  the 
League  of  the  Ho-dc'-iw-sau-ncc.  They  symbolized  it  by  representing 
it  as  a  Long  House,  the  eastern  door  of  which  was  on  the  Hudson  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Mohawk,  and  the  western  on  Lake  Erie.  The  English 
knew  them  by  the  name  of  Five  Nations  and  after  their  adoption  of  the 
Tu.scaroras  as  the  Six  Nations.  They  were  always  known  to  the  French 
as  the  Iroquois.  From  east  to  west  the  order  of  the  tribes  or  nations 
forming  the  league  was  : 

1.  Mohawk — Ga-ne-a'-ga-o-no,  The  Possessor  of  the  Flint. 

2.  Oneida — O-na-yote'-ka-o-no,  The  Granite  people. 

3.  Onondaga — O-nun-da'-ga-o-no,  The  people  of  the  hills. 

4.  Cayuga — Gue'-u-gweh-o-no,  The  people  of  the  mucky  land. 

5.  Seneca — Nun-da-wa'-o-no,  The  great  hill  people. 

The  Tuscaroras  were  expelled  from  North  Carolina  in  1713  and 
journeyed  north  to  their  kindred.  The  tribe  was  adopted  by  the  Oneidas 
and  was  admitted  into  the  league  as  the  sixth  nation.  They  were  given 
lands  and  assigned  a  position  between  the  Oneida  and  Onondaga  tribes. 
As  the  sixth  nation  of  the  league  they  were : 

6.  Tuscarora — Dus-ga-o'-weh-o-no,  The  shirt-wearing  people. 
They  had  taken  this  name  before  their  expulsion  from  North  Caro- 
lina  but  after  their  intercourse  with  the  whites  commenced. 

When  this  league  was  formed  cannot  now  be  definitely  determined. 

.la  The  7th  Annual  Report  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  77. 


24  HISTORY'  Ol-   Kl•:NTl:CK^• 

All  these  tril)es  were  descendants  and  divisions  of  a  single  banil  of  the 
original  Iluron-lroquois  family.  The  period  when  this  separation  oc- 
cnrred  cannot  now  be  ascertained,  nor  can  it  be  determined  when  this 
band  migrated  from  the  north,  where  it  had  dwelt  along  the  north  shore 
of  the  River  St.  Lawrence.  Tradition  informs  us  that,  having  ascended- 
the  St.  Lawrence  to  Lake  Ontario  and  coasted  its  eastern  shore  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Oswego  Ri\er,  they  entered  through  this  channel  to  the 
central  parts  of  New  ^'ork.  Their  first  settlements,  they  believe,  were 
located  on  the  Seneca  River,  where  for  a  time  they  dwelt  together.  At 
a  subsequent  day  they  divided  into  bands  and  spread  abroad  to  found 
new  villages.  One,  crossing  over  to  the  Mohawk,  established  itself  be- 
low Utica  and  afterwards  became  the  Mohawk  nation.  This  village, 
situated  on  the  south  side  of  the  Mohawk  River  in  Herkimer  County,  is 
supposed  to  have  been  the  oldest  settlement  of  that  nation.  For  some 
years  the  Oncidas  and  Onondagas  were  one  nation,  but  one  part  of  it. 
liaving  become  established  east  of  the  Oneida  Lake,  in  time  became  inde- 
]x-ndent,  while  the  other,  jilanting  itself  in  the  Onondaga  \'alley  and  on 
the  hills  adjacent,  became  a  separate  nation.  In  like  manner  the  Cayugas 
and  Senecas  were  many  years  united  and  resided  on  the  Seneca  River, 
but  one  band  of  them,  having  located  themselves  on  the  east  bank  of 
the  Caytiga  Lake,  grew  in  time  into  a  distinct  nation,  while  the  residue, 
penetrating  into  the  interior  of  Western  New  York,  finally  settled  at  the 
head  of  Canandaigua  Lake,  and  there  formed  the  nucleus  of  the  .Seneca 
nation. 

It  has  been  the  universal  law  that  i)riniiti\e  man  sejKirated  into  bands 
in  his  migrations  and  wanderings.  The  Iroquois  is  a  good  example  of 
this.  The  division  of  the  original  oft'shoot  into  five  tribes  did  not  take 
place  until  after  the  adoption  of  the  totemic  jjrinciple.  This  original 
stock  or  group  was  divided  into  eight  totems  or  clans  or  gens,  and  each 
of  these  totems  had  representation  in  each  of  the  five  tribes.  Thus  in 
each  nation  there  were  eight  clans,  which  were  arranged  in  two  divi- 
sions, as  follows : 

First  Division  Second  Division 

1.  Deer 

2.  Snipe 

3.  Heron 

4.  Hawk 

All  the  institutions  of  the  Iroquois  have  regard  to  the  divisions  of 
the  people  into  clans.  Originally,  with  reference  to  marriage,  the  Wolf, 
Rear,  Beaver  and  Turtle  clans,  being  brothers  to  one  another  and  the 
women  their  sisters,  were  not  allowed  to  intermarry.  The  four  oj)posite 
clans,  being  also  brothers  to  one  another  and  the  women  their  sisters, 
were  not  permitted  to  intermarry.  Either  of  the  first  four  clans  could 
intermarry  with  either  of  the  last  four,  the  relation  between  them  being 
that  of  cousins.  And  it  is  a  strange  circumstance  that  at  the  general 
councils  of  the  league  the  tribes  were  divided  into  two  classes  which  were 
arranged  on  o])posite  sides  of  the  great  council  fire.  On  the  one  side 
stood  the  Mohawks,  Onondagas  and  Senecas,  as  nations,  brothers  to  one 
another  and  fathers  to  the  other  nations.  On  the  other  side  were  the 
( )neidas,  Cayugas,  and  at  a  sul)sec|uent  day,  the  Tuscaroras,  who,  in  like 
manner,  were  brother  tribes  or  nations,  but  children  of  the  first  three 

This  division  of  the  Iroquois  into  eight  clans  or  gens  became  the 
means  of  efTecting  the  most  perfect  union  of  separate  natio;is  ever  devised. 
In  effect,  the  Wolf  clan  was  divided  into  five  parts  (six  parts  after  the 
admission  of  the  Tuscarora)  and  one-fifth  of  it  ])laced  in  each  of  the  five 
tribes  comjiosing  the  league.  The  remaining  clans  were  subject  to  the 
same  divisions  and  distribution.     Between  those  of  the  same  name — or, 


I. 

Wolf 

2. 

Bear 

3- 

Beaver 

4- 

Turtle 

HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  25 

in  other  words,  between  the  separate  parts  of  each  clan — there  existed 
a  tie  of  brotherhood,  which  linked  the  tribes  of  the  league  together  with 
indissoluble  bonds.  The  Mohawk  of  the  Wolf  clan  recognized  the  Sen- 
eca of  the  Wolf  clan  as  his  brother,  and  theoretically  they  were  bound 
together  by  ties  of  consanguinity,  the  belief  being  that  they  were  de- 
scended from  a  common  mother. 

Before  the  formation  of  the  league  of  the  Hodenosaunee  there  had 
been  no  unity  of  action  between  the  Iroquois  after  their  development 
into  nations  in  their  new  home.  In  fact  it  is  probable  that  there  had  been 
war,  and  it  is  said  that  the  Onondagas  had  conquered  the  Cayugas  and 
the  Senecas.     But  of  this  there  is  only  dim  tradition. 

The  founder  of  the  league  was  a  man  of  superior  mind.  He  was  a 
statesman.  He  saw  that  as  fragments  and  separate  tribes  of  a  common 
people  their  interests  were  the  same,  if  only  petty  jealousies  could  be 
overcome  and  very  minor  local  advantages  relinquished.  It  required 
many  years  to  accomplish  the  confederation.  This  savage  statesman  is 
known  by  different  names,  one  of  which  is  Hi-a-wat-ha.  This  is  the 
Hiawatha  of  Longfellow' — an  Iroquoian  hero  for  an  Algoncjuin  story. 
Our  poet  had  not  made  a  careful  study  of  the  American  Indians  evidently. 

The  historic  seat  of  this  remarkable  people  was  a  commanding  mil- 
itary position — a  strategic  point.  It  commanded  the  entrance  to  the 
Great  Lakes  and  the  commencement  of  that  great  artery  of  travel  and 
Indian  commerce,  the  River  St.  Lawrence.  It  was  at  the  head  of  the 
Hudson  and  the  country  of  the  Senecas  reached  down  to  the  headwaters 
of  the  Ohio,  which  all  Iroquoian  tribes  considered  the  main  stream  of  the 
Mississippi.  These  tribes  dominated  the  Ohio  Valley  from  the  day  of 
the  formation  of  their  wonderful  league.  These  great  waterways  enabled 
the  Iroquois  to  easily  reach  the  Algonquin  peoples  to  the  east,  the  Hurons 
to  the  north,  Siouans  to  the  northwest,  and  the  Algonquins  again  on  the 
west  and  southwest.  They  were  entirely  surrounded  by  other  Indian 
tribes.  These  and  the  older  portions  of  their  own  stock  they  attacked 
without  fear  and  destroyed  without  mercy.  They  were  the  terror  of 
all  who  knew  them.  The  Mohawk,  in  their  prowlings  through  dark 
forests,  ranged  to  the  shores  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  and  by  the 
year  1600  had  made  conquest  of  all  New  England.  The  blood-curdling 
war-cry  of  the  Senecas  carried  consternation  to  the  dwellers  at  the 
westernmost  extremity  of  Lake  Superior. 

The  ferocity  of  the  Iroquois  is  almost  beyond  belief  or  comprehension. 
Nation  after  nation,  as  populous  and  as  brave  as  themselves,  was  at- 
tacked with  indescribable  fury  and  destroyed.  The  destruction  of  the 
Hurons  was  completed  in  1649,  that  of  the  Neutral  Nation  in  1650-51, 
and  that  of  the  Eries  in  1655.  The  annihilation  of  the  Andastes  w'as 
delayed  a  little  and  was  not  completely  consummated  until  1672. 

While  engaged  in  exterminating  the  tribes  of  their  own  blood,  the 
Iroquois  were  also  making  conquest  of  the  tribes  of  the  Algonquin  fam- 
ily. The  Delawares  were  reduced  to  vassalage  and  made  to  put  on  petti- 
coats and  become  women — a  figure  used  to  show  their  complete  sub- 
jection. The  Illinois,  the  Miamis  and  other  tribes  to  the  southwest  were 
conquered  and  placed  under  the  yoke  of  the  masters  of  the  league. 

The  Iroquois  made  complete  conquest  of  the  Ohio  Valley  as  far  south 
as  the  Tennessee  River.  Only  Indian  tradition  lived  to  tell  of  the  bloody 
horror  of  it.  To  show  the  reader  how  the  Iroquois  made  war  and  what 
this  conquest  was,  some  examples  will  be  given.  In  1680  La  Salle  w^as 
descending  the  Illinois  River.  The  Iroquois  had  sent  a  party  to  make 
war  on  the  Illinois  Indians.  La  Salle  found  that  "The  silence  of  death 
now  reigned  along  the  river,  whose  lonely  borders,  wrapped  in  deep 
forests,  seemed  lifeless  as  the  grave.  As  they  drew  near  the  mouth  of 
the  stream  they  saw  a  meadow  on  their  right  and  on  its  farthest  verge 


26  HISTOm-  OF  KEXTLCKN' 

several  human  figures,  erect,  yet  motionless.  They  landed  and  cautiously 
examined  the  place.  The  lonjj  grass  was  trampled  down,  and  all  around 
were  strewn  the  relics  of  the  hideous  orgies  which  formed  the  ordinary 
sequel  of  an  Iroquois  victory.  The  figures  they  had  seen  were  the  half- 
consumed  bodies  of  women,  still  bound  to  the  stakes  where  they  had 
been  tortured.     Other  sights  there  were  too  revolting  for  record." 

Here  is  another  scene  enacted  at  a  village  of  the  Illinois.  It  was  also 
in  i6So:  "Meanwhile  a  hideous  scene  was  enacted  at  the  ruined  vil- 
lage of  the  Illinois.  Their  savage  foes,  balked  of  a  living  prey,  wreaked 
their  fury  on  the  dead.  They  dug  up  the  graves;  they  threw  down  the 
scaffolds.  Some  of  the  bodies  they  burned  ;  some  they  threw  to  the  dogs  ; 
some,  it  is  affirmed,  they  ate.  Placing  the  skulls  on  stakes  as  trophies, 
they  turned  to  pursue  the  Illinois." 

An  event  had  occurred  immediately  before  those  here  recorded:* 

"They  embarked  again  and  soon  approached  the  great  town  of  the 
Illinois.  The  bulTalo  were  far  behind,  and  once  more  the  canoes  glided 
on  their  way  through  a  voiceless  solitude.  Xo  hunters  were  seen ;  no 
saluting  whoop  greeted  their  ears.  They  passed  the  cliff  afterwards 
called  the  Rock  of  St.  Louis,  where  La  Salle  had  ordered  Tonty  to  build 
his  stronghold,  but,  as  he  scanned  its  lofty  top,  he  saw  no  palisades,  no 
cabins,  no  sign  of  human  hand  and  still  its  primeval  crest  of  forests 
overhung  the  gliding  river.  Now  the  meadow  opened  before  them 
where  the  great  town  had  stood.  They  gazed,  astonished  and  con- 
founded ;  all  was  desolation.  The  town  had  vanished  and  the  meadow 
was  black  with  fire.  They  plied  their  paddles,  hastened  to  the  spot, 
landed,  and,  as  they  looked  around,  their  cheeks  grew  white  and  the 
blood  was  frozen  in  their  veins. 

"Before  them  lay  a  plain  once  swarming  with  wild  human  life  and 
covered  with  Indian  dwellings,  now  a  waste  of  devastation  and  death, 
strewn  with  heaps  of  ashes  and  bristling  with  the  charred  poles  and 
stakes  which  had  formed  the  framework  of  the  lodges.  At  the  points 
of  most  of  them  were  stuck  human  skulls,  half  picked  by  birds  of  prey. 
Near  at  hand  was  the  burial-ground  of  the  village.  The  travellers  sick- 
ened with  horror  as  they  entered  its  revolting  precincts.  Wolves  in 
multitudes  fled  at  their  approach,  while  clouds  of  crows  or  buzzards, 
rising  from  the  hideous  repast,  wheeled  above  their  heads  or  settled  on 
the  naked  branches  of  the  neighboring  forest.  Every  grave  had  been 
rifled  and  the  bodies  flung  down  from  the  scaffolds,  where,  after  the 
Illinois  custom,  many  of  them  had  been  placed.  The  field  was  strewn 
with  broken  bones  and  torn  and  mangled  corpses.  A  hyena  warfare 
had  been  waged  against  the  dead.  La  S;dle  knew  the  handiwork  of  the 
Iroquois.  The  threatened  blow  had  fallen,  and  the  wolfish  hordes  of 
till-  five  cantons  had  fleshed  their  rabid  fangs  in  a  new  victim.*" 

"Not  far  distant  the  conquerors  had  made  a  rude  fort  of  trunks, 
boughs  and  roots  of  trees  laid  together  to  form  a  circular  enclosure,  and 
this,  too,  was  garnished  with  skulls,  stuck  on  the  broken  branches  and 
])rotruding  sticks.  The  caches,  or  subterranean  storehouses  of  the  vil- 
lages, had  been  broken  open  and  the  contents  scattered.  Ihe  corn  fields 
were  laid  waste  and  much  of  the  corn  thrown  intn  heaps  and  half  burned. 


*  La  Salic  and  the  Discovery  of  the  IVcsl,  191  el  seq. 

<*The  above  may  seem  exagRerated ;  hut  it  accords  perfectly  with  what  is  well 
established  concerniiiR  the  ferocious  character  of  the  Iroquois,  and  the  nature  of 
their  warfare.  Many  other  tribes  have  frequently  made  war  upon  the  dead.  I 
have  myself  known  an  instance  in  which  five  corpses  of  Sioux  Indians,  placed  in 
trees,  after  the  practice  of  the  Western  bands  of  that  people,  were  thrown  down 
and  kicked  into  fragments  by  a  war  party  of  the  Crows,  who  then  held  the  muzzles 
of  their  guns  against  the  skulls,  and  blew  them  to  pieces.  This  happened  near  the 
head  of  the  Platte,  in  the  summer  of  1846.  Yet  the  Crows  are  much  less  ferocious 
than  were  the  Iroquois  in  La  Salle's  time. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  27 

As  La  Salle  surveyed  this  scene  of  havoc,  one  thought  engrossed  him: 
where  were  Tonty  and  his  men?  He  searched  the  Iroquois  fort;  there 
were  abundant  traces  of  its  savage  occupants  and,  among  them,  a  few 
fragments  of  French  clothing.  He  examined  the  skulls,  but  the  hair, 
portions  of  which  clung  to  nearly  all  of  them,  was  in  every  case  that 
of  an  Indian.  K\cning  came  on  before  he  had  finished  the  search.  The 
sun  set,  and  the  wilderness  sank  to  its  savage  rest.  Aight  and  silence 
brooded  over  the  waste,  where,  far  as  the  raven  cuuld  wmg  his  flight, 
stretched  the  dark  domain  of  solitude  and  horror." 

At  an  earlier  day  than  that  in  which  the  foregoing  events  trans])ired 
the  Iroquois  had  been  the  scourge  of  the  French.  In  1641  this  is  said  of 
them: 

"The  Confederates  at  this  time  were  in  a  flush  of  unparalleled 
audacity.  They  despised  white  men  as  base  poltroons  and  esteemed 
themselves  warriors  and  heroes,  destined  to  conquer  all  mankind.  The 
fire-arms  with  which  the  Dutch  had  rashly  supplied  them,  joined  to  their 
united  councils,  their  courage  and  ferocity,  gave  them  an  advantage  over 
the  surrounding  tribes  which  they  fully  understood.  Their  passion  rose 
with  their  sense  of  power.  They  boasted  that  they  would  wipe  the 
Hurons,  the  Algonquins  and  the  French  from  the  face  of  the  earth."  ^ 

The  following  quotation  is  selected  as  giving  a  more  extended  account 
of  the  aggressions  of  the  Iroquois  and  their  manner  of  conducting  their 
wars :  ® 

"A  band  of  Algonquins  late  in  the  autumn  of  1641  set  forth  from 
Three  Rivers  on  their  winter  hunt,  and,  fearful  of  the  Iroquois,  made 
their  way  far  northward  into  the  depths  of  the  forests  that  border  the 
Ottawa.  Here  they  thought  themselves  safe,  built  their  lodges  and  began 
to  hunt  the  moose  and  beaver.  But  a  large  party  of  their  enemies,  with 
a  persistent  ferocity  that  is  truly  astonishing,  had  penetrated  even  here, 
found  the  traces  of  the  snow-shoes,  followed  up  their  human  prey,  and 
hid  at  nightfall  among  the  rocks  and  thickets  around  the  encampment. 
At  midnight  their  yells  and  the  blows  of  their  war-clubs  awakened  their 
sleeping  victims.  In  a  few  minutes  all  were  in  their  power.  They 
bound  the  prisoners  hand  and  foot,  rekindled  the  fire,  slung  the  kettles, 
cut  the  bodies  of  the  slain  to  pieces,  and  boiled  and  devoured  them  be- 
fore the  eyes  of  the  wretched  survivors.  'In  a  word,'  says  the  narrator, 
'they  ate  men  with  as  much  appetite  and  more  pleasure  than  hunters 
eat  a  boar  or  a  stag.'  *^ 

"Meanwhile  they  amused  themselves  with  bantering  their  prisoners. 
'Uncle,'  said  one  of  them  to  an  old  Algonquin,  'you  are  a  dead  man.  You 
are  going  to  the  land  of  souls.  Tell  them  to  take  heart :  they  will  have 
good  company  soon,  for  we  are  going  to  send  all  the  rest  of  your  nation 
to  join  them.    This  will  be  good  news  for  them.'  ^^ 

"This  old  man,  who  is  described  as  no  less  malicious  than  his  captors, 
and  even  more  crafty,  soon  after  escaped  and  brought  tidings  of  the  dis- 
aster to  the  French.  In  the  following  spring  two  women  of  the  party 
also  escaped,  after  suffering  almost  incredible  hardships,  reached  Three 
Rivers,  torn  with  briers,  nearly  naked,  and  in  a  deplorable  state  of  bodily 
and  mental  exhaustion.  One  of  them  told  her  story  to  Father  Buteux, 
who  translated  it  into  French,  and  gave  it  to  Vimont  to  be  printed  in  the 
Relation  of  1642.  Revolting  as  it  is,  it  is  necessary  to  recount  it.  Suffice 
it  to  say,  that  it  is  sustained  by  the  whole  body  of  contemporary  evidence 
in  regard  to  the  practices  of  the  Iroquois  and  some  of  the  neighboring 
tribes. 


"  The  Jesuits  in  America,  Parkman,  241. 

"  The  Jesuits  in  North  America,  Parkman,  246-256. 

8»  Vimont,  Relation,  1642,  46. 

0^  Ibid.,  45. 


28  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

"The  conquerors  feasted  in  the  Iodide  till  nearly  daybreak,  and  then, 
after  a  short  rest,  began  their  march  homeward  with  their  prisoners. 
Among  these  were  three  women,  of  whom  the  narrator  was  one,  who  had 
each  a  child  of  a  few  weeks  or  months  old.  At  the  first  halt,  their  captors 
took  the  infants  from  them,  tied  them  to  wooden  spits,  jjlaced  them  to  die 
slowly  before  a  fire,  and  feasted  on  them  before  the  eyes  of  the  agonized 
mothers,  whose  shrieks,  sui)plications,  and  frantic  elTorts  to  break  the 
cords  that  bound  them  were  met  with  mockery  and  laughter.  'They  are 
not  men,  they  are  wolves !'  sobbed  the  wretched  woman,  as  she  told  what 
had  befallen  her  to  the  pitying  Jesuit.'"^  At  the  Fall  of  the  Chaudiere, 
another  of  the  women  ended  her  woes  by  leaping  into  the  cataract.  W'lien 
they  ajiproached  the  first  Iroquois  town,  they  were  met,  at  the  distance 
of  se\eral  leagues,  by  a  crowd  of  the  inhabitants,  and  anujng  them  a 
troop  of  women,  bringing  food  to  regale  the  triumphant  warriors.  Here 
they  halted,  and  passed  the  night  in  songs  of  victory,  mingled  with  the 
dismal  chant  of  the  prisoners,  who  were  forced  to  dance  for  their  enter- 
tainment. 

"On  the  morrow,  they  entered  the  town,  leading  the  captive  Algon- 
quins,  fast  bound,  and  surrounded  by  a  crowd  of  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren, all  singing  at  the  top  of  their  throats.  'Jhe  largest  lodge  was  ready 
to  receive  them;  and  as  they  entered,  the  victims  read  their  doom  in  the 
fires  that  blazed  on  the  earthen  floor,  and  in  the  aspect  of  the  attendant 
savages,  whom  the  Jesuit  Fatlier  calls  attendant  demons,  that  waited  their 
coming.  The  torture  which  ensued  was  but  preliminary,  designed  to 
cause  all  possible  sufifering  without  touching  life.  It  consisted  in  blows 
with  sticks  and  cudgels,  gashing  their  limbs  with  knives,  cutting  off  their 
fingers  with  clam-shells,  scorching  them  with  firebrands,  and  other  in- 
describable torments.  The  women  were  stripped  naked,  and  forced  to 
dance  to  the  singing  of  the  male  prisoners,  amid  the  applause  and 
laughter  of  the  crowd.  They  then  gave  them  food,  to  strengthen  them 
for  further  sufifering. 

"On  the  following  morning,  they  were  placed  on  a  large  scaffold  in 
sight  (jf  the  whole  population.  It  was  a  gala-day.  Some  luounted  the 
scaffold,  and  scorched  them  with  torches  and  firebrands;  while  the  chil- 
dren, standing  beneath  the  bark  platform,  applied  fire  to  the  feet  of  the 
prisoners  between  the  crevices.  The  Algonquin  women  were  told  to 
burn  their  husbands  and  companions;  and  one  of  them  obeyed,  vainly 
trying  to  appease  her  tormentors.  The  stoicism  of  one  of  the  warriors 
enraged  his  captors  beyond  measure.  'Scream!  why  don't  you  scream?' 
they  cried,  thrusting  their  burning  brands  at  his  naked  hotly.  'Look  at 
me,'  he  answered;  'you  cannot  make  me  wince.  If  you  were  in  my  jjlace, 
you  would  screech  like  babies.'  At  this  they  fell  upon  him  with  re- 
doubled fury,  till  their  knives  and  firebrands  left  in  him  no  semblance  of 
humanity.  He  was  defiant  to  the  last,  and  when  death  came  to  his  relief, 
they  tore  out  his  heart  and  devoured  it;  then  hacked  him  in  pieces,  and 
made  their  feast  of  triumph  on  his  mangled  limbs.'"' 

".'Ml  the  men  and  all  the  old  women  of  the  party  were  jjut  to  death  in 
a  similar  manner,  though  but  few  displayed  the  same  amazing  fortitude. 
The  younger  women,  of  whom  there  were  about  thirty,  after  ])assing  their 
ordeal  of  torture,  were  permitted  to  live ;  and,  disfigured  as  they  were, 


""Vimonl,  Relation,  1642,  46. 

""'The  diabolical  practices  described  above  were  not  peculiar  to  the  Iroquois. 
The  Neutrals  and  otlicr  kindred  tribes  were  no  whit  less  cruel.  It  is  a  remark  of 
Mr.  Gallatin,  and  I  think  a  just  one,  that  the  Indians  west  of  the  Mississippi  are 
less  ferocious  than  those  east  of  it.  The  burning  of  prisoners  is  rare  among  the 
prairie  tribes,  but  is  not  unknown.  An  Ogillallah  chief,  in  whose  lodge  I  lived  for 
several  weeks  in  184C1,  described  to  me,  with  most  expressive  pantomime,  how  he 
had  captured  and  burned  a  warrior  of  the  Snake  Tribe  in  a  valley  of  the  Medicine 
Bow  mountains,  near  which  we  were  then  encamped. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  29 

were  distributed  among  the  several  villages,  as  concubines  or  slaves  to 
the  Iroquois  warriors.  Of  this  number  were  the  narrator  and  her  com- 
panion, who,  being  ordered  to  accompany  a  war-party  and  carry  their 
provisions,  escaped  at  night  into  the  forest,  and  reached  Three  Rivers, 
as  we  have  seen. 

"While  the  Indian  allies  of  the  French  were  wasting  away  beneath 
this  atrocious  warfare,  the  French  themselves,  and  especially  the  travel- 
ling Jesuits,  had  their  full  share  of  the  infliction.  In  truth,  the  puny  and 
sickly  colony  seemed  in  the  gasps  of  dissolution.  The  beginning  of  spring, 
particularly,  was  a  season  of  terror  and  suspense ;  for  with  the  breaking 
up  of  the  ice,  sure  as  a  destiny,  came  the  Iroquois.  As  soon  as  a  canoe 
could  float,  they  were  on  the  war-path;  and  with  the  cry  of  the  returning 
wild-fowl  mingled  the  yell  of  these  human  tigers.  They  did  not  always 
wait  for  the  breaking  ice,  but  set  forth  on  foot,  and,  when  they  came  to 
open  water,  made  canoes  and  embarked. 

"Well  might  Father  Vimont  call  the  Iroquois  'the  scourge  of  this 
infant  church.'  They  burned,  hacked,  and  devoured  the  neophytes;  ex- 
terminated whole  villages  at  once;  destroyed  the  nations  whom  the 
Fathers  hoped  to  convert;  and  ruined  that  sure  ally  of  the  missions,  the 
fur-trade.  Not  the  most  hideous  nightmare  of  a  fevered  brain  could 
transcend  in  horror  the  real  and  waking  perils  with  which  they  beset  the 
path  of  these  intrepid  priests. 

"In  the  spring  of  1644,  Joseph  Bressani,  an  Italian  Jesuit,  born  in 
Rome,  and  now  for  two  years  past  a  missionary  in  Canada,  was  ordered 
by  his  Superior  to  go  up  to  the  Hurons.  It  was  so  early  in  the  season 
that  there  seemed  hope  that  he  might  pass  in  safety;  but  as  the  Fathers 
in  that  wild  mission  had  received  no  succor  for  three  years,  Bressani 
was  charged  with  letters  to  them,  and  such  necessaries  for  their  use  as 
he  was  able  to  carry.  With  him  were  six  young  Hurons,  lately  converted, 
and  a  French  boy  in  his  service.  The  party  were  in  three  small  canoes. 
Before  setting  out  they  all  confessed  and  prepared  for  death. 

"They  left  Three  Rivers  on  the  twenty-seventh  of  April,  and  found 
ice  still  floating  in  the  river,  and  patches  of  snow  lying  in  the  naked 
forests.  On  the  first  day,  one  of  the  canoes  overset,  nearly  drowning 
Bressani,  who  could  not  swim.  On  the  third  day,  a  snow-storm  began, 
and  greatly  retarded  their  progress.  The  young  Indians  foolishly  fired 
their  guns  at  the  wild- fowl  on  the  river,  and  the  sound  reached  the  ears 
of  a  war-party  of  Iroquois,  one  of  ten  that  had  already  set  forth  for  the 
St.  Lawrence,  the  Ottawa,  and  the  Huron  towns.""  Hence,  it  befell,  that 
as  they  crossed  the  mouth  of  a  small  stream  entering  the  St.  Lawrence, 
twenty-seven  Iroquois  suddenly  issued  from  behind  a  point  and  attacked 
them  in  canoes.  One  of  the  Hurons  was  killed,  and  all  the  rest  of  the 
party  captured  without  resistance. 

"On  the  fifteenth  of  July  following  Bressani  wrote  from  the  Iroquois 
country  to  the  General  of  the  Jesuits  at  Rome:  T  do  not  know  if 
your  Paternity  will  recognize  the  handwriting  of  one  whom  you  once 
knew  \ery  well.  The  letter  is  soiled  and  ill-written,  because  the  writer 
has  only  one  finger  of  his  right  hand  left  entire,  and  cannot  prevent  the 
blood  from  his  wounds,  which  are  still  open,  from  staining  the  paper. 
His  ink  is  gunpowder  mixed  with  water,  and  his  table  is  the  earth.' "f 

"Then  follows  a  modest  narrative  of  what  he  endured  at  the  hands 
of   his   captors.      First   they   thanked   the   Sun   for   their   victory;    then 

"'  Vimont,  Relation,  1644,  41. 

"'This  letter  is  printed  anonymously  in  the  Second  Part,  Chap.  11,  of  Bressani's 
Relation  Abreijee.  A  comparison  with  Vimont's  account,  in  the  Relation  of  1644, 
makes  its  authorship  apparent.  Vimont's  narrative  agrees  in  all  essential  points. 
His  informant  was  "vne  personnc  digne  de  foy,  qui  a  estc  tesmoin  oculaire  de  tout 
ce  qu'il  a  souffert  pendant   sa  captiuite." — Vimont,  Relation,   1644,  43. 


30  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

plundered  the  canoes ;  then  cut  up,  roasted  and  devoured  the  slain  Huron 
before  the  eyes  of  the  prisoners.  On  the  next  day  they  crossed  to  the 
southern  shore,  and  ascended  the  River  Riclielieu  as  far  as  the  rapids  of 
Chanibly,  whence  they  pursued  tlieir  march  on  foot  among  the  brambles, 
rocks,  and  swamps  of  the  trackless  forest.  When  they  reached  Lake 
C'hamplain,  they  made  new  canoes  and  re-embarked,  landed  at  its  southern 
extremity  six  days  afterwards,  and  thence  made  for  the  Upper  Hudson. 
Here  they  found  a  fishing  camp  of  four  hundred  Iroquois,  and  now 
Bressani's  torments  began  in  earnest.  They  split  his  hand  with  a  knife, 
between  the  little  linger  and  the  ring  finger ;  then  beat  him  with  sticks, 
till  he  was  covered  with  blood;  and  afterwards  placed  him  on  one  of 
llicir  torture-scaffolds  of  bark,  as  a  spectacle  to  the  crowd.  Here  they 
stri])])ed  him,  and  while  he  shivered  with  cold  from  head  to  foot,  they 
forced  him  to  sing.  After  about  two  hours  they  gave  him  up  to  the  chil- 
dren, who  ordered  him  to  dance,  at  the  same  time  thrusting  sharpened 
sticks  into  his  flesh,  and  pulling  out  his  hair  and  beard.  'Sing !'  cried  one ; 
'Hold  your  tongue!'  screamed  another;  and  if  he  obeyed  the  first,  the 
second  burned  him.  'We  will  burn  you  to  death ;  we  will  eat  you.'  'I  will 
eat  one  of  your  hands.'  'And  I  will  eat  one  of  your  feet.'  These  scenes 
were  renewed  every  night  for  a  week.  Every  evening  a  chief  cried 
aloud  through  the  camp,  'Come,  my  children,  come  and  caress  our  prison- 
ers !' — and  the  savage  crew  thronged  jubilant  to  a  large  hut,  where  the 
captives  lay.  They  stripped  off  the  torn  fragment  of  a  cassock,  which 
was  the  priest's  only  garment ;  burned  him  with  live  coals  and  red-hot 
stones ;  forced  him  to  walk  on  hot  cinders ;  burned  off  now  a  finger-nail 
and  now  the  joint  of  a  finger, — rarely  more  than  one  at  a  time,  however, 
for  they  economized  their  pleasures,  and  reserved  the  rest  for  another 
day.  This  torture  was  protracted  till  one  or  two  o'clock,  after  which  they 
left  him  on  the  ground,  fast  bound  to  four  stakes,  and  covered  only  with 
a  scanty  fragment  of  deer-skin."'^  The  other  prisoners  had  their  share 
of  torture;  but  the  worst  fell  upon  the  Jesuit,  as  the  chief  man  of  the 
])arty.  The  unhappy  boy  who  attended  him,  though  only  twelve  or 
thirteen  years  old,  was  tormented  before  his  eyes  with  a  pitiless  ferocitv. 

"At  length  they  left  this  encampment,  and,  after  a  march  of  several 
days, — during  which  Bressani,  in  wading  a  rocky  stream,  fell  from  ex- 
haustion and  was  nearly  drowned, — they  reached  an  Iroquois  town.  It 
is  needless  to  follow  the  revolting  details  of  the  new  torments  that  suc- 
ceeded. They  hung  him  by  the  feet  with  chains ;  jjjaced  food  for  their 
dogs  on  his  naked  body,  that  they  might  lacerate  him  as  they  ate;  and 
at  last  had  reduced  his  emaciated  frame  to  such  a  condition,  that  even 
they  themselves  stood  in  horror  of  him.  'I  could  not  have  believed,'  he 
writes  to  his  Superior,  'that  a  man  was  so  hard  to  kill.'  He  found  among 
them  those  who,  from  compassion,  or  from  a  refinement  of  cruelty,  fed 
him.  for  he  could  not  feed  himself.  They  told  him  jestingly  that  they 
wished  to  fatten  him  before  putting  him  to  death. 

"The  council  that  was  to  decide  his  fate  met  on  the  nineteentii  of 
June,  when,  to  the  prisoner's  amazement,  and,  as  it  seenie(l,  to  their  own 
surprise,  they  resolved  to  spare  his  life.  He  was  given  with  due  cere- 
mony, to  an  old  woman,  to  take  the  place  of  a  deceased  relative ;  but, 
since  he  was  as  repulsive,  in  his  mangled  condition,  as,  by  the  Indian 
standard,  he  was  useless,  she  sent  her  son  with  him.  to  Fort  Orange  tr, 
sell  him  to  the  Dutch.  With  the  same  humanity  which  they  had  shown 
in  the  case  of  Jogues,  they  gave  a  generous  ransom  for  him,  su])i)lied 
h-m  with  clothing,  kept  him  till  his  strength  was  in  some  degree  recruited. 


'"•'  Bressani  speaks  in  anotlier  passage  of  tortures  of  a  nature  yet  more  cxcru- 
ciatinR,  They  were  similar  to  tho.se  alluded  to  by  the  anonymous  auflior  of  the 
Ri'hilimi  of  1660;  He  adds,  that  past  ages  have  never  heard  of  such. — Kchitinn, 
1660,  7,  8. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  31 

and  then  placed  him  on  board  a  vessel  bound  for  Rochelle.  Here  he  ar- 
rived on  the  fifteenth  of  November;  and  in  the  following  spring,  maimed 
and  disfigured,  but  with  health  restored,  embarked  to  dare  again  the 
knives  and  firebrands  of  the  Iroquois."  ^^ 

The  chronicler,  however,  sets  down  that  "In  justice  to  the  Iroquois, 
that,  ferocious  and  cruel  as  past  all  denial  they  were,  they  were  not  so 
bereft  of  the  instincts  of  humanity  as  at  first  sight  might  appear.  An 
inexorable  severity  towards  enemies  was  a  very  essential  element,  in  their 
savage  conception,  of  the  character  of  the  warrior.  Pity  was  a  cowardly 
weakness,  at  which  their  pride  revolted.  This,  joined  to  their  thirst  for 
applause  and  their  dread  of  ridicule,  made  them  smother  every  move- 
ment of  compassion,  and  conspired  with  their  native  fierceness  to  form 
a  character  of  unrelenting  cruelty  rarely  equalled."  '' 

The  object  of  these  quotations  is  to  show  the  ordinary  reader  the 
ferocity  with  which  the  Iroquois  made  war  and  the  great  range  of  terri- 
tory over  which  they  extended  their  conquests.  y\nd,  too,  they  are  to 
impress  the  fact  that  these  fierce  warriors  had  no  regard  for  kindred 
nations.  The  Hurons,  whom  they  destroyed  by  the  year  1649,  were 
closely  related.  The  Neutral  Nation  and  the  Eries  were  related  by  blood 
and  of  near  degree.  But  the  Iroquois  had  determined  on  a  complete 
conquest  of  the  Ohio  Valley  and  all  the  country  to  the  Mississippi.  This 
could  not  be  accomplished  with  the  Neutrals  and  the  Eries  left  living  be- 
tween them  and  the  vast  territory  they  coveted  and  had  determined  to 
take.  So,  between  1650  and  1655  the  Neutral  Nation  and  the  Eries  were 
completely  destroyed.  Memory  of  even  the  Indian  held  nothing  concern- 
ing the  Eries,  and  the  extermination  of  the  Neutrals  was  almost  as  com- 
plete. These  tribes  out  of  the  way,  the  Ohio  Valley  lay  at  the  mercy  of 
the  Iroquois.  There  were  no  Jesuits  there  to  make  a  record  of  what 
transpired  nor  to  preserve  the  date.  But  knowing  the  ferocious  character 
of  Iroquoian  wars,  what  actually  took  place  can  be  easily  imagined.  And 
that  the  conquest  was  made  soon  after  the  destruction  of  the  Neutrals 
and  the  Eries  there  can  be  but  little  doubt. 

What  tribes  were  then  living  in  what  is  now  Kentucky,  it  would  be 
difficult  to  say.  Some  of  the  Cherokees  may  have  lingered  there.  The 
Shawnees  have  traditions  that  they  lived  along  the  Cumberland  and  the 
upper  waters  of  the  Kentucky  and  Big  Sandy  rivers.  Some  of  the  dis- 
appearing Siouans  may  yet  have  tarried  about  the  falls  of  the  Ohio. 
Tribes  of  the  Algonquin  stock  lived  in  what  are  now  Indiana,  Ohio, 
Illinois,  Michigan  and  Wisconsin,  and  some  of  them  may  have  had 
villages  on  the  south  side  of  the  Ohio.  The  Chickasaws  had  a  tradition 
that  they  once  owned  the  southern  part  of  Illinois  and  lived  there.  It  is 
known  that  they  successfully  maintained  their  claim  to  that  part  of 
Kentucky  west  of  the  Tennessee  River  and  sold  it  in  a  treaty  concluded 
by  General  Jackson  and  Isaac  Shelby.  The  people  warred  on  by  the 
Iroquois  were  these  or  some  of  them.  The  particulars  of  the  sanguinary 
conflict  are  lost,  but  that  it  was  so  bloody  that  both  memory  and  horror 
of  it  remained  in  the  Indian  mind  until  long  after  the  white  settlers  began 
to  arrive.  No  Indian  ever  again  dared  set  foot  on  Kentucky  soil  with 
the  design  of  establishing  a  tribal  home.     He  might  cross  over  it  in  his 


^^  Immediately  on  his  return  to  Canada  he  was  ordered  to  set  out  again  for  the 
Hurons.  More  fortunate  than  on  his  first  attempt,  he  arrived  safely,  early  in  the 
autumn  of  1645. — Ragueneau,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1646,  73. 

On  Bressani,  besides  the  authorities  cited,  see  Du  Crettx,  Historia  Canadensis, 
399-403 ;  Juchereau,  Histoirc  de  I'  Hotcl-Dicu,  53 ;  and  Martin,  Biographic  du  P. 
Francois-Joseph  Bressani,  prefixed  to  the  Relation  Abregee. 

He  made  no  converts  while  a  prisoner,  but  he  baptized  a  Huron  catechumen 
at  the  stake,  to  the  great  fury  of  the  surrounding  Iroquois.  He  has  left,  besides 
his  letters,  som.e  interesting  notes  on  his  captivity,  preserved  in  the  Relation  Abregee. 

'  The  Jesuits  in  North  America,  Parkman,  256. 


32  inSTORV  f)l"  KI'XTrCKV 

waiuieriiigs  or  by  stealth  skulk  in  its  forests  and  brakes  to  hunt  game, 
but  for  a  home — nevermore. 

The  first  settlers  heard  much  of  this  conquest.  Sandy  Island  was 
pointed  out  to  them  as  the  last  stand  of  the  native  tribes,  and  the  heaps 
of  bones  disclosed  there  by  receding  waters  confirmed  the  tales  told  by 
Indians,  horror-stricken  e\en  to  think  of  that  battle  more  than  a  century 
later.  So  Kentucky  was  made  a  solitude  by  the  ferocious  Iroquois  about 
1660  to  1670.  Even  the  rivers  were  associated  with  the  bloody  scene. 
The  Ohio  was  itself  spoken  of  among  Indians  as  the  bloody  river.  And 
this  ajipellation  attached  to  other  streams.  And  the  pioneers,  not  know 
ing  what  had  trans])ired  in  the  former  ages,  misvnulerstood  the  vague 
allusions  of  the  Indians  and  called  Kentucky  the  Dark  and  Bloody 
(Iround. 

'{"lie  lrii(|uiiis  permitted  tlie  deiileted  tribes  dwelling  on  the  north  side 
of  the  ( )liio  to  remain,  but  they  were  in  a  state  of  subjection  as  long  as 
their  masters  found  it  to  their  interest  to  assert  their  authority.  I'y  the 
changes  which  gradually  came  with  the  advance  and  importance  of  white 
settlement  the  Iroquois  slowly  relin(|uished  interest  there  and  these 
tribes  came  to  exercise  anew  their  indejxMidence.  The  broken  fragments 
of  the  Hurons  had  fled  westw-ard  along  the  Great  Lakes  when  ruin  fell 
on  their  country.  They  wandered  near  a  century  in  these  wastes  before 
taking  form  as  a  nation,  then  emerged  as  the  Wyandots.  These  gathered 
strength  and  power  as  they  moved  southward  by  way  of  Detroit.  They 
were  recognized  by  the  Iroquois  and  came  to  rej^rcsent.  in  a  way,  their 
ancient  antagonists  so  far  as  western  interests  were  concerned.  They 
were  placed  at  the  head  of  the  Western  League  against  the  advancing 
whites,  known  as  the  Xorlhwestern  Confederacy,  and  which  always  acted. 
as  a  body,  in  favor  of  the  British.  'Jhe  Delawares  were  forced  westward, 
and  they  settled  in  Ohio  along  the  Muskingum  by  consent  of  the  Wyan- 
dots. The  Shawnees  were  driven  from  ]jlace  to  place  and  finally  by 
consent  of  the  Wyandots  began  to  assemble  on  the  north  bank  of  the 
UpiJer  Ohio.  The  tribes  of  the  Iroquois  began  to  disintegrate  to  some 
extent,  and  members  of  all  of  them — but  more  of  the  Cayugas — formed 
settlements  on  the- Ohio  below  b'ort  Pitt.  These  assumed  the  generic 
name  of  their  people — Mengwe — as  one  which  would  embrace  them  all. 
This  name  was  corrupted  by  the  whites  into  "Mingo,"  and  these  people 
became  the  Mingos  of  history.** 

So,  it  is  seen  how,  naturally,  in  the  changing  conditions,  and  in  the 
course  of  time  the  Indian  tribes  which  so  much  troubled  the  Pioneer 
Kentuckians,  came  to  be  seated  in  and  about  what  became  the  State  of 
Ohio.  Lender  the  sinister  intluence  of  the  British  and  from  an  inherent 
inclination,  they  descended  from  their  recently  ac(|iiire(!  Imnies  to  war  on 
the    Kentuckians. 

In  early  Indian  history  of  Kentucky  there  is  encountered  the 
Welsh  tradition.'-'  Cajjt.  John  Smith,  the  hero  of  early  \  irginia,  in  his 
history  of  that  colony  mentions  the  Welsh  colony,  as  follows: 

"The  Chronicles  of  Wales  rejwrt,  that  Madock,  sonne  to  Owne 
Quineth,  Prince  of  Wales,  seeing  his  twn  brethren  at  debate  who  sliou'd 

'There  was  copyrighted  in  1921,  liv  William  H.  Cobb,  a  book  entitled  Monii- 
moi!  In  <iiid  History  of  Ihe  Mingo  Indians.  It  is  made  ii|)  of  some  addresses,  all 
of  which  labor  under  the  delusion  tlial  the  Mingos  were  a  tribe  separate  and  dis- 
tinct. They  must  have  exercised  the  functions  of  a  tribe  for  their  local  self-gov- 
ernment. But  they  were  a  mongrel  band  of  Iroquois  and  wore  later  known  as  a 
band  of  Sencca.s,  though  why  Senecas  is  hard  to  understand,  as  there  was  scarcely 
a  Seneca  among  them.  Logan,  the  orator,  was  a  Mingo — llidugli  lie  was  in  fact 
a  Cayuga. 

"A  considerable  volume  was  written  and  compiled  by  Col.  R.  T.  Dnrrett,  Presi- 
dent of  the  Filson  Club,  Louisville,  entitled  Trnditions  of  Ihc  liaiiii-sl  I'isils  of 
Foreigners  to  North  America.  It  was  printed  as  Filson  Club  Publication  No.  2.3, 
and  has  been  frequently  consulted  in  treating  this  subject. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  33 

inherit  prepared  certaine  Ships,  witli  men  and  munition ;  and  left  his 
Country  to  seeke  adventures  by  Sea;  leaving  Ireland  north  he  sayled  west 
till  he  came  to  a  land  unknowne.  Returning  home  and  relating  what 
pleasant  and  fruitful  countries  he  had  seen  without  inhabitants  and  for 
what  barren  ground  his  brethren  and  kindred  did  murther  one  another, 
he  provided  a  number  of  Ships,  and  got  with  him  such  men  and  women 
as  were  desirous  to  live  in  quietnesse  that  arrived  with  him  in  this  new 
land  in  the  yeare  1170;  Left  many  of  his  people  there  and  returned  for 
more.    But  where  this  place  was  no  History  can  show."' 

Captain  Smith  was  evidently  familiar  with  the  account  of  Caradoc, 
which  is  set  out  here : 

"Prince  Owen  Gwynedd  being  dead  the  succession  was  of  right  to 
descend  to  his  eldest  legitimate  son,  lorwerth  Drwydwn,  otherwise  called 
Edward  with  the  Broken  Nose ;  but  by  reason  of  that  blemish  upon  his 
face,  he  was  laid  aside  as  unfit  to  take  upon  him  the  government  of  North 
Wales.  Therefore  his  younger  brothers  began  every  one  to  aspire,  in 
hopes  of  succeeding  their  father;  but  Howell,  who  was  of  all  the  eldest, 
but  base  born  begotten  of  an  Irish  woman,  finding  they  could  not  agree, 
stept  in  himself  and  took  upon  him  the  government.  But  David,  who  was 
legitimately  born  could  not  brook  that  a  bastard  should  ascend  his  father's 
throne,  and  therefore  he  made  all  preparations  possible  to  pull  him  down. 
Howell,  on  the  other  hand,  was  as  resolute  to  maintain  his  ground,  and 
was  not  willing  so  quickly  to  deliver  up,  what  he  had  not  very  long  got 
possession  of ;  and  so  both  brothers  meeting  together  in  the  field,  were 
resolved  to  try  their  title  by  the  point  of  the  sword.  The  battle  had  not 
lasted  long,  but  Howell  was  slain;  and  then  David  was  unanimously  pro- 
claimed and  saluted  Prince  of  North  Wales,  which  principality  he  en- 
joyed without  molestation,  till  Llewlyn,  lorwerth  Drwydwn's  son  came 
of  age,  as  will  hereafter  appear.  But  Madoc,  another  of  Owen 
Gwynedd's  sons,  finding  how  his  brothers  contended  for  the  principality, 
and  that  his  native  country  was  like  to  be  turmoiled  in  a  civil  war,  did 
think  it  his  better  prudence  to  try  his  fortune  abroad;  and  therefore  leav- 
ing North  Wales  in  a  very  unsettled  condition,  sailed  with  a  small  fleet 
of  ships  which  he  had  rigged  and  manned  for  that  purpose,  to  the  west- 
ward ;  and  leaving  Ireland  on  the  north,  he  came  at  length  to  an  unknown 
country,  where  most  things  appeared  to  him  new  and  uncustomary,  and 
the  manner  of  the  natives  far  different  from  what  he  had  seen  in  Europe. 
This  country,  says  the  learned  H.  Lloyd,  must  of  necessity  be  some  part 
of  that  vast  tract  of  ground,  of  which  the  Spaniards,  since  Hanno's  time, 
boast  themselves  to  be  the  first  discoverers,  and  which  by  order  of  Cos- 
mography, seems  to  be  some  part  of  Nova  Hispania,  or  Florida ;  where 
by  it  is  manifested,  that  this  country  was  discovered  by  the  Britains,  long 
before  either  Columbus  or  America  Vesputius  sailed  thither.  But  con- 
cerning Madoc's  voyage  to  this  country,  and  afterwards  his  return  from 
thence,  there  are  many  fabulous  stories  and  idle  tales  invented  by  the 
vulgar,  who  are  sure  never  to  diininish  from  what  they  hear,  but  will  add 
to  and  increase  any  fable  as  far  as  their  invention  will  prompt  them. 
However,  says  the  same  author,  it  is  certain  that  Madoc  arrived  in  this 
country,  and  after  he  had  viewed  the  fertility  and  pleasantness  of  it,  he 
thought  it  expedient  to  invite  more  of  his  countrymen  out  of  Britain ;  and 
therefore  leaving  most  of  those  he  had  brought  with  him  already  behind. 
he  returned  for  Wales.  Being  arrived  there,  he  began  to  acquaint  his 
friends  with  what  a  fair  and  extensive  land  he  had  met  with,  void  of  any 
inhabitants,  whilst  they  employed  all  their  skill  to  supplant  one  another, 
only  for  a  ragged  portion  of  rocks  and  mountains;  and  therefore  he 
would  persuade  them  to  change  their  pre.sent  state  of  danger  and  (-1.11 
tinual  clashings  for  a  more  quiet  being  of  ease  and  enjoyment.  And  so 
having  got  a  considerable  number  of  Welsh  together,  he  bid  adieu  to  his 
native  country,  and  sailed  with  ten  ships  back  to  them  he  had  left  behind. 

Vol.  1-7 


;i4  IllSTCJKV  ol'   Kl'lXTLCKV 

It  is  therefore  to  be  supposed,  says  our  author,  that  Madoc  and  his  people 
inhabited  part  of  that  country,  since  called  Florida  by  reason  that  it  ap- 
pears from  I-'rancis  Loves,  an  author  of  no  small  re])utation,  that  in 
Acusanus  and  other  places,  the  jjeople  honoured  and  worsliipijcd  the  cross  ; 
whence  it  may  be  naturally  concluded  that  christians  had  been  there  be- 
fore the  connii}^  of  the  Spaniards;  and  who  these  christians  misilit  be. 
unless  it  were  this  colony  of  Madoc's,  it  cannot  be  easily  imagined.  I'.ut 
by  reason  that  the  Welsh  who  came  over,  were  not  many,  they  intermi.xcd 
in  a  few  years  with  the  natives  of  the  country  and  so  following  their 
manners  and  using  their  language,  they  became  at  length  undistinguishable 
from  ihe  barbarians,  liut  the  country  which  jMadoc  landed  in,  is  by  the 
learned  Dr.  i'owell  supjiosed  to  be  part  of  Mexico  for  which  conjecture 
he  lays  down  these  following  reasons: — first  as  it  is  recorded  in  the 
S})anish  chronicles  of  the  conquest  of  the  W'cst  Indies  the  inhabitants 
and  natives  of  that  country  affirm  by  tradition,  that  their  rulers  descended 
from  a  strange  nation,  which  came  thither  from  a  strange  country;  as  it 
was  confessed  by  King  Montezuma,  in  a  speech  at  his  submission  to  the 
King  of  Castile,  before  Hernando  Cortez,  the  Spanish  general.  And  then 
the  British  words  and  names  of  places  used  in  that  country,  even  at  this 
day  do  undoubtedly  argue  the  same;  as  when  they  speak  and  confabulate 
together,  they  use  this  British  word,  Gwarando,  which  signifies  to 
hearken,  or  listen,  and  a  certain  bird  with  a  white  head,  they  call  Pen- 
gwyn,  which  signifies  the  same  in  Welsh.  I'.ut  for  a  more  comjjlete  con- 
firmation of  this,  the  island  of  Corroeso,  the  cape  of  Bryton,  the  river 
of  Gwyndor,  and  the  white  rock  of  Pengwyn,  which  are  all  British  words, 
do  manifestly  shew,  that  it  w-as  that  country  which  Madoc  and  his  peo])le 
inhabited." 

John  Filson.  the  first  to  write  a  history  of  Kentucky,  brought  the 
traclition  over  the  Alleghanies  and  planted  in  the  fertile  soil  of  the  Blue- 
grass.  It  has  flourished  apace,  and  it  has  been  enlarged,  buttressed,  ex- 
panded, until  it  has  a  place  in  the  history  of  the  state.  I'ilson  visited 
Louisville  in  search  of  information  concerning  the  Welsh  Indians,  for 
by  that  time  the  \Velsh  descendants  of  the  original  c(5lonists  were  sup- 
posed to  have  become  a  tribe  of  Indians,  seated  at  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio, 
now  Louisville.  Gen.  George  Rogers  Clark  spoke  in  a  meeting  called  to 
consider  the  matter.  He  said  a  Kaskaskia  chief  had  called  his  attention 
to  large  and  curiously-shaped  earthworks  on  the  Kaskaskia  River.  This 
chief  was  of  lighter  complexion  than  the  ordinary  Indian,  and  he  said 
this  particular  earthwork  had  been  erected  by  his  ancestors.  Colonel 
.Moore  followed  (iencral  Clark.  He  said  an  old  Indian  had  told  him  that 
there  had  been  a  long  war  of  extermination  between  the  Red  Indians 
and  the  White  Indians.  The  final  battle  between  them  had  been  fought 
at  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio,  where  the  White  Indians  had  been  driven  upon 
one  island  and  slaughtered.  General  Clark  then  said  that  Chief  Tobacco, 
of  the  Piankashaws,  had  told  him  the  same  thing.  Major  Harrison 
then  called  attention  to  a  place  on  the  north  side  of  the  Ohio,  opposite 
the  Falls,  where  there  were  thousands  of  human  bones  in  such  confusion 
that  they  must  ha\-e  been  those  of  warriors  slain  in  battle.  All  of  which 
:s  only  the  confirmation  of  the  battle  there  in  which  the  Iroquois  com- 
pleted the  conquest  of  the  Ohio  River  country.  The  stories  of  those 
Indians  were  echoes  of  the  fading  memory  of  that  awful  catastrophe  to 
their  people. 

At  this  meeting  for  the  enlightenment  of  Mr.  Filson  others  were 
heard,  though  little  real  information  was  forthcoming.  Filson  spoke  last. 
He  occupied  much  time,  and  when  he  was  through,  the  members  present 
were  asleep  excejit  a  Doctor  Skimier,  who,  in  compliment  to  Filson,  sug- 
gested that  his  eloquence  bad  put  the  club  to  sleep.  In  the  1794  edition 
of   his   History  of  Kcniiickc,   I'^ilson   devoted  two  pages   to   the   Welsh 


John  Filson,  1747- 1788. 
(Courtesy  of  The  Filson  Club) 


36  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY      • 

tradition.  He  gives  more  than  one  instance  of  Indians  speaking  perfectly 
the  Welsh  tongue. 

Colonel  Durrett  gives  the  main  facts  of  the  experiences  of  one 
Maurice  Griffiths,  a  VVelshman  who  emigrated  to  the  colony  of  Virginia 
and  settled  on  the  Roanoke  River.  He  was  captured  by  the  Shawnees 
about  the  year  1764.  Two  or  three  years  later  he  was  taken  on  a  hunting 
and  exploring  trip  up  the  Missouri  River  by  five  Shawnee  young  men. 
I'"ar  U])  the  river  the  entire  party  was  captured  by  a  band  of  strange 
Indians  who  lived  in  that  country,  and  taken  by  them  to  their  town. 
This  was  an  immense  city,  if  the  story  of  Griffiths  is  to  be  depended  on. 
They  traversed  it  fifteen  miles  before  reaching  the  council  house.  There 
they  were  condemned  to  die.  But  Griffiths  had  understood  what  had 
been  said  by  the  chiefs  in  their  deliberations,  for  the  Indians  were  all 
white  and  spoke  the  Welsh  language  perfectly.  When  he  acquainted  the 
council  with  that  fact,  the  death  sentence  was  reversed.  The  exploring 
party  remained  eight  months  with  this  nation,  which  contained,  as  nearly 
as  Griffiths  could  make  out,  some  50,000  souls — all  white — not  a  dark- 
skinned  one  among  them.  They  said  their  fathers  had  come  up  the  river 
from  a  far  country.  They  had  no  books  or  records.  They  had  no  iron 
implements,  and  used  stone  tomahawks. 

A  Mr.  Thomas  S.  Hinde  bears  witness  that  in  1799  "six  soldiers' 
skeletons  were  dug  up  near  Jeffersonville,  each  skeleton  had  a  breast- 
plate of  brass,  cast  with  the  Welsh  coat-of-arms,  the  Mermaid  and  the 
Harp  with  a  Latin  inscription,  in  substance,  'virtuous  deeds  meet  their 
just  reward.'  One  of  these  plates  was  left  by  Cai^tain  Jonathan  Taylor, 
with  the  late  Mr.  Hubbard  Taylor,  of  Clark  county,  and  when  called  for 
by  me  in  1814  for  the  late  Dr.  John  P.  Campbell  of  Chillicothe,  Ohio, 
who  was  preparing  notes  of  the  antiquities  of  the  west,  by  a  letter  from 
Mr.  Hubbard  Taylor,  Jr.  (a  relative  of  mine),  now  living,  1  was  informed 
that  the  breast  plate  had  been  taken  to  Virginia  by  a  gentleman  of  that 
state."'" 

Colonel  Durrett  bewails  the  fact  that  these  six  Welsh  skeletons  could 
not  compete  with  a  Danish  skeleton  dug  up  Fall  River,  which  was  ana- 
lyzed by  a  chemist  and  found  to  be  that  of  Thorsvald  Erickson,  the  Dane, 
who  was  killed  in  America  about  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh  century. 
The  Colonel  thouglit  these  Falls  of  the  Ohio  skeletons  should  have  been 
analyzed  by  a  chemist,  when  one  of  them  might  have  been  identified  as 
Prince  Madoc. 

Colonel  Durrett  cites  instances  of  the  destruction  of  whole  tribes  of 
Indians: 

"It  is  therefore  well  known  to  us  that  whole  tribes  have  perished  and 
left  only  a  name  behind.  That  the  Madocs  were  one  of  these  extinguished 
tribes  we  have  some  Indian  traditions  in  evidence.  An  old  Indian  told 
Colonel  James  F.  Moore,  of  Kentucky,  that  long  ago  a  war  of  extermina- 
tion was  waged  between  the  Red  Indians  and  the  Indians  of  a  lighter 
complexion  in  Kentucky,  and  that  the  last  great  battle  between  them 
was  fought  at  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio,  where  the  light-colored  Indians  were 
driven  upon  Sand  Island  as  the  last  hope  of  escape,  and  there  all  were 
slaughtered  by  their  pursuers."  " 

Here,  again,  the  reversion  to  the  last  battle  of  the  Iroquois  in  the 
conquest  of  the  Ohio  X'alley  in  historic  times. 

The  Mandan  Indians,  a  Siouan  tribe  yet  living  in  the  Dakotas,  is  the 
last  refuge  of  the  believers  in  a  Welsh  or  white  tribe  of  Indians.  George 
Catlin,  the  painter,  visited  the  Western  tribes  and  was  for  a  time  at  the 
Mandan  village.' ^     He  was  familiar  with  the  Welsh  tradition,  and  he 


1"  Traditions  of  the  Earliest  Americans,  62,  63. 

"  Traditions  of  the  Earliest  Americans,  68. 

'2  See  Catlin's  North  American  Indians,  Vol.  2,  pp.  781,  et  seq. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  37 

identified,  as  he  believed,  the  Maiuians  as  the  Welsli.  By  mounds  he 
traced  them,  as  he  supposed,  down  the  Missouri  to  its  mouth  and  up  the 
Ohio.  He  was  of  th€  opinion  that  they  had  constructed  some  of  the 
mounds  now  found  in  Ohio.  He  records  his  faith  that  the  ten  ships  of 
Madoc,  or  a  part  of  them,  at  least,  ascended  the  Mississippi  and  Ohio 
Rivers.    There — 

"They  cultivated  their  fields,  and  established  in  one  of  the  finest 
countries  on  earth,  a  flourishing  colony ;  but  were  at  length  set  upon  l:)y 
the  savages,  whom,  perhaps,  they  provoked  to  warfare,  being  trespassers 
on  their  hunting-grounds,  and  by  whom  in  overpowering  hordes,  they 
were  besieged,  until  it  was  necessary  to  erect  there  fortifications  for  their 
defense  into  which  they  were  at  last  driven  by  a  confederacy  of  tribes, 
and  there  held  till  their  ammunition  and  provisions  gave  out,  and  they 
in  the  end  had  all  perished  except  perhaps  that  portion  of  them  vi'ho  might 
have  formed  alliance  by  marriage  with  the  Indians,  and  their  offspring, 
who  would  have  been  half-breeds,  and  of  course  attached  to  the  Indians' 
side ;  whose  lives  have  been  spared  in  the  general  massacre,  and  at  length, 
being  despised,  as  all  half-breeds  of  enemies  are,  have  gathered  them- 
selves into  a  band,  and  severing  from  their  parent  tribe,  have  moved  off, 
and  increased  in  numbers  and  strength  as  they  have  advanced  up  the 
Missouri  river  to  the  place  where  they  have  been  known  for  many  years 
by  the  name  of  Mandans,  a  corruption  or  abbreviation,  perhaps,  of  'Mad- 
awgwys,'  the  name  applied  by  the  Welsh  to  the  followers  of  Madawc." 

Here  again  is  found  the  reversion  to  the  last  great  battle  of  the  con- 
quest of  the  Ohio  Valley  by  the  Iroquois. 

The  Mandans  can  be  seen  at  this  day.  They  are  pure  Indian.  They 
speak  a  dialect  of  the  Siouan  linguistic  family.  There  is  not  a  syllable  of 
Welsh  in  it  and  never  was.  They  are  not  lighter  than  other  Indians. 
Here  is  the  account  of  them  as  written  by  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology.^-' 

"Mandan.  A  Siouan  tribe  of  the  northwest.  The  name,  according  to 
Maximilian,  originally  given  by  the  Sioux  is  believed  by  Matthews  to  be 
a  corruption  of  the  Dakota  Mawatani.  Previous  to  1830  they  called 
themselves  simply  Numakiki,  'people'  (Matthews).  Maximilian  says  'if 
they  wish  to  particularize  their  descent  they  add  the  name  of  the  village 
whence  they  came  originally.'  Hayden  gives  Miah'tanes,  'people  on  the 
bank,'  as  the  name  they  apply  to  themselves,  and  draws  from  this  the 
inference  that  'they  must  have  resided  on  the  banks  of  the  Missouri  at 
a  very  remote  period.'  According  to  Morgan  (.Syst.  Consang,  and  Affin.. 
285),  the  native  name  of  the  tribe  is  Metootahak,  'South  villagers.'  Their 
relations,  so  far  as  known  historically  and  traditionally,  have  been  most 
intimate  with  the  Hidatsa;  yet,  judged  by  the  linquistic  test,  their  position 
must  be  nearer  the  Winnebago.  Matthews  appears  to  consider  the 
Hidatsa  and  Mandan  descendants  from  the  same  immediate  stem.  Their 
traditions  regarding  their- early  history  are  scant  and  almost  entirely 
mythological.  All  that  can  be  gathered  from  them  is  the  indication  that 
at  some  time  they  lived  in  a  more  easterly  locality  in  the  vicinity  of  a  lake. 
This  tradition,  often  repeated  by  subsequent  authors,  is  given  by  Lewis 
and  Clark,  as  follows :  'The  whole  nation  resided  in  one  large  village 
underground  near  a  subterraneous  lake ;  a  grapevine  extended  its  roots 
down  to  their  habitation  and  gave  them  a  view  of  the  light;  some  of  the 
most  adventurous  climbed  up  the  vine  and  were  delighted  witii  the  sight 
of  the  earth,  which  they  found  covered  with  buffalo  and  rich  with  every 
kind  of  fruits ;  returning  with  the  grapes  they  had  gathered,  their  country- 
men were  so  pleased  with  the  taste  of  them  that  the  whole  nation  resolved 
to  leave  their  dull  residence  for  the  charms  of  the  upper  region ;  men, 
women,  and  children  ascended  by  means  of  the  vine ;  but  when  about 
half  the  nation  had  reached  the  surface  of  the  earth,  a  corpulent  woman 

^^  Handbook  of  American  Indians,  Vol.  i,  pp.  796,  797. 


38  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

who  was  clambering  up  the  vine  broke  it  with  her  weight,  and  closed  upon 
herself  and  the  rest  of  the  nation  the  light  of  the  sun.  Those  who  were 
left  on  earth  made  a  village  below  where  we  saw  the  nine  villages;  and 
when  the  Mandan  die  they  expect  to  return  to  the  original  seats  of  their 
forefathers,  the  good  reaching  the  ancient  village  by  means  of  the  lake, 
which  the  burden  of  the  sins  of  the  wicked  will  not  enable  them  to 
cross.'  Maximilian  says :  'They  affirm  that  they  descended  originally 
from  the  more  eastern  nations,  near  the  seacoast.'  Their  linguistic  rela- 
tion to  the  Winnebago  and  the  fact  that  their  movements  in  their  historic 
era  have  been  westward  uj)  the  Missouri  corresjOTnd  with  their  tradition 
of  a  more  easterly  origin,  and  would  seemingly  locale  them  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  upper  lakes.  It  is  possible  that  the  tradition  which  has  long  pre- 
vailed in  the  region  of  N.  W.  Wisconsin  regarding  the  so-called  'ground- 
house  Indians'  who  once  lived  in  that  section  and  dwelt  in  circular  earth 
lodges,  partly  underground,  applies  to  the  people  of  this  tribe,  although 
other  tribes  of  this  general  region  formerly  lived  in  houses  of  this 
character.  Assuming  that  the  Mandan  formerly  resided  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  upi)er  Mississijjpi,  it  is  probable  that  they  moved  down  this  stream 
for  some  distance  before  passing  to  the  Missouri.  The  fact  that  when 
first  encountered  by  the  whites  they  relied  to  some  extent  on  agriculture 
as  a  means  of  subsistence  would  seem  to  justify  the  conclusion  that  they 
were  at  some  time  in  the  past  in  a  section  where  agriculture  was  practised. 
It  is  possible,  as  Morgan  contends,  that  they  learned  agriculture  from  the 
Hidatsa,  but  the  reverse  has  more  often  been  maintained.  Callin's  theory 
that  they  formerly-  lived  in  Ohio  and  built  mounds,  and  moved  thence  to 
the  N.  VV.  is  without  any  basis.  The  traditions  regarding  their  migra- 
tions, as  given  by  Maximilian,  commence  with  their  arrival  at  the 
Missouri.  The  point  where  this  stream  was  first  reached  was  at  the 
mouth  of  White  r.,  S.  Dak.  From  this  point  they  moved  up  the  Missouri 
to  Moreau  r.,  where  they  came  in  contact  with  the  Cheyenne,  and  where 
also  the  formation  of  'bands  or  unions'  began.  Thence  they  continued 
up  the  Missouri  to  Heart  r.,  N.  Dak.,  where  they  were  residing  at  the 
time  of  the  first  known  visit  of  the  whites,  but  it  is  probable  that  trappers 
and  traders  visited  them  earlier." 

A  Kansas  man  has  evolved  an  entirely  new  theory  concerning  the 
Welsh  Indians.  Mark  E.  Zimmerman,  of  White  Cloud,  Doniphan 
County,  has  published  an  article  in  which  he  maintains  that  the  Welsh 
developed  into  the  ancient  Tallegwi  who  lived  in  what  is  now  Ohio,  and 
of  whom  much  has  been  said  herein. ^^  He  bases  his  conclusions  mainly 
upon  archeological  research,  though  the  traditions  are  not  neglected.  His 
chief  reliance  is  upon  a  certain  type  of  grave,  which  he  calls  the  cyst 
grave  or  Celtic  type  of  grave.  He  calls  to  his  aid  types  of  houses,  the  re- 
mains of  which  he  has  found  and  examined.  The  cyst  graves  have  been 
found  along  the  Missouri  River  to  and  above  the  mouth  of  the  Kansas."* 
Mr.  Gerard  Fowke,  who  made  the  investigations,  attributes  these  graves 
to  the  Kansas  Indians,  or  thinks  it  most  probable  that  they  may  have 
been  constructed  by  that  tribe.  They  are  found  in  the  exact  route  of  the 
Kansas  Indians  as  they  migrated  into  their  historic  seat.  The  graves  are 
vaults  built  of  thin  slabs  of  native  stone  and  show  little  or  no  skill  in 
masonry.  Whether  the  Welsh  made  such  graves,  or  ever  did,  is  not 
shown.  It  is  estimated  that  the  Allegwi  or  Tallegwi  numbered  loo.ooo. 
According  to  this  theory,  that  many  Welshmen  lived  in  and  around  the 
present  State  of  Ohio.  Having  come  from  Wales  at  a  time  when  the 
people  of  that  country  had  a  knowledge  of  smelling  iron  ore,  and  of  the 
manufacture  of  irf)n  and  steel  imjjlements,  and  having  seated  themselves 


1*  See  Kansas  Historical  Collcciions,  Vol.   14,  pp.  471,  cl  scq. 
'"  See  Aniiquities  of  Central  and  Southeastern  ilissouri,  by  Gerard  Fowke,  pub- 
lished as  Bulletin  No.  37,  Bureau  of  Etlmology. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  39 

in  a  country  here  where  iron  ore  abounded  in  great  quantities,  together 
with  fuel  and  other  means  of  smelting  and  working  it,  it  is  passing  strange 
that  in  all  the  country  inhabited  by  them  there  has  never  been  found  an 
iron  or  steel  implement  fashioned  or  used  by  them.  Then,  that  the 
Tallegwi  were  descended  from  any  European  stock,  or  any  stock  what- 
ever but  American  Indian  stock,  is  preposterous. 

So.  the  Welsh  legend  is  but  a  mythic  tale.  Welshmen  may  have 
landed  on  some  American  coast.  Rut  they  did  nothing  more  than  dwindle 
and  die  there — if  they  ever  reached  American  shores,  of  which  there  is 
little  or  no  evidence.  Summing  up  the  whole  matter,  there  is  no  proof 
of  any  Welsh  or  White  Indians  which  any  court  would  admit  to  a  jury. 
It  is  a  fine  tradition.  Kentuckians  are  proud  to  have  it  connected  with 
their  state.  But  it  is  a  myth.  No  such  people  ever  lived  in  Kentucky,  nor 
in  any  other  part  of  America."^ 

1"  In  "The  Principal  Navigations,  Voyages,  Traffiques  and  Discoveries  of  the 
English  Nation,"  a  work  compiled  and  published  by  Richard  Hakhiyt  in  1589,  the 
year  after  the  Armada,  is  to  be  found  the  following  very  interesting  story.  It  is 
quoted  exactly  as  it  appears  in  the  fifth  volume  of  Everyman's  edition  of  that  work: 

"The  most  ancient  Discovery  of  the  West  Indies  by  Madoc  the  sonne  of  Owen 
Guyneth  Prince  of  North-wales,  in  the  yeere  1170:  taken  out  of  the  history  of 
Wales  by  M.  David  Powel,  Doctor  of  Divinity." 

"After  the  death  of  Owen  Guyneth,  his  sonnes  fell  at  debate  who  should  inherit 
after  him ;  for  the  eldest  sonne  borne  in  matrimony,  Edward  or  Jorwerth  Drwydion, 
was  counted  unmeet  to  governe,  because  of  the  maime  upon  his  face ;  and  Howell 
that  tooke  upon  him  all  the  rule  was  a  base  sonne,  begotten  upon  an  Irish  woman. 
Therefore  David  gathered  all  the  power  he  could,  and  came  against  Howell,  and 
fighting  with  him,  slew  him;  and  afterwards  enjoyed  quietly  the  whole  land  of 
North-wales,  until  his  brother  Jorwerth's  sonne  came  to  age.  Madoc  another  of 
Owen  Guyneth  his  sonnes  left  the  land  in  contention  betwixt  his  brethren,  and 
prepared  certaine  ships,  with  men  and  munition,  and  sought  adventures  by  Seas, 
sailing  West,  and  leaving  the  coast  of  Ireland  so  farre  North,  that  he  came  unto 
a  land  unknown,  where  he  saw  many  Strang  things. 

"This  land  must  needs  be  some  part  of  the  Countrey  of  which  the  Spanyards 
afiirme  themselves  to  be  the  first  finders  since  Hannos  time.  Whereupon  it  is 
manifest  that  the  countrey  was  by  Britaines  discovered  long  before  Columbus  led 
any  Spanyards  thither. 

"Of  the  voyage  and  return  of  this  Madoc  there  be  many  fables  fained,  as  the 
common  people  doe  use  in  distance  of  place  and  length  of  time  rather  to  augment 
then  to  diminish  :  but  sure  it  is  there  he  was.  And  after  he  had  returned  home, 
and  declared  the  pleasant  and  fruitfull  countreys  that  he  had  scene  without  in- 
habitanta,  and  upon  the  contrary  part,  for  what  barren  and  wild  ground  his  brothers 
and  nephewes  did  murther  one  another,  he  prepared  a  number  of  ships,  and  got 
with  him  such  men  and  women  as  were  desirous  to  live  in  quietnesse :  and  taking 
leave  of  his  friends,  tooke  his  journey  thitherward  againe.  Therefore  it  is  to  be 
supposed  that  he  and  his  people  inhabited  part  of  those  countreys:  for  it  appeareth 
by  Francis  Lopez  de  Gomara,  that  in  Acuzamil  and  other  places  the  people  honored 
the  crosse.  Whereby  it  may  be  gathered  that  Christians  had  bene  there  before 
the  coming  of  the  Spanyards.  But  because  this  people  were  not  many,  they  fol- 
lowed the  manner  of  the  land  wliich  they  came  unto,  &  used  the  language  they 
found  there. 

"This  Madoc  arriving  in  the  Wcsterne  countrey,  unto  the  which  he  came  in  the 
yere  1 170,  left  most  of  his  people  there  and  returning  backe  for  more  of  his  owne 
nation,  acquaintance  and  friends  to  inhabit  that  faire  &  large  countrey,  went  thither 
againe  with  ten  sailes,  as  I  find  noted  by  Gutyn  Owen.  I  am  of  opinion  that  the 
land  whereunto  he  came  was  some  part  of  the  West  Indies." 

"Carmina  Meredith  filii  Rhesi  mentionem  facicntia  de  Madoc  filio  Oweni  Guy- 
ncdd,  &  de  sua  navigatione  in  terras  incognitas.  Vixit  hie  Meredith  circiter  annum 
Domini  1477. ' 

(Verses  of  Meredith,  son  of  Rhesus,  making  mention  of  Madoc,  son  of  Owen 
Guyneth  and  of  his  voyage  in  unknown  lands.  This  Meredith  lived  about  the 
year  1477.) 


CHAPTER  III 

DISCOVERY  AND  EXPLORATION  BY  THE  ENGLISH  Ol"  THE 

OHIO  COUNTRY 

As  early  as  1642  the  Asseinbl)'  of  Virginia  encouraged  exploration 
to  the  westward  of  the  plantations.  In  that  year  an  act  was  passed 
granting  trading  privileges  to  Walter  Austin,  Rice  Hoe,  Josejjh  Johnson 
and  Walter  Chiles,  who  had  petitioned  in  1641  "lor  leave  and  encour- 
agement to  undertake  the  discovery  of  a  new  river  or  unknowne  land 
bearing  west  southerly  from  Appomattake  river."  '  So  far  as  is  known, 
no  exploration  was  made  under  this  permission.  But  here  is  the  first 
mention  of  that  nezv  rk'er  which  later  became  the  object  of  rangers  and 
explorers  for  thirty  years.  Some  mention  of  such  a  river  may  have 
been  made  by  men  wdio  were  infatuated  with  the  .American  forests  and 
ranged  through  them  from  the  very  first  settlement  on  the  Atlantic 
Coast. 

This  new  river  flowed  through  the  untrodden  wilderness  directly 
across  the  course  of  any  Western  ex])loration  from  the  English  settle- 
ments. 

The  sources  of  the  Staunton  are  in  Montgomery  County,  Virginia. 
From  its  head  waters  the  New  River  is  distant  but  a  few  miles,  and 
its  valley  at  that  point  is  narrow.  From  the  sources  of  the  Staunton 
to  those  of  the  Holston  and  the  Clinch,  with  the  narrow  valley  of  the 
New  Tiiver  intervening,  the  distance  is  less  than  fifty  miles.  The  head 
springs  of  the  Great  Sandy,  a  little  north  of  the  Clinch,  are  in  close 
])roxiinity.  The  James  River  is  at  no  great  distance,  while  the  Shenan- 
doah runs  down  to  the  Potomac  from  a  jioint  but  little  more  distant. 
The  New  is  here  a  great  river,  descending  through  a  valley  which 
extends  far  into  North  Carolina — to  the  sources  of  the  Catawba  and 
the  Yadkin. 

Following  the  general  courses  of  these  streams,  there  converged 
upon  the  New  River  Indian  trails,  great  ways,  warpaths  and  trading 
courses  from  almost  every  part  of  the  United  States  east  of  the  Mis- 
sissip]M.  Some  of  these  had  doubtless  been  in  use  for  centuries  when 
Jamestown  was  founded.  Some  of  them  marked  the  direction  of  ancient 
conquest.  Along  their  unending  windings  had  migrated  and  retreated 
broken,  defeated  and  overthrown  ])eoi)les,  exiled  from  homelands  which 
they  had  occupied  for  ages.  And  following  these  came  time-worn, 
prehistoric  great  war  roads  came  the  paleface  when  impelled  to  the 
conquest  of  the  continent.  The  first  efforts  of  the  English  to  exjilore 
westward  from  the  seaboard  were  made  in  this  direction.  Had  tlie 
exijedition  continued  to  advance,  it  would  have  arrived  at  New  River, 
where  William  Ingles  established  his  historic  ferry.  The  ex])loration 
was  under  the  direction  of  Ralph  Lane,  governor  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh's 
colony,  and  luidertaken  in  March,  I5<S6.  The  party  ascended  the  river 
to  the  site  of  the  City  of  Halifax.  They  seem,  in  fact,  to  have  gone  on 
a  perilous  mission.  They  were  reduced  to  such  extremes  by  Indian 
hostility  and  consequent  hunger  that  "they  ate  their  two  mastiff  dog.s 
boiled  with  sassafras  leaves,  and  were  compelled  In  return." 

1  Henning,  Sliihilrs  at  I  avir.  Vol.  I,  page  262. 

40 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  41 

After  the  expedition  of  Lane,  little  effort  was  made  for  many  years 
to  explore  to  the  west  of  the  seaboard  settlement.  Individual  hunters 
and  traders,  or  perhaps  small  parties  of  these,  may  have  entered  the 
mountainous  country,  then  agitated  by  fierce  wars  between  the  native 
Indian  tribes,  but  these  parties  made  no  systematic  exploration  or  per- 
manent settlement,  and  they  left  no  account  of  their  wanderings. 

These  wilderness  rangers  gained  some  knowledge  of  western  geog- 
raphy and,  no  doubt,  questioned  the  Indians  whom  they  encountered  as 
to  what  lay  beyond  the  great  hills,  for  in  1648  some  such  man  wrote 
this : 

"And  the  Indians  have  of  late  acquainted  our  Governour,  that  within 
five  dayes  journey  to  the  westward  and  by  South,  there  is  a  great  high 
mountaine,  and  at  the  foot  thereof,  great  Rivers  that  run  into  a  great 
Sea;  and  that  there  are  men  that  come  hither  in  ships  (but  not  the 
same  as  ours  be),  they  weare  apparell  and  have  reed  Caps  on  their 
heads,  and  ride  on  Beasts  like  our  Horses,  but  have  much  longer  cares 
and  other  circumstances  they  declare  for  the  certainty  of  these  things. 

"That  Sir  William  was  here  upon  preparing  fifty  horse  and  fifty 
Foot,  to  go  and  discover  this  thing  himself  in  person,  and  take  all  need- 
ful provision  in  that  case  requisite  along  with  him ;  he  was  ready  to 
go  when  these  last  ships  set  sail  for  England  in  April  last ;  and  we 
hoped  to  give  a  good  accompt  of  it  by  the  next  ships,  God  giving  a  blessing 
to  the  enterprize,  which  will  mightily  advance  and  enrich  this  Country ; 
for  it  must  needs  prove  a  passage  to  the  South  Sea  (as  we  call  it)  and 
also  some  part  of  China  and  the  East  Indies." 

In  1650  the  Assembly  was  petitioned  by  Edward  Blend  for  permis- 
sion to  discover  and  settle  to  the  southward.  This  petition  was  granted. 
On  the  27th  of  August  of  that  year  "The  Right  Honorable  Sir  W. 
Berkly,  Kt.  being  Governor  and  Captaine  Generall  of  Virginia,  Edw. 
Bland,  Merch.  Abraham  Wood,  Capt.  Elias  Ponnant  and  Sackford 
Brewster,  Gent.,  foure  Men,  and  one  Indian  named  Pyancha,  an  Ap- 
pamattuck  for  our  Guide,  with  two  servants,  foure  Horses  and  Pro- 
vision, advanced  from  Fort  Henry,  lying  on  Appamattuck  River  at 
the  fals,  being  a  branch  of  James  River,  intending  a  South  westerne 
Discovery."  They  came  the  same  day  to  a  Nottaway  town,  on  Notta- 
way  Creek,  and  at  their  approach  the  Indians  fled  into  the  woods  and 
concealed  themselves.  Later  they  were  induced  to  return,  "and  shewed 
us  what  curtesie  they  could."  On  the  way  and  at  the  town  they  had 
found  the  country  "rich  levell,  well  timbered,  watered,  and  very  con- 
venient for  Hogs  and  Cattle."  The  chief  of  the  town  was  absent,  and 
the  chief  of  another  town,  one  Oyeocker.  invited  them  to  his  village  and 
led  them  there,  arriving,  it  seems,  on  the  28th.  And  on  the  night  of 
this  day  they  came  to  a  second  town,  where  they  halted.  During  the  night 
the  chief  of  the  first  town  arrived  in  a  very  bad  humor  and  intimated 
to  the  guide  that  he  would  soon  be  killed.  He  used  all  his  powers  to 
prevent  a  further  penetration  of  the  Indian  country,  representing  that 
the  dangers  they  would  meet  would  be  serious.  Notwithstanding  this 
warning,  the  party  continued  on  its  way,  coming  this  day  to  Maharineck, 
through  a  pleasing  and  fertile  country.  Here  the  Englishmen  were  en- 
tertained by  Indian  dances  and  ceremonies,  and  food  was  provided  for 
themselves  and  their  horses.  The  following  day  was  spent  at  this  town, 
and  the  Indians  revealed  that  other  tribes  had  prejudiced  them  against 
the  English,  and  had  done  the  same  in  still  other  tribes,  especially  the 
Tuscaroras. 

The  Town  of  Maharineck  was  two  miles  from  the  river  of  the  same 
name,  which  the  English  crossed  on  their  departure  on  the  31st.  On  a 
stream  which  they  called  Woodford  River  they  found  land  which  pro- 
duced two  crops  of  corn  every  year,  and   very   fine   timber.     Later  in 


42  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

the  day  they  jiassed  over  the  "Cliickahamiiie"  River,  whicli,  a  htlle  be- 
low, was  a  mile  wide.  Pine  barrens  were  found  there,  beyond  which 
the  site  of  a  battle  between  some  of  the  tribes  of  that  coimtry  was  found, 
an  account  of  which  battle  was  given  by  the  guides.  They  came  to  a 
river  which  was  named  by  them  Blandina  River.  Sturgeon  were  taken 
at  the  falls  of  this  river.  An  island  in  this  stream  was  named  Charles 
Island  and  another  was  named,  by  Captain  Wood,  Berkeley  Island. 
The  land  opposite  Charles  Island  was  named  Bland's  Discovery,  and 
that  over  against  Berkeley  Island  was  named  Wood's  Journey.  Pen- 
nant's Bay  and  Brewster's  Point  were  also  discovered  and  named.  The 
Indians  told  wonderful  stories  of  the  up-country,  and  of  heaps  of  salt 
in  the  rivers.  Copper  was  seen,  silver  spoken  of,  and  the  probability 
of  gold  in  that  country  discussed. 

On  the  2d  of  September  the  English  arrived  at  a  town  on  Wood- 
ford River  and  tarried  for  the  night.  There  they  had  intelligence  of 
Indian  intrigue  and  jealousy  and  opposition  to  their  presence.  On  the 
3d  of  September  the  guide  said  they  might  encounter  violence  from 
the  Indians  if  they  should  return  by  the  way  they  had  gone  out.  Fine 
land  was  passed  that  day. 

On  the  4th  of  September  the  explorers  got  back  to  F'ort  Henry. 
I'.ecause  of  the  attitude  of  the  Indians  in  the  country  they  had  passed 
through  they  had  slept  with  guards  set  and  arms  at  hand.  The  journal 
of  the  e.xpedition  was  published  under  the  title  of  llic  Discovery  of 
Nczv  Brittainc,  and  addressed  or  dedicated  "To  The  Honorable  Sir 
John  Danvers,  Knight :  Great  Favourer  of  the  Westerne  Plantations, 
and  a  Member  of  the  Parliament  of  England."  While  in  this  day  this 
exploration  woidd  be  counted  of  little  consequence,  in  that  day  it  was 
believed  to  be  a  notable  achievement.  The  e.xpedition  had  reached  the 
forks  of  the  Roanoke,  in  Mecklenburg  County,  Virginia,  and  no  evi- 
dence was  found  of  any  former  exploration  into  that  region.  By  fol- 
lowing up  the  Staunton,  the  New  River  would  have  been  discovered. 
While  this  exploration  was  in  the  direction  of  the  waters  of  the  Ohio, 
it  stopped  short  of  finding  them.  Later  the  Staunton  became  a  much- 
followed  stream  in  reaching  the  West. 

In  the  year  1653  the  Assembly  of  Virginia  enacted  a  general  law 
conferring  authority  upon  any  persons  "to  discover  the  Mountains,  Pro- 
vided they  go  with  a  considerable  partie  and  strength,  both  of  men  and 
anuuiition."  If  any  persons  availed  themselves  of  the  j)rivileges  of 
this  enactment  they  have  left  no  record  of  the  fact.  Exploration  and 
discovery  languished.  Not  until  1669  do  we  find  any  explorer  with 
sufificient  interest  in  his  work  to  leave  a  record  of  his  transactions.  In 
that  year  John  Lederer,  a  German  surgeon,  under  a  commission  from 
(lovernor  Berkeley,  undertook  an  expedition  of  discovery  to  the  west 
of  the  luiglish  settlements,  and  reached  a  jioint  in  the  i)resent  County 
of  Madison.  The  weather  was  cold  and  he  encountered  nuich  snow  in 
his  ascent  of  the  Blue  Ridge.  After  reaching  an  elevation  from  w-hich 
he  could  see  the  great  ranges  to  the  westward  and  the  Atlantic  Ocean 
to  the  southeastw-ard,  he  returned  to  the  settlements. 

In  the  year  1670  Lederer  made  two  journeys  of  exploration  into 
the  wilderness.  He  set  out  on  the  first  of  these  on  the  20th  of  May. 
He  took  with  him  Maj.  William  Harris  and  twenty  other  white  men, 
and  five  Indians,  They  were  mounted.  They  reached  the  vicinity  of 
the  site  of  Lynchburg,  when  they  separated,  Lederer  and  one  Susque- 
hanna Indian  turning  south,  and  the  others  returning  home.  Lederer 
crossed  the  Roanoke  and  entered  the  ])resent  State  of  Xorth  Carolina, 
after  which  he  returned  to  his  home  in  Virginia. 

The  second  expedition  of  this  year  was  commenced  on  the  20th  of 
August.  Colonel  Catlett,  together  with  nine  whites  and  five  Indians, 
accompanied  Lederer.    Tlie  direction  pursued  on  this  journey  was  more 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  43 

to  the  west  than  that  taken  on  the  two  preceding  trips.  In  the  present 
County  of  Rappahannock  they  reached  the  Blue  Ridge  on  the  26th  of 
August.  From  the  top  of  the  Bhie  Ridge  at  this  point  they  beheld 
the  mountain  ranges  rising  rank  above  rank  to  the  west  and  towering 
up  to  the  sky.  The  cold  was  becoming  severe,  and  the  endless  chains 
of  mountains  to  be  scaled  and  passed  so  discouraged  the  explorers 
that  they  returned.  Little  practical  benefit  was  derived  from  the  ex- 
plorations and  discoveries  of  Lederer.  They  seem  to  have  dispelled  the 
idea  that  it  was  but  a  few  days'  journey  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific 
Ocean.  Up  to  this  time  we  have  no  record  that  any  Englishman  hafl 
penetrated  to  the  waters  of  the  great  valley  of  the  Mississippi. 

In  1645  the  Assembly  of  Virginia  provided  for  the  erection  of  forts 
for  the  protection  of  the  colony  from  attacks  by  the  Indians.  All  the 
\'irginia  settlements  were  yet  in  the  Tidewater  region.  The  rivers  of 
Virginia  flowing  across  the  Piedmont  usually  descend  to  tidewater  by 
a  fall,  or  a  series  of  rapids.  Of  the  coimtry  beyond  the  line  of  these 
falls  little  was  actually  known  when  provision  for  these  forts  was  made 
The  people  had  seen  hordes  of  Indians  come  down  from  the  great  for- 
ests back  of  the  settlements  to  make  war  on  them  and  knew  that  desola- 
tion lay  in  their  path.  In  addition  to  the  three  forts  set  up  by  the  act 
of  1645,  a  fourth  was  provided  in  March,  1646.  This  was  to  be  set 
up  at  the  falls  of  the  Appomattox.  It  was  named  Fort  Flenry  and 
was  to  be  garrisoned  by  forty-five  men.  Placed  in  command  there  was 
Capt.  Abraham  Wood.  In  October,  1646,  the  Assembly  transferred 
the  fort  to  Captain  Wood,  "unto  whome  is  granted  sixe  hundred  acres 
of  land  for  him  and  his  heirs  forever ;  with  all  houses  and  edifices  be- 
longing to  the  said  Forte,  with  all  boats  and  amunition  att  present 
belonging  to  the  said  Forte,  Provided  that  he  the  said  Capt.  Wood  do 
maintayne  and  keepe  ten  men  constantly  upon  the  said  place  for  the 
terme  of  three  yeares." 

This  "Fort  Henry"  remained  the  property  of  Wood  to  his  death, 
and  in  1748  its  site  was  incorporated  as  Petersburg,  the  present  Vir- 
ginia city  of  that  name.  Nothing  is  known  of  the  ancestry  of  Wood. 
It  appears  that  he  was  twenty-eight  years  old  in  1638.  Information 
has  been  gathered  and  published  covering  forty-two  years  of  his  life, 
but  of  his  death  nothing  has  been  found.  Fie  secured  grants  for  more 
than  6,000  acres  of  land  and  was  much  engaged  in  public  afTairs.  It 
is  said  of  hirn  that  "He  attained  eminence  as  a  landowner,  politician, 
soldier,  trader  and  explorer.  His  position  in  each  of  these  lines  of  en- 
deavor was  as  high  as  the  colony  afforded,  and  the  first  adequate  pres- 
entation of  his  life  reveals  him  as,  with  the  possible  exceptions  of  Bacon 
and  Berkeley,  the  most  interesting  and  commanding  figure  of  con- 
temporary Virginia."  - 

Captain  Wood  was  one  of  the  expedition  to  discover,  in  1650,  the 
country  then  named  New  Brittain,  as  we  have  seen.  In  1652  he  was 
granted  by  the  Assembly  of  Virginia  permission  to  explore  the  regions 
where  "no  English  ever  have  bin  and  discovered,"  and  he  and  his  asso- 
ciates were  to  have  the  profits  arising  from  trade  in  these  new  countries 
for  fourteen  years. ^  No  account  of  activity  under  this  grant  has  been 
found. 

In  1671  Wood  was  a  major-general.  In  that  year  he  despatched  an 
expedition  "for  the  finding  out  the  ebbing  and  flowing  of  the  Waters  on 
the  other  side  of  the  Mountains  in  order  to  the  discovery  of  the  South 
Sea."     Those  who  went  on  this  expedition  were  Thomas  Batts,  Thomas 


2  The  First  Explorations  of  the  Trans-Alleg hany  Region  by  Virginians,  1650-1674, 
by  C.  W.  Alvord  and  Lee  Bidgood,  page  36.  This  is  by  far  the  best  work  on  this 
subject. 

3  Ibid.,  page  102.     Honing,  Statutes  at  Large,  Vol.  I,  page  376. 


44  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

Woods  ami  Robert  Fallam.  Penecute,  one  of  the  jjrincipal  men  of 
the  Appomattox  Indians  and  whose  name  is  generally  written  I'erccute, 
and  one  Jack  Weasim  were  of  the  party.  \\'iih  five  horses  they  left 
the  Appomattox  town  near  Fort  Henry,  on  Friday,  Sejjteniber  i,  1671, 
and  on  that  day  traveled,  as  they  supposed,  forty  miles  due  west  from 
the  old  trail  known  as  the  Okenecche  I'ath,  They  made  forty-live  miles 
on  the  second,  and  camped  at  sunset,  their  course  having  been  north 
of  west.'*  On  the  third  day  they  changed  their  course  to  south  of  west 
to  correct  the  error  of  the  second,  and  "traveled  forty  miles  good."  At 
three  o'clock  a  large  swam])  had  been  encountered  and  a  river  running 
into  the  Roanoke  had  been   waded  twice,  the  horses  being  led  over. 

On  the  4th  of  .September  the  party  arrived  at  a  village  of  the  Saponi 
Indians,  but  made  no  halt  there.  It  must  have  been  the  easternmost 
town  of  this  people,  for  towards  night  the  explorers  "came  to  the 
Soponys  west."  At  that  town  they  were  greeted  with  the  firing  of  guns 
and  demonstrations  of  welcome.  Food  was  furnished,  and  the  night 
was  passed  there.  .\  Soponi  was  emjiloyed  as  guide  to  take  them  to 
the  Totero  towns  by  a  way  which  was  shorter  than  the  traxeled  trail. 
As  the  party  was  ready  to  mount  on  the  morning  of  the  5th — about 
seven  o'clock — guns  were  fired  on  the  side  of  the  river  o])])osite  the 
Indian  town.  This  firing  was  by  a  party  of  seven  Ap])omatto.x  Indians 
sent  on  to  overtake  them  by  General  Wood.  A  jaded  horse  belonging 
to  Thomas  Wood  was  sent  hack  from  this  point  "by  a  Portugal,  belong- 
ing to. Major  General  Wood,  whom  we  found  here."  Twenty-five  miles 
was  made  this  day,  which  brought  them  to  a  "town  of  the  Hanathaskies" 
on  an  island  in  the  "Sapany  River" — the  Staunton  River.  They  were 
late  getting  under  way  on  the  6th,  for  Thomas  Wood  was  "dangerously 
sick  of  the  Flu.x."  He  was  left  at  the  town,  as  was  the  horse  he  had 
ridden,  and  which  belonged  to  Major-General  Wood.  The  horse,  too, 
was  ailing.  The  party  went  into  camp  after  making  some  twenty  miles. 
At  ten  o'clock  at  night  their  horses  strayed.  On  the  7th  they  traveled 
west  over  hilly  and  stony  ground,  and  at  three  o'clock  came  in  sight  of 
the  mountains.     Twenty-five  miles  were  made  that  day. 

The  ex])lorers  got  under  way  by  sunrise  on  the  8th  and  traveled  all 
day  by  a  course  north  of  west.  A  little  past  noon  a  tree  was  found  on 
which  had  been  written  with  a  ])iece  of  charcoal  the  letters  or  initials 
— M.  A.  N.  I.''"  They  reached  the  foot  of  the  mountains  about  four 
o'clock  and  crossed  before  camping.  They  were  on  the  .Staunton,  which 
they  crossed  twice  that  day.  On  the  9th  they  were  "stirring  with  the 
Sun,"  traveled  west,  striking  the  Staunton  near  its  head,  and  crossed  a 
second  mountain.  About  three  o'clock  they  reached  the  Totero  town. 
It  was  a  swamp  between  a  small  stream  and  the  Staunton,  and  was 
"circled  about  with  mountains."  Perceute,  the  Appomattox  guide,  was 
liiere  taken  sick  of  a  fever  and  ague,  and  the  ])arty  tarried  at  the  Ti)tern 
village  until  the  12th.  They  had  arrived  there  Saturday  night  and 
remained  over  till  Tuesday.  They  determined  to  leave  their  horses 
there  and  go  on  foot  the  remainder  of  the  journey.  A  Totero  guide  was 
secured,  and  one  of  the  Appomattox  Indians  was  left  sick  at  the  Totero 
town.  On  this  day,  the  12th,  they  followed  the  trail  west  over  several 
high  mountains  and  camped  near  the  head  of  the  Staunton,  or  Roanoke, 
as  they  called  it,  "at  the  foot  of  a  great  mountain."  Perceute  was  very 
ill  that  night,  having  been  "taken  with  his  fit." 

■*  These  distances  were  only  estimated,  and,  as  such  i-stiniatcs  arc  likely  to  be,  were 
too  high.     Twenty-five  miles  was  a  good  day's  travel  in  the  wilderness. 

^  This  is  an  incident  confirming  a  former  statement  that  the  names  of  the  first 
to  iienetratc  the  wilderness  are  unknown.  They  arc  lost.  These  first  wilderness- 
breakers  were  about  their  own  business  and  made  no  records  which  have  come  down 
to  us.  It  was  the  merest  accident  which  preserved  the  memory  of  John  Findlay  and 
his  journeys  to  trade  in  Southeastern  Kentucky.  If  he  had  not  met  Boone  no 
knowledge  would  have  remained  of  him. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  45 

It  was  yet  early  on  the  13th  when  the  travelers  again  set  forth. 
After  going  three  miles  they  came  to  the  foot  of  a  great  mountain,  which 
was  so  steep  that  it  was  with  difficulty  that  the  ascent  was  made.  Their 
course  was  north  of  west,  and  to  the  left  they  could  see  the  immense 
proportions  of  the  great  range.  They  sat  down  weary  at  the  top,  and 
from  that  point  saw  the  mountain  range  to  both  the  north  and  the  south. 
The  general  elevation  was  increasing,  for  the  descent  on  the  western 
side  was  much  less  than  the  ascent  had  been.  The  valleys  extended 
west,  and  it  seemed  that  the  moimtains  were  piled  one  upon  the  other, 
"a  pleasing  tho'  dreadful  sight."  At  about  3  o'clock  they  found  two 
trees  marked  with  charcoal — m  a  n  i — and  another  on  which  was  cut 
M  A  "and  several  other  scratchments."  Further  on  "we  found  rich 
ground  but  having  curious  rising  hills  and  brave  meadows  with 
grass  about  a  man's  hight."  Many  streams  were  observed.  They  came 
out  of  the  southern  hills  and  flowed  a  northerly  course,  as  they  sup- 
posed, into  the  Great  River.  Going  forward,  they  came  to  the  Great 
River — the  New  River.  The  path  led  them  to  the  river  three  times, 
and  at  night  they  waded  over  it  and  spent  the  night  on  the  west  side. 

So,  on  the  13th  day  of  September,  1761,  the  Englishmen  who' had 
been  sent  out  for  that  very  purpose  discovered  the  great  river,  the  new 
river — the  New  River  of  all  future  time,  and  England  stood  in  the 
Valley  of  the  Ohio — of  the  Mississippi. 

Before  sunrise  of  the  14th  the  explorers  set  forward.  The  trail  led 
them  sometimes  to  the  west  and  occasionally  to  the  south,  as  they  sup- 
posed. It  passed  over  bottom  lands  and  crossed  hills.  Coming  to  a 
bold  mountain-top,  a  prospect  opened  to  them  to  the  southwest.  It 
was  of  hills  rising  one  upon  another  like  the  waves  of  the  sea  stirred 
by  a  "gentle  breese,"  and  "Mr.  Batts  supposed  he  saw  sayles ;  but  I 
think  them  to  be  white  cliffs. "  They  camped  at  3  o'clock,  in  the  hope 
of  seeing  the  river  on  the  morrow. 

The  explorers  suffered  the  usual  vicissitudes  of  wilderness-break- 
ers. They  were  often  hungry,  and  sometimes  surfeited.  On  the  15th 
the  hunters  could  kill  no  deer,  though  camp  was  not  broken  until  i 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  On  the  banks  of  a  river  they  found  wild 
gooseberries  and  some  large  haws — -their  only  food  this  day.  They  had 
not  come  again  to  the  great  river,  but  hoped  it  was  not  far  away. 

On  the  morning  of  the  i6th  it  was  realized  that  the  Indian  guide 
had  deserted.  He  was  found  at  the  Totero  town  as  the  explorers  re- 
turned. This  day  the  Indian  hunters  made  extra  effort  to  kill  game. 
They  returned  from  the  hunt  to  tell  the  explorers  that  they  heard  the 
discharge  of  a  gun  and  the  beating  of  a  drum  to  the  northwards.  They 
brought  in  two  turkeys  and  some  fine  grapes,  on  which  the  men  feasted. 
Later  a  deer  was  killed.  A  large  river  was  found — "a  curious  River 
like  Apamatack  River" — running  north  about  some  curious  mountains. 
They  came  to  the  site  of  an  Indian  town  where  cornstalks  were  still 
standing  in  the  old  fields.  This,  they  supposed,  was  the  site  of  a 
Mohican  village. 

The  march  of  the  17th  of  September  carried  the  explorers  to  the 
end  of  their  journey.  Indeed,  the  end  had  been  reached  on  the  i6th, 
for  on  this  morning  they  set  about  marking  the  limits  of  their  penetra- 
tion of  the  wilderness.  For  some  days  they  had  been  descending  the 
New  River — and  the  part  of  it  known  as  the  Kanawha.  They  had 
arrived  at  the  falls.  As  the  transactions  of  this  day  involve  the  formal 
assertion  of  the  rights  of  the  English  to  the  Ohio  Valley,  the  entry  is 
set  out  in  full : 

"Sept.  17.  Early  in  the  niorning  we  went  to  seek  some  trees  to 
mark,  our  Indians  being  impatient  of  longer  stay  by  reason  it  was  like 
to  be  bad  weather,  and  that  it  was  so  difficult  to  get  provisions.  We 
found  four  trees  exceeding  fit  for  our  purpose  that  had  been  half  bared 


46  HISTORY  OF  KF.X'ITTCKY 

by  our  Indians,  standing  after  one  the  other.  We  first  proclaimed  the 
King  in  these  words :  'Long  live  Charles  the  Second,  by  the  grace  of 
God  King  of  England,  Scotland,  France,  Ireland  and  Virginia  and  of 
all  the  'territories  thereunto  belonging,  Defender  of  the  faith,  etc.,' 
firing  some  guns  and   went  to  the   first   tree,   which   we  marked   thus : 

with  a  ])air  of  marking  irons  for  his  sacred  majesty. 

C       R 

"Then  the  next  W'B  for  the  right  honourable  Governor  Sir  \\'il- 
liam  Berkley ;  the  third  thus  AW  for  the  honourable  Major  General 
Wood.  The  last  thus:  TB:  RF.  P.  for  Perceute,  who  said  he  would 
learn  Englishman.  And  on  another  tree  hard  by  stand  these  letters, 
one  under  another,  TT.  NP.  VE.  R.  After  we  had  done  we  went  our- 
selves down  to  the  river  side ;  but  not  without  great  difficulty,  it  being 
a  piece  of  very  rich  ground  on  the  Moketans  had  formerly  lived,  and 
grown  up  with  weeds  and  small  prickly  Locusts  and  Thistles  to  a  very 
great  height  that  it  was  almost  impossible  to  pass.  It  cost  us  hard 
labour  to  get  thro.'  When  we  came  to  the  River  side  we  found  it  bet- 
ter and  broader  than  expected,  much  like  James  River  at  Col.  Stagg's, 
the  falls  much  like  these  falls.  We  imagined  by  the  Water  marks  it 
flows  here  about  three  feat.  It  was  ebbing  Water  when  we  were  here. 
We  set  up  a  stick  by  the  Water  side  but  found  it  ebb  very  slowly.  Our 
Indians  kept  up  such  a  hollowing  that  we  durst  not  stay  any  longer  to 
make  further  tryal.  Immediately  upon  coming  to  our  quarters  we  re- 
turned homewards  and  when  we  were  on  the  top  of  a  Hill  we  turned 
about  and  saw  over  against  us,  westerly,  over  a  certain  delightful  hill 
a  fog  arise  and  a  glimmering  light  as  from  water.  We  sujjposcd  there 
to  be  a  great  Bay.  We  came  to  the  Toteras  Tuesday  night,  where  we 
found  our  horses  and  ourselves  wel  entertain'd.  We  immediately  had 
the  news  of  Mr.  P>yrd  and  his  great  company's  Discoveries  three  miles 
from  the  Tctera's  Town.  We  have  found  Mohetan  Indians  who  hav- 
ing intelligence  of  our  coming  were  afraid  it  had  been  to  figlit  them  and 
had  sent  him  to  the  Totera's  to  inquire.  We  gave  him  satisfaction  to 
the  contrary  and  that  we  came  as  friends,  presented  him  with  three 
or  four  shots  of  powder.  He  told  us  by  our  Interpreter,  that  we  had 
[been]  from  the  mountains  half  way  to  the  place  they  now  live  at. 
That  the  next  town  beyond  them  lived  upon  plain  level,  from  whence 
came  abundance  of  salt.  That  he  could  inform  us  no  further  by  reason 
that  there  were  a  great  companv  of  Indians  that  lived  upon  the  great 
Water." 

They  supposed  they  had  reached  tidewater  in  the  land  beyond  the 
great  mountains  and  that  shores  and  bays  coming  up  from  the  South 
Sea  had  been  discovered.    It  required  half  a  century  to  dispel  that  error. 

These  wilderness-breakers  continued  on  their  way  home.  On  the 
2ist  of  September  they  left  the  Totero  town,  and  on  the  24th  came 
again  to  that  of  the  Ilanahaskies.  There  they  found  that  Mr.  Wood 
had  died  and  had  been  buried  "and  his  horse  likewise  dead."  They 
reached  the  Sapony  town  on  the  25th  and  tarried  until  the  27th.  On 
the  29th  arrived  at  the  Appomattox  town,  "hungry,  wet  and  weary," 
and  must  have  stopped  for  a  short  season.    The  last  entry  is  here  set  out : 

"Oct.  I  being  Sunday  morning  we  arrived  at  Fort  Henry.  God's 
holy  name  be  praised  for  our  preservation." 

This  discovery  made  by  these  men  was  an  event  of  the  first  order. 
Tremendous  consequences  followed  it. 

It  was  152  years  later  than  the  discovery  of  the  mouth  (jf  the  Mis- 
sissippi by  Alonzo  de  Pineda,  who,  in  15 19,  sailed  a  short  distance  up 
the  stream  and  named  it  Rio  del  Espiritu  Santo. 

It  was  143  years  later  than  the  discovery  of  one  of  the  mouths  of 
the  Mississippi  by  Cabeza  de  Vaca,  on  the  30th  of  October,  1528. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  47 

It  was  130  years  later  than  the  discovery  of  the  Mississippi  by  De 
Soto,  April  25,  1541. 

It  was  two  years  before  the  French  Jesuits,  Marquette  and  Joliet, 
discovered  the  Alississippi  by  descending  the  Wisconsin;  and  "France 
and  Christianity  stood  in  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi." 

Upon  the  discovery  of  the  waters  of  the  Ohio  by  Batts  and  Fallam 
rests  the  validity  of  the  title  of  the  English  to  the  Ohio  Valley,-  the 
country  west  of  the  great  mountains.  It  required  many  years  of  effort, 
contention,  and  finally  wars,  to  fully  establish  this  right  and  wring 
from  France  an  acknowledgment  of  it.  But  it  was  finally  accom- 
plished. And  rightfully.  The  English  were  contending  for  their  own. 
The  French  claim  was  based  upon  the  alleged  discovery  of  the  Ohio 
River  by  LaSalle  in  1668.  If  LaSalle  had  in  fact  reached  the  Ohio 
in  that  year,  as  claimed  by  his  friends  (and  later  by  some  very  eminent 
historians),  the  French  would  have  had  a  prior  right.  But  it  is  now 
known  that  he  failed  to  penetrate  the  Ohio  country.  His  health  had 
broken  down.  The  Senecas  told  him  of  the  Great  River  which  flowed 
from  their  country  to  the  Sea,  for  to  them  the  Ohio  was  the  main 
stream.  And  this  is  as  near  a  discovery  as  LaSalle  made  in  that  year. 
And  it  was  later  than  the  exploration  of  Batts  and  Fallam,  by  direction 
of  Maj.-Gen.  Abraham  Wood,  that  the  French  arrived  in  the  Ohio 
Valley.e 

The  next  exploration  to  the  westward  was  made  by  James  Needham 
and  Gabriel  Arthur.  They  were  employed  by  Maj.-Gen.  Abraham  Wood, 
and  what  is  known  of  their  route  is  contained  in  his  letter  of  August 
22,  1674,  to  his  friend,  John  Richards,  of  London,  describing  in  detail 
the  events  of  the  journey.  Wood,  having  no  personal  knowledge  of 
the  country  penetrated  and  writing  evidently  without  any  diary  or  jour- 
nal before  him,  has  given  a  confused  account  of  what  was  accomplished. 
It  is  impossible  to  determine  with  certainty  where  the  explorers  went. 
Xeedham  was  murdered  by  "Indian  John"  on  the  Yadkin  River.  Arthur 
was  made  captive  and  his  execution  at  the  stake  decided  on.  As  the 
brand  was  being  applied  to  the  wood  and  brush  piled  about  him,  the 
chief  came  home  from  a  journey.  He  shot  dead  the  Indian  starting 
the  torture  and  released  Arthur  from  the  stake,  taking  him  to  his  own 
lodge.  Arthur  was  made  to  go  with  the  Indians  in  a  raid  against  the 
Spanish  settlements  below  the  Carolinas.  Upon  their  return  they  set 
out  to  visit  the  Monetons,  Indians  having  a  village  on  the  Kanawha 
near  the  Ohio.  The  Monetons  went  on  a  war  expedition,  and  Arthur 
and  his  captors  went  with  them.  Arthur  was  wounded  and  captured. 
His  new  captors  released  him  when  he  promised  to  send  English  traders 
among  them,  and  he  returned  to  his  first  master.  It  is  supposed  that 
the  war  party  went  from  the  Moneton  town  against  the  Shawness  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Scioto,  and  that  it  was  from  their  villages  that  he 
came  back  to  the  Tomahittans,  his  most  direct  route  having  been  from 
the  Ohio  up  the  Big  Sandy  and  eastward  across  the  Alleghanies  and 
the  New  River.  The  Tomahittan  chief  took  him  on  another  excursion. 
a  sort  of  hunting  trip.  This  carried  them  far  away  and  they  came 
again  to  the  place  where  Needham  had  been  murdered.  They  started 
back  to  Fort  Henry  May  10,  1674,  but  met  with  mishap  at  the  Oconeechi 
town.  The  Tomahittans  fled,  leaving  Arthur  and  a  Spanish  Indian  boy. 
Arthur  arrived  at  the  house  of  Wood  at  Fort  Henry  on  the  i8th  of 
June,  1674.  The  chief  of  the  Tomahittans  did  not  reach  Fort  Henry 
until  the  20th  of  July,  having  come  by  the  Totero  town. 


°  For  a  discussion  of  the  claims  of  the  English  and  the  French  and  the  dis- 
proval  of  the  French  claim,  see  The  First  Explorations  of  the  Trans-Alleghany 
Region  by  the  Virginians  1650-1674,  by  C.  W.  Alvord  and  Lee  Bidgood.  For  the 
claims  of  LaSalle,  see  pages  24  and  25  of  that  work. 


48  HISTORY  Ol'  KENTUCKY 

The  sum  of  geographic  knowledge  was  not  increased  by  the  wander- 
ings of  Xeedhani  and  Arthur,  nor  (Hd  their  adventures  aid  in  the  per- 
fecting the  English  title  to  the  Ohio  \allcy." 

There  are  many  accounts  of  the  journey  of  Jolm  iVtcr  Salley.  or 
Sailing.  I'.y  one  account,  John  Howard  and  his  son,  Josiah  Howard, 
Charles  Sinclair.  John  I'eter  Salley  and  two  other  men.  a  company  of 
six,  set  out  from  Salley's  hou.se,  at  the  forks  of  the  James  River,  to 
exi)lore  the  country  west  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains.  In  order  to 
enlist  Salley  in  this  enterprise.  Howard  represented  to  him  that  he  had 
.some  kind  of  agreement  with  the  authorities  by  which  he  was  to  receive 
for  tliis  .service  i,(xx).(xx)  acres  of  land  and  that  he  would  share  it  with 
.Salley  and  the  others  if  they  went  with  him.  ."^alley  consented  to  go, 
and  the  company  left  his  house  on  the  if)th  of  M;ircli.  1742.  They  went 
to  the  New  River,  which  they  descended  for  some  distance  in  a  boat 
made  of  the  hides  of  live  buffaloes  which  they  killed.  They  left  the 
New  River  because  of  the  falls  and  rapids  and  crossed  over  to  Coals 
River,  which  they  named  from  seeing  much  bituminous  coal  on  that 
stream.  They  followed  this  river  to  the  Kanawha,  which  they  de- 
scended to  the  C)hio.  They  went  down  the  Ohio  to  the  Mississi])pi  and 
were  captured  by  the  French  and  carried  to  New  Orleans,  where  thev 
were  thrown  into  jjrison.  They  were  kept  in  prison  a  long  time,  but 
linally  Salley  escajjed  and  returned  home  by  the  way  of  Charleston, 
.•^outh  Carolina,  after  an  absence  of  more  than  three  vears. 

In  this  year  |i74';|  France  sent  an  expedition  into  the  Ohio  X'alley 
lo  take  anew,  formal  possession  of  the  country.  It  was  commanded 
by  Ccloron  de  Hienville.  and  consisted  of  14  officers  and  cadets.  20  sol- 
diers. 180  Canadians,  and  a  band  of  Indians.*  This  company  descended 
the  Alleghany  River  lo  the  Ohio.  Their  formal  acts  consisted  in  ])ro- 
clainiing  the  country  a  dependency  of  France  and  in  burying,  on  the 
banks  of  the  Ohio,  leaden  plates  on  which  were  inscribed  the  declaration 
that  the  country  of  the  Ohio  Valley  was  French  territory.  On  the  3d 
of  August  the  first  plate  was  buried  at  the  "Forks  of  the  Monongahela 
and  Ohio.""  On  the  i8th  the  fifth  plate  was  buried  on  the  point  at 
the  confluence  of  the  Ohio  and  Great  Kanawha  rivers.  The  Great 
Kanawha  was  called  the  Chinondaichia  River.  The  party  reached  the 
mouth  of  the  Scioto  on  the  22d  of  August.  Some  time  between  these 
two  dates  they  passed  the  mouth  of  the  Big  Sandy,  most  probably  about 
the  20th.  The  chaplain  and  mathematician  of  the  expedition  was  Father 
P.onnecamp,  a  Jesuit  priest.  From  information  recorded  by  him  a  map 
of  the  country  traversed  was  prepared.  It  shows  that  observations  were 
made  and  the  latitude  and  longitude  ascertained  and  noted  on  the  Ohio 
side  of  the  Ohio  River,  just  above  the  mouth  of  the  Big  Sandy  River 
and  on  the  Kentucky  side  just  below. 

'  The  letter  of  General  Wood  js  published  in  The  Fiist  EA-florutions  of  the 
Tntns-Allc{ih(U\y   Rct/inii   by   the   Virghuans   16.^0-1674. 

8  Parkman,  ^lontcalni  and  Wolfe.  Vol.  2,  p.  .37. 

^Copy  of  the  I.cndcn  Plair  Buried  at  the  Porks  of  Mononqaheln  and  Ohio  by 
Mons  Celeron  by  it'iir  of  lakinri  Po.tsessinii  and  as  a  MemoriaJ  and  Testimony  thereof. 

In  the  year  1749,  in  the  rei^n  of  Louis  XV.  Kinp;  of  France.  Ste  Celeron,  com- 
mandant of  a  detachment  .sent  hy  the  Marquis  de  la  Galissoniere,  Commandant  in 
Chief  of  N'evv  France,  to  re-establish  peace  in  certain  villaRcs  of  the  Indians  of 
tlu-se  districts,  have  buried  this  plate  at  the  Three  Rivers,  below  Le  Bocuf  River, 
this  third  of  .AuRust.  near  the  River  Oyo.  otherwise  the  Fair  River,  as  a  monument 
of  the  renewal  of  the  possession  that  wc  have  taken  of  the  said  River  Oyo.  and  of 
all  those  which  fall  into  it.  and  of  all  the  lands  on  both  sides  to  the  sources  of  the 
said  rivers,  as  the  precediuR  Kines  of  France  have  enjoyed  or  oufiht  to  have  en- 
joyed it:  and  which  they  have  \ipheld  by  force  of  arms  and  by  treaties,  especially 
by  those  of  Riswick,  Utrecht  and  .Mx-la-Chapelle. — Gists  Journals,  273,  274. 


CHAPTER  IV 
THE  INDIAX  TITLE  TO  KENTUCKY  AND  ITS  EXTINCTION 

When  the  English  founded  the  settlement  at  Jamestown  in  1607,  that 
portion  of  the  royal  grant  which  was  to  become  Kentucky  was  probably 
uninhabited,  but  remained  at  the  disposition  of  the  Lenape  and  the 
Mengwe  as  the  result  of  the  conquest  they  had  made  of  the  Alligwi  or 
Tallegwi.  If  any  tribes  actually  dwelt  there,  their  presence  was  by  per- 
mission of  the  conquerors,  who  had  laid  ruthless  hands  upon  it  500' years 
before.  In  the  reconquest  of  the  Ohio  country  by  the  Iroquois  in  1650 
to  1700,  their  campaigns  had  been  largely  or  altogether  on  the  north  side 
of  the  Ohio  River.  The  final  battle,  the  bloody  climax  of  the  half-century 
struggle,  was  at  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio  and  on  the  north  bank  of  the 
stream,  one  evidence  of  which  being  the  great  quantities  of  human  bones 
there  when  the  whites  first  came  into  that  region.  This  was  almost  an 
extermination,  and  it  extended  the  Iroquoian  empire  south  to  the  Ten- 
nessee. This  fact  was  never  disputed  by  the  other  tribes  living  west  of 
the  Appalachian  Mountains.  The  Cherokees  specifically  acknowledged 
the  ownership  of  the  country  south  of  the  Ohio  to  be  in  the  Six  Nations 
at  the  treaty  of  Fort  Stanwix  in  1768.  On  their  way  to  attend  the  coun- 
cil for  making  the  treaty  they  killed  deer  for  food.  When  they  arrived 
at  Fort  Stanwix  they  immediately  tendered  the  skins  of  these  deer  to  the 
chiefs  of  the  Six  Nations,  saying:  "They  are  yours;  we  killed  them 
after  we  passed  the  'Big  River,'  "  the  name  by  which  the  Cherokees  have 
always  designated  the  Tennessee.' 

That  the  Six  Nations  had  good  title  to  the  country  south  of  the  Ohio 
River  to  the  Tennessee  River  by  right  of  conquest  there  can  be  no  doubt. 
John  Lederer  set  down  in  1669  in  his  General  and  Brief  Account  of  the 
North  American  Continent  of  the  Indians  inhabiting  the  western  parts 
of  Carolina  and  Virginia  that,  "The  Indians  now  seated  in  these  parts 
are  none  of  those  which  the  English  removed  from  Virginia,  but  a  peo- 
ple driven  by  an  enemy  from  the  Northwest,  and  invited  to  sit  down  here 
by  an  oracle  about  four  hundred  years  since,  as  they  pretend."-  These 
were  the  Cherokees. 

In  commenting  on  the  exploration  of  Batts  and  Fallam,  1671,  John 
Mitchell,  M.  D.,  has  this  to  say  of  the  Shawnees : 

"The  Indians  they  mean  were  the  ancient  Chawanoes  or  Choananons. 
who  lived  to  the  westward  and  Northwest  of  the  Place  that  these  Dis- 
coveries were  at;  and  were  at  this  Time,  1671,  engaged  in  a  hot  and 
bloody  war  with  the  Iroquois,  in  which  they  were  so  closely  pressed  at 
this   time  that   they   were   entirely   extirpated   or   incorporated   wath   the 

'  Civil  and  Political  History  of  Tennessee,  John  Haywood,  p.  30.  Haywood  adds : 
"The  Six  Nations  claimed  the  soil  by  conquest,  not  as  the  aboriginal  owners,  and 
this  is  the  traditionary  account  of  their  nation.  Who  were  the  aborigines,  and  whether 
they  were  all  destroyed  or  driven  from  their  possessions,  and  when  these  events 
happened,  are  left  unfixed.  But  in  1750  they  rested  upon  tradition,  which  at 
that  time  had  lost  the  circumstantial  details  which  belong  to  recent  transactions. 
Certain  it  is,  the  whole  country  which  they  claimed  was  depopulated,  and  still 
retained   the  vestiges  of  an  ancient  and  very  numerous   population." 

2  The  First  Exploration  of  the  Trans-Allegheny  Region  by  llie  Virginians.  C. 
W.  Alvord  and  Lee  Bidgood,   142. 

49 

Vol.  1—8 


50  IIISTURV  UF  KENTUCKY 

Iroquois  the  year  following."^  In  his  Mfinorial  to  King  William,  1699, 
Dr.  Daniel  Cox  recites  that :  "Mr.  Tonty,  one  of  the  French  King's 
Governours  in  Canada,  owns  in  his  book,  printed  at  Paris,  That  in  the 
year  1679,  when  he  was  there,  the  Irocois  were  possessed  of  a  Territory 
Extending  from  the  Lower  End  of  the  Island  of  Montreal!,  where  the 
two  great  rivers  meet  which  form  the  St.  Lawrence  of  two  hundred 
Leagues  Extent,  which  is  to  the  west  end  of  Lake  Erie.  And  elsewhere, 
that  they  have  conquered  the  Miamihas  and  Illinois,  Chavanoucs,  three 
great  Xations  as  far  as  the  Kivcr  Mcchaccbe,  And  that  Northward  they 
had  con(|uered  the  Kicapous.  Maschoutens.  etc:  for  which  and  divers 
other  ])assages  in  his  liook  which  seemed  to  favour  the  English.  *  *  * 
All  these  Countryes  and  all  the  Peninsula  between  the  Leaks  of  Ontario, 
Erie  and  the  llwrons  a  most  beautiful  and  fruitful  Country,  Conquered 
before  by  the  Irocois,  and  four  great  Nations  Expelled  were  sold  by 
them  to  the  English  Government  of  New  York  (which  agreement  or 
sale  is  now  in  the  Plantati(jn  Office)  during  the  Government  of  Coll. 
Dungan  at  the  lieginning  of  King  James  the  2d's  Reign.  These  Countryes 
reach  unto  the  North  bounds  of  my  patent  and  Mr.  DeClerke  in  his 
Book  of  the  I-'rench  (lisco\eryes  printed  at  Paris  by  order  1691  owns  the 
Illinois  were  driven  by  the  Irocois  1680  out  of  their  Country  and  went 
to  settle  among  the  Ozages,  who  dwell  west  forty  or  tifty  miles  beyond 
the  River  Meschacebe."  * 

So  the  evidence  of  a  complete  aboriginal  title  to  the  land  on  the  south 
side  of  the  Ohio  in  17^8  in  the  Six  Nations  appears  to  be  indisputable. 
This  title  covered  the  land  south  to  the  Tennessee  River.  Even  the  Chero- 
kees  acknowledged  that.  This  title  was  publicly  asserted  ;  no  secret,  furtive 
or  doubtful  feature  encumbered  it.  At  the  treaty  of  Lancaster,  1744,  the 
Iroquois  Chief  Tachanoontia.  in  an  oration,  boldly  proclaimed:  "All  the 
world  knows  we  conquered  the  several  nations  living  on  Susquehannah, 
Cohongownton  [Potomac],  and  on  the  back  of  the  great  mountains  in 
\'irginia.  The  Conoy-uch-rooch  [people],  the  Coh-no-was-ronaw,  feel 
the  effects  of  our  conquests,  being  now  a  part  of  our  nation  and  their 
lands  at  our  disposal.  As  to  what  lies  beyond  the  mountains,  we  con- 
quered the  nations  residing  there,  and  the  land,  if  the  Virginians  ever 
get  a  good  right  to  it,  it  nnist  be  by  us."-''  By  the  terms  of  the  treaty 
of  Lancaster,  the  luiglish  considered  the  title  to  the  country  south  of 
the  Ohio  transferred  to  the  crown  and  from  the  crown  to  the  colonies, 
according  to  the  bounds  of  their  charters.  The  Indians  claimed  that  it 
was  not  their  intention  to  cede  these  lands  in  that  treaty.  Settlers  were 
crowding  over  the  old  lines  set  as  the  limits  of  their  migration  westward. 
])Oth  the  Indians  and  the  colonies  knew  they  would  not  be  restrained. 
The  need  for  a  new  treaty  and  the  drawing  of  a  new  line  to  give  the 
settlers  more  room  was  ap]iarcnt  to  all.  Early  in  the  year  1768  Sir  Wil- 
liam Johnson  received  from  the  king's  ministers  instructions  to  proceed 
with  the  matter  of  purchasing  from  the  Indians  the  lands  west  of  the 
Alleghany  Mountains  and  the  Ohio  River.  The  first  step  was  to  send 
notice  of  the  action  of  the  crown  to  the  governors  of  the  colonies  which 
would  be  affected  by  this  addition  to  their  territory  of  Indian-free  lands 
of  the  time  and  place  of  the  treaty  to  be  held  for  this  purpose.  lie  then 
informed  the  Six  Nations,  the  Delawares  and  other  tribes  having  inter- 
ests or  residing  on  the  Ohio  that  this  council  or  congress  would  be  con- 
vened and  held  at  b'ort  Stanwix,  in  New  York,  in  the  following  fall. 

'  Ibid.,  p.  199. 

*  Ibid.,  pp.  231,  232,  233,  234,  235.  Ill  a  note  on  page  234  it  is  .stated  that  the 
book  referred  to  was  ascribed  to  Tonty,  but  denied  by  him.  Its  title  was  Dcrnieres 
dccouvcrtc:  dans  r.-lmeriquc  .■icfloilrionalc  dc  M.  dc  la  Sallr.  It  was  published 
in   1607,  not    1679.     •'^'i   EnRlish   translation   was   pul)lished  at   London,    i6')8. 

°  Sec  Chrislnphcr  Gist'.':  Journals,  Darlington,  p.  143.  References  to  the  Treaty 
of  I^ncaster  are  there  given. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  51 

In  pursuance  of  this  notice  the  parties  assembled  at  Fort  Stanwix  in 
October,  1768.  The  council  was  opened  on  the  24th  of  October.  It  was 
presided  over  by  Sir  William  Johnson,  who  was  the  representative  of  the 
king  and  superintendent  of  Indian  affairs  for  all  the  English  colonies. 
George  Croghan  and  Daniel  Claus  were  present  as  deputy  agents,  and 
Guy  Johnson,  also  a  deputy  agent,  acted  as  secretary  of  the  council.  New 
Jersey,  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania  were  represented  by  accredited  dele- 
gates, the  commissioner  from  Virginia  being  Dr.  Thomas  Walker. 
Chiefs  of  each  one  of  the  tribes  of  the  Six  Nations  were  present,  and  two 
Delaware  chiefs  were  present.  While  the  official  records  fail  to  show 
them  present,  it  is  known  that  chiefs  and  principal  men  of  other  Indian 
tribes  were  present — for  one,  the  Cherokees.  Andrew  Montour  was  one 
of  the  interpreters  for  the  crown.  Sir  William  Johnson  opened  the 
council  and  addressed  the  Indians  through  Abraham,  the  principal  chief 
of  the  Mohawks.  He  called  attention  to  the  desire  of  the  crown  to  fix  a 
boundary  between  the  colonies  and  the  Indians  as  much  as  three  years 
before,  and  recounted  the  reasons  for  this  desire.  The  principal  reason 
was  the  encroachment  of  the  white  settlers  on  the  Indians  lands — a  con- 
dition which  has  not  disappeared  even  down  to  this  day.  At  the  con- 
clusion of  his  address.  Chief  Abraham  made  an  address  of  a  few  words 
to  Sir  William,  telling  him  that  the  matter  was  a  weighty  affair,  and  that 
the  chiefs  had  resolved  to  retire  and  consult  on  a  proper  answer  to  all 
he  had  said.  As  soon  as  it  had  been  determined  what  answer  to  make, 
notice  would  be  given,  so  that  all  might  assemble  to  hear  it. 

On  the  31st  day  of  October  a  deputation  from  the  Six  Nations  waited 
upon  Sir  William  and  informed  him  that  a  chief  and  a  warrior  from 
each  nation  would  attend  and  deliver  their  final  resolves,  to  be  made 
public  on  the  following  day.  They  said  also  that,  as  it  was  their  just 
right,  they  had  determined  to  begin  the  line  at  Cherokee  River,  as  they 
called  the  Tennessee.  The  council  assembled  on  the  ist  day  of  November 
and  the  Indians  desired  to  know  whether  Sir  William  was  prepared  to 
hear  what  they  had  to  say.  Being  assured  that  he  was,  their  speaker 
stood  up  and  delivered  the  result  of  their  deliberations.  After  recount- 
ing the  proceedings  theretofore  had  on  the  part  of  both  sides,  the  boun- 
dary agreed  to  by  the  Indians  in  councils  among  themselves  was  set  out. 
This  line  was  the  Ohio  River  from  the  mouth  of  the  Tennessee  to  Fort 
Pitt,  thence  by  other  courses  to  its  eastern  termination.  The  deed  or 
grant  embodying  the  cession  by  the  Indians  was  executed  on  the  5th  day 
of  November  and  recited  that,  "We,  the  sachems  and  chiefs  of  the  Six 
Confederate  Nations,  and  of  the  Shawnesse,  Delawares,  Mingoes  of  the 
Ohio,  and  other  dependent  tribes,  on  behalf  of  ourselves  and  of  the  rest 
of  our  several  nations,  the  chiefs  and  warriors  of  whom  are  now  con- 
vened *  *  *  do  grant,  bargain,  sell,  release  and  confirm,  unto  our 
said  sovereign  lord  King  George  the  Third,  all  that  tract  of  land  situate 
in  North  America,  at  the  back  of  the  British  settlements,  bounded  by 
a  line  which  we  have  now  agreed  upon,  and  do  hereby  establish  as  the 
Boundary  between  us  and  the  British  colonies  in  America;  beginning  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Cherokee  or  Hogohege  river,  where  it  empties  into  the 
river  Ohio ;  and  running  from  thence  upwards  along  the  south  side  of 
the  said  river  to  Kitanning.  which  is  above  Fort  Pitt ;  from  thence  by 
a  direct  line  to  the  nearest  fork  of  the  west  branch  of  Susquehannah ; 
thence  through  the  Alleghany  mountains,  along  the  south  side  of  the  said 
west  branch,  till  it  come  opposite  to  the  mouth  of  a  creek  called  Tiadagh- 
ton;  thence  across  the  west  branch,  and  along  the  south  side  of  that 
creek,  and  along  the  north  side  of  Burnet's  hills,  to  a  creek  called 
Awandae ;  thence  down  the  same  to  the  east  branch  of  Susquehannah, 
and  across  the  same,  and  up  the  east  side  of  that  river  to  Owegy;  from 
thence  east  to  Delaware  river,  and  up  that  river  to  opposite  to  where 


52  IIISIOKV  ()[■'  Ki:\'TUCKV 

Tianaderha  falls  into  Susquehannah ;  thence  to  Tianaderha,  and  up  the 
west  side  thereof  and  the  west  side  of  its  west  branch  to  the  head  thereof ; 
and  thence  by  a  direct  line  to  Canada  creek,  where  it  empties  into  Wood 
creek,  at  the  west  end  of  the  carrying  place  beyond  Fort  Stanwix,  and 
extending  eastward  from  every  part  of  ihe  said  line,  as  far  as  the  lands 
formerly  ])urchased,  so  as  to  comprehend  the  whole  of  the  lands  between 
the  said  line  and  the  purchased  lands  or  settlements,  except  what  is 
within  the  province  of  Pennsylvania." 

I'rcliminary  to  the  granting  clause  the  grantors,  the  Indians,  declare 
in  relation  to  the  land  about  to  be  conveyed,  and  the  line  bounding  it  on 
the  north :  "We  have  likewise  continued  it  south  to  the  Cherokee  River, 
because  the  same  is,  and  we  do  declare  it  to  be,  our  true  bounds  with  the 
southern  Indians,  and  that  we  have  an  undoubted  right  to  the  country 
as  far  south  as  that  river." 

Thus  was  the  Indian  title  extinguished  to  the  land  soon  to  become 
the  State  of  Kentucky,  excej^t  that  portion  later  known  as  the  Jackson 
Purchase — the  territory  west  of  the  Tennessee,  which  was  secured  from 
the  Chickasaws. 

The  Cherokees  occupied  the  valleys  of  the  Clinch  and  the  Ilolston 
and  other  head  branches  of  the  Tennessee.  It  was  necessary  to  deal 
with  them  in  the  westward  expansion  of  the  English  in  Virginia  to  the 
westward.  For  the  protection  of  the  settlers  on  the  extreme  frontier 
it  became  necessary  from  time  to  time  to  fix  lines  beyond  which  they 
should  not  settle.  These  lines  were  measures  for  the  prevention  of 
Indian  forays  and  reprisals,  and  the  Indians  were  always  consulted.  In 
this  way  the  Cherokees  began  to  consider  themselves  the  owners  and 
proprietors  of  lands  to  which  they  had  no  title — among  them  the  lands 
in  w-hich  was  to  become  Kentucky.  Exhaustive  research  has  failed  to 
reveal  any  ownership  by  the  Cherokees  to  what  is  now  Kentucky,  even 
when  they  were  the  Tallegwi  and  seated  in  Ohio.  They  did  not  at  that 
time  retreat  south  through  Kentucky  when  expelled  by  the  Iroquois  and 
Lenapc,  but  passed  up  the  Kanawha.  So  far  as  revealed  by  any  record 
examined,  there  is  nothing  ujjon  which  the  Cherokees  could  formulate  a 
claim  to  any  ])art  of  Kentucky.  There  is  a  contention  that  the  fixing  of 
these  lines  to  restrain  westward  settlement  from  lime  to  time  forfeited 
the  English  title  and  vested  it  in  the  Cherokees." 

"  R.  S.  Cotterill,  in  hi,s  article  on  Transylvania,  in  liis  History  of  Pioneer  Ken- 
tucky. Tlic  soundness  of  the  title  of  the  Six  Nations  is  admitted.  But,  lie  says, 
"the  title  to  Kentucky  was  ceded  to  the  Enylish  and  not  to  Virc/inia.  Virginia  had 
no  more  riglit  to  the  country  than  before.  England  had  acquired  the  right  of 
eminent  domain."  Tlien,  it  is  contended,  at  tlie  treaty  of  Hard  Labor  and 
tliat  of  Lochabar,  the  Clierokees  were  confirmed  in  the  possession  of  all  the 
lands  west  of  the  lines  fixed  by  these  treaties.  It  is  a  little  difl^icult  to 
follcivv  this  reasoning.  It  is  claimed  that  Virginia  did  not  own  any  of  this  western 
land— that  the  English  Government  did  own  it.  By  an  agreement  on  a  line  beyond 
which  settlers  should  not  go  Virginia  established  in  land  she  did  not  own  a  valid 
title  to  it  in  the  Cherokees.  It  is  thus  made  out  that  the  Cherokee  title  was  not 
based  on  occuiiation,  for  the  Cherokees  never  occupied  the  land,  but  that  it  is  based 
on  treaty  action  by  Virginia,  who  never  owned  the  land — an  odd  way  to  secure 
a  title  to  land.  Virginia  never  had  ibe  remotest  intention  of  alienating  her  posses- 
sions to  the  Cherokees.  .And  here  is  encountered  another  contention.  The  ancient 
boun<ls  of  Vii'gini.i  were  JOO  miles  north  and  200  miles  south  of  Old  Point 
Comfort,  miming  from  sea  to  sea — that  is  from  the  .Atlantic  to  the  Pacific.  The 
History  of  Pioneer  Kentucky  holds  that  the  abrogation  of  the  Virginia  charter 
in  1624  left  Virginia  without  any  bounds  whatever.  But  it  is  the  opinion  of  Mr. 
Cooke  that — "This  was  the  original  cliarter  under  which  Virginia  held  at  the  time 
of  the  formation  of  the  Federal  Constitution  in  1788. — Virginia,  by  John  Esten 
Cooke,  in  American  Commonwealths,  p.  15.  ".Sir  Francis  Wyatt  was  confirmed  in 
his  office,  and  himself  and  council  only  authorized  to  govern  within  the  same 
limits  as  any  previous  governor." — flistory  of  Virginia,  T.  S.  Arthur  and  \V.  II. 
Carjienter,  p.  149. 

Whatever  modification  of  Ihe  original  bounds  of  Virginia  were  made  came 
only  after   long   contention   with    other   colonies.     These   old   bounds    were   recog- 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  53 

The  treaty  relations  of  the  Cherokees  with  the  colonies  began  in  1721. 
The  French  began  to  exercise  an  influence  over  them  about  that  time. 
Governor  Nicholson  of  South  Carolina  invited  the  Cherokees  to  a  general 
council.  Chiefs  and  warriors  from  thirty-seven  of  the  Cherokee  towns 
attended.  Boundaries  were  fixed,  presents  distributed  and  the  Indians 
returned  home  satisfied.  The  governor  appointed  an  agent  to  superin- 
tend the  aft'airs  of  the  Cherokees. 

In  1730  the  government  of  North  Carolina  sent  Sir  Alexander  Cum- 
ming  to  make  a  treaty  with  the  Cherokees.  The  council  was  held  in 
April  near  the  sources  of  the  Hiwassa.  Not  only  did  these  Indians 
acknowledge  the  sovereignty  of  King  George,  but  they  sent  a  delegation 
consisting  of  six  of  their  warriors  to  carry  the  crown  of  the  Cherokee 
Nation  to  England  and  there  perform  an  act  of  homage  to  the  king.  In 
addition  to  the  performance  of  this  act  of  homage,  they  concluded  a 
treaty  of  peace  and  commerce  at  Dover  on  the  30th  of  June,  in  which 
they  stipulated: 

1.  To  submit  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  king  and  his  successors. 

2.  Not  to  trade  with  any  other  nation  but  the  English. 

3.  Not  to  permit  any  but  the  English  to  build  forts  or  cabins  or  plant 
corn  among  them. 

4.  To  apprehend  and  deliver  runaway  negroes. 

3.  To  surrender  any  Indian  killing  an  Englishman. 

In  1755,  to  prevent  an  alliance  between  the  Cherokees  and  the  French, 
Governor  Glenn  of  South  Carolina  held  a  treaty  with  the  Cherokees. 
They  ceded  a  large  tract  of  land  between  the  Broad  and  Catawba  rivers. 

This  treaty  was  followed  by  another,  which  was  concluded  in  1756 
with  South  Carolina.  This  treaty  was  with  both  the  Cherokees  and  the 
Catawbas.  Pursuant  to  its  temis,  Governor  Glenn  erected  a  chain  of 
forts  on  his  western  frontier  and  erected  Fort  Loudon  on  the  Tennessee 
River  at  the  mouth  of  the  Tellico. 

Capt.  Patrick  Jack,  of  Pennsylvania,  purchased  from  the  Cherokees 
a  tract  of  land  fifteen  miles  square,  south  of  the  Tennessee.  This  was 
not  confirmed  until  1762,  when  it  was  agreed  to  at  a  council  held  i\Iay  7 
at  Catawba  River. 

In  1760  the  Cherokees  joined  the  French  interest.  The  French  and 
English  were  at  war.  It  was  necessary  to  lake  measures  for  the  defense 
of  the  colonies,  and  Governor  Littelton  of  South  Carolina  invaded  their 
country  and  defeated  them.  Later  in  the  year  he  concluded  a  treaty 
with  them.  They  enlisted  in  the  English  interest  and  agreed  to  kill  or 
imprison  all  French  who  should  come  among  them.  This  treaty  they 
did  not  observe.  In  1761  Colonel  Grant  was  sent  into  the  Cherokee 
country  with  a  considerable  force.  He  destroyed  fifteen  of  their  towns. 
They  then  asked  for  a  truce,  which  was  granted.  A  treaty  was  made 
with  them,  at  Ashley's  Ferry,  near  Charleston,  by  which  the  boundary 
of  English  settlement  was  fixed  at  the  headwaters  of  the  streams  flowing 
into  the  Atlantic. 


nized  by  the  United  States.  Virginia  formed  counties  north  of  the  Ohio  by  right 
of  her  bounds  as  set  out  in  the  oldest  charter.  And  it  never  has  been  held  that 
defining  an  Indian  reservation  destroyed  the  title  of  the  government  to  the  land 
upon  which  the  Indians  were  permitted  to  live.  Prof.  Alvord  says,  in  speaking 
of  the  treaty  of  Fort  Stanwix,  "An  examination  of  the  correspondence  of  the 
period  has  led  one  to  believe  that  it  was  not  generally  thought,  at  this  time  that 
the  Indian  boundary  line  marked  the  western  limits  of  the  colonies." — C.  W.  Alvord 
in  article  on  "The  British  Ministry  and  the  Treaty  of  Fort  Stanwix,  in  Proceed- 
ings of  the  State  Historical  Society  nf  JVisconsin.  igo8,  p.  182. 

The  distinction  between  the  ownership  of  the  country  by  the  Crown  and  the 
colony  was  emphasized  by  the  earl5'  writers.  See  Appendix  to  Butler's  History 
of  Kentucky.  But  it  is  was  a  distinction  without  a  difference.  The  English  gov- 
ernment never  insisted  on  this  feature,  but  labored  diligently  and  frequently  to  adjust 
boundary  disputes  between  the  colonies. 

So,  in  fact,  the  Cherokee  never  had  the  shadow  of  title  to  the  soil  of  Kentucky. 


54  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

In  1768  conditions  liad  so  changed  that  it  was  necessary  to  readjust 
the  line  between  the  ever-growing  western  settlements  and  the  Cherokees, 
if  an  Indian  war  was  to  be  avoided.  Stuart,  the  superintendent  of 
Indian  affairs,  convened  the  chiefs  and  warriors  at  Hard  Labor,  South 
CaroHna,  and  concluded  a  treaty  with  them.  The  line  was  fixed  as 
follows:  Beginning  on  the  North  Carolina  line  thirty-six  miles  east  of 
the  Long  Island  in  the  Holston,  thence  to  Chiswell's  lead  mines  on  the 
east  bank  of  the  Kanawha  River.  Thence  the  line  followed  the  Kanawha 
River  to  the  Ohio.  This  was  the  year  of  the  treaty  of  Fort  Stanwix, 
where  the  Cherokees  had  admitted  the  title  of  the  Six  Nations  to  the 
land  south  to  the  Tennessee  River. 

By  the  year  1770  there  were  hundreds  of  settlers  west  of  the  lines 
fixed  in  1768.  The  Cherokees  knew  as  well  as  did  the  colonics  and  their 
western  inhabitants  that  these  lines  were  only  for  the  time  being— very 
temporary.  Governor  Botetourt  of  Virginia  moved  for  a  new  line.  He 
called  on  his  commissioners  to  make  representations  to  Stuart,  of  South 
Carolina,  who  called  a  council  of  the  chiefs  and  warriors  of  the  Chero- 
kees at  Lochabar,  in  his  colony.  In  the  treaty  concluded  there  the  line 
was  fixed  to  run  from  a  point  six  miles  east  of  the  Long  Island  in  a 
direct  course  to  the  mouth  of  the  Kanawha  River.  This  line  included  a 
very  small  tract  in  the  extreme  east  end  of  Kentucky.  Had  it  ever  been 
run  it  would  have  entered  Kentucky  northeast  of  the  "Breaks"  and  have 
passed  out  above  the  mouth  of  Pigeon  Creek,  on  the  Tug  Fork.  But  the 
line  was  never  laid  down  as  provided  in  the  treaty.  It  was  surveyed  by 
Col.  John  Donelson  in  the  fall  of  1771.  Little  Carpenter  and  other  chiefs 
who  had  aided  in  negotiating  the  treaty  went  with  Colonel  Donelson  to 
locate  and  mark  the  line.  They  urged  that  the  line  be  run  directly  to 
the  head  of  the  Kentucky  River,  thence  with  that  stream  to  the  Ohio 
River,  and  thence  up  the  Ohio  to  the  mouth  of  the  Kanawha.  They  said 
they  preferred  natural  boundary  lines;  a  line  cutting  across  hills  and 
streams  was  hard  to  keep  in  mind,  often  being  violated  unintentionally. 
The  additional  territory  secured  by  Virginia  by  change  in  the  line  to 
the  Kentucky  River  the  Cherokees  expected  pay  for,  altliough  they  knew 
they  did  not  own  it,  having  been  present  at  and  assenting  to  its  sale  at 
Fort  Stanwix  only  three  years  before.  The  next  year  (1772)  Virginia 
had  the  matter  under  discussion  with  the  Cherokee  chiefs,  and  the  line 
as  surveyed  by  Colonel  Donelson  was  allowed  to  stand  as  the  boundary 
line.  It  is  said,  however,  that  the  Cherokees  were  paid  nothing  in  addi- 
tion for  this  change,  as  they  should  not  have  been.  By  this  new  line 
all  that  part  of  Kentucky  cast  of  the  Kentucky  River,  heading  near  the 
Pound  Gap,  was  again  acquired  by  Virginia  from  the  Indians.  The 
Indian  title  to  this  part  of  the  state  had  thus  been  twice  extinguished. 

I"  ^77^  (March  17),  Col.  Richard  Henderson,  of  North  Carolina, 
and  his  eight  associates  concluded  a  treaty  at  Sycamore  Shoals,  on  the 
Watauga,  with  some  of  the  Cherokee  chiefs.  This  treaty  was  not  author- 
ized by  any  government,  but  was  made  by  Henderson  and  his  associates 
in  their  private  capacity  and  for  their  private  benefit.  Two  tracts  of  land 
were  secured  from  the  Indians,  one  in  Northeastern  Tennessee  and 
Southwestern  Virginia,  and  the  other  in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee.  The 
land  covered  by  the  grant  in  Kentucky  embraced  all  that  territory  west 
of  the  Donelson  line  and  east  of  the  Cumberland  River — that  is,  between 
the  Kentucky  River  and  its  North  Fork  and  the  Cumberland.  It  in- 
cluded almost  all  of  Central  and  Western  Kentucky  and  nuich  of  North- 
Central  Tennessee.  All  such  purchases  had  been  forbidden  by  the  crown. 
Virginia  did  not  recognize  the  purchase  as  valid,  but,  as  the  Indians  had 
received  pay  for  the  land,  it  was  regarded  as  binding  as  to  their  interests. 
So  the  Indian  title  to  this  portion  of  Kentucky  was  extinguished  for  the 
second  time.     Colonel  Henderson  and  his  associates  were  given  by  Vir- 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  55 

ginia  a  tract  of  200,000  acres  of  land  in  Kentucky  on  the  Ohio,  about 
the  mouth  of  Green  River. 

The  next  treaty  with  the  Cherokees  affecting  land  in  Kentucky  was 
by  the  United  States  at  Hopewell.  The  commissioners  on  the  part  of 
the  Government  made  known  to  the  Indians  the  change  which  had  re- 
sulted by  the  success  of  the  Revolution,  explaining  that  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  stood,  so  far  as  they  were  concerned,  in  the  place 
of  the  crown.  They  requested  the  Cherokees  to  state  what  lands  they 
owned  and  what  they  would  dispose  of.  In  the  map  which  the  chiefs 
submitted  to  the  commissioners  the  limits  of  their  possessions  included 
most  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  and  large  parts  of  Georgia,  North 
Carolina  and  South  Carolina.  Selling  land  they  did  not  own  had  proven 
profitable,  and  they  now  desired  to  sell  Kentucky  a  second  time.  The 
commissioners  brought  to  their  attention  their  sale  to  Henderson,  saying 
that  as  Colonel  Henderson  was  now  dead,  that  matter  could  not  be 
considered.  The  chiefs  then  abandoned  their  claim  to  the  Henderson 
Purchase.  By  the  treaty  concluded  they  ceded  the  lands  on  the  south 
water-shed  of  the  Cumberland  River.  Two  tracts  in  this  cession  were 
in  Kentucky.  One  was  the  land  on  all  the  waters  flowing  into  the 
Cumberland  and  on  its  west  side  from  its  mouth  south  to  the  state-line. 
The  other  tract  was  bounded  on  the  west  and  north  by  the  Cumberland 
River,  on  the  south  by  the  state-line,  and  on  the  east  by  General  Win- 
chester's line.     This  line  is  described  as  follows : 

"From  Walton's  road  to  the  Fort  Blount  road,  which  it  crosses  near 
the  two  springs  at  the  32-mile  tree ;  crosses  Obey's  River  about  6  or  7 
miles  from  the  mouth ;  Achmugh  about  2  miles  above  the  Salt  Lick ;  the 
South  Fork  of  Cumberland,  or  Flute  River,  5  or  6  miles  from  the  mouth 
and  struck  Cumberland  River  about  a  mile  above  the  mouth  of  Rock 
Castle." 

This  tract  is  mostly  in  Clinton,  Cumberland,  Wayne  and  McCreary 
counties. 

On  the  25th  of  October,  1805,  a  treaty  was  held  with  the  Cherokees 
at  Tellico,  Tennessee.  In  this  treaty  the  Cherokees  ceded  all  their  lands 
north  of  a  line  beginning  at  the  mouth  of  Duck  River  and  up  the  main 
stream  of  the  same  to  the  junction  of  the  fork  at  the  head  of  which 
Fort  Nash  stood,  with  the  main  south  fork.  Thence  a  direct  course  to 
a  point  on  the  Tennessee  River  bank  opposite  the  mouth  of  Hiwassa 
River.  This  included  all  the  land  remaining  as  claimed  by  the  Cherokees 
in  Southeastern  Kentucky.  It  is  largely  occupied  by  Whitley,  Bell  and 
McCreary  counties.  If  the  Cherokees  made  any  claim  to  any  land  on 
the  Tennessee  between  that  river  and  the  ridge  dividing  its  waters  from 
that  of  the  Cumberland,  north  to  the  Ohio,  this  treaty  divested  them  of  it. 

In  this  relation,  however,  it  may  be  said  that  the  Cherokees  never 
positively  asserted  any  claim  to  the  small  tract  on  the  east  side  of  the 
Tennessee  and  up  to  the  main  ridge  between  it  and  the  Cumberland. 
This  small  tract  of  Kentucky  soil  was  obtained  in  a  treaty  with  the 
Chickasaws  held  on  the  23d  of  July,  1805.  Much  other  land  in  Ten- 
nessee was  ceded  at  the  same  time.  Thus  for  the  second  time  was  the 
Indian  title  extinguished  to  the  tract  on  the  east  side  of  the  Tennessee, 
west  of  the  dividing  ridge  separating  the  waters  of  the  Tennessee  from 
those  of  the  Cumberland,  and  between  the  Ohio  and  the  south  line  of 
the  state. 

All  that  remained  to  the  Indians  in  the  State  of  Kentucky  after  the 
treaty  with  the  Chickasaws  of  July  23,  1805,  was  that  portion  lying 
west  of  the  Tennessee  River.  This  tract  belonged  to  the  Chickasaws.  A 
treaty  was  held  with  them  on  the  19th  of  October,  1819,  near  Old  Town, 
in  their  country.  The  commissioners  on  the  part  of  the  United  States 
were  Isaac  Shelby  and  Andrew  Jackson.     The  Chickasaws  ceded  to  the 


5G  UISTOKN-  Ol'-  KENTUCKY 

United  States  a  tract  ui  land  hnundcil  as  follows:  "Beginning  on  the 
Tennessee  river,  about  tliirty-tive  miles,  by  water,  below  Colonel  Cjeorge 
Colberts's  ferry,  where  the  thirty-fifth  degree  of  north  latitude  strikes 
the  same ;  thence  due  west,  with  said  degree  of  north  latitude  to  where 
it  cuts  the  Mississippi  river  at  or  near  the  Chickasaw  Bluffs;  thence  up 
the  Mississippi  river  to  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio;  thence  up  the  Ohio  river 
to  the  mouth  of  Tennessee  river;  thence  up  the  Tennessee  river  to  the 
place  of  beginning." 

This  cession  completed  the  extinguishment  of  the  Indian  title  to  the 
soil  of  Kentucky. 

The  land  included  in  this  last  cession  became  known  as  the  "Jackson 
Purchase,"  which  designation  it  bears  to  this  day. 

Considered  in  the  terms,  values  and  conditions  of  the  present  time, 
the  consideration  paid  the  Indians  for  their  title  to  the  land  of  Kentucky 
was  insigniticant.  But  it  must  be  remembered  that  none  of  these  tribes 
dccupicfl  these  lands.  They  were  non-residents.  And  the  Cherokees 
had  no  title.  There  had  been  a  time  when  the  Six  Nations  considered 
the  possibility  of  settling  in  Kentucky.  Whether  they  ever  seriously 
contemplated  this  change  of  residence  is  not  known.  But  among  the 
W'estern  tribes  this  possibility  was  recognized,  and  to  those  of  the  kindred 
blood  of  the  Iroquois  this  great  unoccupied  tract  became  known  as  the 
Lami  of  Tomorroiv — the  future — a  designation  of  beauty,  of  romance, 
of  ])rogress.  Kentucky  has  a  glorious  past.  That  inspires  determination 
for  a  brilliant  future.  Her  ideals  for  tomorrow  may  be  unattainable. 
The_\-  sliould  be.  LSut  their  inspiration  produces  effort,  hope,  and  a  lively 
interest  in  what  that  Coming  Day  may  hold." 

'Authorities,  not  specifically  named  in  this  chapter,  have  mainly  been  the 
various  volumes  of  treaties  with  the  Indians.  For  the  Cherokees  and  their  ces- 
sions, the  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  1SSS-S4,  is  the  best  work 
found. 


CHAPTER  V 
THE  EXPLORATION  OF  DR.  THOMAS  WALKER 

The  explorations  to  the  westward  from  the  Virginia  settlements 
toward  the  Ohio  country  were,  down  to  1750,  for  the  purpose  of  dis- 
covery. The  English  colonists  never  doubted  the  validity  of  the  English 
title  to  any  portion  of  the  land  embraced  in  the  Virginia  grants  from 
sea  to  sea.  When  a  tour  of  discovery  was  made,  it  was  to  find  out  the 
nature  and  possibilities  of  their  own  property. 

About  the  year  1750  the  lands  on  the  waters  of  the  Ohio  began  to 
be  considered  available  for  exploitation,  with  the  object  of  settlement. 
Prior  to  1748  Col.  James  Patton  and  his  associates  had  secured  a  grant 
of  120,000  acres  situated  on  and  about  the  watershed  of  the  Staunton. 
Here,  on  the  Great  Divide,  on  land  secured  from  Colonel  Patton,  the 
Draper's  Meadows  settlement  was  established  in  1748.  Colonel  Pat- 
ton must  have  been  pleased  with  his  frontier  investment,  for  in  the  year 
1748  he  went  on  a  tour  of  inspection  into  Southwestern  Virginia,  un- 
doubtedly with  the  design  of  finding  additional  land  suitable  for  col- 
onization. Dr.  Thomas  Walker,  Col.  John  Buchanan,  a  Colonel  Wood, 
and  Maj.  Charles  Campbell — perhaps  others — went  with  him.  They 
followed  the  Holston  down  into  the  Cherokee  country.  These  men 
were  Virginians  seeking  land  in  Virginia,  but,  as  the  line  between  Vir- 
ginia and  North  Carolina  had  not  been  surveyed  at  that  time,  there  was 
uncertainty  as  to  the  ownership  of  the  lands  examined.  There  has  been 
some  disposition  to  attribute  to  Doctor  Walker  the  exploration  of  the 
country  about  the  Cumberland  Gap  on  this  expedition,  but  no  evidence 
has  been   found  to  support  this  contention. ^ 

The  Loyal  Land  Company  was  organized  in  1749.  It  secured  a 
grant  of  800,000  acres  of  land,  to  be  located  in  that  portion  of  Virginia 
which  became  Kentucky.  The  fame  of  Doctor  Walker  as  a  surveyor, 
examiner  and  judge  of  frontier  lands  brought  him  to  the  attention  of 
this  company.  On  the  12th  of  December,  1749,  he  entered  into  a  con- 
tract with  the  company  to  explore  the  country  west  of  the  Cumberlands 
in  search  of  a  suitable  location  upon  which  to  lay  the  warrant  for  this 
immense  grant.^ 

1  Dr.  Thomas  Walker  was  born  in  King  and  Queen  County,  Virginia,  January 
25,  1715.  He  died  at  his  home,  Castle  Hill,  Albemarle  County,  Virginia,  November 
9,  1794.  He. was  a  man  of  enterprise  and  public  spirit  and  in  his  day  filled  many 
positions  of  public  trust  in  the  Virginia  Colony.  He  became  a  surveyor  and  made 
himself  familiar  with  the  country  to  the  west  of  the  Virginia  settlements  of  his  time. 
His  knowledge  of  the  western  country  was  frequently  utilized  by  the  Government. 
He  was  sent  as  commissioner  to  negotiate  treaties  where  the  interests  of  Virginia  and 
other  English  colonies  required  men  of  the  broadest  knowledge.  One  of  the  most 
important  treaties  ever  concluded  with  the  Indians  was  that  of  Fort  Stanwix,  in  New 
York.  Here  the  English  secured  the  Indian  title  to  the  lands  South  of  the  Ohio, 
including  most  of  what  is  now  Kentucky.  In  1750,  Doctor  Walker  and  others  made 
an  extensive  exploration  in  Eastern  and  Southeastern  Kentucky.  Many  of  the 
eminent  families  of  Virginia  and  Kentucky  are  descended  from  Dr.  Thomas  Walker. 

2  The  opening  sentence  of  his  Journal  says  that — "Having,  on  the  12th  of  De- 
cember last,  been  employed  for  a  certain  consideration  to  go  to  the  Westward  in 
order  to  discover  a  proper  Place  for  a  Settlement,"  etc.  See  the  Journal  of  Dr. 
Thomas  Walker  in  first  Explorations  of  Kentucky,  a  Filson  Club  publication  by 
J.  Stoddard  Johnston.    Published  in  1898. 

57 


58  HISTORY  OI-   KENTUCKY 

Doctor  Walker  .set  uut  uii  this  tuiir  from  his  home  at  Castle  Hill, 
near  Charlottesville,  on  the  6th  day  of  March,  1750.  There  went  with 
him,  in  what  capacity  is  not  exactly  shown,  Ambrose  Powell,  William 
Tomlinson,  Colby  Chew,  Henry  Lawless  and  John  Hughes.  The  com- 
pany was  mounted,  and  there  were  two  pack-horses  to  carry  the  baggage. 
That  night  the  party  stopped  with  Colonel  Joshua  Fry.  The  7th  proved 
a  rainy  day  and,  although  the  party  got  under  way  at  eight  o'clock,  not 
much  progress  was  made.  The  night  was  spent  with  Thomas  Joplin, 
on  Rocktish  River.  The  weather  continued  unfavorable  and  traveling 
was  rendered  difficult.  On  the  13th  they  were  at  the  home  of  William 
Calloway,  where  they  supj)lied  themselves  with  rum,  thread,  and  other 
articles  necessary  to  wilderness  travel.  At  night  they  stopped  with 
one  Adam  Beard,  a  "brutish  fellow,"  who  thought  to  have  them  arrested 
or  "taken  up,"  as  the  term  was  then  and  as  it  still  is  in  all  the  country 
of  the  Appalachians.  The  Blue  Ridge  was  crossed  on  the  14th.  On 
the  15th  corn  for  their  horses  was  purchased  of  Michael  Campbell,  and 
a  country  noted  for  wild  game  was  seen  and  described.  They  found 
that  the  buffalo  had  been  killed  for  wanton  sport  and  that  the  deer 
and  elk  had  been  slain  for  their  hides.  On  the  i6th  of  March  the  party 
reached  the  home  of  William  Ingles,  who  had  married  Mary  Draper, 
of  the  Draper  Settlement,  and  whose  marriage  was  the  first  solemnized 
in  the  Mississippi  Valley  between  English-speaking  people.  Ingles  had 
a  mill  on  the  headwaters  of  the  Staunton.  Five  years  later  the  Shawnees 
attacked  his  house  and  carried  away  his  wife  and  children.^ 

The  New  River  was  crossed  on  the  17th.  On  the  west  bank  lived 
a  colony  of  Dunkards,  and  this  colony  had  built  a  mill  there.  The  river 
was  400  yards  wide,  and  the  explorers  were  compelled  to  swim  their 
horses  over  the  stream,  which  was  probably  done  in  the  Appalachian 
way — the  reins  held  by  those  standing  in  a  canoe  paddled  by  one  sitting 
at  the  stern,  and  the  horses  swimming  with  the  craft  and  on  the  lower 
side.  William  Ingles  afterwards  established  a  ferry  at  this  point,  which 
later,  in  the  day  of  westward  migration,  became  famous  as  Ingles'  Ferry. 
His  descendants  still  live  there.  The  explorers  found  the  Dunkards 
very  hospitable  and,  owing  to  the  straying  of  their  horses,  they  did 
not  get  away  from  this  point  until  the  20th.  The  camp  on  the  21st  was 
on  Reedy  Creek,  a  tributary  of  the  New  River  which  heads  a  little  west 
of  Wytheville.  Doctor  Walker  stopped  at  the  home  of  James  McCall, 
of  whom  he  purchased  a  supply  of  bacon.  The  Great  Divide  between 
the  waters  of  the  New  River  and  the  Holston,  one  of  the  main  branches 
of  the  Tennessee — all  tributary  to  the  Ohio — was  crossed  on  the  22d  of 
March.  The  camp  was  made  some  five  miles  "below  Davises  Bottom" 
on  the  Holston,  where  there  was  a  large  spring.  The  course  on  the  23d 
was  down  the  Holston,  but  only  for  four  or  five  miles.  Doctor  Walker 
and  Ambrose  Powell  went  from  the  camp  to  find  one  Samuel  Stalnaker, 
who  had  just  moved  into  that  wilderness  to  settle.  His  camp  was  found, 
and  on  the  24111  the  party  went  to  his  place  and  helped  him  to  raise 
his  house.  Stalnaker  was  a  trader  to  the  Cherokee  Indians,  then  living 
on  the  Tennessee  and  its  branches.  Doctor  Walker  had  met  him  going 
on  one  of  his  trading  expeditions  in  1748  and  tried  to  engage  him  as 
guide,  but  Stalnaker  could  not  go  with  him.  No  settler's  cabin  lay 
west  of  that  of  Stalnaker.  At  that  day  he  was  the  Johnny  Groat  of 
the  Western  wilderness. 

From  Stalnaker's  the  explorers  turned  west.  On  the  26th,  camp  was 
made  at  a  large  spring  on  a  branch  of  the  North  Fork  of  the  Holston. 
It  stormed.  There  was  thunder  and  lightning,  and  on  the  morning  of 
the  27th  snow  was  falling,  and  it  did  not  cease  until  noon.  This  day 
the  mountain-tops  to  the  northwest  were  covered  with  snow.     On  the 

»  See  Chapter  of  this  work  on  Mrs.  Mary  Ingles  for  an  account  of  this  incident. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  59 

28th  another  stream  named  Reedy  Creek  was  reached.  This  stream 
empties  into  the  Holston  at  the  foot  of  the  Long  Island.  The  night  of 
the  29th  the  dogs  of  the  party  were  excited  and  uneasy.  The  cause 
was  found  the  next  day,  when  tracks  of  some  twenty  Indians  were 
discovered.  The  Indians  had  gone  up  the  creek  during  the  night.  On 
the  30th  two  young  buffaloes  were  caught,  one  of  which  was  killed  for 
food  and  the  other  permitted  to  go.  At  the  mouth  of  Reedy  Creek 
a  giant  elm  tree  was  seen.  Three  feet  above  the  ground  it  measured 
twenty-five  feet  around.  The  young  of  the  wild  duck  were  seen  on 
the  31st.  The  North  Fork  was  reached  at  its  junction  with  the  main 
stream  and  ascended  a  short  distance  to  a  ford,  where  it  was  crossed. 
On  the  land  in  the  forks  of  the  Holston  five  Indian  houses  built  of  logs 
and  covered  with  bark  were  seen.  They  were  abandoned,  and  pots  and 
pans  lay  scattered  about,  some  broken  and  some  sound  and  good.  Bones 
were  abundant.  On  the  west  side  of  the  North  Fork  stood  four  other 
Indian  houses  of  the  same  kind.  Four  miles  down  the  Holston,  on  the 
east  bank,  was  a  large  Indian  fort,  opposite  which  the  party  camped 
for  the  night.  The  houses  and  the  fort  were  buildings  of  the  Chero- 
kees,  to  whom  this  country  belonged. 

The  first  day  of  April  was  the  Sabbath.  Doctor  Walker  was  a  strict 
observer  of  the  day.  The  party  remained  in  camp,  and  the  doctor  cut 
his  name  and  the  date  on  a  number  of  beech  trees.  Little  progress 
was  made  on  the  second,  one  of  their  horses  becoming  sick  from  hav- 
ing eaten  too  much  of  the  cane  from  which  the  pioneers  made  the  stems 
for  their  pipes.  The  following  day  a  mountain  range  rose  to  vision  to 
the  westward.  Its  sides  were  precipitous,  and  its  top  was  a  wall  of 
gleaming  white  sandstone.  It  was  flanked  by  out-liers  of  much  inferior 
size.  Search  for  a  gap  or  notch  in  the  range  failed  to  reveal  one. 
The  party  slept  under  the  range  on  the  4th,  riding  down  its  eastern 
flank  and  keeping  close  observation,  hoping  for  a  gap  through  which, 
it  might  be  passed.  This  was  found  on  the  5th  about  three  in  the 
afternoon,  when  the  passage  was  efTected.  This  was  probably  through 
Looney's  Gap,  a  breaking  down  of  Clinch  Mountain.  The  camp  was 
on  a  small  branch,  now  called  Greasy  Creek,  and  only  a  mile  from  the 
top  of  the  mountain.  Doctor  Walker's  riding  horse  became  choked  on 
the  cane  and  had  to  be  drenched.  On  the  6th  it  rained  and  camp  was 
not  broken,  and  but  eight  miles  was  made  on  the  7th  because  of  the 
snow,  which  was  falling  most  of  the  day.  The  dogs  caught  a  large 
bear,  and  in  the  fight  one  of  the  dogs  was  so  injured  that  he  could  not 
travel,  but  had  to  be  carried  on  horseback.  It  snowed  on  the  8th,  which 
was  the  Sabbath.  On  the  9th  Clinch  River  was  reached  at  a  point 
near  the  present  Sneedville,  Hancock  County,  Tennessee.  Doctor 
Walker  notes  that  this  river  was  well  known  to  the  hunters  and  that 
it  had  been  named  for  one  of  them.  The  river  was  too  deep  to  be 
forded  by  the  pack-horses,  so  the  baggage  was  carried  over  on  a  raft, 
which  they  hastily  constructed  and  which  failed  to  float  high  enough  to 
carry  articles  dry  after  the  first  trip.  On  the  loth  the  remainder  of 
the  baggage  was  carried  over  by  the  men,  who  waded  the  river  for 
that  purpose.  The  river  was  about  130  yards  wide.  Camp  was  made 
five  miles  down,  on  the  west  bank.  A  high  mountain  was  crossed  on 
the  nth,  bringing  the  party  to  a  stream  they  called  Turkey  Creek,  now 
Big  Sycamore  Creek.  The  creek  was  descended  four  miles,  and  it  lay 
between  two  high  mountains.  The  way  on  the  12th  led  still  down  this 
stream.  Two  miles  brought  the  party  to  a  large  stream  coming  in 
through  the  east  mountain,  making  a  pass.  This  branch  was  followed 
over  a  large  bufifalo  road  or  path,  which  led  the  party  over  the  we.st 
mountain,  four  miles  beyond  which  they  found  a  large  stream  which 
they  called  Beargrass  River.     It  was  about  seventy  yards  wide.     Later 


Gl)  HISTORY  ()!■   KI'.NTUCKV 

the  Long  Hunters  named  it  TuuiH's  River,  from  finding  the  name 
"A.  Powell"  cut  on  a  beech  tree  on  its  banks.  Doctor  Walker  declares 
tlie  water  in  it  was  the  most  transparent  he  had  ever  seen. 

On  the  13th  of  April  Doctor  Walker  and  his  companions  came  to 
that  remarkable  depression  now  known  as  Cumberland  Gap.  It  either 
already  bore  the  name  of  Cave  Gap  or  else  Doctor  Walker  then  and 
there  gave  it  that  name.  He  describes  the  physical  features  surrounding 
this  gap  with  more  minuteness  than  is  usual  with  him.  That  the  gap 
was  at  that  time  well  known  to  hunters  and  explorers  was  made  iilain 
by  Doctor  Walker.  Laurel  trees  were  found  marked  with  crosses,  with 
blazed  sides,  and  with  other  figures.  The  nuumtain  to  the  north  was 
stec])  and  was  named  by  the  party  the  "Steei)  Ridge."*  The  party 
I)assed  through  the  gap  and  to  Mat  Creek,  now  Yellow  Creek,  after 
having  traveled  thirteen  miles.  On  the  bank  of  Yellow  Creek  they 
found  good  coal.  The  Indian  road — the  great  Warrior's  Path — led 
down  this  creek,  and  it  was  followed  five  miles  on  the  14th.  Although 
the  15th  was  the  Sabbath,  they  went  along  the  Indian  road  to  Clover 
Creek,  seemingly  so  called  because  of  the  abundance  of  clover  which 
they  found  growing  there.  It  is  now  Clear  Creek.  Rain  kept  them  in 
camp  on  the  lOth,  which  time  Doctor  Walker  improved  by  making 
himself  a  pair  of  moccasins.  And  as  the  rain  continued  on  the  17th. 
cam])  was  not  broken.  It  was  on  this  day  that  Doctor  Walker  went 
bunting  and,  a  mile  below  the  camp,  found  that  Clove  (Clear)  Creek 
emjitied  into  a  river,  which  he  named  Cumberland  River — the  first  men- 
tion of  the  name  "Cumberland"  in  his  Journal.  On  the  i8lh  the  party 
followed  the  Indian  road  down  the  creek  to  the  river.  The  W^arrior's 
P^ath  was  still  followed  to  the  point  where  it  crossed  the  river.  This 
was  the  crossing  so  long  kn(jwn  (and  yet  known)  as  the  Cumberland 
•Ford,  one  of  the  historic  crossings  in  America.  It  is  just  below  the 
Pineville  station  on  the  Louisville  and  Naslnille  Railroad  and  the  bridge 
which  crosses  from  it  to  Pineville.  The  Warrior's  Path  crossed  there 
— had  crossed  there  for  generations.  Indian  conquest  many  centuries 
back  may  have  followed  down  to  this  most  remarkable  ford.  Battles 
may  have  been  fought  then  for  its  possession.  There  is  little  doubt 
that  defeated  and  broken  tribes  were  hurled  across  it  by  the  Irocpiois 
in  their  conquest  of  the  Ohio  V'alley  between  ir)5o  and  1700.  The  Wil- 
derness Road  marked  by  I'oone  in  1775,  largely  over  the  Warrior's 
Path,  crossed  here  after  coming  through  the  (iap  in  the  Cuniberlaiuls. 
And  here  crossed  those  hordes  of  settlers  coming  out  of  the  older  com- 
munities to  find  new  homes  in  a  new  land.  And  as  they  passed  these 
everlasting  gates  they  became  freer  men.  Their  vision  broadened,  their 
independence  hardened.     And  these  bore   fruit  on   the  park-like  plains 

■*  And  licrc  we  come  to  one  of  those  conunonly  accepted  statements  .so  often 
found  in  history.  It  has  been  asserted,  and  without  cliallenge  apparently,  tliat  Doctor 
Walker  named  this  great  range  of  mountains  the  Cumherland  Mountains,  and  tlie 
gap  the  Cumberland  Ga|).  They  l)car  these  names  to  tliis  day.  The  truth  is  that 
he  did  no  such  tiling.  He  found  the  gap  named  Cave  Gap  and  left  it  with  that  name. 
He  named  Cumherland  Mountain  Steep  Ridge.  These  facts  arc  very  plainly  stated 
in  his  Journal.  And  it  must  be  asserted  here  that  Doctor  Walker  did  not  bestow 
the  name  "Cumberland"  on  either  the  Cumberland  (iap  or  the  Cumberland  Moun- 
tains. On  the  I7tli  of  April  he  discovered  and  named  Cumberland  Kiver.  It  is  said 
that  he  bestowed  this  name  in  lionor  of  William  Augustus,  Duke  of  Cumberland, 
son  of  George  II  and  Queen  Caroline.  He  was  the  "Bloody  Duke."  Byron  called 
him  "The  Butcher."  At  the  battle  of  Culloden  he  defeated  the  Highlanders  who 
favored  the  Pretender.  He  spared  neither  the  wounded  nor  the  prisoners.  They 
were  murdered.  William  E.  ConneMey,  the  author,  had  two  ancestors  in  the 
Highlander  ranks,  both  wounded,  striiJjied  and  left  for  dead  on  tlie  bloody  field. 
They   revived  and   finallly   got   out   of    Scotland   and   to   North    Carolina. 

It  may  be  admitted  that  Doctor  Walker  named  this  gap  and  this  major  moun- 
tain range  by  indirection.  His  name  of  the  Cumberland  River  stuck,  and  from 
it,  more  than  likely,  the  name  "Cumljerland"  later  attached  to  Cumberland  Gap 
and  Cumberland  Mountains. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  61 

of  what  became  Kentucky  in  the  development  of  the  first  real  democ- 
racy the  world  ever  saw. 

The  explorers  were  on  the  south  or  west  side  of  the  Cumberland. 
On  the  19th  of  Aj^ril  thev  went  seven  miles,  having  left  the  river,  but 
coming  to  it  again  in  four  miles  at  the  mouth  of  Licking  Creek,  probably 
the  Brushy  Creek  of  this  day.  In  the  fork  of  this  creek  they  found  a 
large  lick,  which  was  much  used  by  the  buffalo,  the  elk  and  the  deer. 
The  roads  leading  to  it  were  large  and  evidently  well-beaten.  In  an 
encounter  with  a  bear  in  the  afternoon  of  this  day  Ambrose  Powell 
was  bitten  on  the  knee.  On  the  20th  the  party  rode  down  the  creek 
two  miles  to  the  river,  which  was  not  wider  than  at  the  mouth  of  Clear 
Creek  (or'  Clover  Creek,  as  they  had  called  it),  but  much  deeper. 
Doctor  \\'alker  thought  best  to  cross  the  river  here  and  take  the  north 
bank.  He  nmst  have  come  to  this  conclusion  when  he  found  that  the 
river  was  turning  to  the  south  or  southwest.  There  was  no  ford,  and. 
as  the  stream  was  dec]),  it  was  necessary  to  make  a  canoe.  One  could 
be  made  of  bark  more  quickly  than  from  wood,  so  bark  was  the  mate- 
rial chosen.  It  was  completed  in  the  morning  of  the  21st  and  found 
satisfactory  after  trial.  At  noon  a  thunderstorm  broke  over  the  land 
and  continued  for  hours.  The  22d  was  the  Sabbath.  One  of  the  horses 
was  unable  to  walk.  This  would  detain  them  for  a  time,  and  Doctor 
Walker  proposed  that  he  and  two  members  of  the  party,  to  be  chosen 
by  lot,  should  proceed  with  the  exploration,  while  the  others  should 
remain  in  camp,  build  a  house  and  plant  some  peach  stones.  The  lots 
fell  upon  Ambrose  Powell  and  Colby  Chew. 

The  baggage  was  carried  over  the  river  in  the  canoe  on  Monday, 
the  23d.  The  horses  were  made  to  swim  as  they  had  been  made  to 
swim  at  the  New  River.  This  crossing  was  made  some  five  or  si.x  miles 
below  the  present  Town  of  Pjarbourvilie.  jirobably  below  the  bend  where 
the  river  turns  to  the  south.  After  the  crossing  was  safely  made, 
W'alker,  Powell  and  Chew  departed.  The  others  were  to  put  up  the 
cabin  and  kill  and  salt  some  bears.  The  three  who  went  on  to  continue 
the  exploration  traveled  twelve  miles  and  camped  on  what  they  named 
Crooked  Creek,  a  stream  not  now  identified.  They  had  passed  beyond 
the  coal  measures  and  had  come  into  flat  poor  lands.  On  the  24th 
eighteen  miles  were  made.  Poor  land  was  encountered,  and  along  the 
streams  there  was  much  laurel  and  ivy.  No  pasturage  for  the  horses 
was  found,  and  a  fresh  Indian  trail  was  seen  and  followed  for  a  time. 
The  party  went  to  the  west  on  the  25th  for  a  distance  of  five  miles.  The 
laurel,  or  rhododendron,  was  becoming  thicker  on  the  ground,  and  food 
was  running  low.  Doctor  Walker  climbed  a  tree  and  from  the  height 
surveyed  the  country,  which  did  not  change  in  appearance  so  far  as 
he  could  see.  From  this  point  it  was  determined  to  return.  The  track 
was  retracerl  for  a  mile,  when  the  party  turned  south  toward  the  Cum- 
berland, which  was  reached  at  the  mouth  of  Rocky  Creek,  probably  now 
Watts  Creek,  falling  into  the  river  below  Williamsburg.  Whitley  County, 
lielow  the  mouth  of  the  creek  was  found  an  ash  tree  marked  T.  W.,  a 
red  oak  marked  A.  1'.,  a  white  hickory  marked  C.  C,  and  a  number  of 
trees  were  blazed  on  diliferent  sides,  with  three  chops  above  each  blaze.. 
All  showing  that  English  explorers  had  been  there  long  before  them. 
The  party  went  up  the  river  eight  miles  and  camped.  In  a  fight  with 
a  bear,  a  dog  belonging  to  Doctor  Walker  had  a  foreleg  broken.  The 
route  of  the  company  was  along  and  uj)  the  river  on  the  27th.  A  stream 
called  Indian  Creek  was  crossed,  and  Meadow  Creek  was  descended  to 
the  river.  This  may  have  been  the  present  Meadow  Creek,  though  it 
is  not  certain.  About  the  mouth  of  this  creek  were  found  several  Indian 
cabins  grouped  about  a  mound  twenty  feet  high  and  sixty  feet  wide  at 
the  to]).     This  was  probal)ly  an  abandoned  Cherokee  town.     The  coni- 


62  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

pany  camped  on  the  bank  some  distance  from  the  old  town  up  the  river. 

The  party  continued  up  the  river  on  the  28th,  arriving  at  the  camp 
where  their  companions  had  been  left.  The  lame  horse  was  no  better, 
and  another  horse  had  been  bitten  on  the  nose  by  a  snake.  The  party 
left  behind  had  built  a  house,  or  cabin,  rather,  12  by  8  feet.  They  had 
cleared  a  patch  of  land,  which  they  had  planted  to  corn  and  peach 
stones.  They  had  also  killed  several  bears  and  dressed  and  salted  the 
carcasses.'' 

Under  the  date  of  April  jij,  Doctor  Walker  describes  a  jjond  which 
was  a  mile  below  the  house.  It  was  a  quarter  of  a  mile  long  and  200 
yards  wide,  and  was  frequented  by  wild  water-fowl.  It  is  claimed  that 
Daniel  Boone  named  this  pond  "Swan  Pond"  some  years  later  and  that 
it  still  bears  this  name,  though  it  is  now  smaller  than  it  was  in  Doctor 
Walker's  time.  On  the  30lh  the  party  left  this  settlement  or  cabin  and 
clearing  to  continue  the  exploration.  Before  leaving.  Doctor  Walker 
took  a  last  look  around,  blazing  a  way  from  the  house  to  the  river. 
I  le  probably  crossed  the  river,  for  he  describes  a  large  elm  there  which 
had  been  cut  down  and  divested  of  its  bark  for  some  twenty  feet,  most 
likely  by  hunters  to  secure  material  for  a  canoe.  The  bark  of  another 
had  been  cut  around  for  peeling,  but  the  bark  had  not  been  taken  off. 
Two  hundred  yards  below  a  white  hickory  had  been  barked,  a  piece 
fifteen  feet  long  taken  from  the  entire  body.  A  last  survey  of  the  river 
showed  a  depth  of  seven  or  eight  feet  at  its  lowest  and  a  sandy  bottom. 
The  current  was  slow.  The  banks  were  high.  When  the  parly  started 
away  it  was  without  the  lame  horse ;  he  was  abandoned.  Camp  was 
made  in  a  valley  north  of  the  house.  Another  horse  was  bit  by  a  snake 
on  this  day,  the  1st  of  May.  A  stream  was  named  Powell's  River,  for 
Ambrose  Powell.  The  Indians'  road,  or  Warrior's  Path,  was  noted  as 
going  up  a  creek  where  they  camped — Doctor  Walker  thought  it  the 
same  road  which  passed  through  Cave  Gap — now  Cumberland  Gap. 
This  is  another  instance  in  proof  that  Doctor  Walker  had  not  called  the 
gap  Cumberland  Ga]).  He  wrote  it  Cave  (jap  on  this  day.  He  found 
it  Cave  Gap  and  he  left  it  Cave  Gap. 

For  the  next  three  weeks  the  parly  followed  mainly  the  direction  of 
the  Warrior's  Path,  seeing  it  occasionally.     The  course  cannot  be  traced 

°  Just  where  this  house  was  built  is  not  known.  Mr.  Johnston,  in  his  First 
Explorations,  says  it  was  four  miles  below  Barbourville,  on  tlie  land  formerly 
owned  by  George  M.  Faulkner,  and  that  it  was  added  to  and  occupied  up  to  1835. 
It  was,  he  says,  identified  as  to  location  by  the  debris  of  the  chimney.  This  may 
all  have  been  said  on  the  authority  of  W.  S.  Hudson,  of  Barbourville,  who,  many 
years  ago  made  the  same  claims  in  an  article  published  widely  in  the  Kentucky 
press.  If  the  statements  concerning  the  location  of  the  cabin  arc  as  far  from  the 
actual  facts  as  are  many  other  statements  in  his  article,  tlien  no  dependence  can  be 
placed  on  any  thing  in  the  publication.  Mr.  Johnston  seems  to  think  the  cabin  w'as 
to  be  the  future  office  of  the  Loyal  Land  Company.  But  it  was  not  large 
enough — only  twelve  by  ciglit  feet- — not  twelve  by  eighteen  feet.  And  there  is  no 
probability  at  all  that  a  chimney  was  built  to  it.  It  was  built  in  four  days  by  three 
men,  who  had  in  addition  cleared  some  land  and  planted  it  to  corn  and  peach 
stones.  It  was  evidently  a  very  temporary  structure,  and  was  intended  perhaps 
as  an  evidence  of  the  location  of  a  tract  of  land  for  the  Loyal  Land  Company.  On 
the  Nuremberg  Map,  1756,  it  is  marked  as  on  the  Cumberland  River  and  set  down 
as  "Walkers  Settlement  1750."  It  is  interesting  to  note  tliat  while  the  Cumljcrland 
River  is  shown  on  this  map,  evidently  from  information  supplied  by  Doctor  Walker 
there  is  no  Cumljcrland  Mountain  and  no  Cumberland  Gap.  This  is  additional  evi- 
dence that  Doctor  Walker  did  not  name  the  mountains  nor  the  gap,  as  claimed. 
These  names  came   from  the  river  Cumberland. 

This  cabin  is  the  first  there  is  any  account  of  having  been  built  in  the  present 
Kentucky  by  English-speaking  people.  The  French  had  erected  dwellings  for  the 
Indians  before  this  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Scioto,  and  on  the  south  side  of  Big 
Paint  Creek,  at  the  Flat  Rock,  now  in  Paintsville,  before  this  date;  and  probably 
at  many  other  places.  Just  when  Matthias  1  larman  erected  his  hunting  lodge  in  the 
Block-house  Bottom  immediately  below  the  mouth  of  John's  Creek,  in  Johnson 
County,  is  not  known,  but  it  was  before  17.S5. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  63 

exactly.  Streams  were  named  for  the  members  of  the  party.  An  exam- 
ination of  topographical  maps  of  the  region  traversed  will  show  pos- 
sibilities in  various  quarters,  including  the  South  and  Middle  forks  of 
the  Kentucky  River.  Mr.  Johnston  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  course 
was  more  to  the  west,  across  the  headwaters  of  Rockcastle  River.  It 
may  have  been,  though  it  is  difficult  to  find  there  streams  correspond- 
ing with  those  described  by  Doctor  Walker.  It  is  not  certain  that  in 
this  part  of  the  exploration  he  held  always  to  a  definite  swing  bearing 
to  the  eastward.  Coal  was  found,  and  many  features  noted  which  are 
to  be  encountered  even  at  this  time,  such  as  the  laurel  and  ivy  and  the 
rockhouses. 

On  the  22d  of  May  the  party  "went  down  the  Branch  to  Hunting 
Creek  &  kept  it  to  Milley's  River."  Milley's  River,  it  is  generally  agreed, 
is  the  Kentucky  River,  and  it  was  struck  probably  at  the  mouth  of  Sta- 
tion Camp  Creek,  a  little  above  Irvine,  Estill  County.  The  river  was 
90  to  100  yards  wide  and  very  deep,  and  the  country  was  so  difficult 
that  they  could  go  neither  up  nor  down.  Trees  were  blazed  in  the  fork 
of  the  creek  and  river,  and  Doctor  Walker  cut  the  letters  T.  W.  on  a 
sycamore  measuring  forty  feet  around.  A  bark  canoe  was  commenced. 
This  craft  was  completed  on  the  24th,  the  river  crossed  about  noon, 
and  various  trees  marked  on  the  north  bank.  Here  a  definite  turn  to 
the  eastward  began.  The  dogs  roused  a  large  male  elk  on  the  26th, 
and  in  the  chase  it  killed  Ambrose  Powell's  dog,  Tumbler,  and  the 
stream  they  were  then  on  was  named  Tumbler's  Run  from  that  circum- 
stance. On  the  30th  woods  freshly  burned  over  were  encountered,  and 
on  the  31st  the  camp  was  made  by  a  wolf's  den,  and  the  wolves  howled 
all  night,  though  they  were  shot  at.  Four  young  wolves  were  taken 
from  the  den  on  the  1st  day  of  June.  On  the  2d  of  June  the  party 
descended  a  branch  to  a  river  seventy  yards  wide.  There  can  be  but 
little  doubt  that  the  branch  was  that  now  known  as  Gardner's  Branch 
in  Magoffin  County.  This  branch  falls  into  the  Licking  River  ijX  miles, 
by  the  present  road,  below  Salyersville.  Both  the  mouth  of  this  stream 
and  the  ford  where  the  party  crossed  the  river  are  on  the  Old  Station 
Farm,  formerly  owned  by  Benjamin  Gardner,  now  owned  by  Dr.  Walter 
C.  Connelley.''  Doctor  Walker  named  this  river  Frederick's  River  and 
noted  that  elk  were  very  plentiful  on  that  stream.  The  ford  where 
the  party  crossed  is  still  in  use,  at  the  foot  of  Gardner's  Hill.  Cutting 
across  this  hill  it  is  but  a  mile  to  the  center  of  Salyersville,  but  going 
around  with  the  river  as  it  then  flowed  the  distance  is  about  what  Doctor 
Walker  makes  it — three  miles."  Whit  Sunday,  the  3d  of  June,  was 
spent  in  the  slope  in  Salyersville  on  which  the  court  house  stands,  per- 
haps where  William  Adams,  the  pioneer,  had  his  residence.  They  found 
a  mossing  place  in  the  bend  of  the  river.  This  is  a  place  where  a  num- 
ber of  elk  got  together  and  spent  the  winter  in  company,  like  domestic 
cattle.  In  the  cold  north  such  gathering  places  of  the  moose  are  called 
"yards."  The  animals  stand  close  together  for  warmth  in  extremely 
cold  weather.  The  elk  were  believed  by  the  pioneers  to  have  been  more 
plentiful  on  the  Upper  Licking  than  at  any  other  place  in  Kentucky. 
Doctor  Walker  speaks  of  the  abundance  of  them  there. 

"  Son  of  William  E.  Connelley,  the  author. 

'  The  ford  is  at  the  foot  of  a  remarkable  hill,  near  the  top  of  which  there  is  a 
fine  spring.  The  station  or  fort  built  there  about  1792  by  the  Praters  and  other 
pioneers  from  South  Carolina,  stood  on  this  hill  directly  above  the  ford.  There  had 
been  an  Indian  town  on  the  flat  top  of  this  hill,  perhaps  more  than  one,  or,  more 
properly,  the  various  tribes  successively  inhabiting  that  country  in  previous  genera- 
tions, had  all  maintained  a  town  there.  There  was  another  Indian  village  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  river  near  the  present  residence  of  Doctor  Connelley.  The 
great  Indian  trail  from  the  Big  Sandy  passed  the  sites  of  these  towns  going  to 
Central  Kentucky  and  the  Cumberland  Gap.  Doctor  Walker  was  following  this 
trail  when  he  came  down  Gardner's  Branch. 


64  IIISTORN"  n|-  K1-:\TL"CKV 

The  mossin}^  i)Iacc  mentioned  by  Doctor  Walker  was  in  the  short 
bend  of  the  I-ickinj;,  just  below  the  mouth  of  the  State  Road  Fork. 
The  land  was  high  next  to  the  river,  but  lower  back  toward  the  hills. 
The  land  in  the  bend  was  covered  with  magnificent  trees.  Where  the 
ground  was  lower,  there  was  a  luxurious  growth  of  the  switch  cane, 
which  remained  green  all  winter  and  which  furnished  pasturage  for 
the  elk,  the  deer  and  the  buffalu.  There  were  thousands  of  acres  of  it 
along  that  i)art  of  the  Licking. 

'Ihe  land  across  the  neck  of  the  band  was  always  overflowed  in 
high  water  and  a  channel  was  linally  cut  there  by  the  current,  and  the 
river  runs  permanently  there  now,  eliminating  the  bend  or  island  where 
Doctor  Walker  found  the  stamjiing  place  of  the  great  herd  of  elk  which 
always  wintered  there.  The  buffalo  road  mentioned  by  Doctor  Walker 
was  plain  and  well  defined,  for  a  number  of  them  converged  there.  The 
I)arty  left  camj)  about  lo  o'clock,  going  u])  the  State  Road  Fork.  At 
its  forks  they  turned  up  the  main  stream,  which  was  named  Falling 
Creek,  for  in  early  times  it  was  a  deep  and  rapid  stream.  A  5  o'clock, 
on  the  ap]iroach  of  a  heavy  cloud,  they  stopjjcd  to  pitch  camp.  There 
was  rain,  hail  and  violent  wind.  The  large  trees  were  blown  down 
in  such  mmibers  that  the  members  of  the  party  fled,  running  different 
ways  to  shelter  in  smaller  timber.  The  tent  was  blown  down,  but  it 
was  found  after  the  storm  that  little  damage  had  been  done.  There 
was  a  heavy  rain  just  before  daylight  on  the  5th.  On  attempting  to 
ascend  the  creek  it  was  found  that  the  fallen  timber  made  the  path 
impassable.  'Jhe  highlands  were  taken  to  and  a  ridge  was  followed  to 
the  head  of  the  creek,  when  the  party  turned  down  the  head  stream  of 
I-ittle  Paint  Creek,  along  the  old  Indian  trail,  now  the  main  road  from 
I'aintsville  to  Salyersville.  Camp  was  made  early  because  of  the  rain. 
( )n  the  (ith  they  followed  down  the  branch  until  it  became  a  large  creek. 
They  called  it  Rapid  Creek.  They  continued  and  e\idently  reached  the 
main  stream — Big  I^aint  Creek — after  traveling,  as  they  believed,  eight 
miles.  They  must  have  supposed  Little  Paint  Creek  to  be  the  main 
stream,  which,  when  it  is  swollen,  it  apj^ears  to  be,  though  Big  Paint 
Creek  is  formed  by  the  junction  of  Little  Paint  and  the  Open  Fork. 
The  creek  could  not  be  crossed,  and  camp  was  made  in  a  bottom.  On 
the  morning  of  the  7th  it  was  possible  to  ford  the  creek,  when  it  was 
crossed.  They  kept  down  it  a  distance  which  they  called  twelve  miles, 
coming  to  a  river  about  100  yards  wide  and  which  they  named  Louisa 
River.  This  is  the  present  Levisa  or  Louisa  Fork  of  the  I'.ig  Sandy 
River.  They  named  it,  it  is  said,  for  Louisa,  sister  to  the  then  Duke 
of  Cumberland.  In  reaching  the  river  they  passed  over  the  site  of 
the  present  Town  of  Paintsville,  county  seat  of  Johnson  County.  The 
courthouse  is  half  a  mile  from  the  river  up  Big  Paint  Creek.  There 
was  no  island,  as  Doctor  Walker  says,  but  the  heavy  rains  had  filled 
the  cane-covered  low  grounds  with  slowly  moving  backwater  which, 
flowing  back  of  the  high  land  .-it  the  mouth  of  the  creek,  gave  it  the 
ajipearance  of  an  island  which  was  very  real.**  In  fact,  in  times  of 
freshets,  there  were  sometimes  two  such  islands,  one  on  each  side  of 
the  creek,  down  to  the  ])ioneer  days  of  that  part  of  Kentucky,  caused 
by  the  flooding  of  the  lowlands  by  backwater.  On  the  8th  the  river 
was  still  too  high  to  be  forded,  and  in  the  afternoon  Doctor  Walker 
and  .\mbrose  I'owell  went  hunting.  They  must  have  gone  down  the 
ri\er,  and  at  a  point  below  where  was  afterward  built  the  old  Concord 
meeting-house  they  heard  the  discharge  of  a  gun  on  the  oi)]iosite  side 


"If  there  liad  Ixuii  les.s  liackwater  in  the  cane-covcrcd  bottoms.  Doctor  Walker 
would  have  found  many  .signs  of  Indians  on  and  around  the  site  of  Painstville.  He 
liad  noted  "fircat  sign  of  Indians  on  tliis  creek,''  on  tlie  6th  of  June.  See  Chapter 
on   The   l-iiiiiidiiuj  of  Ituniiiiii'x  Slnlioii    for   thc-.o   bulian   marks  and   signs. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  65 

of  the  river.  Those  who  have  not  heard,  in  the  wilderness,  sounds  indi- 
cating the  presence  nearby  of  fellow-men  cannot  conceive  the  joy  of  it. 
Doctor  Walker  made  efforts  to  attract  the  attention  of  the  person  who 
had  fired  the  gun.  But  caution  probably  prevented  the  hunter  from 
making  himself  known.  He  doubtless  feared  that  Doctor  Walker  and 
his  companions  were  Indians  seeking  to  decoy  him  to  captivity  or  death. 
So  a  meeting  which  would  have  proven  a  pleasure  to  all  parties  was 
rendered  impossible  by  the  conditions  under  which  men  were  compelled 
to  range  the  mighty  forests  of  the  West  in  those  times. 

The  flood  in  the  Louisa  River  was  caused  by  the  local  rains  of  the 
past  few  days,  and  it  subsided  ciuickly.  P.y  the  morning  of  the  9th 
it  was  possible  to  ford  the  ri\er,  which  the  party  did  at  the  break  at  the 
head  of  a  shoal  just  below  the  mouth  of  the  Muddy  Branch.  This  break 
is  locally  known  as  "Jeffy's  Ripple,"  from  Jefferson  Preston's  residence 
there  in  pioneer  times.  The  precipitous  mountains,  above  and  opposite 
the  mouth  of  Big  Paint  Creek,  coming  down  to  the  river  made  it  neces- 
sary for  the  party  to  go  down  the  river  after  crossing  it.  The  party 
went  up  Greasey  Creek,  having  passed  the  Buffalo,  which  was  too  small 
to  promise  any  opening  across  the  mountains.  Camp  was  made  on  the 
Rockhouse  Fork  of  Rockcastle  River.  The  loth  was  Trinity  Sunday 
and  only  a  short  distance  was  traveled,  and  this  only  to  secure  better 
camping  facilities.  The  way  was  choked  by  the  trees  which  had  been 
blown  down  by  the  storm  of  Monday.  In  the  night  it  rained  violently 
and  on  the  morning  of  the  nth  it  was  found  impossible  to  go  on  because 
of  the  flood.  A  tomahawk  and  a  vessel  which  they  called  a  can  was 
lost  by  the  high  water.  The  morning  of  the  12th  found  the  waters 
much  reduced,  and  they  moved  down  to  the  mouth  of  the  creek.  They 
found  many  trees  torn  up  by  the  roots  and  some  barked  by  the  drift- 
wood which  had  been  washed  down  by  the  flood  waters.  The  way 
became  rough  on  the  13th,  and  the  streams  were  abandoned  for  the 
tops  of  the  ridges.  And  these  proved  well  nigh  impassable.  The  laurel 
and  ivy  were  so  thick  that  a  way  had  to  be  cut  with  their  tomahawks. 
This  condition  continued  on  the  14th,  for  they  were  slowly  working 
their  way  southeastward  through  that  tangle  of  steep  ridges  between 
the  two  forks  of  the  Big  Sandy  River.  They  finally  emerged  from  these 
on  the  19th  of  June,  when  they  reached  the  Tug  Fork,  which  they  named 
Laurel  Creek.  There  they  were  charged  by  an  enraged  buffalo  bull, 
which  they  shot  before  he  had  injured  any  of  them.  They  ascended 
the  creek  six  miles  to  a  north  fork,  which  they  followed  to  the  head, 
but  in  attempting  to  cross  a  mountain  they  failed,  and  they  camped  on 
the  side  of  it.  They  were  now  bearing  much  to  the  eastward.  On  the 
morning  of  the  20th  they  succeeded  in  crossing  the  mountain  which 
had  proved  too  difficult  the  day  before.  The  stream  they  descended  on 
the  other  side  took  them  back  to  Laurel  Creek. 

The  party  continued  the  journey  to  the  eastward.  On  the  28th  of 
June  they  reached  New  River,  just  below  the  mouth  of  the  Greenbrier 
River,  and  crossed  it  by  wading  and  carrying  their  baggage  on  their 
shoulders.  They  started  up  the  Greenbrier  on  the  29th.  They  began 
to  meet  people  on  the  7th  of  July,  and  were  then  but  eight  miles  from 
a  settlement  on  Jackson's  River.  The  party  arrived  at  Augusta  Court- 
house on  the  nth.  On  the  12th  Doctor  Walker  left  his  company  and 
set  off  for  his  home,  where  he  arrived  about  noon  of  the  13th  of  July. 
He  ends  his  Journal  with  this : 

"We  killed  in  the  Journey  13  buffaloes,  8  Elks,  53  Bears,  20  Deer, 
4  Wild  Geese,  about  150  Turkeys,  besides  small  Game.  We  might  have 
killed  three  times  as  much  meat,  if  we  had  wanted  it." 

Doctor  Walker  did  not  find  the  fine,  rolling,  wooded  plains  of  Cen- 
tral Kentucky.     He  missed  them  by  the  journey  of  only  a  day  or  two. 

Vol.  1—9 


66  HISTOKV  OI-  KKNTUCKV 

But  if  he  had  found  the  now  famous  Blue  Grass  lands  they  could  not 
then  have  been  utihzed.  The  Ohio  ^teway  had  to  be  first'  ojiencd  by 
I^unniorc's  war;  Uraddock  must  make  his  unfortunate  expedition;  the 
I'rench  and  Indian  war  had  to  he  fought;  I'ontiac  had  to  appear  and 
his  Conspiracy  had  to  burn  down  to  white  ashes;  and  the  final  predom- 
inance of  luijjland  had  to  be  established  before  Kentucky  could  be  fash- 
ioned from  the  wilderness  and  begin  that  brilliant  course  which  was  to 
blaze  the  way  for  go\ernmcnt  for  the  people  and  hv  the  i)eopIe  in 
America. 


CHAPTER  VI 
EXPLORATION  OF  KENTUCKY  BY  CHRISTOPHER  GIST 

The  Ohio  Company  was  organized  in  1748  for  the  purpose  of  colo- 
nizing lands  on  the  Ohio  belonging  to  the  Colony  of  Virginia.  The 
members  of  the  company  were  Arthur  Dobbs,  Esqr.,  John  Hanbury, 
Samuel  Smith,  James  Wardrop.  Capel  Hanbury,  Robert  Dinwiddle, 
Esqr.,  The  Exec,  of  Thomas  Lee,  late  President  and  Governor  of  Vir- 
ginia, 2  shares,  John  Taylor,  Esqr.,  Prestly  Thornton,  Esqr.,  Exrs  of 
Lawce  Washington,  Augusne  Washington,  Richard  Lee,  Nathel  Chap- 
man. Jacob  Giles,  Thomas  Cresap,  John  Mercer,  James  Scott,  Robert 
Carter,  George  Mason.^ 

The  company  was  granted  200,000  acres  of  land.  This  land  was  to 
be  located  on  the  south  side  of  the  Ohio  River  between  Kiskiminitis 
Creek  and  Buffalo  Creek,  and  on  the  north  side  of  the  Ohio  between 
Yellow  Creek  and  Cross  Creek.  This  manner  of  grant  would  place  an 
English  settlement  across  the  Ohio  River  at  that  point  where  the  valley 
widens  out,  and  which  the  Delawares  designated  as  the  true  head  of 
the  Ohio  Valley.  For  the  land  was  given  with  the  condition  that  the 
company  should  settle  100  families  thereon  within  seven  years,  and  also 
erect  and  maintain  an  adequate  fort.  If  these  conditions  were  com- 
plied with,  the  company  was  to  become  entitled  to  300,000  acres  of  addi- 
tional adjoining  land. 

In  preparation  for  the  compliance  with  the  terms  of  the  grant,  the 
company  erected  a  large  storehouse,  and  perhaps  other  buildings  oppo- 
site the  mouth  of  Will's  Creek,  now  the  City  of  Cumberland.  Mary- 
land.2  From  this  point  it  caused  a  road  to  be  opened  to  the  Turkey 
Foot,  as  the  point  at  the  three  forks  of  the  Youghiogheny  was  called. 
This  road  was  completed  in  175 1.  A  large  quantity  of  merchandise,  suit- 
able for  the  frontier  trade,  was  sent  over  from  England  in  1749-50  and 
placed  in  the  storehouse  at  the  mouth  of  Will's  Creek. 

In  the  further  pursuance  of  its  engagements  the  company  employed 
Christopher  Gist  to  make  an  exploration  of  the  country  in  which  the  opera- 

'  John  Hanbury  and  Capel  Hanbury  were  merchants  in  the  City  of  London.  John 
Taylor,  Prestly  Thornton,  Philip  Ludwel!  Lee,  Thomas  Lee,  Richard  Lee,  Guwin 
Corbin,  John  Mercer,  George  Mason,  Lawrence  Washington.  Augustus  Washington, 
Nathaniel  Chapman,  Esquires,  and  James  Scott  Oerk,  were  all  of  the  Colony  of  Vir- 
ginia._  James  Wardrop,  Jacob  Giles  and  Thomas  Cresap.  Esquires,  were  of  the 
Province  of  Maryland.  All  were  prominent  in  the  public  affairs  of  their  time. 
Christopher  Gist's  Journals,  Darlington,  pp.  225,  235. 

-  The  Ohio  Company's  storehouse  stood  on  the  south  bank  of  the  Potomac, 
directly  opposite  to  the  present  City  of  Cumberland,  Maryland,  in  Frederick  (now 
Hampshire)  County,  Virginia.  It  was  built  in  the  year  1750,  by  Hugh  Parker,  the 
factor  of  the  company,  on  land  purchased  for  them  from  Lord  Fairfax  by  Parker 
and  Col.  Thomas  Cresap.  The  main  building  was  constructed  of  timber,  a  double 
house  and  two  stories  in  height ;  it  stood  on  the  bank,  a  short  distance  east  of  the 
present  residence  of  Captain  Perry,  fronting  and  near  the  river.  The  name  of 
"Caicutuck  or  Wills'  Creek"  first  appeared  on  Fry  &  Jefferson's  Map  of  Virginia  and 
Maryland,  1751.  It  is  accurately  laid  down,  but  not  named,  on  Mayo's  Map  of  the 
Survey  of  the  Potomac  in  1736.  The  gap  in  the  Allegheny  Mountains  is  four  miles 
west  of  Cumberland,  where  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad  crosses  the  National 
Road  at  "Braddock's  Run,"  as  the  southwest  fork  of  Wills'  Creek  has  been  called 
since  1755;  Braddock's  route  and  the  National  Road  as  at  first  constructed  being 
on  the  same  track  as  that  of  Gist.     Christopher  Gist's  Joiirnals,  Darlington,  p.   137. 

67 


68  HISTOKV  nr  KENTUCKY 

tion  of  its  enterprise  was  to  be  conducted.  Gist  was  a  surveyor,  as  his 
father,  Richard,  had  been.  He  was  a  native  of  Maryland,  "a  man  of  ex- 
cellent character,  energetic,  fearless  and  a  thorough  woodsman."  ^ 

The  instructions  to  Gist  were  brief  and  of  general  application,  and 
were  of  the  date  of  September  1 1,  1750.    They  are  here  given : 

"You  are  to  go  out  as  soon  as  possible  to  the  Westward  of  the  great 
Mountains,  and  carry  with  you  such  a  Number  of  Men,  as  You  think 
necessar}',  in  Order  to  search  out  and  discover  the  Lands  upon  the  River 
Ohio,  &  other  adjoining  Branches  of  the  Mississippi  down  as  low  as 
the  great  Falls  thereof:  You  are  particularly  to  observe  the  Ways  & 
Passes  thro  all  the  Mountains  you  cross,  &  take  an  exact  Account 
of  the  Soil,  Quality,  &  Product  of  the  Land,  and  the  Wideness  and 
Deepness  of  the  Rivers,  &  the  several  Falls  belonging  to  them,  together 
with  the  Courses  &  Bearings  of  the  Rivers  &  Mountains  as  near  as  you 
conveniently  can :  You  are  also  to  observe  what  Nations  of  Indians  in- 
habit there,  their  Strength  &  Numbers,  who  they  trade  with,  &  in  what 
Commodities  they  deal. 

When  you  find  a  large  Quantity  of  good,  level  Land,  such  as  you  think 
will  suit  the  Company,  You  are  to  measure  the  Breadth  of  it,  in  three  or 
four  different  Places,  &  take  the  Courses  of  the  River  and  Mountains  on 
which  it  binds  it  Order  to  judge  the  Quantity:  You  are  to  fix  the  Begin- 
ning &  Bounds  in  such  a  Manner  that  they  may  l>e  easily  found  again 
by  your  Description ;  the  nearer  in  the  Land  lies,  the  better,  provided  it 
be  good  &  level,  but  we  had  rather  go  quite  down  the  Mississippi  than  take 
mean  broken  I,and.  After  finding  a  large  Body  of  good  level  Land,  you 
are  not  to  stop,  but  proceed  farther,  as  low  as  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio,  that 
We  may  be  informed  of  that  Navigation ;  And  You  are  to  take  an  exact 
.Account  of  all  the  large  Bodies  of  good  level  I^and,  in  the  same  Manner  as 
alx)ve  directed,  that  the  Company  may  the  better  judge  where  it  will  be 
most  convenient  for  them  to  take  their  Land. 

You  are  to  note  all  the  Bodies  of  good  Land  as  you  go  along,  tho 

•^  Gist  was  living  on  the  Yadkin  River,  in  North  Carolina,  when  employed  by 
the  Ohio  Company  to  make  this  exploration.  The  following  skctcli  of  Clirisfophcr 
Gist  was  written  by  Wilham  M.  Darlington,  and  is  to  be  found  in  his  edition  of 
Christopher  Gist's  Journals,  at  pages  88-89:  Christopher  Gist  was  of  English  de- 
scent. His  grandfather  was  Christopher  Gist,  who  died  in  Baltimore  County  in  1691. 
His  grandmother  was  Edith  Cromwell.  They  had  one  child,  Richard,  who  was 
surveyor  of  the  Western  Shore  and  was  one  of  the  commissioners  for  laying  off 
the  town  of  Baltimore.  In  170.S  he  married  Zipporah  Murray,  and  Christopher  was 
one  of  three  sons.  He  was  a  resident  of  North  Carolina  when  first  employed  by  the 
Ohio  Company.  He  married  Sarah  Howard.  He  had  three  sons,  Nathaniel,  Richard 
and  Thomas,  and  two  daughters,  Anne  and  Violette.  Nathaniel  was  the  only  son 
that  married.  With  his  sons,  Nathaniel  and  Thomas,  he  was  with  Braddock  on  his 
fatal  field  of  battle.  Urged  by  bribes  and  the  promise  of  rewards,  two  Indians  were 
persuaded  to  go  out  on  a  scouting  expedition.  .'\s  soon  as  they  were  gone, 
Christopher  Gist,  the  general's^  guide,  was  dispatched  on  the  same  errand.  On  the 
6th  both  Indians  and  Gist  rejoined  the  army,  having  been  within  half  a  mile  of  the 
fort.  Their  reports  were  favorable  and  the  army  advanced.  After  Braddock's  defeat 
he  raised  a  company  of  scouts  in  Virginia  and  Maryland  and  did  service  on  the 
frontier,  being  then  called  Captain  Gist. 

In  1756  he  went  to  the  Carolinas  to  enli-st  Cherokee  Indians  for  the  English 
service.  For  a  time  he  served  as  Indian  agent.  He  died  in  the  summer  of  17.SO, 
of  smallpox,  in  South  Carolina  or  Georgia.  Richard  Gist  was  killed  in  the  battle 
of  King's  Mountain.  Thomas  lived  on  the  plantation.  Anne  lived  with  him  until  his 
death,  when  she  joined  her  brother  Nathaniel  in  Kentucky.  Nathaniel  was  a  colonel 
in  the  Virginia  Line,  during  the  Revolutionary  war,  and  afterwards  removed  to 
Kentucky,  where  he  died  early  in  the  present  century.  He  left  two  sons,  Henry 
Clay  and  Thomas  Cecil.  His  eldest  daughter,  Sarah,  married  the  Hon.  Jesse  Bledsoe, 
United  States  senator  from  Kentucky.  His  grandson,  B.  Gratz  Brown,  was  the 
democratic  candidate  for  vice-president  in  1872.  The  second  daughter  of  Colonel 
Gist  married  Col.  Nathaniel  Hart,  a  brother  of  Mrs.  Henry  Clay.  The  third  daugh- 
ter married  Doctor  Boswcll,  of  Lexington,  Kentucky.  The  fourth  married  Francis 
P.  Blair,  and  they  were  the  parents  of  Montgomery  Blair  and  Francis  P.  Blair. 
The  fifth  married  Benjamin  Gratz,  of  Lexington,  Kentucky. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  69 

there  is  not  a  sufficient  Quantity  for  the  Compaiiy's  Grant,  but  You  need 
not  be  so  particular  in  the  Mensuration  of  that,  as  in  the  larger  Bodies  of 
Land. 

You  are  to  draw  as  good  a  Plan  as  you  can  of  the  Country  You  pass 
thro :  You  are  to  take  an  exact  and  particular  Journal  of  all  your  Proceed- 
ings, and  make  a  true  Report  thereof  to  the  (Dhio  Company."  * 

What  number  of  attendants  Gist  took  with  him  does  not  precisely 
appear  from  his  Journals.  He  probably  had  a  light  equipment — perhaps 
a  packhorse  for  his  baggage  and  some  one  to  drive  and  care  for  it.  For 
a  time,  in  what  is  now  Ohio,  he  had  as  assistants  George  Croghan  and 
Andrew  Montour.  He  set  out  from  the  house  of  Col.  Thomas  Cresap 
on  the  31st  of  October,  1750.  Col.  Thomas  Cresap  lived  at  Old  Town,  a 
former  Shawnee  Indian  village,  on  the  north  side  of  the  Potomac,  fifteen 
miles  southeast  of  Cumberland,  in  Allegheny  County,  Maryland.  Gist 
followed  "an  old  Indian  Path,"  and  made  eleven  miles  the  first  day.  This 
"old  Indian  Path"  was  the  Warrior's  Path  from  the  east  up  the  Potomac 
to  the  Ohio  Country.  It  followed  the  east  base  of  Great  Warrior  Moun- 
tain. At  Bedford,  Pennsylvania,  it  branched  into  two  roads,  one  leading 
northwest  to  Venango,  and  the  other  to  Shannopin's  Town,  now  Pittsburgh. 
The  latter  was  followed  by  Gist,  and  he  reached  Shannopin's  Town  on  the 
19th  of  November,  and  of  which  he  recorded  " — a  small  Indian  Town 
of  the  Delawares  called  Shannopin  on  the  S  E  Side  of  the  River  Ohio, 
where  We  rested  and  got  Corn  for  our  Horses." 

Gist  arrived  at  Loggs  Town  (Loggstown)  on  Sunday,  the  25th  of 
November.  In  modern  geography,  this  point  is  on  the  north  bank  of  the 
Ohio  River  and  immediately  below  the  present  Town  of  Economy.  It  is 
eighteen  miles  below  Pittsburgh,  and  in  Beaver  County,  Pennsylvania.  It 
was  originally  a  Shawnee  town.  The  Shawnees  left  the  Upper  Potomac 
and  Eastern  Pennsylvania  in  1727  to  1730,  settling  at  this  point  and 
elsewhere  in  the  Ohio  Valley  with  the  consent  of  the  Iroquois  and  the 
permission  of  the  Wyandots.  The  French  erected  for  them  some  forty 
houses  at  Loggstown.  These  accommodated  about  120  Shawnese  fam- 
ilies. It  was  first  visited  by  whites  from  the  English  colonies  in  1748.  In 
that  year  Conrad  Weiser  and  William  Franklin  were  there.  Capt.  Bien- 
ville de  Celeron,  in  command  of  a  French  party,  was  at  this  town  in  1749. 
George  Croghan  had  a  Trading  House  there.  Washington  and  Gist 
stopped  there  five  days  in  1753  when  they  were  on  the  way  to  the  French 
forces  at  Venango  and  Le  Boeuf.  The  Shawnees  began  to  desert  the  town 
before  1750  and  move  lower  down  the  Ohio.  Then  came  into  that  part 
of  the  country  those  renegade  Indians  from  the  Iroquoian  tribes  of  New 
York  who  found  a  designation  in  going  back  to  the  generic  name  of 
Mcngivc,  which  was  corrupted  to  "Mingo"  by  the  whites.  They  were 
principally  Cayugas,  and  they  lived  along  this  part  of  the  Ohio  for  many 
years. 

Gist  was  ill  received  at  Loggstown.  He  found  "scarce  any  Body  but 
a  parcel  of  reprobate  Indian  Traders,  the  Chiefs  of  the  Indians  being  out 
a  hunting."  Gist  was  told  that  he  would  never  get  safe  home  again,  and 
to  protect  himself  gave  it  out  that  he  was  on  the  King's  business.  This 
brought  him  respect  and  probably  saved  his  life.  He  was  desirous  of 
engaging  George  Croghan  and  Andrew  Montour  to  go  with  him  from 
that  point,  but  found  that  they  had  gone  on  west  on  a  mission  for  the 
Colony  of  Pennsylvania.  On  Monday,  the  26th,  he  left  Loggstown,  pre- 
ferring the  woods  to  such  company  as  he  found  there.  He  left  the  river 
and  traveled  across  the  country.  Six  miles  out,  at  Big  Beaver  Creek,  he 
met  Bamey  Curran,  a  trader  of  the  Ohio  Company,  and  they  went  on  to- 
gether. On  the  14th  of  December  they  arrived  at  Muskingum,  a  Wyan- 
dot town  of  about  100  families.     He  called  the  Wyandots  the  Little  Min- 

■•  Cliristopliei-  Gist's  Journals,  Darlington,  pp.  31,  32. 


70  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

goes.  The  W'yandots  were  usually  in  the  French  interests,  but  this  town 
inclined  to  the  English,  and  George  Croghan  had  a  Trading  House  there 
over  which  Gist  found  floating  the  English  colors.  This  town  stood  on 
the  Tuscarawas  which  is  a  branch  of  the  Muskingum.  The  W'yandots 
abandoned  the  town  u])()n  the  fall  of  I'^ort  DeQuesnc,  in  1758,  or  very 
soon  thereafter. 

Gist  acquainted  George  Croghan  and  Andrew  Montour  with  the 
nature  of  his  mission  on  the  i8th,  with  which  they  were  pleased.  It  was 
the  intention  of  Gist  to  read  prayers  on  Qiristmas  day,  and  after  some 
delay  a  number  of  the  inhabitants  assembled  to  hear  bim.  He  delivered 
a  brief  discourse,  which  he  recorded  in  bis  Journal,  and,  later,  read  them 
I  robably  some  service  from  the  Prayer  P.ook  of  the  Episco])al  Church. 
His  iMurse  was  so  ])Ieasing  to  the  Indians  that  they  desired  hini  to  baptize 
their  children,  thinking  him  a  clergyman.  The  next  day  there  occurred 
in  tl.e  village  one  f)f  ttiose  instances  of  Indian  ferocity  so  common  in  the 
liulian  country  in  pioneer  times.  A  woman  was  a  prisoner  to  the  Wyan- 
dnis,  captured  many  years  before.  She  had  not  become  reconciled  to 
savage  life  and  made  an  attempt  to  escape.  She  was  recaptured  and  had 
been  brought  into  the  town  on  Christmas  Eve.  Christmas  passed,  they 
turned  their  attention  to  her  execution.  She  was  taken  beyond  the  town 
and  released.  When  she  ran  in  a  new  hope  of  escape  she  was  pursued 
by  men  set  for  that  purixise.  When  they  came  up  with  her  they  struck 
her,  knocking  her  down.  She  fell  with  her  face  down,  and  they  then  .shot 
her  in  the  back  with  arrows,  or  "darts"  as  (iist  has  it.  These  went  through 
her  lieart.  When  dead,  she  was  scalped  and  her  head  cut  olT.  All  were 
forbidden  to  touch  the  body.  In  the  evening  Pjarney  Curran  sought  per- 
mission to  bury  her.  This  was  granted.  1  ler  grave  was  tilled  at  dusk,  and 
her  troubles  and  sufferings  as  a  captive  in  a  barbarous  Indian  town  hapjiily 
at  an  end. 

At  this  Wyandot  town  Gist  secured  intelligence  of  general  conditions 
in  the  Indian  country  north  of  the  Ohio.  On  the  4th  of  January  one 
Teafe,  an  Indian  trader,  came  in  from  the  villages  on  the  south  shore  of 
Lake  Erie.  He  said  the  Wvandots  there  advised  him  to  kecj)  clear  of  the 
Ottawas,  as  they  were  comjjlctely  committed  to  the  I'Vench,  who  had  set 
up  claims  to  all  the  country  drained  by  the  waters  flowing  into  the  Great 
Lake  and  to  the  Ohio  \'alley.  The  Ottawas  said  that  no  English  had  right 
to  come  into  any  part  of  this  country  so  claimed  by  the  French.  The  por- 
tion of  the  Wyandot  tribe  living  on  the  lake  waters  would  soon  join  their 
brethren  on  the  Muskingum,  where  a  large  town  and  strong  fort  would  be 
erected.  On  the  <>th  two  traders  came  in  from  the  Twigtwee  towns  and 
told  that  an  English  trader  had  been  taken  by  the  French.  Three  P'rench 
soldiers  had  deserted  to  the  luiglish  at  the  Pickwaylines  town.  The  In- 
dians desired  to  put  the  I'Vench  soldiers  to  death,  but  were  prevented  by 
the  English,  who  were  sending  the  prisoners  to  the  Wyandot  town  on  the 
Muskingum.  On  the  nth  an  Indian  came  in  from  the  lake  towns  and 
confirmed  what  had  been  told  of  all  these  matters. 

Gist  began  his  i)reparations  to  leave  the  Wyandot  town  on  the  12th  of 
January.  He  sent  his  comijany  away  to  the  Lower  Shawnee  towns  at  the 
month  of  the  .Scioto.  He  went  to  a  council  held  at  the  chief's  house,  but  as 
some  of  the  principal  men  were  absent  the  council  was  posljioned.  It  was 
in  session  again  on  the  14th.  .Xndrew  .Montour  acted  as  interpreter  and 
speaker.  He  informed  the  council  that  the  King  had  sent  the  Indians  a 
present  of  much  goods.  These  goods  had  arrived  safely  and  the  Indians 
were  invited  to  come  and  see  the  governor  of  X'irginia  and  receive  the 
presents.  The  Indians  said  they  would  notify  all  the  nations  and  that  all 
would  be  present  to  receive  the  goods  in  the  spring.  After  shaking  hands 
with  the  members  of  the  council.  Gist  took  his  leave  of  the  Wyandots  on 
the  Muskingum.  He  set  out  for  llic  .Shawnee  towns  on  the  15th,  reaching 
White  Woman's  Creek,  where  there  was  a  small  town.    This  creek  was  so 


HISTORY  OF  KMNTL'CKY  71 

named  for  a  white  woman  who  had  been  captured  in  New  England  forty 
years  before  when  she  was  ten  years  old.  Her  name  was  Mary  Harris. 
She  had  an  Indian  husband  and  several  children.  She  remembered  that 
the  people  of  New  England  had  been  very  religious,  and  she  wondered  at 
the  wickedness  of  the  white  men  in  the  forests  of  the  Ohio  Country.  Gist 
and  his  company  came  to  a  small  Delaware  town  on  the  east  side  of  the 
Scioto  on  the  27th.  The  Delawares  were  friendly  to  the  English,  and  the 
chief  of  this  town  entertained  Gist  as  best  he  could.  He  owned  a  negro 
man- — a  slave — whom  he  directed  to  feed  the  horses  of  the  party  well. 
On  the  28th  a  council  was  held  with  these  Delawares,  who  were  the  most 
westerly  of  their  people — no  Delawares  lived  beyond  them.  The  chief  said 
he  could  gather  a  force  of  about  500  warriors,  all  of  whom  would  stand 
by  the  English.  Many  Delawares  were  scattered  among  the  other  tribes, 
especially  the  Six  Nations,  of  whom  they  had  permission  to  hunt  on  their 
lands.  On  the  29th  of  January,  175 1,  Gist  reached  the  Shawnee  towns  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Scioto.  Guns  were  fired  to  notify  the  traders  of  their 
approach  and  they  soon  appeared  and  ferried  them  over  the  Scioto,  the 
town  being  on  the  west  side  of  the  river.  The  town  had  about  100  houses 
there  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Ohio,  and  about  forty  houses  on  the  south 
side  in  what  is  now  Kentucky.  There  was  a  council-house  about  90  feet 
long,  covered  with  bark.  It  was  into  this  council-house  that  Mrs.  Mary 
Ingles  and  other  captives  were  taken  on  their  arrival  as  prisoners  in  1755. 
Gist  found  the  Shawnees  friendly  to  the  English  who  had  once  protected 
them  from  the  fury  of  the  Iroquois. 

On  the  30th  of  January  a  council  was  held  with  the  Shawnees.  George 
Croghan  delivered  sundry  speeches  sent  out  by  the  governor  of  Pennsyl- 
vania to  the  chiefs  of  the  Sliawnees.  He  recounted  information  received 
at  the  Wyandot  town — that  the  French  would  pay  a  large  sum  of  money 
to  any  person  or  party  who  would  bring  in  himself  and  Andrew  Montour 
as  prisoners  or  who  would  produce  their  scalps.  He  advised  the  Shawnees 
to  keep  their  warriors  at  home  until  it  was  known  what  the  French  would 
do  in  the  spring.  Andrew  Montour  then  told  the  council  of  the  gift  of 
goods  the  King  had  sent  to  his  children  on  the  Ohio,  and  invited  the 
Shawnees  to  come  and  receive  their  portion.  The  Shawnee  speaker  was 
Big  Hannaoa,  who  took  Montour's  hand  and  assured  him  of  the  friend- 
ship of  the  Shawnees  for  the  English.  He  said  he  hoped  that  this 
friendship  would  continue  as  long  as  the  sun  should  shine. 

Gist  remained  in  the  Shawnee  town  from  January  31  to  February  11, 
175 1.  On  the  1 2th  of  February  he  set  out  for  the  Tvvigtwee  town  on  the 
Miami.  He  left  his  attendant  to  take  care  of  the  horses  in  his  absence, 
secured  a  fresh  horse  to  ride,  and  with  George  Croghan,  Andrew  Mon- 
tour, Robert  Kallandar,  and  a  servant  to  carry  provisions,  he  rode  north- 
west into  the  Ohio  Wilderness.  He  arrived  at  the  Twigtwee  town  on  the 
17th,  computing  the  distance  at  150  miles.  The  country  passed  over  he 
describes  as  delightful.  It  was  full  of  natural  meadows  covered  with 
clover,  wild  rye,  and  blue  grass.  Clear  streams  were  always  to  be  seen. 
The  timber  was  large  and  composed  of  ash,  walnut,  cherry,  and  sugar- 
trees.  Game  was  plentiful,  and  bufifalo,  elk,  deer,  and  wild  turkeys  were 
in  sight  much  of  the  time. 

The  town  of  the  Twigtwees  was  on  the  west  side  of  the  Big  Miami,  on 
the  south  side  of  Laramie's  Creek,  which  empties  there.  It  was  in  what 
is  now  Miami  County,  Ohio,  and  some  two  and  a  half  miles  north  of 
Piqua,  Ohio.  The  Twigtwees,  or  Miami's  as  they  were  called  by  the 
French,  were  a  part  of  the  confederation  known  as  the  Illinois  Indians — 
Piankashaws,  Weas,  Peorias,  and  other  tribes.  They  were  inferior  in  in- 
telligence and  courage  to  the  Iroquois,  the  Delawares,  and  the  Shawnees. 
They  had  shared  in  the  common  ruin  of  the  Illinois  Indians  inflicted  by 
the  Iroquois  in  1650-1700,  and  they  were  now  on  the  Miami  as  tenants 
at  will  of  the  Six  Nations.     Gist  got  an  exaggerated  and  erroneous  ini- 


72  HISTORY  OF  Kl-.X  TLXKY 

pression  of  their  prowess,  numbers  and  iniiKiriance.  He  remained  at  ihe 
Twigtwee  town  until  Saturday,  tlie  2d  of  March,  and  his  accounts  of  the 
various  councils  and  the  daily  occurrences  of  Indian  life  as  he  saw  it  there 
are  extremely  interesting  and  valuable.  He  secured  a  good  knowledge  of 
the  intrigues  of  the  I'Vench  with  the  savages  and  of  general  conditions  in 
the  Indian  country.  There  was  uneasiness  and  agitation  in  those  wilds 
and  war  between  some  of  the  tribes  and  between  the  French  and  English 
resulted  in  live  years.  In  this  war  the  FVench  were  the  aggressors,  but  in 
the  end  they  lost  their  American  possessions  to  the  Enghsh. 

On  the  2d  of  March  Gist  and  his  company  left  the  Twigtwee  town, 
crossed  to  the  east  bank  of  the  river,  and  traveled  some  thirty-five  miles 
to  Mad  Creek.  Sunday  morning,  the  3d,  the  company  separated.  Gist 
continuing  on  to  the  Shawnee  town  at  the  mouth  of  the  Scioto,  and  Cro- 
ghan  and  the  others,  for  Hockhocking.  Gist  was  alone,  and  as  he  had 
been  threatened  by  the  I'rench  at  the  Twigtwee  village,  he  turned  out  of 
the  usual  path  and  went  down  the  Little  Miami.  This  increased  the  dis- 
tance he  would  have  to  travel,  but  he  believed  it  the  safer  course.  After 
a  most  delightful  journey,  he  reached  the  Shawnee  town  on  the  8th  of 
March.  There  he  was  gladly  received  by  both  the  whites  and  the  Indians. 
His  report  that  his  mission  to  the  Twigtwees  had  been  entirely  successful 
for  the  English  interest  and  had  defeated  the  intrigues  of  the  F'rench 
caused  rejoicing  in  the  town  of  the  Shawnees.  Peace  had  been  secured 
with  the  Twigtwees  and  their  allies — or,  rather,  its  continuance  assured — 
and  in  honor  of  this  achievement  150  guns  were  fired.  A  Mingo  chief 
was  in  the  Shawnee  town.  He  had  lately  returned  from  the  F"alls  of  the 
Ohio.  On  the  9th  he  informed  Gist  that  a  party  of  French  Indians  were 
there  and  that  if  he  ventured  to  go  so  far  down  the  Ohio  he  would  cer- 
tainly lose  his  life.  But  Gist's  instructions  made  it  necessary  for  him  to 
go  there,  and  he  resolved  to  make  the  eflort  and  go  at  least  as  far  as 
possible.  He  got  his  horses  across  the  Ohio  very  early  on  the  morning 
of  the  I2th,  and  after  breakfast  he  and  his  boy  or  attendant  were  taken 
over  in  a  boat  or  canoe.  He  stood  there  and  then  for  the  first  time  on  the 
soil  of  what  was  to  be  Kentucky.  He  remained  in  the  Shawnee  town  on 
the  Kentucky  side,  until  the  13th,  when  he  started  for  the  Falls  of  the 
Ohio.  He  must  have  followed  some  well  defined  road,  going  down  the 
river  eight  miles  then  turning  south.  After  making  ten  miles  on  this 
latter  course  he  met  three  men  he  was  expecting  to  see  in  that  country. 
On  the  east  bank  of  the  Big  Miami  op]X)site  the  Twigtwee  town,  he  had 
stopped  over  night  with  one  Robert  Smith,  who  had  given  him  an  order 
on  two  of  his  traders  for  two  teeth  of  the  mastodon,  the  bones  of  which 
lay  alx)Ut  the  lick  later  known  as  the  Big  Bone  Lick  in  what  is  now  Boone 
County,  Kentucky.  With  these  two  men  was  one  Hugh  Crawford.  They 
gave  the  two  teeth  to  (list  as  directed,  and  he  delivered  one  of  them  to 
the  Ohio  Comjiany.  In  his  Journal  he  records  what  Smith  had  told  him 
of  the  bones  at  the  lick.  .'\s  Smith  had  been  at  the  lick  and  examined 
the  bones,  his  statement  of  what  he  had  seen  is  good  evidence,  and  is 
given  here  as  set  down  by  Gist: 

"Robert  Smith  informed  Me  that  abnut  seven  Years  agt)  these  Teeth 
and  Bones  of  three  large  1 '.easts  (one  of  which  was  somewhat  smaller  than 
the  other  two)  were  found  in  a  salt  Lick  or  Spring  upon  a  small  Creek 
which  runs  into  the  S  Side  of  the  Ohio,  about  15  M.  below  the  Mouth 
of  the  great  Miamee  River,  and  20  above  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio — He  as- 
stu-ed  Me  that  the  Rib  P>ones  of  the  largest  of  these  Beasts  were  eleven 
b'eet  long,  ;ind  the  Skull  Bone  six  feet  wide,  across  the  Forehead,  &  the 
other  Bones  in  BrojOTrtion ;  and  that  there  were  several  Teeth  there,  some 
of  which  he  called  Horns,  and  said  they  were  upwards  of  live  Feet  long, 
and  as  much  as  a  Man  could  well  carry :  that  he  had  hid  one  in  a  P.ranch 
at  some  Distance  from  the  Place,  lest  the  I'-rench  Indians  should  carry 
it  away — The  Tooth  wiiich  I  brought  in   for  the  Ohio  Company,  was  a 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  73 

Jaw  Tooth  of  better  than  four  Pounds  Weight;  it  appeared  to  be  the 
furthest  Tooth  in  the  Jaw,  and  looked  hke  tine  Ivory  when  the  outside 
was  scraped  oflf." 

This  same  day  Gist  met  four  Shawnee  Indians  coming  up  the  Ohio 
River  in  canoes.  They  informed  him  that  about  sixty  French  Indians 
were  encamped  at  the  Falls.  This  was  disturbing  intelligence,  but  Gist 
continued  in  the  direction  of  the  Falls  until  the  i8th,  when  he  was  on  a 
stream  he  calls  Lower  Salt  Lick  Creek  (probably  Floyd's  Fork  of  Salt 
River  j,  which  had  been  described  to  him  by  Robert  Smith  at  his  house 
at  the  town  of  the  Twigtwees  as  being  about  fifteen  miles  above  the 
Falls.  He  heard  several  guns  fired  in  the  woods,  which  made  him  be- 
lieve that  the  French  Indians  were  hunting  in  the  adjacent  forests.  He 
saw  plainly  marked  footprints  on  the  ground  about  him.  Newly-set  traps 
for  the  capture  of  game  were  also  seen  by  him  along  the  trail.  These 
evidences  of  the  presence  of  hostile  Indians  in  close  proximity  changed 
his  resolution  to  reach  the  Falls.  He  thought  to  leave  his  equipment 
and  the  boy  at  this  point  and  go  privately  to  the  Falls.  To  this  course  the 
boy  strongly  objected,  as  there  was  danger  of  his  presence  there  being 
detected.  So,  Gist  was  compelled  to  change  his  course  and  disregard  his 
instructions  to  visit  the  Falls.  It  was  with  much  regret  that  he  did  this, 
and  wrote  in  his  Journal  what  information  he  had  been  able  to  secure 
concerning  this  obstruction  of  the  Ohio." 

It  is  difficult  to  locate  the  point  which  Gist  had  reached  on  the  i8th 
of  March.  Johnston,  in  his  edition  of  Gist's  Journals,  makes  it  the  Licking 
River.  It  is  quite  evident,  however,  that  Gist  had  already  crossed  both 
the  Licking  and  the  Kentucky  rivers.  Darlington  makes  out  that  Gist 
was  at  the  present  site  of  Washington,  Mason  County,  on  the  14th,  and 
that  he  crossed  the  Licking  at  the  Lower  Blue  Lick  on  the  15th.  An  old 
and  well-marked  trail — much  used  at  that  time — led  from  the  Ohio  River 
to  the  Lower  Blue  Lick,  and  Gist  had  probably  followed  it.  On  the 
i6th  he  reached  the  Kentucky  River  near  Frankfort.  This  would  have 
taken  him  through  Harrison,  Nicholas,  Scott,  and  Franklin  counties.  The 
Salt  Lick  which  he  found  on  the  i8th  was  that  called  Bullitt's  Lick  later, 
on  Floyd's  Fork  of  Salt  River,  in  the  present  Bullitt  County,  near  Shep- 
herdville,  and  about  eighteen  miles  from  Louisville.  From  this  point  he 
turned  back  and  began  the  journey  through  the  Kentucky  wilderness  to 
his  own  home  on  the  Yadkin.  On  the  19th  he  crossed  a  number  of  creeks 
flowing  to  the  southwest,  and  these  are  identified  as  BuUskin  Creek,  Gist's 
Creek,  and  other  tributaries  of  Brashear's  Creek,  in  what  is  now  Shelby 
County.  He  reached  the  Kentucky  River  at  a  point  only  a  little  above 
that  at  which  he  had  crossed  it  a  few  days  before  as  he  was  going  West, 
and  probably  only  a  little  above  the  present  City  of  Frankfort.  He  called 
it  the  Little  Cuttawa,  and  was  always  under  the  impression  that  the 
"Great  Cuttawa"  River  was  much  more  to  the  west.  "Cuttawa"  is  a 
corruption  of  the  Indian  name  Catawba,  and  the  river  was  often  so  called 
by  early  explorers  for  the  reason  that  the  Great  Warrior's  Path  from  the 
country  of  the  Northern  tribes  to  the  country  of  the  Catawbas,  in  the 
Carolinas,   passed  up   its    North   Fork.     But   the   name   did   not   prevail. 


^  Of  this  matter  Gist  wrote  in  his  Journal:  "This  Day  We  heard  several  Guns 
which  made  me  imagine  the  French  Indians  were  not  moved,  but  were  still  hunting, 
and  firing  thereabouts :  We  also  saw  some  Traps  newly  set,  and  the  Footsteps  of 
some  Indians  plain  on  the  Ground  as  if  they  had  been  there  the  Day  before — ■ 
I  was  now  much  troubled  that  I  could  not  comply  with  my  Instructions,  &  was 
once  more  resolved  to  leave  the  Boy  and  Horses,  and  to  go  privately  on  Foot  to  view 
the  Falls;  but  the  Boy  being  a  poor  Hunter,  was  afraid  he  would  starve  if  I  was  long 
from  him,  and  there  was  also  great  Danger  lest  the  French  Indians  should  come 
upon  our  Horses  Tracts,  or  hear  their  Bells,  and  as  I  had  seen  good  Land  enough, 
I  thought  perhaps  I  might  be  blamed  for  venturing  so  far,  in  such  dangerous  Times, 
so  I  concluded  not  to  go  to  the  Falls ;  but  travell'd  away  to  the  Southward  till  We 
were  over  the  little  Cuttaway  River."    Christopher  Gist's  Journals,  Darlington,  p.  58. 


74  lllSli  <KV  (  il-    Kl'.X  1  L\  KV 

Some  writers  have  jirofessed  to  see  in  the  corruption  "Cuttawa"  the 
original  of  the  name  Kentucky — an  impossibility. 

After  crossing,'  the  Kentucky  at  a  ]joint  where  there  was  a  small  island. 
Gist  pursued  a  f;iirly  direct  southeastwardly  course  to  tiie  jjresent  Pound 
Gap.  He  recorded  that  much  of  the  way  was  extremely  rough.  And  the 
laurel  and  ivy  which  had  so  greatly  troubled  Dr.  Thomas  Walker  he  often 
found  an  impediment  to  his  progress.  He  saw  evidences  of  bituminous 
coal  all  through  the  coal  measures  of  Kentucky.  He  passed  through 
I'ayette  and  XVoodford  counties.  On  the  21st  of  .March,  in  what  is  nuw 
I  lark  County,  he  found  some  shining  stones  which  exuded  a  secretion 
like  borax — probably  iron  jjyrites.  This  was  on  the  Kentucky  River 
about  the  mouth  of  Red  River,  where  the  counties  of  Estill,  Clark  and 
.Madison  corner.  And  Darlington  adds  that  this  was  the  point  reached 
by  Daniel  Boone  on  his  first  visit  to  Kentucky  in  1769,  eighteen  years 
after  the  exploration  of  Gist. 

From  this  point  he  followed  the  North  Fork  of  the  Kentucky  River 
through  the  territory  now  embraced  in  Lee,  Perry  and  I. etcher  counties. 
On  the  first  day  of  .'\pril  he  crossed  through  the  ga])  now  known  as 
Pound  (Sap  and  so  was  out  of  that  delightful  land  later  to  be  known  as 
Kentucky.  That  he  had  been  mistaken  as  to  the  stream  which  he  was 
on  and  which  he  called  the  "Little  Cuttawa"  was  proven  by  his  arriving 
at  the  I'ound  ( iap  by  fcillov.ing  it.  No  stream  but  tiie  North  I'ork  of  the 
Kentucky  River  would  have  led  him  to  this  gaj).  There  were  many  mis- 
ai)])rehensions  as  to  names  of  rivers,  mountains  and  localities  in  Gist's 
time  and  even  later.  In  George  Croghan's  Journal  is  this  entry:  "passed 
the  mouth  of  the  river  Kentucky  or  Holsten's  River."  lie  nnist  have 
meant  the  Ilolslon,  and  he  must  have  su])posed  the  Holston  to  be  one 
of  the  head  branches  of  the  Kentucky  River. 

(iist  continued  on  his  way  an<l  arrived  at  his  home  on  the  Yadkin 
on  the  i.Sth  day  of  May,  1751.  (Jf  the  location  of  Gist's  home  Darlington 
says :  "On  the  north  side  of  the  Yadkin  Ri\er,  and  on  the  west  side 
of  the  stream  marked  .^aw  Mill  Creek,  near  and  west  of  Rcddies  River, 
near  the  present  town  of  Wilkesbarre  [Wilkesborro]  in  Wilkes  Country, 
Xorth  Carolina,"  and  for  confirmation  cites  Fry  &  Jefferson's  Map  of 
X'irginia.  1751-55,  and  map  engraved  for  Jefferson's  "Notes  on  X'irginia," 
and  Price  &  SlVothers  .State  Map  of  Noith  Carolina,  1808. 

The  line  of  Gist's  exploration  crossed  that  of  Dr.  Thomas  Walker 
at  or  very  near  the  Town  of  Irvine,  county  seat  of  Estill  County,  on  the 
22(1  day  of  March,  1751.  Doctor  Walker  had  crossed  the  Kentucky  River 
there  on  the  22d  day  of  -May,  1750,  ten  months  before  the  coming  of  Gist. 

Gist's  exploration  carried  him  through  Greenup,  Lewis,  Mason,  Har- 
rison, Nicholas,  liourbon,  Scott,  Franklin,  Shelbj',  Woodford,  Fayette, 
Instill,  Lee.  Rreathilt,  Perry,  Knott  and  Letcher  counties,  as  now  con- 
stituted, in  Kentucky.  . 

The  conditions  in  the  Ohio  Valley  were  unstable  and  changing  rapidly. 
Gist  recorded  the  evidences  of  these  things.  The  Ohio  Company  was 
])revented  by  these  uncertainties  from  realizing  its  objectives  there,  for 
liy  1755  the  smoldering  fires  burst  into  a  wilderness  of  flame,  with  most 
of  the  tribes,  at  the  instance  of  the  French,  to  whom  they  had  turned, 
carrying  the  torch  and  the  scaljjing-knife  into  the  border  settlements  of 
the  English  colonies. 


CHAPTER  VII 

MRS.  MARY  INGLES— THE  FIRST  WHITE  WOMAN  IN 

KENTUCKY 

I 

TlIF.    DrAI'KR    I'^AMIt-Y 

Little  is  known  of  tlic  Draper  family  before  its  arrival  in  Virginia. 
The  Drapers  v^ere  of  that  Scotch-Irish  immigration  that  came  to  America 
principally  by  the  ways  of  Charleston  and  Philadelphia.  From  these 
two  ports  this  hardy  and  energetic  people  pressed  into  the  wilderness 
and  met  again  about  the  head  waters  of  the  New  and  the  Holston. 
Many  of  them  settled  in  this  region.  Later,  they  became  pioneers  of 
westward  exploration,   discovery,  and  settlement. 

George  Draper  was  probably  born  in  County  Donegal,  Ireland.  There 
he  was  married  to  hlleanor  Hardin.  Thousands  of  their  countrymen 
were  leaving  their  native  land  and  seeking  broader  opportunities  for 
themselves  and  their  children  in  that  haven  for  the  persecuted  and  dis- 
tressed, the  British  colonies  in  North  America.  Actuated  by  the  same 
high  motives,  George  Draper  and  his  young  wife  embarked  for  America 
in  1729,  and  in  due  time  arrived  at  Philadelphia. 

They  lived  at  the  mouth  of  the  Schuylkill  for  eleven  years,  and 
were  blessed  with  two  children,  a  son  and  a  daughter,  born,  John  in 
1730.  and  Mary  in  1732.  During  their  residence  in  Philadeljihia,  in- 
formation of  the  beauty  and  fertility  of  the  Valley  of  the  Shenandoah 
and  the  upper  \'alley  of  the  James,  was  spread  abroad ;  and  many  of 
the  ScotchTrish  Presbyterians  turned  in  the  direction  of  these  beautiful 
lands.  Being  moved  by  hope  of  still  bettering  their  condition,  the  Drapers 
joined  in  the  movement  to  the  fertile  valleys  of  Virginia,  and  settled 
in  Pattonsburg  in  1740. 

About  the  year  1745  George  Draper  and  others  purchased  from  Col. 
James  Patton  and  his  associates  tracts  of  land  on  the  Great  Divide 
between  Staunton  and  New  rivers.  Draper  had  become  an  expert  woods- 
man. He  was  probably  the  prime  mover  in  this  enterpri.se  to  settle 
the  lands  about  the  head  of  the  Roanoke,  and  the  location  of  the  pros- 
pective settlement  was  called  Draper's  Meadows. 

But  George  Draper  fell  a  victim  to  the  irresistible  charms  of  this 
wilderness.  In  the  year  I74('i  he  and  a  number  of  others,  among  whom 
(it  is  said),  were  Adam  and  Jacob  Harmon,  Kasper  Mansker  (often 
written  Casi)er  Mansco),  and  Michael  Steiner  or  .Sloner,  went  on  a 
hunting  and  exploring  expedition  to  the  head  waters  of  the  Clinch  and 
Big  Sandy  rivers.  They  were  attacked  by  a  war-party  of  Shawnees, 
and  George  Draper  and  a  young  man  named  McGary  were  killed.  This 
event  postponed  the  removal  to  Draper's  Meadows  for  two  years. 

II 

TiiF.  Inclks  FA^^l.^• 

William  Ingles,  who.  became  the  princijjal  man  of  the  Draper's 
Meadows  settlement,   was  the   son  of   Thomas   Ingles.      The    following 

75 


as 


7f>  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

account  of  Thomas  Ingles  and  the  Ingles  family  was  written  by  ])r 
John  P.  Hale,  late  of  Charleston,  West  V'irginia.  Doctor  Hale  was 
the  great-grandson  of  William  and  Mary  (Draper)  Ingles: 

"Thomas  Ingles,  according  to  family  tradition,  was  descended  from 
a  Scotch  family,  was  born  and  reared  in  London,  lived  about  1730  to 
1740,  in  Dublin,  Ireland,  was  a  large  importing  wholesale  merchant, 
was  wealthy,  owned  his  own  ships  and  traded  with  foreign  countries, 
chiefly  to  the  East  Indies. 

"Sir  Walter  Scott  st;ites  that  in  the  reign  of  James  1,  there  was  a 
Sir  Thomas  Inglis  who  lived  and  owned  baronial  estates  on  the  border 


House  in  Which  Wiu.i.\m  Inglics  Lived  .\t  Ingi.es  Ferry 

Built  by  Ingles  After  His  Wife's  Return  from  Captivity.    [From  Kodak  View  Taken 
by  Reuben  Gold  Thwaites,  Secretary  Wisconsin  State  Historical 
Society  and  Given   to  William   K.   Connelley] 


of  Fngland  and  Scotland.  He  was  much  annoyed  by  the  raids  and 
border  forays  of  those  days,  and  to  escape  them,  exchanged  his  border 
estates  called  'Hran.x-Holm,'  with  a  Sir  William  Scott,  ancestor  of 
the  late  Sir  Walter,  and  of  the  Dukes  of  Buckcleu,  for  his  Barony  of 
'.Muridestone,'  in  Lanarkshire,  to  which  he  removed  for  greater  peace 
and  security.  I'ran.x-Ilolm  or  Iiranksome,  in  Tiviotdale,  on  the  Scottish 
border  is  still  owned  by  the  Dukes  of  liuckcleu.  From  the  close  similarity 
and  possible  original  identity  of  the  names — both  very  rare — and  now 
only  diiTering  from  i  to  c  in  the  spelling,  Thomas  Ingles,  of  Dublin,  may 
have  descended  from  the  Sir  Thomas  of  'Branx-Holm  Hall,'  but  if  so, 
the  present  Ingles  family  have  no  record  or  knowledge  of  it.    They  only 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  77 

trace   their   line   back   to   the    Thomas    Ingles    of    London,    DubHn    and 
America. 

"There  are  two  families  in  America  who  spell  their  names  Inglis. 
The  ancestors  of  one  of  them  emigrated  from  Selkirk,  Scotland,  to  New 
"^I'ork.  Descendants  of  the  first  still  live  in  Canada,  but  while  they  spell 
their  name  Inglis,  they  pronounce  it  Ingles,  and  say  it  has  always,  within 
their  knowledge,  been  so  pronounced.  The  descendants  of  the  Paisley 
family  live  in  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  South  Carolina  and  Florida. 
These  two  families,  descendants  of  the  Ingles  who  came  from  London 
and  Dublin  and  settled  in  Virginia,  are  the  only  families  in  America,  so 
far  as  I  know,  who  spell  their  names  either  Inglis  or  Ingles. 

"In  some  revolution  or  political  trouble  occurring  during  the  time  of 
his  residence  in  Dublin,  Thomas  Ingles  took  a  prominent  and  active  part, 
and  happened  not  to  be  on  the  right,  or  rather,  on  the  winning  side,  for 
the  winning  side  is  not  always  the  right  side,  nor  the  right  side  the  win- 
ning side. 

"On  the  failure  of  the  cause  he  had  espoused,  his  property  was  con- 
fiscated, and  he  was  lucky  to  escape  with  his  life. 

"He,  with  his  three  sons,  William,  Matthew  and  John — he  being 
then  a  widower — came  to  America  and  located  for  a  time  in  Pennsylvania, 
about  Chambersburg. 

"Just  when  they  came  and  how  long  they  remained  there  is  not  now 
accurately  known,  but  in  1744,  according  to  the  tradition,  Thomas  Ingles 
and  his  eldest  son,  William,  then  a  youth,  made  an  excursion  to  the  wilds 
of  Southwest  Virginia,  penetrating  the  wilderness  as  far  as  New  River. 

"Of  the  details  of  this  expedition  no  record  has  been  preserved.  On 
this  trip  they  probably  mafle  the  acquaintance  of  Colonel  James  Patton. 
*  *  *  It  is  also  probable  that  the  Ingleses,  during  the  trip  above 
mentioned,  first  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  Drapers,  then  living  at 
Pattonsburg,  and  whose  after-history  and  fates  were  so  closely  connected 
and  interblended  with  their  own." 

\\'il]iam  Ingles  established  a  ferry  at  the  crossing  of  tlie  New  River, 
which  Ijecamc  famous  as  the  means  by  which  the  early  settlers  going  to 
Kentucky  by  way  of  the  ^Vilderness  Road  and  through  the  Cumberland 
Ciap  crossed  that  stream. 

When  Montgomery  County,  Virginia,  was  organized,  William  Ingles 
was  appointed  sheriff  by  the  first  court  ever  held  in  the  county,  whicii 
was  convened  at  Fort  Chiswell  on  the  7th  day  of  January,  1777.  The 
court  was  organized  by  Col.  William  Preston.  John  Montgomery,  Stephen 
Trigg,  James  McGavock  and  James  McCorkle,  justices,  John  Byrd  was 
appointed  clerk,  and  W^illiam  Littlepage,  deputy  clerk. 

Ill 

Draper's  Meadows 

This  part  of  \'irginia  contained  park-like  tracts  of  land  which  were 
very  beautiful.  The  Virginians  called  them  glades.  The  expedition  of 
Gen.  Abrahame  Wood  found  growing  in  these  glades  "grass  above  a 
man's  height."  Scattered  sparingly  over  them  were  clumps  of  short- 
boled,  broad-headed  oaks  and  beeches.  On  their  borders  always  stood 
an  ahnost  impenetrable  wall  of  living  forest.  In  that  location  where  the 
head  waters  of  the  Roanoke  approaches  nearest  to  the  New  River  was 
one  of  these  glades  of  large  size.  At  this  point  was  founded  and  estab- 
lished the  first  settlement  of  English-speaking  folk  made  in  the  Ohio 
Valley,  the  first  in  the  great  Valley  of  the  Mississippi.  Dr.  Thomas 
Walker  made  his  first  trip  of  exploration  to  the  country  west  of  the 
New  River  in  search  of  lands  suitable  for  settlement,  in  April,  1748. 
His  associates.  Col.  James  Patton,  Col.  John  Buchanan,  Col.  James  Wood 


78  HISTORY  Ol'  KENTUCKY 

and  Maj.  Charles  Campbell,  were  with  him.     A  number  of  hunters  who 
were  also  seeking  location  accompanied  Doctor  Walker's  party. 

When  these  hunters  returned  to  Pattonsburg  they  brought  glowing 
accounts  of  the  country  which  they  had  seen.  'I'liey  believed  there  was 
little  or  no  danger  to  be  ap])rehen<led  from  the  Indians.  Those  owning 
lands  at  Draper's  Meadows  preparetl  to  settle  on  them  at  once.  Just 
who  composed  this  jjarty  of  tirst  settlers  cannot  now  be  certainly  deter- 
minefl.     The  following  named  persons  were  members  of  the  ])arty: 

Thomas  Ingles,  the  leader  of  the  ji.irty, 
William    Ingles] 
John   Ingles        }  Sons  of  Thomas  Ingles, 

Matthew  Ingles) 

Mrs.  I-llcanor  Draper,  widow  of  (George  Draper. 

John  Drajjer,  son  of  Cieorge  Draper, 

Mary  Draper,  daughter  of  fieorge  Draper, 

Henry  Leonard, 

James  I'urke. 

'The  buildings  erected  b)-  them  "stood  ujjon  the  present  sites  of  the 
\'irginia  .Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College,  and  '.Solitude,'  the  resi- 
dence of  the  late  Colonel  Preston,  near  Blacksbnrg.  now  Montgomery 
County,  Virginia."  ' 

We  know  but  little  of  the  events  oi  the  settlement  during  the  first 
years  of  its  existence.  'The  record  f)f  but  one  has  b.m  jircserved :  "in 
.\]jril,  1740.  the  house  of  Adam  Harmon,  one  of  the  party,  was  raided  b\' 
the  Indians,  and  his  furs  and  skins  stolen.  This  was  the  first  Indian 
depredation  ever  committed  on  the  whites  (English  settlers)  west  of 
the  .'\llegheny.  The  theft  was  reported  by  Henry  Leonard  to  William 
I  farbison,  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  for  Augusta  County."' 

There  is  another  event  which  in  all  i)robability  occurred  in  this  year 
of  1749,  although  Doctor  Hale  places  it  in  1750.  This  was  the  marriage 
of  VV'illiani  Ingles  and  Mary  Draper. 

Mary  Draper  was  but  seventeen  at  that  time,  laii  she  was  a  well- 
grown  girl,  of  ])erfect  health.  .She  was  rather  below  the  average  size 
of  the  frontier  women  of  her  day,  but  still  she  was  tall  enough,  of  a  fme 
figure,  and  she  is  said  to  have  been  possessed  of  a  gracious  manner. 
She  was  quiet  and  retiring  in  disposition,  but  she  had  that  strength  of 
character  and  tenacity  of  purpose  characteristic  of  the  Scotch-Irish.  Doc- 
tor Hale  says  of  her: 

"Mary  Draper,  having  no  sister,  had  sjient  niiuii  of  her  time  in  her 
girlhood  days  with  her  only  brother,  in  his  outdotjr  avocations  and  sports. 
They  pla}ed  together,  walked  together,  rode  together.  She  could  jump 
a  fence  or  a  ditch  as  readily  as  he ;  she  could  stand  and  jinnp  straight 
up  nearly  as  high  as  her  head;  she  could  stand  on  the  ground  beside 
her  horse  and  leap  into  tjie  saddle  unaided;  could  stand  on  the  floor  and 
jump  over  a  chair-back.  It  will  soon  be  seen  how  invaluable  to  her  such 
physical  training  was  a  few  years  later." 

We  cannot  determine  at  this  time  the  names  of  all  those  who  li\ed 
at  Draper's  Meadows.  Many  more  settlers  were  in  its  vicinity  than  we 
have  record  of.  The  following  named  jjcrsons  probably  had  houses 
erected  in  or  about  the  settlement:  Col.  James  Patton.  Mrs.  George 
Draper,  Casper  I'arrier,  James  Cull,  Henry  Leonard  and  William  Ingles 

ihis  was  not  the  home  of  Colonel  Patton,  but  as  he  and  his  asso- 
ciates still  owned  much  land  there,  he  had  a  house  at  Draper's  Meadows 
and,  it  seems,  was  cultivating  some  of  this  land.  W'illiam  Ingles  lived 
to  the  east  on  the  .Staunton,  a  little  way  distant,  where  he  had  a  mill. 
It  is  perhaps  certain  that   Jubn   Diapci'  livccl   in  tlie   s;ime  Imuse  as   his 


'See  Dr.  I  laic,  in  liLiiis-.lllrghriiy  Pioneers. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  79 

mother.     He  had  married  Elizabeth  Robertson  in   1745.     Not  much  is 
known  of  Barrier.  Cull  or  Leonard. 

To  William  and  Mary  Ingles  had  been  born  two  sons.  Thomas,  four, 
and  George,  two  years  of  age.  Mrs.  Ingles  was  approaching  her  third 
period  of  maternity.  To  John  and  Elizabeth  Draper  had  recently  been 
born  a  child. 

IV 
The  Indi.xn  Attack 

A  change  was  in  progress  in  the  primeval  forests  of  the  West.  The 
final  contest  for  supremacy  in  the  New  World  between  the  Briton  and 
the  Gaul  was  at  hand.  It  was  already  agitating  the  Indians  in  every 
lodge  and  village  in  the  \'alley  of  the  Ohio.  But  the  settlers  at  Draper's 
Meadows  believed  themselves  out  of  the  direct  path  uf  the  impending 
storm.  Colonel  Patton  was  an  officer  of  Augusta  County.  He  seems  to 
have  realized  that  steps  of  precaution  were  necessary,  for  he  had  but 
just  brought  to  Draper's  Meadows  the  supply  of  powder  and  lead  appor- 
tioned by  the  county  for  its  defense,  and  was  still  there  when  the  attack 
was  made. 

On  Tuesday,  the  8th  day  of  July,  1755.  the  day  previous  to  that  upon 
which  the  disastrous  defeat  of  liraddock  occurred,  one  of  those  gather- 
ings of  the  people,  so  characteristic  of  frontier  society,  was  in  progress 
on  the  homestead  of  William  Ingles.  Most  of  the  men  of  Draper's 
Meadows  were  gathered  there  to  assist  in  harvesting  a  fine  crop  of  wheat. 
The  men  carried  their  guns  with  them.  But  the  guns  were  not  taken 
to  the  harvest  field;  they  were  left  at  the  Ingles  house,  and  the  reapers 
were  unarmed. 

While  the  men  were  at  work  in  the  field,  the  women  were  preparing 
a  substantial  feast  for  them.  In  the  course  of  this  work  Mrs.  John 
Draper  had  occasion  to  go  from  the  house  to  the  kitchen  garden  to 
procure  some  vegetables.  There  she  saw  several  Indians  skulking  behind 
the  garden  fence.  She  screamed  an  alarm  and,  running  into  the  house, 
exclaimed  that  Indians  were  about  to  attack  them.  She  seized  her  infant 
and  fled  by  the  opposite  door,  hoping  to  escape ;  but  there  she  was  dis- 
covered and  fired  upon  and  her  right  arm  shattered  by  a  bullet.  Her 
babe  fell  to  the  ground,  but  she  seized  it  with  her  left  hand  and  continued 
her  flight.  She  was  soon  overtaken  by  two  warriors,  one  of  whom  tore 
her  child  from  her  arms.  She  fought  as  best  she  could,  but  was  wounded 
in  the  back  with  a  tomahawk  and  overpowered.  These  savages  led  her 
back  to  the  house,  and  when  they  arrived  there  the  one  having  the  child, 
taking  hold  of  its  feet,  dashed  out  its  brains  against  the  end  of  one  of 
the  logs  of  the  cabin  and  scalped  it  before  her  eyes. 

The  Indians  had  followed  Mrs.  Draper  into  the  house.  Before  there 
was  time  to  close  the  door  they  were  yelling  the  war-whoop  and  swarm- 
ing in.  Colonel  Patton  had  been  writing.  His  broadsword,  which  he 
always  carried,  was  lying  on  the  table.  He  seized  this  and  threw  him- 
self in  front  of  the  women  and  children,  receiving  the  attack  of  the 
savages.  He  killed  two  of  them  and  wounded  others,  and  was  almost 
succeeding  in  driving  them  from  the  house  when  he  was  shot  and  killed 
by  some  Indians  beyond  the  reach  of  his  sword.  Mrs.  George  Draper 
was  shot  and  Mrs.  Ingles  expected  death.  The  chief,  rather  an  old  man, 
came  forward  and  made  her  his  captive  and  led  her  and  her  children 
from  the  house,  which  the  savages  soon  looted  and  set  on  fire. 

The  men  in  the  fields  were  startled  by  the  war-cry.  Turning  in  the 
direction  whence  it  proceeded  they  saw  the  house  of  William  Ingles  in 
flames  and  surrounded  by  a  band  of  Indians  painted  and  decorated  for 
war.     They  were  about  twenty-five  in  number  and  were  whooping,  yelp- 


80  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

ing  and  running  swiftly  about.  As  the  guns  had  been  left  at  the  house 
and  were  now  in  the  hands  o(  ihe  savages,  the  settlers  were  powerless. 
They  could  render  the  helpless  women  and  children  no  assistance. 

\\'iien  William  Ingles  rcali/ed  the  deadly  peril  in  which  his  wife  and 
ciiildren  stood,  he  would  not  be  restrained  from  going  to  their  rescue, 
unarmed  though  he  was.  The  other  men  remonstrated  with  him,  and 
endeavored  to  show  him  the  utter  folly  and  madness  of  this  action,  but 
he  did  not  heed  theiu.  He  was  near  the  house  before  he  was  seen  by 
the  Indians.  When  they  discovered  him,  two  of  their  number  were 
directed  to  capture  him.  He  was  obliged  to  flee.  Two  of  their  swiftest 
young  men  were  sent  to  jnirsue  him.  When  he  entered  the  woods,  one 
(if  these  young  warriors  ran  on  each  side  of  his  trail,  at  some  distance 
from  it.  to  pre\ent  him  from  turning  aside  and  eluding  them.  They 
gained  rapidly  on  him,  and  he  was  soon  convinced  that  in  speed  he  was 
no  match  for  them.  He  expected  to  be  overtaken  and  slain,  and  a  cir- 
cumstance transpired  soon  after  he  entered  the  woods  wdiich  heightened 
this  expectation.  He  saw  before  him,  and  directly  in  his  course,  a 
fallen  tree-trunk  of  great  size.  It  was  almost  concealed  by  bushes,  bram- 
bles and  wild  vines.  He  did  not  discover  it  until  almost  upon  it,  and  too 
late  to  turn  aside  and  avoid  it.  His  only  hope  of  passing  it  lay  in  clear- 
ing it  at  a  single  bound.  This,  by  a  mighty  effort,  he  succeeded  in  doing, 
but  when  in  the  midst  of  his  leap  in  the  air  directly  over  the  log,  his  foot 
caught  in  a  branch  or  vine,  and  he  was  thrown  to  the  ground.  He  fell 
beside  the  log,  and  was  so  henmied  and  bound  by  the  thicket  that  he  felt 
that  he  could  not  extricate  himself  before  his  pursuers  would  be  upon 
him.  He  resigned  himself  to  his  fate  and  e-\|)ected  every  moment  that 
the  Indians  would  be  upon  him.  I'.ut  they  did  not  come.  It  was  soon 
evident  that  they  had  not  detected  his  fall.  They  ran  on,  and  he  escaped 
in  another  direction. 

By  this  time  the  conflict  was  ended.  The  men  left  in  the  harvest 
field  had  departed  for  their  own  homes,  fearful  lest  the  Indians  had 
visited  them  also.  Other  families  were  attacked  by  small  bands  of  Indians 
sent  out  from  the  main  body.  Some  were  killed  and  others  captured 
and  carried  away. 

William  Preston  was  at  this  time  in  Draper's  Meadows  with  his  uncle. 
Colonel  Patton.  The  colonel  had  despatched  him  on  an  errand  that  morn- 
ing, which  saved  his  life.  He  became  one  of  the  foremost  men  of  Vir- 
ginia. In  1761  he  married  Miss  Susanna  Smith,  of  Staimton,  the  daugh- 
ter of  a  widow  who  had  at  that  time  accjuired  the  site  of  Draper's 
Meadows.  From  her  hands  it  passed  to  Colonel  Preston,  who  changed 
its  name  to  Smithfield. 

Colonel  Preston's  son,  James  Patton  Preston,  became  governor  of 
Virginia. 


Journey  to  the  Indi.\n  Town.s 

The  Indians  found  the  arms  of  the  settlers  in  the  house  of  William 
Ingles  and,  learning  from  their  capti\es  the  facts  in  relation  to  the  same, 
correctly  surmised  that  the  men  of  the  settlement  could  make  no  im- 
mediate pursuit.  With  great  deliberation  they  secured  the  horses  of  the 
settlers  and  packed  upon  them  the  household  goods  plundered  from  the 
cabins  before  they  set  them  on  fire.  They  took  all  the  guns  belonging 
to  the  settlers  and  all  the  ammunition  allotted  to  Draper's  Meadows. 
When  the  horses  had  been  loacled  to  their  utmost  capacity  with  food 
and  the  sixiil  of  the  settlement,  the  Indians  set  out  on  their  return  to  the 
Ohio.  They  kejit  to  the  ridges,  and  their  progress  was  slow.  The  pris- 
oners were  required  to  w;dk  between  guards.     Notwithstanding  her  con- 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  81 

dition,  Mrs.  Ingles  was  compelled  to  carry  her  youngest  son.  The  other 
soon  became  fatigued  and  could  not  keep  pace  with  even  the  slow  march 
then  being  made  by  the  Indians.  Mrs.  Ingles  greatly  feared  that  the 
savages  would  put  her  children  to  death  in  order  that  she  might  not  be 
compelled  by  their  presence  to  hinder  the  progress  of  the  march.  Mrs. 
Draper,  although  severely  wounded  and  suffering  much  pain,  took  the 
younger  child  from  the  arms  of  Mrs.  Ingles  and  carried  him.  Mrs. 
Ingles  then  took  the  older  son  upon  her  back  and  thus  carried  him  until 
nightfall,  when  the  Indians  halted  to  camp.  Here  they  were  joined 
by  other  bands  carrying  plunder  and  prisoners,  but  they  brought  no 
children  as  captives.  Hale  has  preserved  the  following  incidents  of  the 
march  of  the  first  day : 

"About  half  a  mile  or  a  mile  to  the  west  on  their  route  they  stopped 
at  the  house  of  Mr.  Phillip  Barger,  an  old  and  white-haired  man,  cut  his 
head  off,  put  it  in  a  bag,  and  took  it  with  them  to  the  house  of  Phillip 
Lybrook,  on  Sinking  Creek,  where  they  left  it,  telling  Mrs.  Lybrook  to 
look  in  the  bag  and  she  would  find  an  acquaintance. 

"Lybrook  and  Preston  would  probably  have  shared  the  same  fate  as 
Barger  if  they  had  been  found  at  Lybrook's  house,  but  they  had  started 
back  to  Draper's  Meadows  on  foot  by  a  near  pathway  across  the  moun- 
tains, and  thus  missed  meeting  the  Indians  and  saved  their  lives." 

The  next  morning  the  Indians  were  on  their  way  before  it  was  light. 
They  traveled  some  miles  before  a  stop  was  made  to  prepare  a  meal. 
Mrs.  Ingles  realized  by  the  time  of  this  stop  that  it  would  be  impossible 
for  her  to  longer  bear  up  under  the  burden  of  her  son,  Thomas.  The 
wounds  of  Mrs.  Draper  were  becoming  more  painful.  Mrs.  Ingles  was 
convinced  that  if  some  different  arrangement  could  not  be  made  for  the 
conveyance  of  her  children,  she  would  soon  see  them  murdered  by  the 
Indians.  Her  good  judgment  was  sharpened  in  this  emergency  by  her 
anxiety  for  the  safety  of  her  sons.  When  the  halt  was  made,  she  set 
about  the  preparation  of  the  best  meal  to  be  made  from  the  material  at 
hand.  Her  success  was  such  that  the  Indians  were  pleased.  When  it  was 
finished  she  assisted  them  to  manage  the  packs.  She  went  about  the 
camp  without  restraint  and,  although  fearful  of  violence,  she  concealed 
her  feelings  from  the  Indians.  When  they  were  ready  to  set  out  again, 
she  asked  the  chief  for  permission  to  ride  one  of  the  horses.  He  per- 
mitted her  to  do  so  and  to  take  up  her  children.  She  requested  that 
Mrs.  Draper  be  allowed  to  ride  also,  but  this  was  refused  and  Mrs. 
Draper  compelled  to  continue  the  march  on  foot.  Mrs.  Ingles  grew 
in  the  good  favor  of  the  Indians  from  this  time. 

After  Mrs.  Ingles  was  permitted  to  mount  the  horse  in  the  morning 
there  was  no  further  halt  made  that  day.  A  camping  place  was  selected 
and  the  camp  for  the  night  was  made.  Mrs.  Ingles  clambered  down 
from  her  horse.  She  was  so  cramped  from  the  position  she  had  been 
compelled  to  maintain  throughout  the  day  without  opportunity  for  change 
or  relaxation  that  she  was  unable  for  some  minutes  to  stand.  Mrs. 
Draper  was  suffering  much  pain  from  her  wounds.  She  was  worn  with 
the  day's  march  and  nuich  fatigued.  Indians  on  the  marcli  always  waded 
across  the  streams  that  crossed  their  path  ;  these  had  been  many  this  day. 
The  continued  marching  with  wet  feet  had  so  scalded  and  blistered  them 
that  it  was  with  pain  and  difficulty  that  Mrs.  Draper  could  walk. 

It  developed  on  the  following  morning  why  the  Indians  had  held  to 
the  march  so  steadily  on  this  day.  Before  it  was  light  they  were  carrying 
their  spoil  over  the  river  in  a  canoe  which  had  belonged  to  a  settler  whose 
deserted  cabin  stood  in  a  small  clearing  upon  the  river  bank.  The  captives 
were  taken  last ;  then  an  Indian  mounted  one  of  the  horses  and  rode  it 
into  the  stream.  Two  Indians  drove  the  other  horses  into  the  river, 
where  they  followed  the  first  horse  to  the  opposite  shore.  The  Indians 
themselves  plunged  into  the  stream  and  swam  across. 

Vol.  I— 10 


82  IIISTUKY  01-  KENTUCKY 

After  the  crossing,  without  waiting  for  orders  or  even  jiemiission 
to  do  so,  Mrs.  Ingles  began  the  pre])aration  of  a  meal.  She  went  about 
tile  camp  witli  an  air  of  unconcern.  She  did  nut  ])ine  nor  brood  over  her 
troubles.  She  manifested  inditTerence  concerning  her  cajitivity.  She 
believed  such  a  course  would  be  much  more  likely  to  gain  the  cont'idence 
of  the  Indians.  When  the  march  was  commenced  she  again  mounted 
her  horse;  this  she  ditl  with  a  conlident  manner  and  as  though  it  had 
been  definitely  dcieririnid  that  she  was  to  ride  the  whole  of  the  journey, 
and  the  Indians  seemed  to  regard  the  matter  in  just  this  light,  for  they 
made  no  objection  to  her  riding  that  day. 

There  was  no  cheerfulness  in  the  heart  of  Mrs.  Ingles.  There  w^as 
almost  desi)air.  She  felt  that  her  powers  of  endurance  would  soon  be 
subjected  to  trial  which  she  feared  she  could  not  survive,  .^he  knew  that 
the  hour  was  approaching — was  in  fact  ujion  her.  During  this,  the  third 
night  of  her  captivity,  she  gave  birth  to  an  infant  ilaughter.  Strong  and 
hopeful  as  she  w-as,  she  feared  her  case  was  now^  beyond  endurance.  IIow 
could  she  go  on  tomorrow?  .\nd  if  she  could  not  go  on,  she  knew  what 
would  be  the  consequences.  In  such  cases  the  Indians  do  not  wait.  For 
their  own  women  it  is  not  necessary,  and  white  women  could  not  have 
more  consideration  than  Indian  women.     Mrs.  Ingles  went  on. 

The  Indian  trail  on  the  west  side  of  the  Great  Kanawha  ascended 
I'aint  Creek,  crossed  the  (jreen  Flat  Top  Mountain,  and  descended  the 
r.luestone  Ri\er  to  the  New  River.  This  route  was  followed  by  the 
Shawnees  after  they  had  crossed  to  the  west  side  of  the  New  River. 
When  they  again  arrived  at  the  Great  Kanawha  they  crossed  over  to 
the  east  side  for  the  purpose  of  manufacturing  some  salt  to  carry  with 
them  to  their  towns.  This  salt  was  made  at  the  salt  spring  immediately 
above  the  mouth  of  Cani|)beirs  Creek. 

During  this  halt  Mrs.  ingles  seems  to  have  recovered  entirely  from 
the  effects  of  her  confinement.  Mrs.  Draper's  arm  was  prevented  from 
healing  by  the  hot  weather.  It  became  inflamed  to  a  fearful  extent. 
At  one  time  it  threatened  her  life.  Mrs.  Ingles  was  permitted  to  go  into 
the  woods  to  search  for  herbs  and  roots  from  which  to  compound  rem- 
edies to  relieve  her. 

In  her  search  for  the  jjlants  she  wished  to  use  in  her  treatment  of 
.Mrs.  Draper,  Mrs.  Ingles  was  compelled  to  go  considerable  distances 
into  the  woods.  Her  pronijit  return  from  these  rambles  caused  the 
Indians  to  treat  her  wMth  a  greater  degree  of  leniency  and  more  consider- 
ation. Her  whole  demeanor  during  her  ca])ti\ity  had  been  such  as  to 
meet  with  their  apjjroval.  In  a  few  days  she  was  allowed  to  go  and 
come  at  will.  No  day  ])assed  but  that  she  could  have  escaped.  Long 
and  fierce  were  the  struggles  in  her  brea.st  on  this  subject.  She  always 
left  the  Indian  camp  with  the  purpose  of  effecting  her  escape  firmly 
fi.xed  in  her  mind.  But  when  alone  in  the  woods  reflection  upon  the  .sad 
plight  of  her  children  so  aroused  her  maternal  love  that  she  wavered  in 
lier  resolution  to  go  away  and  lea\e  them  to  the  fury  of  the  savages. 
\'isions  of  the  horriljle  fate  that  nn'glu  befall  them  always  brought  her 
back  to  cam]),  .\fterwards,  when  it  was  too  late  she  reproached  herself 
bitterly  for  not  having  availed  herself  of  one  of  these  op])ortunities  to 
returned  to  her  home  and  friends. 

The  Indians  remained  at  the  salt  spring  more  than  two  weeks.  At 
the  end  of  this  jjeriod  Mrs.  Draper  was  much  improved.  The  effect  of 
the  "medicine"  upon  her  had  raised  Mrs.  Ingles  still  higher  in  the  estima- 
tion of  the  Indians,  ."-^he  came  to  have  her  own  way  in  all  things  affect- 
ing herself  and  her  children,  .And  she  was  not  denied  a  sort  of  negative 
authority  in  other  matters.  ( )ne  instance  of  this  was  her  putting  Mrs. 
Draper  on  horseback  when  the  march  was  resumed  to  the  Indian  vil- 
lages. The  chief  did  not  ccmsent  but  did  not  refuse  when  .Mrs.  Ingles 
said  to  him  that    Mrs.    Dnnicr  must    ride. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  83 

The  Indians  crossed  the  Ohio  River  at  the  mouth  of  the  Kanawha. 
They  seemed  in  no  haste  to  get  home.  They  loitered  in  the  woods  and 
by  the  stream.  On  the  twenty-ninth  day  of  the  journey  the  Indians  set 
up  a  horrible  yell,  the  scalp  halloo,  which  announced  their  arrival  at  their 
towns  at  the  mouth  of  the  Scioto. 

VI 
At  the  Indian  Towns 

The  Indian  villages  stood  upon  both  sides  of  the  <  )hio  River.  They 
were  the  famous  Lower  Towns  of  the  Shawnees.  On  December  29th 
of  that  year  they  were  visited  by  Christopher  Gist,  agent  of  the  Ohio 
Company.     He  has  left  us  this  description  of  it: 

"The  Shannoah  Town  is  situated  upon  both  sides  of  the  River  Ohio. 
just  below  the  mouth  of  Sciodoe  Creek,  and  contains  about  300  men. 
There  are  about  40  houses  on  the  South  side  of  the  River  and  about 
100  on  the  North  side,  with  a  kind  of  State-House  of  about  90  feet  long 
with  a  light  Cover  of  bark  in  which  they  hold  their  Councils." 

Their  Upper  Town  was  thirty-nine  miles  above  the  mouth  of  the 
Great  Kanawha,  on  the  north  side  of  the  Ohio  River.  At  that  tiine  they 
had  other  towns  in  what  is  now  the  State  of  Ohio. 

The  victorious  scalp  halloo  of  the  returning  warriors  was  immediately 
answered  by  a  tumultuous  uproar  in  the  village.  There  issued  forth  to 
greet  the  victorious  warriors  and  terrified  captives  a  motley  throng  of 
warriors,  squaws,  children,  and  myriads  of  wolfish  dogs.  Warriors 
gave  cry-  to  the  quavering  war-whoop  of  the  Shawnees,  which  no  enemy 
can  hear  without  feeling  his  flesh  creep  and  his  blood  run  cold.  They 
brandished  knives  and  tomahawks  and  fired  their  guns.  Men  too  old 
for  the  chase  and  the  war-path  felt  again  the  intoxication  of  swiftly 
coursing  blood.  Neglected  and  withered  old  hags,  more  cruel  and  blood- 
thirsty than  the  warriors,  hideous  from  the  contortions  of  rage,  gave 
utterance  to  shrieks  and  howls  more  ferocious  than  those  of  the  wolf  or 
the  panther. 

The  captives,  helpless  and  ignorant  of  the  fate  which  awaited  them, 
quailed  before  this  storm  of  Indian  fury.  Unaccustomed  to  such  scenes 
and  imfaniiliar  with  such  manifestations  of  anger,  they  believed  the  hour 
of  death  at  hand.  The  fearful  apprehensions  of  Mrs.  Ingles  were  soon 
allayed.  The  good  favor  in  which  she  stood  with  the  Indians  was  her 
shield  in  this  hour  of  peril.  The  chief  informed  her  that  she  and  her 
children  were  safe  from  present  harm  and  that  they  would  not  be  re- 
quired to  run  the  gauntlet.  But  this  clemency  and  exemption  extended 
no  further.  Her  request  that  Mrs.  Draper  be  spared  this  dangerous  and 
cruel  ceremony  was  denied.  Mrs.  Draper  for  herself  would  never  have 
made  the  request.  When  ordered  to  begin  the  race  to  the  council  house 
she  had  recovered  from  her  monientary  confusion.  Her  eyes  blazed 
defiance  on  the  murderous  rabble.  At  the  word  of  the  chief  she  sprang 
forward  on  the  course  between  the  lines  and  was  immediately  assailed 
by  the  merciless  mob.  Wounded  as  she  was  she  fought  fiercely.  She 
snatched  weapons  from  her  assailants.  She  overthrew  warriors,  beat 
down  squaws,  and  brushed  aside  youths  and  dogs.  How  she  reached  the 
council  house  she  never  remembered.  When  she  arrived  there  she  was 
suffering  from  many  additional  wounds,  and  her  arm  had  been  again 
broken. 

On  the  third  day  after  reaching  the  Indian  towns  the  chiefs  met  in 
council  to  deliberate  upon  the  disposition  to  be  made  of  the  captives. 
It  was  the  policy  of  the  Indian  tribes  to  break  family  ties  when  such 
existed  between  their  prisoners.  This  was  the  invariable  custom  of  the 
Shawnees.     I'Vom  the  Indian  stnnrlpoint  this  was  a  wise  provision.     One 


84  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

would  sooner  become  reconciled  to  Indian  life  and  interested  in  the  wel- 
fare of  the  tribe  when  excluded  from  all  but  Indian  society.  In  accord- 
ance with  this  custom,  the  captives  were  distributed  to  the  different 
towns  of  the  Shawnces. 

\\'hcn  the  council  was  concluded  Mrs.  Ingles  was  at  once  taken  away 
from  her  children,  and  they  were  sc])arated  from  one  anotlier.  They 
were  conveyed  to  distant  towns,  and  the  two  younger  lived  but  a  short 
time.  She  became  the  adopted  daughter  of  the  chief.  She  was  in  despair 
when  her  children  were  carried  away.  She  had  clung  to  the  hope  that 
she  nu'ght  be  permitted  to  keep  them  with  her.  Their  loss  was  the 
severest  blow  she  could  have  experienced.  She  might  have  reconciled 
herself  in  some  degree  to  a  life  of  captivity  could  she  have  retained  her 
children.  It  was  only  the  hope  that  she  might  be  allowed  to  remain 
with  them  that  had  prevented  her  froiu  escaping  when  at  the  salt  spring 
on  the  Kanawha.  After  some  days  of  iiopeless  despair  her  strong  and 
vigorou.--  mind  rose  above  useless  grief  and  jiiniiig.  .She  decided  to  feign 
acquiescence  in  the  decree  of  the  council  until  the  Indians  were  com- 
pletely deceived,  then  make  her  escape. 

The  life  of  Mrs.  Ingles  was  uneventful  enough  in  the  Shawnee  vil- 
lage. She  was  required  to  carry  wood  from  the  forests,  to  cook  food, 
and  to  work  in  the  corn  held.  .She  sometimes  went  with  the  Indian 
women  across  the  Ohio  River  into  Kentucky.  An  event  occurred  early 
in  September  which  served  to  break  the  monotony  of  the  dull  and 
slavish  routine  of  her  Indian  life. 

The  Indian  traders  commenced  active  operations  in  their  traftlc  and 
barter  for  furs  in  the  month  of  September.  They  carried  into  the  wilder- 
ness to  their  trading  stations  in  the  various  Indian  towns  at  this  period 
of  the  year  supplies  of  ruin,  beads,  hatchets,  knives,  firearms,  ammuni- 
tion, gewgaws,  gaudily  colored  cloth,  blankets  and  other  articles  of 
Indian  desire  and  necessity.  The  I'^rench  traders  arrived  from  Detroit 
with  a  large  cargo  of  goods  for  Indian  trade  about  the  first  of  September. 
Among  their  effects  were  quantities  of  the  brilliantly  colored  cloth  so 
dear  to  the  Indian  heart.  Mrs.  Ingles  procured  a  few  yards  of  this 
cloth,  and  from  it  she  made  a  long  shirt  or  gown  for  her  Indian  father. 
The  chief  was  much  pleased  with  this  addition  to  his  wardrobe.  Fie 
was  so  delighted  with  his  new  shirt  that  he  arrayed  himself  in  it  and 
paraded  the  village  to  exhibit  it.  His  new  costume  created  a  sensation. 
The  traders  were  instantly  besieged  by  the  Indian  warriors,  each  of 
whom  desired  to  purchase  a  shirt  similar  to  that  of  the  chief.  The 
Frenchmen  could  not  supj^ly  them.  They  investigated  the  matter  and 
examined  the  shirt.  They  at  once  besought  Mrs.  Ingles  to  luake  shirts 
to  be  sold  to  the  Indians.  But  she  did  not  consent  to  become  the  seam- 
stress of  the  tribe  until  she  was  promised  a  remuneration. 

When  Mrs.  Ingles  completed  a  shirt  for  a  warrior,  one  of  the  French- 
men would  hoist  it  upon  a  pole  and  carry  it  about  the  village  by  way 
of  ad\ertisement ;  he  called  attention  to  its  beauties  and  cried  aloud 
the  accomplishments  of  the  maker.  It  required  about  three  weeks  for 
her  to  make  enough  shirts  to  clothe  the  warriors  of  the  village.  At  the 
end  of  that  tiiue  she  was  regarded  with  something  like  affection  by  the 
warriors  now  clothed  and  ornamented  in  glaring  and  gorgeous  shirts 
manufactured  by  her  hand.  In  after  life,  when  restored  to  her  home 
and  friends,  she  could  not  repress  a  sense  of  anuisement  when  describ- 
ing a  gathering  of  her  partisans  arrayed  in  these  shirts,  which  reached 
to  their  heels  and  which  were  all  of  the  gaudy,  discordant  and  inhar- 
monious hues  selected  by  the  French  traders  to  please  their  barbarous 
customers. 

About  this  time  it  was  determined  that  a  party  of  the  Indians  should 
go  to  the  Big  Hone  I.icks  in  KeiUucky  to  manufacture  salt   for  their  use 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  85 

during  the  winter.  The  chief  decided  that  Mrs.  Ingles  should  go.  She 
vigorously  objected  to  being  one  of  the  party,  as  she  was  daily  looking 
for  an  opportunity  to  escape.  An  old  Dutch  woman  whom  the  Shawnees 
had  in  some  way  obtained  from  the  Wyandots,  who  had  captured  her 
in  Pennsylvania  many  years  before,  was  one  of  the  party. 

VII 

The  Escape 

The  Big  Bone  Licks  are  in  what  is  now  Boone  County,  Kentucky,  on 
Big  Bone  Creek.  They  are,  by  the  Ohio  River,  about  one  hundred  and 
sixty  miles  below  the  mouth  of  the  Scioto  River.  They  are  some  three 
miles  from  the  river.  They  are  so  called  from  the  great  abundance  of 
the  bones  of  the  mammoth  found  about  them  at  the  time  of  the  early 
settlement  of  the  country.  Hundreds  of  the  skeletons  of  these  extinct 
animals  have  been  taken  from  this  locality. 

Some  twenty  warriors,  three  Frenchmen,  Mrs.  Ingles  and  the  old 
Dutch  woman  and  a  number  of  squaws  and  children  made  up  the  party 
that  visited  the  licks.  They  went  in  canoes  down  the  Ohio  River,  and 
the  journey  was  a  pleasant  one.  The  banks  of  the  Ohio  were  at  that 
time  tree-covered  to  the  water's  edge.  The  journey  was  made  in  the 
first  days  of  October  when  the  early  frosts  had  just  touched  the  forest 
foliage  with  the  delicate  tints  and  gorgeous  colorings  which  can  never  be 
equaled  by  the  artist's  brush. 

Mrs.  Ingles  had  thought  to  await  the  return  of  the  Indians  to  their 
towns  at  the  mouth  of  the  Scioto  before  attempting  escape,  but  now 
made  up  her  mind  to  escape  at  the  first  opportunity.  She  decided  to 
try  to  enlist  the  old  Dutch  woman  in  her  enterprise ;  her  first  efforts  in 
this  direction  were  not  successful.  She  entertained  little  hope  of  regain- 
ing her  liberty.  For  some  days  Mrs.  Ingles  mistook  her  apathy  for 
indifference  or  treachery,  but  it  seems  she  was  only  deliberating  on  the 
matter  and  debating  in  her  mind.  Her  conclusion  finally  was  to  ac- 
company Mrs.  Ingles.  Within  a  week  she  was  impatient  to  set  out,  and 
the  more  enthusiastic  and  sanguine  of  the  two  but  perhaps  much  less 
determined  than  Mrs.  Ingles. 

Their  distance  from  the  settlements  and  the  difficulties  to  be  en- 
countered on  the  way  to  them  must  have  rendered  it  improbable,  in 
the  judgment  of  the  Indians,  that  the  women  would  attempt  to  escape 
from  this  point.  They  were  allowed  to  go  and  come  almost  at  will ; 
every  vestige  of  restraint  had  disappeared. 

Mrs.  Ingles  asked  permission  from  her  Indian  father,  the  chief,  to 
go  in  search  of  wild  grapes.  This  permission  was  readily  granted.  The 
only  preparation  the  women  made  for  their  journey  was  to  get  a  blanket, 
a  tomahawk  and  a  large  knife  for  each.  They  carried  no  food,  as  they 
feared  that  would  cause  suspicion.  The  tomahawk  procured  by  Mrs. 
Ingles  was  not  to  her  liking,  and  as  she  was  starting  she  exchanged  it 
with  one  of  the  Frenchmen,  who  was  at  the  moment  seated  on  a  mam- 
moth's skull  on  which  he  was  cracking  walnuts.  They  left  the  Licks 
some  time  in  the  afternoon  determined  to  perform  such  a  journey  as 
has  rarely  been  undertaken  by  the  most  experienced  and  accomplished 
woodsman.  For  days  and  weeks  they  were  to  be  in  constant  danger 
of  meeting  roving  bands  of  Indians,  which  at  this  season  of  the  year 
filled  the  woods.  Recapture  meant  death.  To  reach  their  friends  they 
must  pass  for  hundreds  of  miles  through  unbroken  forests  filled  with 
fierce  beasts  and  these  savage  men.  This  distance  must  be  traversed 
on  foot,  and  with  only  such  food  as  could  be  obtained  by  the  way  with- 
out guns  to  kill  game,  and  with  no  means  of  defense  from  man  or  beast 
save  the  knife  and  tomahawk.     Danger  and  peril  beyond  comprehension 


86  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

at  iliis  [jrescnt  time,  l)iii  wliith  tht-y  lliiri  ki-viil)-  realized,  menaced  them 
every  moment  after  they  left  the  Indian  camp  at  the  Licks. 

When  they  departed  from  the  Licks,  they  went  at  once  to  the  Ohio 
River  and  followed  up  that  stream.  When  they  came  to  the  large  streams 
falling  into  the  Ohio  from  the  south,  ha\ing  no  means  of  crossing,  they 
were  compelled  to  follow  up  the  course  of  these  streams  until  a  point 
was  found  where  they  could  be  crossed  by  wading.  Or,  as  sometimes 
happened,  a  crossing  could  be  efFected  on  the  great  drift  of  logs  and 
brushwood  carried  down  by  the  floods  and  deposited  in  some  sudden 
angle  or  bend  in  the  river.  They  made  little  effort  to  procure  food  the 
first  few  days.  The  most  dangerous  jiart  of  their  journey  was  the  first 
200  miles.  This  distance  would  carry  them  well  beyond  the  Indian  towns 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Scioto.  Their  an.xiety  to  ])ass  this  crucial  point  on 
their  way  in  safety  so  absorbed  their  faculties  that  they  did  not  so  much 
realize  their  want  of  food. 

On  the  sixth  day  of  their  flight,  at  nightfall,  the  women  arrived  in 
the  vicinity  of  the  Indian  town  on  the  south  bank  of  the  Ohio  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Scioto  River.  Here  were  forty  or  fifty  cabins,  but  all 
were  not  occupied  by  the  Shawnees.  Some  of  them  had  been  long  aban- 
doned. Some  families  lived  here,  but  Mrs.  Ingles  hoped  that  in  this 
season  of  the  year  they  would  be  .scattered  about  the  licks  and  other 
game  resorts.  She  had  sometimes  crossed  the  Ohio  from  the  Lower 
Town  to  visit  the  corn  fields  and  was  familiar  with  the  village  and  ac- 
quainted with  its  inhabitants.  The  women  could  have  evaded  the  town 
by  a  detour  to  the  .south,  but  it  was  necessary  to  procure  some  food,  and, 
should  the  village  prove  to  be  deserted,  here  was  the  opportunity.  They 
dreaded  most  the  Indian  dogs. 

When  night  came  on  the  women  investigated  the  matter  as  best  they 
could  and  concluded  that  there  were  no  Indians  in  the  village.  They 
advanced  from  jjoint  to  j)oint  and  from  cabin  to  cabin  with  much  fear 
and  great  caution.  After  they  had  visited  all  tlie  cabins  and  decided  that 
the  town  was  deserted,  they  entered  a  cabin  and  slept  through  the  night. 
They  had  determined  that  if  they  were  discovered  they  would  say  that 
they  had  become  separated  from  the  band  at  the  IJig  Bone  Licks  and, 
not  being  able  to  find  the  camp,  had  returned  home  to  the  Indian  towns. 

On  the  following  morning  they  found  a  horse  near  the  corn  fields 
and  after  some  trouble  caught  him.  This  horse  wore  about  his  neck, 
fastened  with  a  leather  stra]),  a  large  bell.  Mrs.  Ingles  thought  it  best 
to  not  remove  this  bell.  They  made  a  halter  for  him  from  strips  torn 
from  their  blankets.  They  tied  the  corners  of  their  blankets  together 
and  made  two  bags,  which  they  filled  with  the  ears  of  corn.  These  they 
packed  on  the  horse  to  carry  with  them. 

The  com  which  they  obtained  from  the  field  at  the  Indian  village 
was  of  great  benefit  to  them.  Want  of  food,  their  extraordinary  exer- 
tions, their  apprehension  antl  anxiety  had  reduced  their  strength.  The 
corn  obtained  here  partially  restored  it.  They  were  under  the  necessity 
of  eating  it  raw,  which  thc'y  did  after  pounding  it  and  cracking  it  to  a 
kind  of  coarse  hominy  with  their  tomahawks,  b'ear  of  discovery  by  the 
Indians  would  have  jirevented  their  building  a  fire  even  if  they  had  pos- 
sessed the  means  to  do  so. 

When  Mrs.  Ingles  and  her  companion  arrived  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Big  Sandy  River  they  foiind  that  the  streain  was  too  deep  to  be  crossed 
by  wading  and  too  deep  for  the  horse  to  ford.  They  were  compelled  to 
turn  up  the  river  in  search  of  a  crossing  place.  They  followed  the  west 
bank  a  i)art  of  two  days.  They  finally  found  an  immense  drift  of  logs 
and  river  rubbish  in  the  stream  just  below  the  present  site  of  Louisa, 
Kentucky,  and  just  below  the  forks  of  the  river.  It  completely  choked 
the  river  for  some  distance  and  llie  w.ator  nowi'd  under  it.     (In  ibis  drift 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  87 

the  women  crossed  with  safety,  but  the  horse  broke  through  it  and  fell 
into  the  water  below.  They  made  every  efifort  to  get  him  out,  but  with- 
out success.  Seeing  that  he  would  have  to  be  abandoned,  they  set  about 
the  matter  of  saving  his  lading.  But  they  had  removed  only  a  part  of 
his  load  of  com  when  the  current  carried  him  under  the  drift.  The  old 
Dutch  woman  had,  however,  removed  the  bel!  from  his  neck.  The  women 
spent  the  night  at  this  point.  On  the  following  morning  they  took  upon 
their  shoulders  what  corn  they  had  recovered  from  the  horse  and  carried 
it  with  them.  As  the  Ohio  River  could  be  their  only  infallible  guide  in 
their  search  for  the  Kanawha  they  returned  thither.  Arriving  at  the 
Ohio  they  continued  their  weary  ascent  of  that  stream.  They  had  been 
the  greater  part  of  four  days  on  the  Big  Sandy  River. 

When  their  corn  was  exhausted  their  food  consisted  of  wild  grapes, 
black  walnuts,  butternuts,  hickory-nuts,  pawpaws,  beech-nuts,  acorns  and 
chestnuts.  When  these  could  not  be  obtained,  the  old  Dutch  woman, 
who  had  been  long  in  captivity  and  had  learned  from  the  Indians  much 
about  living  in  lean  times,  hunted  in  the  woods  for  roots,  the  names  of 
which  she  did  not  know,  but  which  she  had  been  taught  by  her  captors 
to  find  and  eat.  They  were  emaciated  from  their  long  continued  toil  and 
from  want  of  food,  and  their  suffering  was  terrible.  The  old  Dutch 
woman  became  at  times  partially  insane.  She  was  then  possessed  of  the 
desire  to  murder  Mrs.  Ingles,  whom  she  railed  upon  and  regarded  as  re- 
sponsible for  all  her  misery.  It  was  with  great  difficulty  that  Mrs.  Ingles 
then  soothed,  quieted  and  overcame  her. 

VIII 
The  Rescue 

When  these  lone  wanderers  arrived  at  the  mou'.h  of  the  Kanawha 
their  condition  was  deplorable  indeed.  The  weather  was  cold  and  dis- 
agreeable. Their  shoes  or  moccasins  were  long  worn  completely  out, 
and  their  feet  were  bare.  The  rough  journey  through  briers,  thorns, 
thick  bushes  and  rough  shrubs  had  almost  destroyed  their  clothing  and 
had  fearfully  torn  and  lacerated  their  feet  and  limbs.  At  times  they 
believed  it  impossible  that  they  could  proceed  further  on  their  journey. 
Mrs.  Ingles  became  bewildered  at  these  times  and  reeled  and  stumbled 
from  dizziness  and  loss  of  sight  which  sometimes  lasted  for  hours. 
When  she  recovered  from  these  attacks  she  was  so  weak  as  to  be  unable 
for  a  time  to  travel.  The  old  Dutch  woman  was  on  the  verge  of  mad- 
ness and  constantly  threatened  that  she  would  kill  and  eat  Mrs.  Ingles. 
And  still  the  sight  of  the  Kanawha  created  joy  in  the  heart  of  Mrs.  Ingles. 
She  rejoiced  that  so  much  of  the  journey  was  done.  It  cheered  her  to 
see  the  stream,  on  the  waters  of  which  dwelt  her  husband  and  friends. 

The  journey  up  the  Kanawha  was  slow  and  painful.  For  some  days 
the  ground  was  covered  with  snow,  and  this  prevented  them  from  getting 
even  wild  nuts  and  acorns  for  food.  The  sun  at  length  came  out  from 
beneath  the  leaden  clouds  in  sufficient  strength  to  melt  the  snow,  but  the 
condition  of  Mrs.  Ingles  was  becoming  desperate.  It  was  with  the 
greatest  difficulty  that  she  prevented  the  old  Dutch  woman  from  taking 
her  life. 

When  the  snow  disappeared  Mrs.  Ingles  found  that  she  was  making 
better  progress  than  she  could  have  hoped.  Her  feet  and  limbs  were 
fearfully  swollen  and  very  painful  by  this  time.  She  was  sure  that 
she  was  nearing  her  home,  and  in  her  anticipation  of  soon  reaching  that 
haven  of  rest  and  protection  she  momentarily  became  oblivious  to  the 
danger  which  was  present,  imminent  and  deadly.  The  old  Dutch  woman 
was  now  raving  and  frantic.  She  seized  Mrs.  Ingles  and,  flourishing  her 
long  knife  aloft,  said  she  must  die.     Mrs.  Ingles  expected  death,  but  her 


88  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

calmness  and  presence  nt  mind  did  not  forsake  her.  In  order  to  gain 
a  few  nioincnts'  time  in  which  to  escape,  she  induced  the  old  Dutch 
woman  to  agree  to  cast  lots  to  determine  whicli  of  tiicni  should  die  to 
save  the  other.  lUit  the  lot  fell  upon  her,  and  the  old  woman,  thinking 
her  right  to  Mrs.  Ingles'  life  was  now  complete,  again  seized  her.  A 
desperate  struggle  ensued.  The  old  woman  was  much  the  larger  and 
stronger  of  the  two,  but  Mrs.  Ingles  was  much  quicker  and  more  active 
of  movement.  She  finally  broke  away  and  fled  along  the  bank  of  the 
river.  She  concealed  herself,  and  in  a  short  time  had  the  satisfaction 
of  hearing  the  old  woman  pass  by  and  continue  her  course  up  the  river. 
Mrs.  Ingles  did  not  emerge  from  her  place  of  concealment  until  the 
moon  was  shining  brightly.  About  ten  o'clock  at  night  she  came  upon 
the  site  of  the  camj)  made  by  the  Indians  wdio  had  carried  her  away 
immediately  after  they  had  crossed  the  New  Ri\-er.  She  knew  that  the 
Indians  had  left  concealed  there  the  canoe  in  which  she  had  been  brought 
over  the  ri\er.  She  made  search  for  the  canoe  and  found  it  drawn 
high  upon  the  bank  and  full  of  leaves  and  water  from  recent  rains  and 
melted  snows.  After  her  experience  with  the  insane  woman  on  this  day 
she  wished  to  be  entirely  separated  from  her.  She  believed  that  her  only 
safety  lay  in  getting  the  river  between  herself  and  her  companion. 

I\Irs.  Ingles  turned  the  canoe  upon  its  side  and  quickly  cleared  it  of 
rubbish.  She  could  lind  no  paddle  with  which  to  propel  it,  but  she  pro- 
cured as  a  substitute  a  broad,  thin  sijlintcr  from  a  storm-riven  tree. 
.Mthough  the  canoe  was  a  small  one.  the  task  of  getting  it  into  the  water 
was  almost  too  great  for  the  little  strength  she  had  remaining.  She 
often  des])aired  of  doing  so  at  all,  but  the  thought  that  her  crazed  com- 
panion might  find  her  caused  her  to  renew  her  efforts,  which  were  finally 
rewarded  by  the  canoe's  sliding  into  the  river.  She  was  soon  upon  the 
opposite  bank  and  safe  from  her  crazy  companion's  fury. 

Mrs.  Ingles  made  her  way  to  the  deserted  cabin  in  the  little  clearing, 
in  this  she  sjient  the  night.  .As  soon  as  it  was  light  on  the  following 
morning  she  began  a  search  for  something  to  eat.  She  found  that  corn 
had  been  ])lanted  in  the  field  the  previous  spring,  but  that  buffaloes  had 
broken  down  the  inclosures  and  destroyed  the  crops.  When  about  to 
give  up  the  search  and  ])roceed  on  her  way  she  found  growing  in  a 
fence  corner  two  small  turni]5s  and  a  large  bunch  of  kale  which  had 
escaped  the  ravages  of  the  wild  animals.  These  furnished  her  a  much 
better  breakfast  than  she  had  ta.sted  for  weeks. 

After  breakfast  Mrs.  Ingles  returned  to  the  river  to  continue  her 
journey.  She  was  immediately  seen  from  the  opjiosite  bank  of  the  river 
by  the  old  woman,  who  begged  to  be  carried  over  the  river  also.  She 
assured  Mrs.  Ingles  that  she  would  treat  her  well  and  not  attack  her 
again.  Mrs.  Ingles  refused  to  assist  her  across  and  told  her  to  follow 
her  up  the  bank  of  the  river,  which  she  unwillingly  did. 

The  remainder  of  the  journey  of  Mrs.  Ingles  is  well  told  by  Doctor 
Hale.    Nothing  can  be  added  to  it,  and  it  is  given  here  entire : 

"From  the  best  reckoning  Mrs.  Ingles  could  make,  she  concluded  that 
she  must  now  be  within  about  thirty  miles  of  her  home,  but  much  of  the 
remainder  of  the  way  was  extremely  rough,  the  weather  was  growing 
colder  and,  worse  than  all,  her  ]jhysical  exhaustion  was  now  so  e.xtreme 
that  il  seemed  impossible  that  she  could  continue  the  struggle  much  longer. 
She  feared  that  after  all  she  had  suffered  and  borne  she  would  ;it  last 
have  to  succumb  to  hunger,  exposure  and  fatigue  and  perish  in  ilic  wilder- 
ness alone. 

"As  her  physical  strength  waned,  however,  her  strong  will  ])(>wt'r  Imre 
her  uj)  and  on  and  ho])e  sustained  her  as  wearily  and  painfully  she 
made  mile  after  mile,  eating  what  she  could  find  in  the  forest,  if  any- 
thing; sleeping  when  and  wlu-re  she  could,  if  .-it  all. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  89 

"She  had  passed  up  through  the  'New  River  Narrows,'  the  great 
rift  where  New  River  had  cut  its  way  through  the  soUd  'Peter's  Moun- 
tain' (so  named  at  the  eastern  end  for  Peter  Wright,  a  famous  old  hunter 
and  pioneer,  but  here  named  after  a  pioneer  family  named  Peters).  It 
is  one  of  the  wildest  scenes  in  the  state.  She  had  passed  the  butte  of 
Wolf  Mountain  and  the  mouth  of  Wolf  Creek.  Near  here  Peterstown, 
on  the  east  side,  had  since  been  built.  She  had  passed  near  the  present 
site  of  Giles  C.  H.,  and  nearly  under  the  shadows  of  the  towering 
'Angel's  Rest'  Mountain,  on  the  west  side  (so  called  by  General  Cloyd), 
4,000  feet  high,  with  its  rock-ribbed  sides  and  castellated  towers,  said 
to  strongly  resemble  Mount  Sinai,  but  it  brought  no  rest  nor  peace  to  her. 
"She  had  passed  the  cliff  near  Giles  C.  H.,  had  crawled  around  or 
over  the  huge  cliffs  just  below  the  mouth  of  Stony  Creek.  She  had  by 
some  means  gotten  beyond  that  grand  wall  of  cliff  jutting  into  the 
river  for  two  miles,  extending  from  opposite  Walker's  Creek  to  Doe 
Creek,  and,  two  miles  above  this,  another  seemingly  impassable  cliff  had 
been  scaled.  She  had  gotten  about  two  miles  beyond  these  last  named 
cliffs  and  was  near  the  base  of  the  'Salt  Pond  Mountain,'  with  its  beautiful 
lake  near  its  summit,  4,000  feet  above  tide  and  one  of  the  greatest  natural 
curiosities  of  the  state;  but  her  mind  was  not  occupied  with  the  grandeur 
of  the  scenery  nor  the  beauty  of  these  then  nameless  localities  she  was 
passing;  she  only  knew  that  each  one  passed  put  her  that  much  nearer 
home — sweet  home. 

"Night  was  approaching;  snow  had  fallen  and  it  was  bitterly  cold 
(it  was  now  about  the  last  of  November).  Just  before  her  she  was  con- 
fronted by  still  another  gigantic  cliff,  hundreds  of  feet  high,  the  base  in 
the  water  and  the  crown  overhanging.  At  last  her  progress  seemed 
utterly  barred ;  there  were  no  ledges,  no  shelving  rocks,  no  footholds  of 
any  kind  to  cHmb  around  on.  The  only  chance  left  it  seemed  was  to 
wade  around  the  base,  as  she  had  done  in  other  cases.  This  she  tried, 
but  found  that,  to  her,  it  was  an  unfathomable  gulf. 

"Her  heart  sank  within  her;  night  was  now  upon  her;  cold  before, 
she  was  now  wet  and  colder  still.  She  had  nothing  to  eat ;  she  could 
find  no  soft  couch  of  leaves,  no  friendly  cave  or  hollow  log. 

"In  despair  she  threw  herself  down  on  the  bare  ground  and  rocks,  and 
there  lay  in  that  pitiable  condition,  more  dead  than  alive,  until  next 
morning. 

"With  the  dawning  of  the  day  there  was  a  feeble  revival  of  hope — for 
while  we  live  we  will  hope.  She  thought  of  the  only  possible  remaining 
way  of  passing  this  gigantic  barrier;  this  was  to  climb  over  the  top  of 
it,  but  in  attempting  to  rise  she  found  that  her  limbs  were  so  stiff  and 
swollen  and  sore  from  the  wet,  cold  and  exposure  that  she  could  scarcely 
stand,  much  less  walk  or  climb.  Still  there  was  no  choice ;  if  she  could 
she  must,  so  again  she  tried. 

"Slowly,  as  the  effort  and  exercise  relieved  her  somewhat  from  the 
jsaralyzing  chill,  she  wound  her  devious,  tedious  and  painful  way,  hour 
after  hour,  getting  a  little  higher  and  a  little  higher,  so  feeble  and  faint 
from  hunger,  such  soreness  and  pain  from  her  lacerated  feet  and  swollen 
limbs  that  from  time  to  time  she  looked  down  from  her  dizzy  heights 
almost  tempted  from  sheer  exhaustion  and  suffering  to  let  go  and  tumble 
down  to  sudden  relief  and  everlasting  rest. 

"Climbing  and  resting,  resting  and  climbing,  she  at  last  reached  the 
summit,  and  the  day  was  far  spent. 

"While  resting  here,  her  thoughts  had  wandered  on  up  the  river  to 
her  home  and  friends.  She  knew  that  she  must  now  be  within  twelve 
or  fifteen  miles  of  that  home.  'So  near  and  yet  so  far.'  If  she  had 
strength  how  quickly  she  would  fly  to  it;  but,  alas,  in  her  now  desperate 
and  deplorable  condition  the  chance  of  reaching  it  seemed  fainter  even 


90  HlSTOK^•  Ol"  KENTUCKY 

tliaii  \\licn  .slut  k-fi  r.i;;  I'.uiu-  l.ick  witli  strcnj^th.  lujpc  and  resolution. 
.Now  she  did  not  know  what  hour  lier  powers  might  utterly  fail;  what 
minute  nature  might  yield  and  she  would  he  lost. 

"As  long  as  she  lived.  Mrs.  Ingles  always  referred  to  this  as  the  most 
terrible  day  of  her  eventful  life. 

"Arousing  her.self  again  to  the  necessities  of  the  hour,  she  started  on 
her  painful  and  jterilous  descent;  crawling,  falling,  slijjping  and  sliding, 
she  at  length  reached  the  bottom  as  the  day  was  about  departing. 

"I  have  talked  with  a  friend  of  mine,  born  and  reared  in  this  neigh- 
borhood, and  who  is  perfectly  familiar  with  all  this  part  of  New'  River. 
He  tells  me  that  this  cliff  is  2X0  feet  high  to  the  top,  measured,  the  first 
100  feet  o\erhanging,  and  that  the  water  in  the  pool  at  the  base  has 
never  been  fathomed.  He  has  often  tried  in  his  youth  with  long  poles 
and  with  weighted  lines,  but  never  got  bottom.  There  is,  he  says,  a 
whirljiool  or  sort  of  maelstrom  here,  down  into  which  wdien  the  river  is 
high,  logs,  driftwood,  etc.,  are  drawn,  coming  up  again  some  distance 
below.  No  wonder  Mrs.  Ingles  could  not  wade  around  the  cliff;  no  won- 
der it  took  her  a  whole  day  in  her  e.xhausted  condition  to  climb  over  it. 

"The  highest  point  of  this  front  cliff,  from  some  real  or  fancied  re- 
semblance to  a  huge  anvil,  is  called  'Anvil  Rock.'  Just  across  the  river, 
in  a  corresponding  cliff — all  of  the  blue  limestone — is  a  natural  arch, 
which  is  called  'Caesar's  Arch,'  and  near  it  a  natural  column  called  'Pom- 
pey's  Pillar.' 

"  'Sinking  Creek,'  a  considerable  stream  which  in  low  water  loses 
itself  imderground  some  miles  in  the  rear,  finds  its  surface  in  the  deep 
pool  at  the  base  of  Anvil  Rock  cliff.  In  freshets  the  surplus  water  finds 
its  way  to  the  river  three-fourths  of  a  mile  below." 

After  reaching  the  base  of  the  cliff'  Mrs.  Ingles  was  almost  unable  to 
proceed.  She  dragged  her  way  along  the  river  bank,  and  about  the  set- 
ting of  the  sun  came  to  a  clearing,  surrounded  by  a  rail  fence,  in  which 
had  been  grown  a  crop  of  corn  that  was  then  standing  in  the  field.  She 
was  unable  to  see  a  building  of  any  description  and,  lieing  loo  far  spent 
to  make  search  for  the  people  she  believed  to  be  living  near,  she  com- 
menced to  halloo  at  the  lop  of  her  voice,  in  the  hope  of  attracting  the 
attention  of  any  persons  who  might  be  in  the  vicinity  of  the  clearing 
which,  it  turned  out,  was  the  field  of  Adam  Harman.  His  son,  Adam 
Harman,  Jr.,  a  good-sized  lad,  was  high  up  a  steep  mountain  spur, 
almost  directly  aliove  Mrs.  Ingles,  returning  from  hunting.  As  he 
descended  toward  the  field,  the  weak  and  tremulous  wail  of  Mrs.  Ingles 
attracted  his  attention.  In  the  wilderness  all  sounds  and  alarms  that 
could  not  be  immediately  accounted  for  were  at  once  attributed  to 
Indians.  In  great  alarm  he  came  down  the  mountain  to  the  field  where 
his  father  was  gathering  corn  in  a  part  which  was  situated  in  a  depres- 
sion and  behind  a  ridge,  and  which  was  not  within  hearing  of  Mrs. 
Ingles.  When  his  son  in  formed  him  that  he  had  heard  Indians  in  the 
woods,  Adam  Ilaniian  seized  his  gun  and  set  out  for  his  cabin  in  great 
haste.  Coming  U])  to  the  toj)  of  a  ridge  near  Mrs.  Ingles  he  heard  her 
voice.  He  stopjied  a  moment  to  listen  and  was  soon  convinced  that  it 
was  not  the  voice  of  Indians  which  had  frightened  his  son.  He  set  oft" 
hurriedly  toward  the  quarter  whence  came  the  voice.  He  found  a 
strange-looking  figure  sealed  on  a  log.  Her  long  hair  had  not  been 
combed  for  months  and  was  matted  in  a  tangled  mass  about  her  head. 
She  was  almost  destitute  of  clothing.  What  remained  was  slit,  torn 
and  tattered  to  rags.  Adam  Harman  was  well  acquainted  with  Mrs. 
Ingles.  She  had  been  his  neighbor  for  years.  liut  it  was  haril  for  him 
to  realize  that  the  exhausted,  torn,  dirt-begrimed,  weather-blackened, 
hunger-worn,  emaciated  figure  that  he  found  silting  on  the  moss  grown 
log  in  the  woods  uttering  feeble  wails  of  desjiair  was  the  young  and 
accomplished  wife  of  his  friend  William  Ingles. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  91 

Mrs.  Ingles  was  unable  to  stand  unsupported  when  Harman  found 
her.  He  gave  his  gun  to  his  son  and  lifted  her  in  his  arms.  Her  weight 
was  little  more  than  that  of  a  child.  He  carried  her  to  his  house.  There 
she  was  taken  in  charge  by  his  good  wife  and  daughters.  They  admin- 
istered her  a  small  quantity  of  brandy  and  gave  her  a  little  food.  In 
the  course  of  a  few  hours  she  was  ravenously  hungry  ;uk1  cried  and 
begged  piteously  to  be  allowed  to  eat  as  much  as  she  wi-lied.  I'oulticcs 
were  applied  to  her  torn,  frozen  and  swollen  feet  and  limbs.  It  retjuired 
half  a  day  for  one  of  Harman's  daughters  to  unlanylc.  cleanse  and  dress 
Mrs.  Ingies'  long  and  beautiful  hair. 

Mrs.  Ingles  rapidly  regained  her  strength  and  reco\ered  her  heallh 
under  the  tender  care  of  the  Harman  household.  She  was  anxious  and 
impatient  to  see  her  husband.  She  wanted  to  proceed  on  her  way  home. 
At  the  end  of  three  days  Mr.  Harman  believed  her  strong  enough  to 
stand  the  journey.  She  was  still  too  weak  to  retain  her  seat  on  hor.se- 
back.  Mr.  Harman  placed  a  pillion  behind  him  on  his  horse.  He  placed 
her  on  this  and  she  rode  behind  him  to  the  Dunkard's  Bottom,  where 
nearly  all  the  families  of  the  settlement  were  gathered  in  a  fort. 

IX 

Conclusion 

When  William  Ingles  escaped  from  the  Indians  on  the  day  of  their 
attack  uj)on  his  home  and  the  capture  of  his  family,  he  urged  his  friends 
and  neighbors  to  help  him  rescue  his  wife  and  children.  In  his  entreaties 
he  was  joined  by  John  Draper.  Their  misfortunes  and  distress  and  their 
an.xieties  for  their  families  in  the  hands  of  the  savages  rendered  them 
desperate  and  unreasonable.  The  settlement  was  in  no  condition  to  make 
a  successful  jnirsuit.  The  guns  and  ammunition  of  the  settlers  had  been 
carried  away  by  the  Indians.  The  settlement's  apportionment  of  powder 
and  lead  had  been  delivered  to  William  Ingles  before  the  attack  upon  his 
home,  and  it  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  Shawnees.  Realizing  at 
length  that  it  was  impracticable  to  make  any  early  attempt  to  rescue  their 
families.  Ingles  and  Draper,  together  with  the  other  settlers  of  Draper's 
Meadows,  set  about  enlisting  the  Government  in  an  expedition  to  punish 
the  Indians  and  rescue  the  captives.  This  they  succeeded  in  inducing 
the  authorities  to  do.  The  defeat  of  Braddock  had  left  the  frontier 
settlements  at  the  mercy  of  the  Indians  on  the  Ohio.  From  all  along 
the  border  came  importunities  for  .some  action  which  would  hold  the 
savages  in  check. 

In  compliance  with  these  demands.  Governor  Dinwiddle  ordered  an 
expedition  sent  against  the  Shawnees  by  the  way  of  the  Great  Sandy 
Creek,  as  the  Big  Sandy  I-iiver  was  then  known.  It  was  intended  that 
the  expedition  should  be  under  way  by  October,  1755,  but  it  was  found 
impossible  to  procure  a  sufficient  force  of  men  by  that  date.  Further 
delay  ensued.  The  campaign  was  on  the  verge  of  failure  for  want  of 
troops  in  force  adequate  to  accomplish  its  purposes,  when  the  settlers 
about  the  New  River  suggested  the  enlistment  of  a  company  of  Chero- 
kees.  The  proposition  was  received  by  the  authorities  with  favor,  and 
Christopher  Gist,  William  Ingles,  John  Draper  and  Matthias  Harman 
were  sent  to  the  Cherokee  towns  on  the  Little  Tennessee  River  on  this 
mission.  They  were  successful,  and  130  Cherokee  warriors  went  in  the 
following  February  (1756)  with  the  English  on  the  "Sandy  Creek  Voy- 
age," as  the  expedition  was  always  called  by  the  frontiersmen.  The 
Indians  were  commanded  by  Richard  Pearis. 

Ingles  and  his  companions  returned  from  the  embassy  to  the  Chero- 
kees  about  the  time  that  Mrs.  Ingles  arrived.  They  camped  in  the  woods 
about  six  miles  from  the  fort  in  the  Dunkard's  Bottom  the  night  of  Mr. 


92  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

Harnian's  arrival  there  with  Mrs.  Ingles.  They  came  on  to  the  fort  on 
the  following  morning  and  were  astonished  beyond  measure  when  in- 
formed of  ^Irs.  Ingles'  return.  The  meeting  of  husband  and  wife  was 
a  happy  one.  But  their  joy  was  turned  to  sorrow  when  they  remembered 
their  children  in  savage  huts  on  the  banks  of  the  distant  Ohio. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ingles  remained  at  the  fort  until  spring,  when  they 
went  to  \'aux's  h'ort  on  the  Roanoke  River.  Mrs.  Ingles'  horror  of 
again  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  Indians  made  her  fearful  of  remain- 
ing even  there,  and  they  soon  afterward  removed  to  Bedford,  in  Botetourt 
County,  east  of  the  Blue  Ridge.  Their  removal  thither  proved  their  salva- 
tion. Vaux's  Fort  was  ca])turcd  this  same  year  and  the  families  that 
had  taken  refuge  there  murdered  or  carried  away  captive. 

The  other  prisoners  remained  for  years  with  the  Shawnees.  George 
Ingles  and  the  infant  died  shortly  after  their  separation  from  their 
mother.  After  much  difficulty  Thomas  was  ransomed  by  his  father 
thirteen  years  after  his  capture.  When  his  father  procured  his  release 
and  brought  him  home  he  was  almost  grown,  unable  to  speak  English, 
and  an  entire  savage  in  his  manners  and  habits.  He  was  afterward 
educated  at  the  home  of  Dr.  Thomas  Walker  in  Albemarle  County  and 
became  a  man  of  much  worth.  Mrs.  Draper  was  released  by  the  Shaw- 
nees at  the  end  of  seven  years. 

Mrs.  Ingles'  captivity  and  escape  occupied  5^  months.  From  the  time 
when  she  left  the  Big  Bone  Licks  in  Kentucky  until  her  arrival  at  the 
Dunkard's  Bottom  was  a  period  of  more  than  forty  days  of  such  danger, 
toil,  fatigue,  privation,  hardship  and  suffering  as  few  people  have 
been  called  upon  to  undergo.  When  the  Shawnees  were  informed  of 
her  escape  and  told  that  she  was  still  alive,  they  refused  to  believe  it. 
They  did  not  think  it  possible.  When  she  and  the  elder  captive  failed 
to  return  to  the  camp  at  the  Licks,  the  Indians  searched  for  them  in 
all  directions,  but  found  no  trace  of  them  and  concluded  that  wild 
beasts  had  devoured  them.  That  two  lone  women  would  attempt  to 
make  their  way  to  Draper's  Meadows  unarmed  and  unsupplied  with 
food  they  could  not  comprehend,  and  that  they  had  successfully  accom- 
plished their  rash  and  reckless  undertaking  they  refused  to  believe. 

Mrs.  Ingles  died  in  1815,  aged  eighty-three  years. 

The  following  is  Foote's  account  of  the  rescue  of  "the  old  Dutch 
woman" : 

"While  Mrs.  Ingles  was  at  Ilarman's  lodge  she  entreated  her  host  to 
go  or  send  for  the  old  woman.  He  positively  refused,  both  on  account 
of  her  bad  treatment  of  his  guest  ancl  also  that  he  knew  that  she  would 
come  to  a  cabin  on  her  side  of  the  river.  To  this  cabin  she  came,  and 
found  in  it  a  kettle  nearly  full  of  venison  and  bear's  meat  the  hunters 
had  prepared  and  just  left.  She  feasted  and  rested  herself  a  day  or 
two,  and  then  dressing  herself  in  some  clothing  left  by  the  hunters,  and 
making  a  bark  bridle  for  an  old  horse  left  there,  she  mounted  him  and 
proceeded  on  her  way.  When  within  about  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  of 
the  Dunkard's  Bottom  she  met  some  men  going  in  search  of  her.  They 
found  her  riding,  carrying  the  bell  she  took  from  the  horse  left  in  the 
river  and  had  brought  along  all  through  her  journey  and  hallooing  at 
short  intervals  to  attract  the  attention  of  hunters.  Nothing  is  known  of 
her  after  her  arrival  at  the  fort;  the  only  remarkable  event  in  her  life 
was  her  escape  with  Mrs.  Ingles." 

Doctor  Hale's  account  of  her  rescue: 

"Mrs.  Ingles  awoke  next  morning  greatly  rested  and  refreshed.  She 
called  Harnian  and  told  him  of  her  exi)erience  with  the  old  woman,  her 
companion,  and  begged  him  to  send  his  boys  back  down  the  river  in 
search  of  lier,  but  the  boys,  having  heard  Mrs.  Ingles  relate  the  story 
of  her  advciilure  witli  the  old  woman,  and.  \'ery  naturally,  feeling  out- 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  93 

raged  and  indignant  at  her  conduct,  refused  to  go,  and  Harman,  sharing 
their  feelings,  dech'ned  to  compel  them ;  so  the  old  woman  was  left,  for 
the  present,  to  make  her  own  way  as  best  she  could. 

"After  arriving  at  the  fort,  Mrs.  Ingles  again  begged  Harman,  now 
that  he  had  restored  her  to  her  friends,  to  comfort  and  safety,  to  go  back 
and  hunt  for  the  poor  old  woman  and,  if  still  alive,  to  bring  her  in.  This 
he  now  consented  to  do  and  started  promptly  down  the  west  bank  of 
the  river. 

"A  few  miles  after  she  and  Mrs.  Ingles  had  parted  company  the  old 
woman  met  with  a  piece  of  genuine  good  luck.  She  came  upon  a  hunt- 
ers' camp  just  abandoned,  apparently  precipitately,  for  what  reason  she 
could  not  tell — possibly  from  an  Indian  alarm — but  they  had  left  on  the 
fire  a  kettle  of  meat,  cooking,  to  which  she  addressed  herself  assiduously. 

"She  remained  here  two  or  three  days,  resting,  eating  and  recuperating 
her  strength.  The  hunters  had  left  at  the  camp  an  old  pair  of  leather 
breeches ;  these  the  old  woman  appropriated  to  her  own  personal  use 
and  adornment,  being  by  no  means  fastidious  about  the  fit  or  the  latest 
style  of  cut,  or  fashion,  her  own  clothes  being  almost  entirely  gone. 

"An  old  horse  had  also  been  left  by  the  supposed  hunters,  loose  about 
the  camp,  but  no  sign  of  saddle  or  bridle. 

"The  old  woman  remained  at  the  camp,  its  sole  occupant  (no  one 
putting  in  an  appearance  while  she  was  there)  until  she  had  consumed  all 
the  meat  in  the  pot ;  she  then  made  a  sort  of  bridle  or  halter  of  leather- 
wood  bark,  caught  the  old  horse,  put  on  him  that  same  bell  which  was 
found  on  the  horse  captured  opposite  the  Scioto  and  taken  off  by  the 
practical  minded  old  woman  when  that  horse  had  been  abandoned  to 
his  fate  among  the  drift  logs  in  Big  Sandy  and  carried  through  all  her 
terrible  struggles  and  sufferings  to  this  place. 

"Having  taken  the  wrapper  from  around  the  clapper  and  so  hung 
the  bell  on  the  horse's  neck  that  it  would  tinkle  as  he  went,  as,  being 
so  near  the  settlement,  she  now  hoped  to  meet  settlers  or  hunters,  she 
mounted  him,  riding  in  the  style  best  adapted  to  her  newly  acquired  dress 
of  leather  unmentionables,  and  again  started  up  the  river  on  her  way 
to  the  then  frontier  settlement. 

"Thus  slowly  jogging  along,  hallooing  from  time  to  time  to  attract 
the  attention  of  anyone  who  might  be  within  hearing,  she  was  met  in 
this  plight  about  the  'Horse  Shoe,'  or  mouth  of  Back  Creek,  opposite 
'Buchanan's  Bottom,'  by  Adam  Harman,  in  search  of  her,  and  taken  on 
to  the  Fort. 

"The  meeting  between  Mrs.  Ingles  and  the  old  woman  was  very 
affecting. 

"Their  last  parting  had  been  in  a  hand-to-hand  struggle  for  life  or 
death — not  instigated  by  malice  or  vindictiveness,  but  by  that  first  great 
law  of  nature,  self-preservation,  that  recognizes  no  human  law;  but  now 
that  they  were  both  saved,  this  little  episode  was  tacitly  considered  as 
forgotten.  Remembering  only  the  common  dangers  they  had  braved  and 
the  common  sufferings  they  had  endured  together  in  the  inhospitable  wil- 
derness, they  fell  upon  each  other's  necks  and  wept,  and  all  was  recon- 
ciliation and  peace. 

"The  old  woman  remained  here  for  a  long  time,  awaiting  an  oppor- 
tunity to  get  to  her  own  home  and  friends  in  Pennsylvania.  Finding 
before  long  an  opportunity  of  getting  as  far  as  Winchester  by  wagon, 
she  availed  herself  of  it,  and  from  there,  with  her  precious  bell,  the  sole 
trophy  of  her  terrible  travels  and  travails,  it  was  hoped  and  believed  that 
she  soon  got  safely  home,  though  I  cannot  learn  that  she  was  ever  after- 
wards heard  of  in  the  New  River  settlement." 


CHAPTER  VIII 
THE  SANDY  CREEK  VOYAGE 

'Jlie  defeat  of  Braddock  in  July,  1/55,  'eft  the  frdiiticrs  of  X'irginia, 
Maryland  and  Pennsylvania  cxjiosed  to  the  attacks  of  savajje  triljes.  The 
Western  horder,  fronting  on  the  Ohio  Valley,  was  hel]jless  and  well-nigh 
defenseless.  'J'he  Indians  of  that  region  were  left  wholly  to  the  inthience 
of  the  intrigues  of  the  victorious  French.  The  settlements  of  the  English 
were  at  that  time  just  passing  beyond  the  great  Alleghany  Divide.  The 
inhabitants  of  this  border  keenly  realized  the  peril  in  which  the  supremacy 
of  the  French  on  the  Western  waters  had  placed  them.  And  soon  red 
murders,  ruthless  butcheries.  Indian  cajitivity,  torture  and  death  at  the 
fiery  stake,  the  lurid  flame  and  black  smoke  rising  at  midnight  over 
the  ruins  of  farm-house,  fort,  and  settlement  were  familiar  accom- 
j)animents  to  the  savage  warfare  waged  along  the  border.  The  Shaw- 
nees,  Delawares,  W'yandots,  Alingoes,  and  other  tribes  hung  upon  the 
outlying  settlements  of  the  English.  Terror  ensued  and  desolation  soon 
marked  the  frontier  line.  The  trails  were  thronged  with  fugitives  who 
had  been  compelled  to  flee  from  their  homes  without  proper  clothing, 
without  subsistence,  and  sometimes  with  little  hope  of  succor. 

There  had  as  yet  been  organized  no  cami>aign  against  these  Western 
Indians,  .'-^uch  an  expedition  would  meet  with  many  untoward  cir- 
cumstances, for  there  had  been  only  the  unfortunate  effort  of  Braddock 
to  furnish  experience.  All  that  the  border  settlers  had  been  able  to 
attempt  was  to  pursue  singly  or  in  small  companies  the  savages  who 
had  spread  consternation  by  their  brutal  massacres.  Such  pursuit  was 
always  at  the  instance  of  individuals  acting  on  their  own  initiative. 

The  first  expedition  ever  organized  by  any  colony  for  the  purpose 
of  invading  the  Indian  country  of  the  Ohio  waters  was  that  which 
\'irginia  designed  to  send  down  the  Great  Sandy,  in  the  fall  of  1755, 
against  the  .'-lliawnee  lower  towns,  and  which  was  known  to  the  frontiers- 
men as  the  Sandy  Creek  Voyage.  The  settlers  about  Draper's  Meadows 
were  the  most  persistent  advocates  of  such  a  campaign,  and  to  their 
efforts,  largely,  was  the  credit  of  the  expedition  due.  In  the  corre- 
spondence of  Governor  Dinwiddie  there  are  references  to  the  presence 
in  the  governor's  office  of  William  Ingles.  Ingles,  in  fact,  acted  as  the 
governor's  messenger  and  representatixe  on  more  than  one  occasion  in 
the  preparations   for  the  voyage. 

The  militarv  forces  of  \'irginia  were  far  too  meager  to  a(K'i|iiately 
discharge  the  responsibilities  re([uired  of  them.  No  sufficient  ninnber 
of  trooi)s  could  be  spared  for  this  new  enteriirise.  Cioxernor  Dinwiddie 
might  have  hesitated  but  for  the  suggestion  of  the  pioneers  at  Draper's 
Meadows.  Through  their  efTorts  the  Cherokee  Indians  were  enlisted 
in  the  \'irginia  cause.  It  was  not  until  they  had  been  brought  to  declare 
against  the  French  and  the  Shawnees  that  the  demonstration  was  as- 
sured. Richard  I'earis  was  the  principal  factor  in  shaping  the  policy 
of  the  t'herokees.  Writing  to  him  on  the  T5th  of  December.  1755. 
Governor  Dinwiddie  said:  "l  am  glad  you  have  bro'  in  130  of  the 
Cherokces  and  ^"r  .Assurance  of  50  more  coni'g,  and  of  their  I'orposal 
for  attck'g  the  Shawneese  in  their  Towns,  w'ch   I  greatly  ai)i)rove  of.'' 

94 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  95 

In  his  letter  of  January  2,  1756,  to  Governor  Sharpe,  Dinwiddie  ex- 
plained how  the  Cherokees  had  been  won  over:  '"Since  I  wrote  You, 
four  of  the  Cherokee  Warriors  came  here  professing  the  great  F'dship 
their  Nat'  had  to  their  Bro's  the  English.  I  dispatched  them  with  new 
Cloaths  and  some  Presents,  and  sent  a  Person  with  them  to  persuade 
them  to  take  up  the  Hatchet  ag'st  the  Fr."  On  the  same  day  the  gov- 
ernor wrote  Governor  Morris  to  the  same  effect.  From  this  letter  it 
would  appear  that  the  Cherokees  themselves  suggested  the  expedition 
to  the  Shawnee  towns,  and  that  they  had  at  first  been  enlisted  to  guard 
the  border  and  protect  the  settlers. ^ 

The  Cherokees  were  commanded  by  three  of  their  chiefs — Outacite, 
Yellow  Bird,  and  Round  O.  The  last  two  were  commissioned  as  cap- 
tains of  their  respective  bands  in  the  Virginia  service.  All  the  Cherokees 
formed  one  company,  of  which  Richard  Pearis  was  the  captain.  Of 
Virginia  troops  there  were  seven  companies  of  regulars,  and  two  com- 
panies of  volunteers.  The  seven  companies  were  commanded  by  Capts. 
Peter  Hogg,  William  Preston,  John  Smith,  Robert  Breckenridge,  Obadiah 
Woodson,  Samuel  Overton,  and  Richard  Pearis.  It  seems  that  the  Cher- 
okees were  counted  as  regulars.     The  volunteers  were  commanded  by 

Capts.   John   Montgomery  and  Dunlap.     The   whole   number 

of  men  finally  assembled  is  set  down  as  365.  These  forces  rendezvoused 
at  Camp  Frederick,  in  what  is  now  Pulaski  County,  Virginia.  Col. 
George  Washington,  then  in  command  of  the  Virginia  forces,  named 
Maj.  Andrew  Lewis  as  the  commander  of  the  expedition.  Major  Lewis 
was  at  that  time  the  commanding  officer  of  Augusta  County.  Governor 
Dinwiddie  wrote  him  a  letter  of  instructions  of  considerable  length, 
which  has  been  preserved.  It  was  largely  discretional,  covering  both 
the  contingencies  of  the  expedition  and  the  military  affairs  of  Augusta 
County. 

There  were  many  delays.  It  required  time  to  provide  horses  for  the 
campaign.  There  were  no  wagons,  and  no  roads  over  which  they  could 
have  been  taken.  Ammunition,  supplies,  and  all  baggage  had  to  be  trans- 
ported by  pack-horses.  Finally,  all  was  made  ready  for  the  advance, 
which  began  on  the  i8th  of  February.  The  route  bore  to  the  west- 
ward over  the  mountains  to  Bear  Garden.  This  point  was  on  the  north 
fork  of  the  Holston,  and  was  reached  on  the  23rd.  Some  of  their  horses 
were  lost  at  this  point.  The  march  on  the  24th  carried  the  little  army 
over  two  high  ranges.  It  was  a  hard  day,  at  the  close  of  which  camp 
was  made  at  Burke's  Garden,  one  of  the  most  fertile  tracts  in  Virginia. 
The  plantation  there  was  deserted,  but  plenty  of  potatoes  were  found 
and  dug  by  the  men.  On  the  25th  men  were  sent  out  to  kill  game.  Their 
success  was  but  indifferent.  The  march  was  continued  on  the  26th, 
and  it  lay  over  high  and  rugged  hills.  The  head  waters  of  Clinch  River 
were  reached  at  dark.  Captain  Pearis  had  been  sent  to  scout  the  coun- 
try for  evidences  of  any  enemy  which  might  be  lurking  along  the  line, 

'  Tan'y  2iid,    I7S6. 
.Sir : 

Some   time   since   the  Cherokees  sent   four  of  y'r 

Warriors  to  me  assuring  me  of  y'r  steady  F'dship  to  y'r  Bros.,  the  Eng.  I  sent 
them  from  y's  witli  new  Cloaths  and  some  Presents;  sent  a  Person  with  them, 
and  I  represented  the  cruel  Barharities  committed  by  the  Fr.  and  Ind's  on  our 
back  Settlem'ts.  W'n  they  were  properly  convinc'd  thereof  they  took  up  the 
Hatchet  and  declar'd  War  ag'st  the  Fr.  and  Shawnesse  and  sent  in  to  Augusta 
County  130  of  y'r  Warriors  to  protect  our  Front's.  These  People  proposed  going 
to  attack  the  Sliawnesse  in  their  Towns,  w'ch  I  approv'd  of  (and)  order'd  four 
Companies  of  our  Rangers  to  join  them,  and  sent  up  some  Guns,  Powder,  Lead 
and  Match  Coats,  and  gave  direct's  for  Provis's.  I  wish  Success  may  attend  it  as 
probably  it  may  reclaim  some  of  our  f'dly  Ind's  who  have  join'd  the  Fr.  and  en- 
courage the  Twightwees  to  be  our  F'ds  w'n  they  find  the  .So'ern  Ind's  are  in  our 

Int't 

Sir,  V"r  most  h'ble   serv't. 


9G  HISTORY  Ol'    Kl'.XTUCKY 

but  none  was  found.  Xo  game  was  secured  by  the  hunters.  A  heavy 
rain  jirevented  UKivenicnt  on  the  27th.  After  it  ceased,  the  hunters  went 
out  and  killed  several  liears. 

On  Saturday,  the  2Sth,  the  army  reached  the  head  waters  of  Sandy 
Creek.  This  was  the  Dry  Fork  of  Tug  River.  There  was  heavy  rain, 
and  the  small  streams  were  doubtless  running  bank  full.  The  Dry  Fork 
was  crossed  twenty  times  that  afternoon.  Camp  was  made  an  hour 
before  sunset.  The  hunters  killed  three  buffaloes  and  a  number  of 
deer.  On  the  29th  the  creek  was  crossed  sixty-six  times  in  a  distance 
of  fifteen  miles.  Some  of  the  ])ack-horses  gave  out  and  were  left  by  the 
way.  Camp  was  made  in  a  "Cane  Swamp"  after  a  hard  day.  The 
following  day  the  march  led  over  a  high  ridge  through  a  gap  to  another 
branch  of  the  stream.  Camp  was  made  at  4  o'clock  in  a  very  incon- 
venient place,  the  stop  there  being  caused  by  thunder,  hail  and  rain. 
The  Indian  scouts  found  signs  of  enemy  Indian  camps.  Abraham  Bled- 
sher  was  sent  out  to  verify  this  report,  and  found  a  tree  cut  two  days 
before  for  a  bear,  also  three  box  irajjs  which  had  been  made  since 
Christmas.  On  the  2nd  of  March  Indians  were  sent  out  to  make  further 
discoveries.  They  rej)orted  that  they  had  found  a  large  camp  which 
had  been  occupied  about  three  days  before.  .Major  Lewis  took  Cap- 
tains Pearis,  Breckenridge,  and  Preston  and  went  on  in  advance  two 
miles  to  look  for  signs  of  Indians.  Camp  had  been  set  at  2  o'clock  on 
the  main  stream,  to  which  they  returned  by  descending  the  branch  on 
which  they  had  been.  Thirty  odd  men  were  sent  out  because  of  a  great 
smoke  reported  by  the  Cherokees.  The  men  were  on  this  day  put  on 
half  rations  of  beef,  which  was  almost  exhausted.  Evidences  of  bitu- 
minous coal  were  seen  on  every  hand,  the  first  to  be  observed  on  the 
march. 

The  road  or  trail  was  becoming  almost  impassable.  The  country  was 
rough  and  the  river,  of  course,  growing  in  volume  as  it  was  descended. 
Rations  were  reduced  to  half  a  pound  of  flour  to  the  man.  There  was 
no  meat  except  wdiat  the  .soldiers  might  kill.  What  little  beef  there 
was  left  was  reserved  for  future  use.  Cami)ed  on  the  creek  where  there 
was  no  food  for  the  horses,  some  of  which  strayed  in  the  night.  Thurs- 
day, the  4th,  the  march  began  at  half  jw.st  eight  after  search  for  the 
strayed  horses.  C.-iptain  Preston  marched  in  front.  The  stream  grew 
rapidly  larger  as  the  descent  continued.  Considerable  tributaries  came 
in  on  both  sides.  The  valley  was  narrower,  the  mountains  high  and 
steep.  The  river  was  waded  si.xteen  times  on  this  day.  Food  was  about 
exhausted.  Only  hunger  and  fatigue  were  ahead,  and  there  was  much 
discouragement.  On  the  5th  fifteen  miles  were  made  with  great  diffi- 
culty. The  stream  was  very  deep  for  wading,  and  the  men  suffered 
nuich,  for  they  were  himgry.  The  mouth  of  the  Dry  Fork  was  reached 
and  cam])  was  made  on  the  ])oint  between  the  rivers. 

Saturday,  the  6th,  the  camp  was  moved  across  to  the  east  bank  of 
Tug  River.  Here  the  stream  was  large  enough  for  navigation  with 
canoes,  and  the  Cherokees  proposed  making  such  craft  for  themsehes. 
Major  Lewis  set  men  to  work  to  make  a  large  canoe  in  which  to  carry 
down  the  ammunition  and  the  little  remaining  flour.  The  men  began 
to  murmur  and  some  of  the  officers  feared  a  mutiny.  ( )n  the  7th  it 
was  agreed  that  Captains  Smith,  I'.reckenridge,  Dunlap  and  Preston, 
and  Lieutenant  Morton  should  go  on  down  the  river  with  their  men  a 
distance  of  fifteen  miles,  and  no  farther.  That  night  this  detachment 
came  upon  some  footmen  encam])ed  six  miles  below  the  forks  of  the 
river.  Here  a  pound  of  flour  was  issued  to  each  of  the  forty-eight  men, 
and  this  was  expected  to  last  them  until  the  main  command  should  come 
up.  The  men  were  ready  to  mutiny  and  agreed  to  .set  off  for  home 
the    next    morning.      Captain    Preston    prevailed    on    tlieni    to    make    one 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  97 

more  trial.  At  3  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  8th  the  march  down 
the  river  began.  Three  miles  below,  the  mountains  closed  in  on  the 
river,  and  the  men  could  not  pass.  To  avoid  this,  high  mountains  were 
crossed  and  a  small  stream  descended  to  where  some  of  the  men  had 
killed  two  elks.  But  for  the  meat  thus  secured  it  was  thought  some 
of  the  men  would  have  died  of  hunger.  "Their  cries  and  complaints 
were  pitiful  and  shocking,"  wrote  Captain  Preston.  Two  buffaloes  and 
one  elk  were  killed  on  the  morning  of  the  9th.  It  was  believed  that  the 
fifteen  miles  had  been  made,  and  the  men  refused  to  go  on.  Some  of 
the  young  men  went  on  down  seven  or  eight  miles.  On  their  return  they 
reported  that  they  had  viewed  the  country  from  a  high  mountain,  and 
the  mountains  were  so  much  higher  in  front  of  them  that  the  rough 
country  already  passed  appeared  level  in  comparison.  It  was  impos- 
sible, they  said,  to  take  the  horses  over  such  a  country.  No  game  had 
been  seen.  This  report  caused  the  men  to  resolve  to  set  out  for  home 
the  next  morning.  They  still  intended  to  do  this  the  morning  of  the 
loth,  and  they  were  prevailed  on  to  remain  until  a  letter  could  be  sent 
to  Major  Lewis  stating  conditions  only  by  the  representations  of  Cap- 
tain Preston  that  to  set  off  then  would  cause  his  character  to  suffer. 
In  the  evening  Henry  Lawless  came  into  camp  and  reported  that  the 
canoes  had  started  down  that  morning. 

It  required  much  persuasion  to  prevent  the  men  from  starting  home 
on  the  morning  of  the  nth.  They  finally  agreed  to  await  the  arrival 
of  Major  Lewis,  who  was  expected  at  any  time.  Two  Indians  came 
down  in  a  canoe  and  said  the  other  part  of  the  expedition  would  arrive 
that  night.  Andrew  Lyman  and  William  Hall  returned  from  a  fifteen 
mile  scout  down  the  river  and  reported  much  improvement  in  the  coun- 
try and  the  promise  of  much  game.  The  men  believed  this  only  a  story 
to  induce  them  to  continue  the  expedition,  which,  they  truthfully  said, 
they  were  in  no  condition  to  do.  It  rained  most  of  that  night.  On 
the  morning  of  the  12th  some  of  them  made  ready  to  depart.  .\  few 
got  under  way,  but  were  brought  back.  Some  were  disarmed.  Captain 
Woodson  and  some  of  his  men  arrived.  His  canoe  had  been  overturned 
and  everything  lost.  The  canoe  of  Major  Lewis  had  also  been  wrecked 
and  the  major  compelled  to  swim  for  life.  Later  he  arrived  at  Preston's 
camp  and  confirmed  the  account  of  the  disaster.  Colby  Chew,  one  of 
the  companions  of  Dr.  Thomas  Walker  in  his  famous  exploration  of 
1750,  killed  a  small  bear,  which  was  eaten  by  the  major  and  his  mess. 
He  spent  the  13th  trying  to  hold  his  men  to  the  expedition. 

The  crisis  had  arrived.  "Hunger  and  want  was  so  much  increased 
that  any  man  in  the  camp  would  have  ventured  his  life  for  a  supper," 
wrote  Captain  Preston.  Against  such  a  condition  even  Major  Lewis, 
loyal  and  courageous  though  he  was,  could  not  prevail.  His  appeals 
were  patriotic  and  earnest,  but  they  fell  on  deaf  ears.  -The  men  knew 
that  they  could  not  proceed  situated  as  they  were,  and  they  were  not 
to  be  blamed  for  refusing  to  go  on.  To  them  it  seemed  certain  death 
from  starvation.  They  heard  with  respect,  but  set  out  on  their  return. 
Captain  Montgomery's  volunteers  left  camp  first.  The  companies  of 
Preston  and  Smith  soon  followed.  In  the  afternoon  Captain  Dunlap's 
volunteers  left.  Major  Lewis  consulted  the  Man  Killer,  a  Cherokee, 
who  said  it  was  w-ith  regret  that  he  saw  the  white  men  turn  back.  He 
thought  the  Cherokees  would  not  continue  the  expedition  alone.  The 
officers  and  a  few  privates  had  stepped  forward  when  Major  Lewis 
made  his  last  appeal.  He  saw  that  nothing  further  could  be  done.  The 
expedition  had  failed,  but  not  by  any  fault  of  his.  The  contention  of 
the  men  that  in  the  beginning  there  had  been  inadequate  preparations 
for  so  extensive  a  campaign  was  right. 

Though  the  Sandy  Creek  Voyage  failed  of  its  purpose,  much  good 

Vol.  I— 11 


98  IIISIORV  Ol'  KI'.NTLCKV 

came  out  of  it.  Men  became  familiar  with  wilderness  difficithies  and 
were  hardened  for  later  work.  Major  Lewis  fought  these  same  Indians 
at  Point  Pleasant  at  the  mouth  of  the  Kanawha  in  October,  1774.  Man\- 
of  these  Sandy  Creek  \'oyagers  fought  with  him  there.  lie  defeated 
them  and  their  confederates,  and  opened  the  Ohio  River  to  the  settlers 
so  soon  to  come  in  ever  increasing  numbers.  The  Prestons,  the  Breck- 
enridges,  the  Overtons,  the  Montgomerys,  and  others  founded  families 
in  the  West  which  endure  to  this  time  in  all  honor  and  achievement. 

Many  authorities  assert  that  the  Sandy  Creek  Voyage  readied  the 
(/)hio.  It  did  not  do  so.  It  only  came  in  sight  of  those  nigged  moun- 
tains where  the  Tug  River  breaks  through  its  last  formidable  barrier 
on  its  way  to  the  Ohio,  and  which  are  to  this  day  called  "The  Roughs." 
There  is  reason  to  believe,  however,  that  some  of  the  men,  on  their  own 
account,  penetrated  deeper  into  this  wild  land.  There  may  have  been 
fifty  or  even  a  hundred  whose  hardihood  was  not  appalled  by  rough 
hills  and  swollen  streams.  It  is  (hfficult  to  account  for  the  well  defined 
traditions  found  yet  in  West  X'irginia  and  Kasteni  Kentucky  relating 
to  this  exi)edition  on  any  other  theory  than  that  which  says  some  jiart 
of  this  force  reached  the  jjrcscnt  site  of  Louisa,  Kentucky. 

This  expedition  gave  name  to  the  Tug  River.  The  men  hung  up 
two  bufTalo  hides  near  some  spring  from  which  the  natural  gas  bubbled 
up  in  quantity  sufficient  to  burn.  On  their  return  in  a  famished  con- 
dition, they  cut  these  buffalo  hides  into  strips  or  tugs,  held  them  ovei 
this  ignited  natural  gas  until  the  hair  was  burned  ofif,  then  ate  them. 
This  incident,  taken  with  the  hard  tug  made  by  the  men  to  descend  the 
river,  caused  it  to  lie  spoken  of  on  the  frontier  as  the  Tug  River.  The 
name  is  appropriate.  It  is  one  of  the  roughest  streams  in  all  the  .Mle- 
ghanies.  \\'liile  it  has  a  good  volume  of  water,  it  never  was  navigable 
for  even  the  smallest  steamboats.- 

So  little  has  been  accessible  on  this  first  Western  expedition  that 
it  is  believed  to  be  well,  if,  indeed,  it  is  not  necessary,  to  set  out  here 
the  journal  of  Pre.ston  and  the  diary  of  Morton.  For  the  ordinary 
reader  and  casual  student  will  never  see  them  until  they  are  pub'ishcd 
in  some  general  history. 

Journal  of  Col.  William  Preston  Relating  to  His  March  to  Sandy 
Creek  February  9  to  March  13,  1756 

Copied  from  the  Draper  Mss.  Collection  in  the  Library  of  the 

W^isconsin  Historical  Society,  Madison,  Wis. 

Monday  9th  day  of  February  1756  In  Pursuance  to  Orders  of  Maj. 
Lewis  dated  the  4th  Instant  I  marched  from  Fort  Prince  George  wth  my 
two  Lieutenants  Tw^o  Sergeants  Three  Corporals  &  25  Private  men  had 
with  me  one  Waggon  Load  of  Dry  Beef  the  wt  sooo'bs  we  Traveled  15 
Miles  the  first  Day  &  I,.odged  at  the  House  of  Francis  Cyphers  on  Roanoke 
&  early  on  Tuesday  Morning  being  the  loth  we  proceeded  on  our  journey 
as  far  as  Richd  Halls  wdi  is  abt  15  Miles 

■-  Tlic  best  .lutliorities  on  the  Sandy  Creek  Voyage  .irc  tlie  letters  of  Gov- 
ernor Dinwiddie,  published  in  the  ytrginia  State  Papers,  and  the  manuscript 
journal  of  Colonel  William  Preston.  Also  the  copy  of  the  diary  of  Lieutenant 
Thomas  Morton.  Both  of  these  are  preserved  in  tlie  Draper  Collection  in  the 
Library  of  Wisconsin  State  Historical  Society,  Madison.  The  Thwaites  edition 
of  IVithers'  Chrouicles  of  Border  Warfare  contains  good  material.  Withers  fell 
into  errors  which  Thwaites  points  out.  Other  works  on  \'irginia  have  accounts 
of  this  expedition.  This  "Voyage"  as  the  backwoodsmen  called  it,  left  its  impress 
on  the  memory  of  the  border  settlers  to  a  most  remarkable  degree.  Innumerable 
traditions  and  stories  connected  with  it  arc  still  e.xtant  in  West  Virginia  and 
ICastcrn  Kentucky.  And  the  writer  heard  many  of  them  recited  by  pioneers  at 
gatherings,  while  working  in  the  fields  and  in  the  shops,  and  about  open  fires 
in  winter,  in  the  Big  Sandy  Valley,  from  his  youth  upward. 


Gen.  William  Prestox,  1806-1887 
(Courtesy  of  The  Filson  Club) 


18r^78' 


ino  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

Wednesday  i ith  We  set  of  [f  ]  early  &  Marched  briskly  to  New  River 

wch  was  occasioned  by  an  Information  we  reed  that  Capt  Hogs  Corny 
was  but  a  little  behind  us.  we  got  safe  ovr  the  River  &  left  a  Guard  of 
Men  wth  the  Waggon  wdi  did  not  reach  the  camp  till  late  at  night.  As 
we  Marched  by  the  Cherikee  Camps  we  Saluted  them  by  Fireing  Guns 
wch  they  returned  wth  seeming  Joy  &  Aftersds  honoured  us  wth  a  War 
Dance. 

Thursday  i2th  Nothing  remarkable  this  Day  only  I  heard  a  Sermon 

jireached  at  Capt  Woodstons  Camp  by  the  Revd  Mr.  Browne. 
Friday  13th  This  Day  reed  Orders  from  Maj.  Lewis  to  have  my 

Compy  in  readiness  to  appear  on  the  Pardae  at  12  o'Clock  to  Pass  a 
Review  wch  Orders  was  complyd  with,  the  Number  Review'd  was 
about  340,  Indians  included  being  the  companies  foils. 

Capts  Hog,  Preston,   Smith,  Overton, 

Woodston,  &  Paris  wth   the  Cherikee  Indians 

Ix)dged  this  Night  wth  the  Revd  Mr  Browne  at  Mrs  Peppers  &  took  a 
good  bath  in  the  River. 

N.  B.  The  Revd  Mr  Craig  preached  a  Military  Sermon  his  text  was 
in  Deuteronomy  Two  Caps  Commissions  was  given  this  Day  by  Major 
Lewis  to  two  Head  Cherikee  Warriors  named  Yellow  Bird,  Round  O 

Saturday  14th  Day.  This  Day  came  a  company  of  Volunteers  under 

Capt  Delaps  [Dunlap's]  Command  being  25  in  Number. 

Sunday  15th.  This  Morning  abt  10  o'Clock  Old  Jas  Burk  brought 

word  that  Robert  Looney  was  killed  nigh  Alex.  Sawyer's  &  that  he  had 
himself  Horse  shot  &  ^  takin  away  by  Shanese  Indians  &  that  he  thought 
by  wt  Signes  he  see  that  it  was  not  above  4  Indians  that  had  done  the 
above  upon  wch  there  was  Immediately  a  Council  of  War  held  &  it  was 
Concluded  to  send  a  Detachment  of  60  White  Men  &  40  Indians  out 
to  morrow  morng  [as  Scouts]  Abt  Noon  The  Revd  Mr  Browne  gave 
us  a  military  Sermon  his  Text  was  2d  Bk  of  Samuel  Ch.  V.  which  was 
excellently  treated  upon. 
&  at  Night  our  Indians  Danced  a  Great  War  Dance. 

Monday  16 
40  Indians  &  60  White  men  under  the  Commd  of  Capt.  Smith  &  Wood- 
son marched  from  Fort  in  Order  to  range  the  woods  about  Reed  Creek 
for  the  Fnemy  they  are  to  march  to  Burks  Garden  when  they  are  to 
i)e  joined  by  the  Second  Division,  the  Revd  Mr  Browne  took  his  de- 
parture from  the  Fort.  I  conveyd  him  over  the  River  &  there  took 
leave  of  him,  Dined  with  Capt  Hog  who  Entertained  the  Officers  very 
kindly. 

Tuesday  17th 
W'e  had  Orders  this  Day  to  hold  our  Companies  in  Readiness  to  march 
next  morning,  Mr  Paul  returned  from  the  horse  Guard  &  reported  that 
3r  was  missing,    the  Revd  Mr  Craig  Preachd  an  Excellent  Sermon 
I  wrote  Sundry  letters  to  my  friends. 

Mr.  Paul  with  a  Small  Detachment  was  ordered  to  search  for  the  Horses 
which  was  missing     the\'  staid  out  that  night 

Wednesday  i8th  the  Companies  were  all  in  Readiness  to  march  early 
this  morning  but  as  so  many  Horses  were  wanting  only  Capt  Hog's 
Company  &  the  Volunters  with  Major  Lewis  could  march. 
They  set  oflf  in  the  afternoon.  My  Company  with  Capt  Pearis's  was 
ordered  to  stay  till  the  Horses  would  be  found  &  Sadies  prepared  & 
that  Night  we  fixed  of[f]  27  Loaded  Horses  with  which  we  marched 
next  morning. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  101 

Thursday  the  19th  This  morning  all  hands  were  Busied  in  getting 

Ready  for  their  Journey  and  at  10  o'Clock  we  took  Leave  of  what  friends 
were  there  &  after  Sundry  stoppages  on  the  Road  we  got  to  Wm  Lyens 
that  Night  &  Lodged  very  well  on  his  barn  floor.  I  left  3  men  at  fort 
Jh  under  Stephen  Tyler. 

Fryday  20.  I  had  occasion  to  switch  one  of  the  soldiers   for  mis- 

for  swearing  demeanor  which  with   Lt   Mcneal   &  I   Diverting  our- 

profanely  selves  by  play  very  much  incensed  the  Indian  Chiefs 

then  Present 
^^'e  started  at  8  oclock  &  advanced  to  Alexr  Tyers  where  we  met.  with 
the  Indians  who  went  out  with  the  first  Division  &  Stephen  Inglis  who 
Informed  us  of  the  Burriel  of  Robt  Looney  &  the  other  unfortunate 
man  that  was  murdered  with  him  soals  of  two  Shawnees  wliich  was 
seen  by  a  Cherrekee  but  being  at  so  great  a  Distance  he  Did  not  fire  at 
them,  that  Capts  Smith  and  Woodson  was  Imediately  Informed  thereof 
but  their  searches  for  the  Enemy  Proved  Useless  as  the  Night  very  soon 
approached.  I  sent  the  Baggage  horses  on  to  McCalls  (where  the  Body 
of  men  Lay)  under  the  care  of  Lts  Paul  &  Robinson  &  tarryd  with  Capt 
Pearis  &  others  to  accompany  the  Indians  who  being  incensed  at  their 
missing  the  Enemy  &  some  Disturbance  which  arose  among  themselves 
seemd  in  a  verry  bad  humor  &  after  we  left  the  House  a  Large  Party 
of  the  Indians  took  off  another  way  and  pretended  they  would  go  to 
the  Shawnese  Town  a  near  way,  &  only  the  Warriors  &  ten  men  attended 
us  to  the  Camp,  at  which  place  we  arrived  about  4  oClock  in  the  After- 
noon— I  spent  the  evening  very  agreeably  among  the  Officers. 

Saturday   the  21st  We   reed   Orders   not   to   let   our  men    fire   any 

Guns  withn  one  mile  of  the  Camp,  to  Debar  play  of  any  kind  among  the 
men,  &  to  send  4  Men  out  of  each  Company  under  Capt  Overton  &  Lt 
McNeal  to  go  in  quest  of  the  Enemy  at  a  place  where  thev  had  been 
Traced  the  Day  before  by  Capt  Tyers  &  others,  in  the  afte'rnoon  they 
Returned  but  had  found  no  Enemy.  Major  Lewis  Capt  Pearis  &  the 
Interpreter  went  to  Col.  Buchanan's  Place  where  the  Indians  which  de- 
serted us  had  Loged  the  night  before  &  with  many  persuasive  Argu- 
ments prevailed  upon  them  to  Return  &  Join  the  army  which  they  did 
in  the  Evening  to  our  great  Sattisfaction. 

Sunday  22d  We  marched  about  9  oClock  from  McCauls  at  which 

time  I  wrote  home  and  sent  my  horse  by  Col.  Buchanan's  scrvt  which  I 
soon  after  Repented.  We  Reached  to  Jno  McFarlands  about  3  OClock 
where  we  Encamped  the  Vollunteers — having  marched  on  before  us  the 
Indians— perceiving  their  Tracks  which  they  took  to  be  the  Enemy's 
occasioned  our  taking  up  Lodging  so  soon.  My  Company  Mounted  Guard 
this  Evening.     Returned  a  Muster  Roll  of  the  Co. 

Monday  ye  23d  This  morning  appeared  likely  to  Rain  we  marched 

at  9  oClock  &  overtook  the  Vollunteers  at  Robt  McFarland.  from  which 
we  marched  over  the  mountain  with  much  Difficulty  as  it — Rained  Very 
hard  we  Lodged  at  Bear  Garden  on  the  N.  Branch  of  holstons  River 
where  we  lost  sundry  Horses. 

Tuesday  ye  24  Marched  at   10  oClock  from  Bear  Garden  &  with 

great  trouble  &  fatigue  Passed  two  Large  Mountains  &  at  length  arrived 
at  Burks  Garden  where  we  Encamped  that  Night  we  had  Plenty  of 
Potatoes  which  the  Soldiers  Gathered  in  the  Deserted  Plantations.  Num- 
bers of  the  White  Men  &  Indians  went  out  to  hunt  for  fresh  meat  which 
was  brought  in  abundance.     The  Indians  discovered  some  Tracks  which 


102  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

they  took  to  be  Enemy  Indians  &  orders  was  given  to  each  Captain  to 
have  4  men  of  their  Respective  Companya  in  Rediness  to  march  next 
morning  with  Capt  Pearis  &  20  Indians  before  the  Company  as  Scout 
to  Range  the  Woods— Snowed  that  night — 

Wednesday  25111  20  white  men  and  20  Indians  were  sent  off  very 

early  with  Orders  to  wait  for  the  Body  at  Clinch  or  Sandey  Creek — 
and  it  was  Ordered  that  the  soldiers  should  hunt  that  Day  for  Provi- 
sions (as  none  would  be  Drawn)  (for  we  agreed  not  march  that  Day) 
1  sent  out  several  hunters  and  went  out  myself  with  Capt  Brackiwood 
[Breckenridgej  &  hunted  for  seven  hours  &  killed  only  one  Poor  Turkey 
and  all  my  other  hunters  Returned  with  Success  which  caused  many 
complaints  to  be  made  to  the  Comi'-  Burk's  Garden  is  a  Tract  of  Land 
aljout  5  or  6,000  Acres  as  Rich  and  Fertile  as  any  I  ever  saw.  it  is  well 
watered  with  many  beautiful  streams  &  Lyes  surrounded  with  mountains 
almost  inaccessable. 

Thursday  26tli.  We  marched  Early  &  Crossed  three  large  moun- 

tains with  great  Difficulty  &  after  Dark  Arived  at  the  head  of  Clinch 
where  we  met  with  Capt  Pearis  &  the  Detachment  under  his  Command 
who  had  not  met  or  seen  any  signs  of  the  Enemy.  It  Rained  in  the 
Xight  which  give  me  great  Uneasmess  as  1  was  111  Provided  for  a  Tent. 
That  Day  bought  a  little  horse  of  Lt  Smith  for  £4  to  Carry  me  out  to 
the  Shawne  Towns.    Our  hunters  went  out  but  could  not  tind  any  Game. 

F'ryday  27  Being  a  very  great  Rain  we  lay  by  that  Day.     in  the 

afternoon  it  cleared  up  &  Several  went  a  hunting  and  Killed  3  or  four 
Bears. 

Saturday  28tli  We  marched  at  10  oClock  &  Passed  several  Branches 

of  Clinch  and  at  length  got  to  the  Head  of  Sandy  Creek  where  we  met 
with  great  Trouble  and  Fatigue  occasioned  by  a  very  heavy  Rain  and 
the  Driving  of  our  Baggage  Horses  Down  Sd  Creek  which  we  Crossed 
20  Times  that  evening.  We  Encamped  an  hour  before  sunset.  I  was 
ordered  to  mount  Guard  that  night.  Our  hunters  had  good  success.  3 
BulTaloes  were  killed  and  some  Deer. 

Sunday  291)1  We  marched  half  an  hour  after  nine  &  in  15  miles 

Passed  the  Creek,  66  times.  My  Compy  attended  the  Pack  Horses  which 
Increased  our  Fatigue  as  Sundry  Horses  were  left  not  being  able  to 
carry  Loads  any  further.  I  Passed  the  Creek  16  Times  on  Foot.  The 
Sabbath  Day  was  spent  very  Disagreeably.  We  followed  Down  the 
Several  Courses  of  that  Crooked  Creek  Passing  Branches  which  came 
in  on  both  sides  until  we  Came  to  a  Cane  Swamp  where  we  Encamped. 
This  Creek  has  been  much  frequented  by  Indians  both  Traveling  & 
hunting  on  it  &  from  many  late  Signs  I  am  apprehensive  that  Parnisher 
the  Prisoners  taken  with  him  were  Carried  this  way  &  Indeed  the  Indian 
are  of  oppinion  that  som  have  gone  lately  this  way  by  some  Tracks  they 
seen. 

Monday  ist  of  March  [1756]  This  morning  I  see  to  the  West  and 
1  heard  Thunder  before  Day.  (I  bathed  in  ye  River)  At  nineoClock 
we  marched  &  in  four  miles  we  Left  the  Creek  to  the  Eastward  Passed 
a  fiap  in  a  high  Ridge  &  Came  upon  a  Branch  which  we  Encani])ed 
upon  in  a  large  Bent  &  in  a  very  In  convenient  Place,  about  oneoClock 
we  had  a  very  great  Gust  of  Thunder  hail  &  Rain  which  caused  us  to 
take  up  much  sooner  than  ntherwise  we  would  have  done.     The  Indians 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  103 

went  in  front  &  (as  they  sayj  they  Discovered  the  Tracks  of  2  Liicmy 
Indians  on  ye  main  Creek.  I  sent  Abm  Bledsher  to  hunt  &  he  found 
where  the  Enemy  had  been  about  2  Days  ago  Cutting  a  tree  for  a  Bear 
&  see  3  box  traps  which  had  been  made  since  Crsitams.  It  was  generally 
believed  that  the  Enemy  had  a  hunting  Camp  very  Nigh.  Therefore 
Caution  must  be  used  that  we  may  trap  undiscovered  or  utturly  destroy 
the  Party. 

Tuesday  ye  2d.  a  number  of  the  Indians  went  out  Early  to  make 

what  Discoveries  they  could  of  ye  Enemy  about  10  oClock  some  of 
them  Returned  &  Reported  that  they  had  seen  a  large  Camping  Place 
of  ye  Enemy  where  they  had  been  about  3  Days  ago  with  many  signs 
of  Horses  which  had  been  stolen  by  them  The  Cherrokees  Desired  to 
Stay  that  Day  at  their  Camp  to  Range  the  Woods  which  they  Did.  We 
marched  at  i2oClock  and  traveled  down  the  Branch  about  one  Mile 
where  we  see  the  above  Enemies  Camp,  with  very  great  Signs,  we  pro- 
ceeded down  ye  Branch  &  in  another  mile  or  two  we  came  to  the  main 
Creek  where  we  Encamped  at  2  oClock.  Major  Lewis,  Capt  Pears 
&  Brackinridge  &  myself  with  sundry  others  11  in  number  went  down 
the  Creek  Two  Aliles  in  Search  of  tracks  but  being  followed  by  Mr 
Hocket  we  Returned,  who  told  us  that  the  Indians  had  seen  a  great 
smoke  which  they  supposed  to  be  Enemies  &  that  they  had  sent  a  Mes- 
sagenger  for  Capt  Pearis  to  go  Imediately  to  them  with  25  Chosen  Men 
—  no  other  Officers.  We  Proceeded  with  great  haste  to  the  Camp  & 
the  men  were  Ordered  out  being  30  odd  in  numbr  with  Capt  Pearis, 
Lts  McXeal  &  Allan  who  went  as  Vollunteers  We  reed  an  account  that 
the  Cherrokees  with  a  few  white  men  had  Left  the  Camp  &  were  gone 
in  order  to  Destroy  the  Enemy  before  they  were  Reinforced  by  the  De- 
tachment. This  Day  we  were  put  to  half  alowance  of  Beef  which  was 
almost  exhausted — this  Day  on  our  march  we  came  into  the  Cole  Land 
Crossed  ye  Rivr  S[undry]  times. 

Wednesday  3d  we  marched  half  an  hour  after  nine  oClock  my  company 
on  the  rear  of  Capt  Hog  with  20  men  went  before  to  Clear  the  Road 
which  was  almost  Impassible,  we  marched  until  sunset  or  nigh  that 
time  &  advanced  only  9  other  miles  being  much  Retarded  by  the  River 
&  mountains  which  closed  in  on  Both  sides  which  Rendered  our  march- 
ing very  Difficult  and  more  so  as  each  man  had  but  half  a  pound  of 
flour  &  no  meat  but  what  we  could  kill,  &  that  was  very  scarce,  we 
Encamped  on  ye  Creek  at  a  place  where  no  food  was  for  the  Horses 
wh  ocasioned  many  to  stray  away  We  got  a  few  Bears.  Capt  Pearis' 
had  not  Returned. 

Thursday  4th  We  marched  at  half  an  hour  after  nine  oClock  after 

a  tedious  search  for  the  Horses  many  of  whom  could  not  be  found.  I 
was  ordered  to  march  in  the  front  wth  my  Company  we  Proceeded 
Down  ye  Ck  which  by  several  Branches  coming  in  on  both  sides  was 
very  much  Increased  and  Rendered  it  Difficult  for  our  poor  men  to  Wade 
which  they  were  obliged  to  do  16  times.  Capt  Pearis  &  Lt  McXeal  with 
the  white  men  &  Indians  on  that  Command  met  us  on  the  Creek  &  Re- 
ported that  they  had  made  great  search  for  the  Enemy  &  could  not  find 
any  signs,  nor  the  fire  which  the  Cherrokees  supposed  they  see  the  smoke 
of.  we  marched  about  6  miles  that  Day  I  sent  out  several  hunters  but 
had  no  success  as  was  the  Case  with  the  Whole  Company  &  nothing 
but  Hunger  &  fatigue  appeared  to  us. 

Fryday   5th  we  marched  about  nine  oClock   this   morning  &   with 

great    Difficulty    Proceeded    15    miles   on   our   Journey   the    River   being 


JOi  HISTORY  OF  Ki:XTL'CKY 

very  Deep  and  often  to  Cross  almost  killeil  the  men,  and  more  so  as  they 
were  in  utmost  extremity  lor  want  of  Provisions,  this  Day  my  Horse 
Expired  &  1  was  left  on  foot  with  a  Hungry  Belly  which  increased  my 
Woe. — &  indeed  it  was  the  case  with  almost  every  man  in  the  Company. 
That  night  mounted  Guard  which  is  a  very  Troublesome  Employment. 
It  Rained  Day  &  Night.  No  appearance  of  a  level  country  though  it 
was  wishfully  looked  for. 

Saturday  6th  As  we  Encamped   nigh   the   forks  of   the   River   we 

Did  n(jt  move  until  Eleven  oClock  &  then  we  only  crossed  the  E.  Fork 
&  Encamped.  The  Cherrokees  proposed  to  make  Canoes  to  cary  them- 
selves Down  the  River  which  was  Imediately  put  in  Practice.  Major 
Lewis  set  men  to  work  to  make  a  large  canoe  to  Cary  Down  the  Am- 
munition &  the  Small  Remains  of  our  IHour  which  was  then  almost 
Exhausted  The  men  Murmured  very  much  for  want  of  Provisions  it 
numbers  Threatened  to  Return  home.  So  that  1  was  much  afraid  a 
nmtiiiy  would  ensue.  I  spoke  to  the  Major  &  let  him  know  the  General 
nuirmur  of  the  Soldiers  which  very  much  concerned  him  &  had  no  way 
to  ])lease  them  but  to  order  a  Cask  of  Butter  to  be  Divided  among  them 
which  was  no  more  than  a  taste  to  Each  man  it  Rained  very  hard  that 
night  which  still  added  to  our  misfortune  as  we  had  no  tents,  &  indeed 
hardly  any  other  necessaries  for  such  a  Journey 

Sunday  jtli  That  morning  Rained  yet  the  men  continued  to  work 

on  the  Canoes,  it  was  agreed  upon  by  the  Ol'ticcrs  that  Capt  Smith, 
Capt  Breckinridge,  Lt  Morton,  Lt  Dunlap  &  myself  with  our  Comps  &  part 
of  Montgomery's  V'oUunteers  130  in  number  should  Proceed  iJown  the 
Creek  15  miles  &  no  further  in  search  of  Hunting  Ground,  the  Indians  was 
against  that,  we  marched  at  nine  oClock  &  the  Horsemen  ( for  we  took 
down  almost  all  ye  horses)  was  obliged  to  Leave  the  Creek  Some  Dis- 
stance  for  a  Passage  through  the  mountains  which  we  found  very  Dif- 
licult,  and  about  sunset  we  met  with  the  foot  men  who  were  Encamped 
on  the  River  about  6  miles  below  the  forks.  Our  hunger  &  want  Still 
Increased,  as  we  could  not  get  any  Flesh  Meat  &  had  but  one  pound  of 
flour  alovved  to  each  46  men  until  the  Major  with  the  Remainder  of 
the  men  Could  overtake  us.  The  mountains  still  seemed  to  be  very  high 
no  appearance  of  a  level  country  which  greatly  Discouraged  our  men. 
At  our  Itncampment  it  was  agreed  upon  by  a  Great  number  of  the  Soldiers 
to  break  off  homeward  ne.xt  morning  &  my  two  Seargents  told  me  their 
Intention  &  that  they  with  severals  Perhaps  all  of  my  men  would  Return 
with  their  comiianions.  That  they  were  fainting  &  weak  with  hunger 
and  could  not  1  ravel  the  Mountains  or  wade  the  Rivers  as  they  formerly 
had  done,  tk  that  there  was  no  Game  in  the  mountains  nor  no  appearance 
of  a  level  Country,  that  their  half  pound  of  flesh  per  Day  cotild  not 
support  them  &  that  Small  Quantity  would  soon  be  gone.  1  Proposed 
to  kill  horses  to  Eat  which  they  Refused  to  Comply  with.  They  said 
that  might  do  if  they  were  Returning  to  Support  them  home  but  it  was 
not  Diet  Proper  to  sustain  men  on  a  long  march  against  an  Enemy. 
However  I  ])erswaded  them  to  make  a  farther  Tryal  down  the  River 
the  next  Day  which  they  agreed  too  with  some  Difficulty.  It  Rained 
hard  that  night. 

Monday  8th  We  marched  at  three  o  Clock  in  the  morning  and  pro- 

ceded  down  the  River  alxnit  3  miles  where  the  Alountains  closed  so 
nigh  the  water  that  We  Could  not  Pass.  We  took  up  a  Branch  and  Passed 
a  very  high  Moiuitain  i!v  going  down  an(jther  Branch  we  met  part  of 
the  men  who  had  been  at  tlie  River  and  could  not  get  Down  any  farther. 
Here  7  Guns  were  fired  at  2  b-lks  but  unfortimately  they  got  off.     W'e 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  105 

Passed  another  very  great  mountain  &  came  on  the  head  of  a  Branch 
which  we  followed  down  some  miles  where  we  met  with  some  of  the 
Vollunteers  who  had  killed  two  Elks,  within  one  mile  of  the  River.  We 
Encamped  at  the  River  to  which  Place  one  Elk  was  brought  &  Divided 
to  the  small  Joy  of  every  man  in  Company,  for  by  that  Time  hunger 
appeared  in  all  our  Faces  &  most  of  us  were  got  weak  &  Feeble  &  had 
we  not  got  that  Relief  I  Doubt  not  but  several  of  the  men  would  have 
died  with  hunger,  their  Cries  and  Complaints  were  Pitiful  &  Shock- 
ing &  more  so  as  the  Officers  could  not  given  them  any  help,  for  they 
were  in  equal  want  with  the  men.    Our  march  was  7  miles. 

Tuesday  9th.  That  morning  the   Vollunteers   killed   two    Buffaloes 

&  an  Elk  which  give  us  a  further  Relief.  However  the  men  still  Con- 
tinued to  Murmur.  We  did  not  move  that  Day  as  we  were  of  oppinion 
that  we  were  15  miles  from  the  Forks  where  the  Remainder  of  the  Men 
Lay.  a  Great  number  of  our  young  men  went  out  to  hunt  and  View 
the  Country.  Some  went  down  the  River  Seven  or  Eight  miles  &  Re- 
turned that  Night  and  Reported  that  they  had  Qimbed  a  very  great 
mount  in  order  to  take  a  View  of  the  Country  &  that  there  seemed  to 
be  Several  prodigious  great  Mountains  before  them  so  that  the  Country 
Behind  them  appeared  level  in  Comparison  to  that  we  had  to  travel, 
that  the  River  seemed  to  Bear  westward  &  no  possability  of  taking  Horses 
Down  the  River  and  that  they  saw  no  game.  This  account  very  much 
disturbed  the  men.  In  short  they  agreed  to  a  man  to  Return  next  morn- 
ing. I  called  the  Officers  together  &  it  was  Concluded  that  Each  Captain 
should  try  to  advise  his  men  to  stay  untill  Majr  Lewis  would  arrive  with 
the  Remainder  of  the  men.  (It  Rained  that  night  very  heavy.)  I  was 
In  Utmost  Disorder  &  Confusion  to  think  of  the  men  Returning  in  Such 
a  Manner — which  would  Infallibly  Ruin  the  expedition. 

Wednesday  lOtli.  The  men  were  Prepared  to  Return  I  told  the  men 

that  If  they  should  go  before  Major  Lewis  Came,  that  I  would  be  blamerl 
for  it  &  my  Character  would  suffer — they  agreed  to  Stay,  as  Did  all 
the  other  Companies  untill  a  letter  Could  be  Sent  to  Majr.  Lewis.  Lt 
Morton  was  Imediately  Dispatched  with  two  men  &  a  letter  wherein  I 
Set  forth  the  Disorder  &  Confusion  that  was  among  us  as  also  the  Reso- 
lution the  men  were  Come  to  &  Requested  him  to  come  that  Evening 
or  next  morning  if  Possable,  for  our  meat  was  then  done  &  then  men 
had  nothing  to  support  them.  In  the  Afternoon  we  had  an  account  from 
the  Camp  in  the  forks  by  one  Llenry  Lawless  that  the  canoes  would  Set 
off  that  morning  that  a  Horse  had  been  killed  to  suport  the  men  who 
were  almost  Perished  with  hunger  and  were  very  uneasy. 

Tiiursdr.y    nth.  notwithstanding   the   Promises   the   men   made   the 

Day  before  of  Staying  untill  Major  would  Come  they  were  all  in  Readi- 
ness for  a  march  homewards  but  after  many  arguments  &  Perswasions 
I  Prevailed  on  them  to  Tarr}'  that  Day  for  the  Majors  Arrival  as  also 
for  Andw  Lyman  who  had  been  out  3  days  making  what  Discoveries 
He  could  I  Procured  a  little  vension  for  their  support  that  Day  about 
i20Clock  Two  Indians  came  down  in  a  Canoe  who  give  us  to  under- 
stand that  the  Companies  would  be  down  that  night.  In  the  Afternoon 
Andrew  Lyman  &  Wm  Hall  Returned  &  Reported  that  they  had  been 
fifteen  miles  down  the  River  that  they  see  a  great  Buffalo  Road  &  fresh 
signs  of  Buffalos  &  Elks  and  see  great  numbers  of  Turkies  &  they  were 
of  Oppion  that  game  was  Plenty,  they  see  an  old  Fort  which  they  be- 
lieved to  be  a  hunting  Fort  built  by  the  Indians,  and  they  think  the  Main 
Mountain  was  not  above  two  Miles  below  them  but  did  not  Choose  to 
Venture  themselves  to  make  any  further  EHscoveries  as  they  Judged  this 


lOG  HISTORY  ()!■    Kl'.X  TrCKN' 

to  be  Sufficient  to  Encourage  tlie  man  to  Pursue  their  Journey.  This 
account  Pleased  the  Officers  very  much;  But  it  Rather  increased  the 
muling  among  the  Men  for  they  looked  upon  the  Report  to  be  formed 
only  to  Draw  them  so  much  farther  from  home,  &  said  were  the  game 
ever  so  plenty  it  was  Impossible  to  Supjxjrt  340  men  by  it  as  there  was 
nothing  Else  to  Depend  upon  &  if  they  Proceeded  any  I'urlher  they  must 
Inevital)ly  Perish  wilh  hunger  which  they  looked  upon  to  be  more  In- 
glorious than  to  Return  &  l)e  yet  servicable  to  their  Country  when  prop- 
erly Provided  for.  These  &  many  other  weighty  Arguments  they  made 
use  of  but  thro  the  whole  they  laid  great  part  of  our  misfortunes  on  the 
Co-m-es  for  not  Providing  properly  for  such  a  Number  of  Men  as  we 
had  not  above  15  Days  Provisions  when  we  Left  Fort  Frederick  to  sup- 
port us  on  a  Journey  of  near  300  Miles  as  we  suppose  Mr.  Morton  arrived 
and  Informed  me  that  he  had  Delivered  my  Fetter  to  ye  Major  who  could 
hardly  believe  the  Contents  &  said  he  had  often  seen  the  like  mutiny 
among  soldiers  &  it  might  Easily  be  settled.  8  of  Capt  Smith's  men  went 
off  &  Bledsher  &  Gredin  wth  9111 

Fryday    12th  It   Rained   very   much   all   night,     in   the   morning   I 

sent  Mr  Paul  to  meet  the  Major  &  hasten  him  down  The  soldiers  being 
all  Ready  to  march  up  ye  Creek  9  or  10  of  my  Company  had  their 
Bundles  on  their  Hacks  &  was  about  to  march,  after  spending  some 
time  Reasoning  with  them  about  going  I  was  Obliged  to  Disarm  them 
&  take  their  Blankets  by  force  They  had  not  been  Disarmed  above 
half  an  hour  untill  5  of  them  went  off  Privately  &  left  their  Guns.  I 
soon  Missed  them  &  sent  Mr  Robinson  &  one  other  man  after  them 
who  met  them  at  some  Distance  &  Brought  them  back  to  the  Camp. 
Capt  Wodson  arived  &  with  some  of  his  Company  &  Informed  us  that 
his  Canoe  overset  &  Lost  his  Tents  with  Everything  \'alluable  in  her. 
That  Major  Lewis's  canoe  was  sunk  in  the  River  &  that  ye  Alajor  Capt 
Overton  Lt  Gun  &  one  other  man  had  to  swim  for  their  Lives  &  that 
several  things  of  Vallue  was  Lost  Particularly  five  or  Six  tine  Guns. 
Major  Lewis  H  McNeal  &  Mr  Chew  arrived  who  Informed  us  of  their 
trying  Shipwreck  which  had  Detained  the  Major  so  long,  that  he  had 
Left  Capt  Hog  with  his  Company  to  bring  Down  the  Canoes  &  Baggage 
for  which  horses  must  be  sent,  &  he  told  me  he  had  seen  Bledsher  & 
nine  other  men  going  off  &  they  Informed  him  it  was  with  their  Officers 
Consent  &  that  the  Officers  would  have  gone  with  them  if  they  were  not 
afraid  of  their  Comrs  Colby  Chew  brought  in  a  little  Bear  &  took  it 
to  my  Tent  wher  the  Majr  Lodged  that  night  by  which  I  had  a  good 
Supper  &  Breakfast  which  was  a  Rarity. 

Saturday  morning  ye  131)1  Major  Lewis  give  Orders  to  each  Capt  to 
Call  his  Company  Together  Imediately  which  was  done  &  the  Major 
told  the  Soldiers  that  he  was  Informed  of  their  Design  to  go  home  iK: 
that  he  was  much  surprised  at  it,  that  he  hoped  they  would  alter  their 
Intentions  of  Desertion  &  nnitiny  &  would  pursue  the  Journey,  he  Like- 
wise Set  forth  the  111  Conscquenses  that  would  Certainly  attend  Such 
Conduct  &  that  they  would  be  well  supported  when  they  got  in  to  the 
hunting  ground  which  he  was  apprehensive  must  be  very  nigh  &  horses 
would  support  them  for  sometime  notwithstanding  all  that  could  be  said 
they  ap]K;ard  obstinately  bent  to  go  home  for  if  they  went  forward  they 
must  Perish  or  Eat  horses  neither  of  which  They  were  willing  to  do. 
Then  the  major  stepped  of[f]  some  Distance  &  Desired  all  that  was 
willing  to  Serve  their  Country  Share  iK;  his  Fate  to  go  with  him  all  the 
Officers  and  some  private  men  not  above  20  or  30  Joined  him.  U]ion 
which  Mountgomeries  Yollunteers  marched  off  &  was  Imediately  fol- 
lowed by  my  Company  &  Smiths.    4  Private  men  &  my  Lts  staid  with 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  107 

me.  Capt  Woodson  kept  his  Company  together  all  Day  under  a  pretence 
of  marching  Down  the  Country  some  other  way  which  was  only  to 
Draw  one  Days  Provisions  for  them,  (for  we  had  killed  a  Buffalo) 
Major  Lewis  Spoke  to  Old  Antocity  who  appeared  much  Grieved  to  see 
the  men  Desert  in  such  a  manner  &  said  he  was  willing  to  proceed  but 
some  of  the  warriors  «&  their  young  men  was  yet  behind  &  he  was  Doubt- 
ful of  them  but  be  would  send  off  a  messenger  to  them  &  bring  them 
Down,  (which  be  did)  That  the  White  man  could  not  suffer  hunger  like 
the  Indians  who  would  not  Complain  of  hunger.  Capt  Pearis  &  Col. 
Stewart  Came  to  the  Camp  this  morning  &  Informed  us  that  one  of 
Capt  Breckinridges  Men  was  Drowned  the  Evening  before  attempting 
to  Cross  the  River  for  some  meal.  Indeed  hunger  &  want  was  so  much 
Increased  that  any  man  in  the  Camp  would  have  Ventured  his  life  for 
a  Supper.  A  Small  Quantity  of  wet  meal  was  brought  in,  I  see  about  one 
pound  given  to  12  men  &  one  of  them  bought  a  share  which  he  give  2/ 
for,  one  Isaac  Mayo  offered  13  Day  hire  as  a  Packhorsman  for  2lbs  of 
Bears  meat.  So  that  it  is  Impossible  to  Express  the  abject  Condition 
we  were  in  both  before  &  after  the  men  Deserted  us,  except  when  a  little 
fresh  meat  was  brought  in  which  would  not  last  any  Time  nor  had  it  any 
Strength  to  suport  men,  as  the  salt  was  all  Lost  Mr  Paul  was  ordered 
off  with  a  party  of  men  to  Capt  Hog  to  bring  the  Bagage  &  on  his  way 
killed  a  Buffalo.  Mr  Dunlops  Vollunteers  went  off  in  the  afternoon 
An  acct  of  ye  Miles  we  marched  each  Day  on  our  Journey  to  the  Shawnese 
Towns — 

Miles 

From  F.  P  George  to  Cyphers 15 

2d  Day  to  R  Halls 15 

3  Days  march  to  F  Frederick 15 

Thursday  19th  Feb  to  Wfm  Syers 20 

F.  20th  Mc  Cauls 13 

Sunday  22  to  Mcf arlands 7 

Monday  23d  to  Bear  Garden 10 

Tuesday   24   Burkes  Garden 4 

Thursday  26  ye  head  of  Clinch 10 

Saturday  28  ye  head  of  Sandy  Creek 10 

Sunday  29  Down  Sandy  Ck 12 

Monday   ist  of   March 6 

Tuesday  2d 3 

Wednesday    3 10 

Fryday  5 15 

Saturday   6 2 

Sunday  7  first  Division 7 

Monday  8   7 

Lieut.  Thomas  Morton's  Fragment  of  a  Diary 

March  1756 

Copy  by  Dr.  L.  C.  Draper 

in 

The  Draper  Mss. 

Wisconsin  State  Historical  Society  Library 

Madison,  Wisconsin. 

Wednesday  3d.    (March).  We  crossed  the  creek  nineteen  time  in 

about  eight  miles. 


108  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

Thursday  4th.  We  niarclied  fuur  miles,  and  crossed  the  creek  fourteen 
times. 

Friday  5th.  We  marched  twelvemiles  and  crossed  the  creek  twenty- 

four  times.  The  creek  is  now  in  general  about  forty-five  or  fifty  yards 
(wide.) 

Saturday,  ye  6th.  We  proceeded  to  the  fork  of  the  creek,  and  crossed 
the  North  Fork,  and  took  up  camp,  and  turned  our  horses  out  among 
the  reeds  (cane),  and  concluded  to  stay  all  night.  This  is  the  si.xlh  day 
that  we  have  been  at  the  allowance  of  half  a  pound  of  flour  a  man  per 
day,  and  several  of  our  men  were  much  disgusted  to  see  that  they  were 
pinched  for  want  of  provisions,  and  Capt.  Hogg  had  corn  plenty  to  feed 
his  horses  till  he  came  to  this  place,  and  here  they  ate  the  last  of  it.  This 
night  one  of  the  volunteers  killed  an  elk,  and  tlic  Indians  took  half  of  it 
from  them,  as  they  were  just  perished,  which  disgusted  the  volunteers 
very  much. 

We  were  now  in  a  pitable  conditon,  our  men  looking  on  (one)  another 
with  tears  in  their  eyes,  and  lamenting  that  they  had  ever  entered  into 
a  soldier's  life;  and,  indeed,  our  circumstances  were  very  shocking,  for 
in  our  camp  were  little  else  but  cursing,  swearing,  confusion,  and  com- 
plaining, and  among  our  officers  much  selfishness  and  ambition,  which 
naturally  produced  division  and  contention,  and  a  discouragement  in  all 
the  thoughtful.  For  my  part,  I  had  been  for  several  days  satisfied  that 
without  a  great  alteration  we  should  meet  with  nothing  but  ctjn fusion 
and  disappointment,  for  I  am  certain  it  would  have  been  dishonorable 
to  Goil  to  have  granted  us  success  on  such  conduct,  for  that  neglected 
thing.  Religion,  was  hissed  out  of  company  with  contempt  as  though  it 
had  carried  a  deadly  infection  with  it. 

Majf'  Lewis  till  now  hath  in  general  behaved  with  sobriety  and  with 
])rudence,  but  always  seems  somewhat  on  the  reserve  to  the  Virginia 
Captains  and  companies ;  and  I  never  can  find  that  there  has  been  one 
regular  council  since  we  marched ;  but  from  what  we  can  gather,  it  is 
generally  believed,  that  Ca])t.  Hogg  has  the  whole  matter  at  his  discretion. 
Whether  Cai)t.  Hogg  hatl  a  right  to  cumniand,  I  know  not.  this  I  know, 
that  when  Alaj.  Lewis  would  olTer  anything,  he  (Capt.  Hogg)  by  an 
over  forwardness  would  direct  as  he  saw  proper,  and  his  sentiments 
generally  were  followed  as  a  standing  rule,  and  by  this  means  the  men 
were  imposed  on,  for  common  soldiers  were  by  him  scarcely  treated  with 
humanity.  The  conduct  and  concord  that  was  kept  up  among  the  Indians 
might  shame  us,  for  they  were  in  general  quite  unanimous  and  brotherly. 

This  night,  Maj.  Lewis  hath  concluded  to  tarry  here  and  make  canoes, 
and  Sabbath  morning,  the  7th,  he  came  early  to  our  tents,  and  ordered 
that  all  our  a.xcs,  with  some  of  the  best  of  our  axmen,  should  go  imme- 
diately to  making  a  canoe,  for  to  carry  the  public  stores,  for  our  pack 
horses  were  now  giving  out  of  the  small  number  left  of  them.  We 
have  had  nothing  but  one  half  a  pound  of  flour  [per  day]  since  I<"riday 
night,  only  a  half  pound  of  butter  per  man.  Times  being  so  hard,  that 
our  strength  is  now  almost  exhausted,  and  [we  have]  never  been  allowed 
to  hunt  but  very  little,  and  now  we  are  not  able,  and  if  we  were,  this 
place  is  barren,  so  that  there  is  little  or  nothing  to  be  killed. 

Notwithstanding  the  way  was  thought  to  he  impassable  wit  horses,  yet 
Capt.  Smith,  Breckenridge  and  I'reston,  with  their  whole  ccmipanies  and 
chief  of  both  comi)anies  of  volunteers  set  off  to  go  down  the  Creek  to 
seek  for  provision.  Half  of  Capt.  Woodson's,  and  part  of  Capt.  Overton's 
com])any  likewise;  but  we  had  not  gone  above  two  miles  before  we  were 
obliged  to  turn  up  a  small  creek,  a  difficult,  rocky  and  very  bad  way  and 
forced  to  cross  a  steep  and  high  mountain,  and  so  fall  on  such  or  another 
creek,  and  malce  down  to  the  large  creek',  and  there  were  obliged  to  take 
up  camp  this  night,  about  six  miles  below  the  I'ork. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  109 

Our  case  grew  more  and  more  lamentable  as  the  way  was  now  much 
worse  than  ever  and  the  Creek  was  impassable  by  horses,  and  the  moun- 
tains higher  and  worse  than  ever,  on  all  accounts,  and  lying  in  larger 
cliffs  on  the  river.  Monday,  the  8th  of  March,  we  being  so  extremely 
straited  for  provisions,  the  best  hunters  of  every  company  set  out  very 
early  this  morning,  and  after  traveling  about  two  miles  down  the  Creek, 
we  parted,  and  turned  into  the  mountains,  and  hunted  all  day  without 
success ;  and  this  day  those  who  conducted  the  horses  along  were  put 
to  very  great  straits,  for  they  were  obliged  to  leave  the  Creek,  and  cross 
two  large  mountains,  going  up  the  last  of  which  three  of  the  horses  tired 
and  could  go  no  further,  and  before  they  left  the  creek  one  of  them  fell 
down  a  cliff  about  the  distance  of  twenty  feet  or  such  a  matter,  into 
the  Creek:  but  falling  on  his  load,  he  was  through  it  preserved,  so  that 
he  was  recovered,  and  carried  his  load  all  day.  In  the  evening,  as  we 
were  going  down  a  small  creek,  which  made  more  low  grounds  than 
usual,  one  of  the  volunteers  being  foremost  met  with  a  gang  of  elks, 
and  killed  two  of  them  a  very  seasonable  relief  to  us  all,  for  one  of  them 
was  divided  among  the  companies,  but  not  equally,  for  Capt.  Smith 
took  half  of  it,  saving  the  backbone,  and  the  meat  was  chiefly  cut  off 
of  it.  Capt.  Preston  with  Capt.  Breckinridge  and  myself  shared  the 
small  matter  that  we  had  which  came  to  two  pounds  per  man,  but  near 
half  of  it  was  bone;  and  we  are  now  suffering  very  much  for  want  of 
provisions,  and  a  great  part  of  the  men  that  we  have  here,  have  fallen 
this  day  on  a  resolution  to  go  back,  for  we  can  see  nothing  before  us  but 
inevitable  destruction. 


CHAPTER  IX 
SWIFT'S  SIIAF.R  MINES 

I 

Preliminary 

\\'hether  John  Swift  discovered  or  even  visited  any  silver  mines — 
whetlier  he  at  any  time  worked  mines  discovered  by  himself  or  other  per- 
sons in  what  is  now  the  State  of  Kentucky— may  never  be  certainly 
known.  But  it  would  seem  that  there  can  exist  little  doubt  that  John 
Swift  and  his  associates  were  among  the  very  first  of  English-speaking 
people  to  visit  and  remain  for  any  considerable  length  of  time  in  that 
region  embraced  in  Eastern  Kentucky.  There  seems  to  be  sufficient  evi- 
dence upon  which  to  base  the  conclusion  that  they  threaded  the  sunless 
mazes  of  the  primeval  wilderness  in  pursuit  of  some  definite  object ; 
and  this  object  was  of  enough  importance  to  cause  them  to  make  annual 
journeys  into  the  unexplored  valleys  between  the  Ohio  River  and  the 
Cumberland  Mountains   for  a  period  covering  ten  years. 

That  there  is  at  this  time  lying  concealed  in  the  states  of  Kentucky, 
Tennessee.  West  \'irginia,  Pennsylvania,  \''irginia  and  the  Carolinas, 
treasures  aggregating  an  immense  sum,  left  in  the  rude  wilds  of  tliat 
unexplored  land  by  Swift  and  his  men,  has  been  the  unshaken  con\iction 
of  many  people  there  for  more  than  four  generations. 

In  early  times  the  belief  in  the  existence  of  these  mines  was  wide- 
spread. Their  supposed  locations  were  set  down  in  the  maps  of  that 
day.  On  the  map  in  the  first  edition  of  Imlay's  America,  published  in 
London  by  J.  Debret,  February  i,  1793.  we  find  these  mines  marked  as 
lying  about  the  head  waters  of  the  Kentucky  and  Big  Sandy  rivers. 

But  the  important  question  is  not  whether  these  mines  had  any  exist- 
ence in  fact,  but  whether  Eastern  Kentucky  was  visited  and  explored 
during  the  ten  years  from  1760  to  1770  hy  Swift  and  his  companions. 
There  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  Swift  and  his  associates  visited 
Eastern  Kentucky,  as  is  affirmed  in  Swift's  Journal.  The  fact  does  not 
rest  solely  on  either  the  Journal  or  tradition,  nor  on  any  combination  of 
the  two.  It  is  based  to  some  extent  at  least  on  statements  of  some  of 
the  best  and  most  careful  historical  writers  of  the  time. 

It  is  remarkable  how  the  search  for  the  precious  metal  engrossed  the 
first  settlers  of  America  as  well  as  the  adventurers  and  explorers.  The 
early  \'irginians  prosecuted  this  search  to  the  neglect  of  other  matters. 
They  .sent  a  shipload  of  shining  .sand  to  England  in  the  full  belief  that 
it  was  gold.  We  are  told  that  all  other  matters  were  subordinated  to 
this  search.  One  historian  informs  us  that  "The  successful  establish- 
ment of  a  colony  was  of  much  less  importance  than  the  searching  for 
mines  of  gold  or  explorations  westward  by  navigable  rivers.  In  the  sum- 
mer of  the  following  year  Captain  John  Smith  explored  the  Chesapeake 
Bay  to  the  Su.squehanna,  entering  into  all  the  rivers  and  inlets  as  far  as 
he  could  sail,  of  all  of  which  he  constructed  an  admirable  map.  In  the 
fall  of  the  same  year  Captain  Newport  returned  from  a  visit  to  England 
with  a  private  commission  'not  to  return  without  a  lump  of  gold,  a  cer- 
tainty of  the  South  Sea,  or  one  of  the  lo.st  colony  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh.'  " 

110 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  111 

In  his  Journal  Swift  attributes  the  discovery  of  these  mines  to  the 
Spaniards,  as  he  does  also  the  lead  mines  of  Western  Virginia.  This 
view  is  supported  by  the  following  memorandum : 

"Sir  William  Berkely,  Governor  of  Virginia,  was  informed  by  the 
Indians,  in  1748,  'that  within  five  days'  journey  to  the  Westward  and  by 
South  there  is  a  great  high  mountain,  and  at  the  foot  thereof  great 
l^ivers  that  run  into  a  great  Sea ;  and  that  there  are  men  that  come  hither 
in  ships  (but  not  the  same  that  ours  be),  they  wear  apparel  and  have 
reed  caps  on  their  heads,  and  ride  on  Beastes  like  our  horses,  but  have 
much  longer  ears,  and  other  circumstances  they  declare  for  the  certainty 
of  these  things.'  These  rivers  doubtless  were  those  now  known  as  the 
Kanawha,  Kentucky,  Cumberland  and  Tennessee,  whose  waters  flow 
from  the  western  slope  of  the  Allegheny  Mountains  to  the  Ohio  and 
Mississippi  and  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  long  before  frequented  by 
."^jianiards." 

II 

E.ARLY    Tr.\DITION    OF   TlIESE    MiNES 

Legends  and  traditions  of  Swift's  Silver  Mines  exist  in  Pennsylvania. 
Virginia,  We.st  \''irginia,  Kentucky,  Tennessee  and  the  Carolinas.  Tradi- 
tions concerning  them  or  some  other  silver  mines  that  were  worked  by 
the  early  explorers  and  Indians  exist  in  Georgia  and  Alabama. 

James  Adair  was  among  the  first  Indian  traders  with  the  Cherokees. 
When  the  English  were  first  exploring  the  head  waters  of  the  Holston 
and  Clinch  rivers  he  was  carrying  on  a  profitable  trade  with  the  Overhill 
Cherokees.     lie  writes  in  his  book  that : 

"Within  twenty  miles  of  Fort  Louden  there  is  a  great  plenty  of  whet- 
stones for  razors,  of  red,  white  and  black  colours.  The  silver  mines  are 
so  rich,  that  by  digging  about  ten  yards  deep,  some  desperate  vagabonds 
found  at  sundry  times,  so  much  rich  ore  as  to  enable  them  to  counterfeit 
dollars  to  a  great  amount,  a  horse  load  of  which  was  detected,  in  passing 
for  the  purchase  of  negroes  at  Augusta." 

And  the  following  is  from  Ramsey's  Tennessee: 

"A  tradition  still  continues  of  the  existence  of  the  silver  mines  men- 
tioned thus  by  Adair.  It  is  derived  from  hunters  and  traders  who  have 
seen  the  locality  and  assisted  in  smelting  the  metal.  After  the  whites 
had  settled  near  and  began  to  encroach  upon  the  Overhill  towns,  their 
inhabitants  began  to  withhold  all  knowledge  of  the  mines  from  the 
traders,  apprehending  that  their  cupidity  for  the  precious  metals  would 
lead  to  an  appropriation  of  the  mines,  and  the  ultimate  expulsion  of  the 
natives  from  the  country.  The  Mr.  De  Lozier,  of  Sevier  County,  testified 
to  the  existence  and  richness  of  mines  of  silver,  one  of  which  he  worked 
at,  in  the  very  section  of  the  Cherokee  country  described  by  Adair." 

As  it  is  the  design  to  give  here  all  the  information  which  it  has  been 
possible  to  obtain  on  the  subject  of  Swift's  Silver  Mines,  official  docu- 
ments must  not  be  neglected.  Some  geologists  seem  to  be  of  the  opinion 
that  no  silver  ore  exists,  and  that  none  ever  did  exist,  in  the  region  where 
Swift  is  said  to  have  found  it  in  such  quantities.^ 

1  The  Geological  Survey  of  Kentucky,  in  its  Preliminary  Report  on  the  Geology 
of  the  Upper  Kentucky  River,  gives  this  discouraging  information: 

"Considerable  time  and  means  having  been  spent  in  desultory  and  unavailing 
search  for  silver  in  various  localities  of  this  region,  as  well  as  elsewhere  in  this 
coal  field,  it  is  desirable  to  state  that  as  yet  no  indication  of  any  deposit  of  silver 
ore  worth  exploitation  has  ever  been  discovered  in  the  Appalachian  coal  fields ; 
and  also  that  nn  true  vein  of  any  kind  has  been  found  in  the  eastern  field  of  the 
State,  excepting  tlu~  one  here  described  under  the  caption  of  iron  ore.  From 
these  facts,  after  such  investigation  in  this  field  as  has  been  made,  it  may  be 
assumed  as  reasonably  certain  that  no  paying  quantity  of  silver  ore  will  be  found 


112  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

III 

What  Histcikkal  Works  Say 

Many  references  to  Swift's  Silver  Mines  have  ajipearcd  in  authentic 
historical  works  of  tlic  states  in  wliich  the  traditions  concerning  them 
exist.  'I'iiey  are  mentioned  in  Collins'  History  of  Kentucky,  in  connection 
with  Bell,  Carter,  Laurel,  Floyd  and  Wolfe  counties. 

The  mention  made  under  the  head  of  I-'loyd  County  is  \ery  brief  and 
is  as  follows : 

"The  tirsl  white  \isitors  uixm  the  territory  of  what  is  now  h'loyd 
County  were  probably  one  or  more  parties  who  canie  to  I^astcrn  Ken- 
tucky at  different  dates  before  the  Revolutionary  War  in  search  of 
Swift's  Silver  Mine,  and  worked  it." 

There  was  knowleflgc  of  these  mines  before  Swift  liroui^ht  informa- 
tion of  them  into  the  frontier  settlements  of  Virginia.  J'ennsylvania  and 
^Iorth  Carol'na.  It  is  tnie  that  he  brought  the  most  dcTmite  knowledge 
of  them  which  had  been  conveyed  from  the  wilderness  of  the  Ohio  Val- 
ley at  that  time.  But  a  vague  form  of  this  knowlerlge  had  been  current 
on  the  frontiers  for  many  years  prior  to  Swift's  first  journey,  in  1760. 
The  surviving  soldiers  returned  from  the  campaign  in  which  the  un- 
fortunate lirafldock  lost  his  life  with  this  knowledge  much  increased,  and 
tluy  were  eager  to  jilunge  into  the  wilds  in  search  of  the  mines. 

Cnder  the  head  of  Wolfe  County,  Collins  has  a  more  extended  notice 
of  these  mines      It  is  as  follows: 

"Swift's  Silver  Mine  is  too  beautiful  and  fanciful  to  be  contined  to 
those  counties  (Bell  and  Carter),  but  must  needs  have  a  local  habitation 
also  in  Wolfe  County — on  Low^er  Devil  Creek,  six  miles  in  an  air  line 
from  Conii)ton,  the  county  seat  (which  is  thirty  miles  from  Mount  Ster- 
ling). Swift's  name  is  carved  on  both  rocks  and  trees — by  whom  it  is 
not  known. 

"In  February,  187 1,  three  Cherokee  Indians  (two  men  and  a  squaw) 
came  from  the  Indian  Territory  to  Irvine,  Estill  County,  Kentucky: 
thence  about  fifteen  miles  east  to  the  farm  of  Jacob  Crabtree.  One  of 
the  men,  who  claimed  to  be  a  young  chief,  was  educated,  talked  English, 
and  was  well  informed  about  minerals.  The  object  of  their  journey  was 
quite  mysterious — except  that  it  seemed  to  have  connection  with  the  timc- 
out-of-mind  tradition  about  Swift's  Silver  Mine;  indeed,  the  Indians 
said  they  were  within  half  a  day's  journey  of  that  mine.  Leaving  the 
scpiaw  at  Crabtree's,  the  Indians  followed  up  Little  Sinking  Creek  to 
its  source,  crossed  over  onto  Big  Sinking  Creek,  and  after  riding  sonic 
miles  hi'.ched  their  horses;  then  warning  the  whites  who  out  of  curiosity 
were  following  at  a  little  distance  that  they  would  turn  back  if  followed 
further,  disappeared  in  a  thick  undergrowth.  Late  in  the  evening  they 
returned  to  Crabtree's  bearing  upon  their  horses  two  buckskin  sacks  or 
bags  heavily  laden,  liy  their  sacks  one  of  the  Indians  kept  watch  all 
night  with  a  revoher  in  his  hriud,  and  in  the  morning  the  three  departed 
on  the  return  road  toward  Ir\ine.  The  whites  went  immediately  to  the 
neighborhood  visited  by  the  Indians,  but  did  not  succeed  in  linding  any 
mineral  but  iron  ore. 

"Two  caves,  known  as  the  .-Vshy  and  the  Bone  (or  Pot)  caves,  are 
about  a   mile  apart,  on  lower  Devil  Creek.     In  the  latter,  on  a  visit  in 

in  it,  tliough  it  is  beyond  dispute  that  occasional  silver-bearing  ore  has  been 
found  in  exceedingly  small  quantities.  The  rugged  conglomerate  clilfs,  which 
have  attracted  the  most  scarcli,  are  not  more  likely  to  contain  silver  than  other 
smoother  surfaces.  The  legends  of  Swift  and  his  concealed  silver  mines  and 
treasures,  current  in  the  mountains  from  Pennsylvania  to  Georgia  and  North 
Carolina,  may  hi;  left  to  those  who  wish  to  believe  them.  It  should  he  known, 
however,  that  the  North  ,\merioan  Indians  had  no  knowledge  of  mining  or 
metallurgy." 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  113 

1871,  were  found  (27)  twenty-seven  pots  or  crucibles,  about  (i^j)  one 
and  one-half  feet  across  and  same  depth,  in  three  rows  of  nine  each,  and 
each  pot  of  about  a  barrel  capacity.  The  road  to  it.  although  unused  for 
many  years,  was  plainly  perceptible — being  worn  down  four  or  five  feet 
deep,  and  with  trees  apparently  one  hundred  to  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  years  old  growing  in  it.  A  large  deposit  of  sulphur,  in  ore  or  rocks, 
and  deposits  of  iron  and  bismuth  are  found  near,  but  with  no  road  lead- 
ing to  them." 

Collins  speaks  incidentally  of  Swift's  .Silver  Mines  in  connection  with 
the  murder  of  Col.  James  Harrod,  under  the  head  of  ]\Ierccr  County. 
Colonel  Harrod  was  the  founder  of  Harrodshurg.  Kentucky,  which,  says 
Collins,  "has  the  honor  of  being  the  first  settled  place  in  the  .State  of 
Kentucky.''  In  many  respects  Colonel  Harrod  was  a  remarkable  man, 
and  Kentucky  has  reason  to  be  proud  of  his  memory.  His  murder  was 
deeply  deplored.     Collins  says  : 

"Dr.  Christo])her  Graham  (still  li\ing.  June,  1>^J,^,  at  the  ripe  age 
of  87)  settled  at  I  larrodsbiu-g  in  18(9.  and  was  the  family  physician 
of  Gen.  James  Kay,  ,Mrsr  .Ann  Harrod  (widow  of  Col.  James  Harrod), 
and  others  of  the  earliest  ])ioneers  of  Kentuck\ ,  and  acquainted  with  Dan- 
iel Boone.  .Simon  Kenton  and  other  [jrominent  contemporaries,  b'roni 
their  lijjs  he  took  down  in  writing  many  incidents  of  pioneer  adventure, 
some  of  them  wonderful  and  others  of  most  thrilling  interest.  In  a  series 
of  letters  to  the  author,  in  the  summer  and  fall  of  1871,  Dr.  Graham  com- 
numicated  a  number  of  these  incidents,  several  of  which  are  given  herein 
to  the  public: 

"Mrs.  Harrod  told  Dr.  Graham  that  her  husband  was  murdered  by  a 
man  named  Bridges,  with  whom  he  had  a  lawsuit  about  property.  They 
had  not  spoken  together  for  some  time.  Bridges  left  for  a  few  weeks, 
professing  to  go  in  search  of  Swift's  Silver  Mines — which  many  have 
hunted  for  even  down  to  the  present  day.  On  his  return.  Bridges  ap- 
proached Harrod  and  said,  'Colonel,  I  have  found  Swift's  mine,  and 
though  we  have  been  at  outs,  I  have  confidence  in  you  and  prefer  you  as 
a  partner  to  any  man  in  Kentucky,  and  you  have  the  means  to  work  the 
mine.'  When  Colonel  Harrod  told  this  to  his  wife,  she  earnestly  opposed 
his  going,  and  insisted  it  was  a  plan  to  murder  him.  This  suggestion 
only  made  him  more  determined,  and  he  replied  that  'he  was  not  afraid 
of  any  living  man.'  She  prevailed  upon  him  to  let  a  third  man  into  the 
secret  and  take  him  along.  They  reached  the  Three  Forks  of  the  Ken- 
tucky River,  where  Bridges  said  the  mine  was,  stationed  a  camp,  and 
each  started  out  for  game — Harrod  taking  the  bank  of  the  river.  Bridges 
a  few  hundred  yards  from  him,  and  the  third  man  kept  close  by.  In  a 
very  short  time  this  man  heard  the  report  of  a  gtm  exactly  where  he 
thought  Col.  Harrod  might  be,  and  supposing  he  had  killed  a  deer,  re- 
turned to  camp.  There  he  found  Bridges,  who  professed  to  be  very 
much  alarmed ;  he  said  he  had  seen  fresh  Indian  'sign'  and  felt  assured 
that  Col.  Harrod  was  killed.  Despite  the  protestations  of  this  third  man. 
Bridges  started  back,  and  he,  rather  than  be  left  alone,  followed  shortly 
after.  Bridges  took  some  furs  and  skins  to  Lexington,  where  a  hatter 
had  opened  a  shop.  To  him  he  sold  his  furs,  and  also  a  pair  of  silver 
sleeve-buttons  with  the  letter  //  engraved  upon  them.  These  buttons 
being  sent  to  Mrs.  Harrod.  she  at  once  recognized  them  and  said  her 
husband  had  worn  them  off,  upon  his  linen  hunting-shirt.  A  party  of 
men  started  immediately  for  the  Three  Forks,  and  found  the  bones  of 
Colonel  Harrod — picked  bare  by  the  beasts  of  the  forests,  but  recognized 
the  hunting-shirt  with  the  buttons  gone.  Bridges,  said  Mrs.  Harrod,  in 
relating  the  sad  story,  took  the  alarm,  left  the  country,  and  never  returned, 
'i'he  exact  date  of  his  murder  is  not  given,  but  it  was  jirobably  in  July, 
1793.     ']"he  records  of  the   1  l.-irrodsburg  Trustees  show  that  on   .August 

Vol.  1—12 


114  HISTORY  Ol'  KENTUCKY 

30th,  1793  ( because  of  his  recent  death),  Ilarrod's  seat  in  the  Board  was 
declared  vacant,  and  a  successor  chosen." 

Colonel  Harrod  was  a  nian  of  great  prominence  in  Kentucky.  He  was 
born  in  Bedford  County,  Pennsylvania,  in  1742,  and  grew  up  in  the 
country  in  which  Swift  and  his  associates  had  many  of  their  transactions 
in  which  they  may  have  been  personally  known.  His  readiness  to  go 
in  search  of  the  mines  shows  conclusively  that  the  existence  of  the  mines 
was  believed  in  by  men  who  had  every  opportiniity  to  know  the  truth, 
and  who  stood  highest  in  the  land  in  the  pioneer  days.  No  other  class 
of  men  detested  frauds  so  much  as  the  early  settlers  of  Pennsylvania, 
\'irginia  and  Kentucky,  and  no  other  persons  in  the  world  were  quicker 
to  discover  them  and  punish  them  than  these  same  keen,  cool,  skillful 
hunters,  backwoodsmen — heroes  who  carried  civilization  into  the  Western 
wilderness  at  the  cost,  in  many  instances,  of  their  lives.  They  had  oppor- 
tunities for  knowing  Swift  and  his  associates  and  of  knowing  of  their 
transactions,  and  they  believed  in  the  existence  of  Swift's  Silver  Mines. 
And  it  is  possible,  even  probable,  that  much  of  the  silver  coin  in  circula- 
tion in  Western  Virginia  and  Kentucky  was  known  to  have  been  coined 
by  Swift,  who  was  in  all  probability  living  yet  in  1793.  ^^'"^  know  that 
he  was  at  Pean's  Station,  in  East  Tennessee,  in  1791.  (See  quotation 
from  Haywood  under  Pell  County,  this  chapter,  post.)  When  most  of 
the  parties  engaged  in  w-orking  these  mines  were  yet  living,  and  every 
facility  existed  for  disproving  their  claims  had  they  been  false,  men  of 
such  standing  as  Harrod,  who  had  been  brought  up  on  the  frontier  and 
knew  from  personal  observation  every  stream  and  mountain  in  ^\'cstern 
Virginia,  Tennessee,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio  and  Kentucky,  were  .so  well  con- 
vinced of  the  existence  of  these  mines  that  a  doubt  of  it  never  entered 
their  minds. 

Dr.  R.  G.  Thwaites,  secretary  of  the  \\'iscon.>;in  .'^tate  Historical 
Society,  said  of  Colonel  Harrod : 

"James  Harrod's  father  emigrated  from  England  to  X'irginia  about 
1734  and  was  one  of  the  first  settlers  on  the  Shenandoah,  in  the  Valley 
of  Virginia.  One  of  his  sons,  Samuel,  accompanied  Michael  Stoner  on 
his  famous  Western  htuiting  and  exploring  trip  in  1767.  Another,  Wil- 
liam, born  at  the  new  family  seat,  at  Pig  Cove,  in  what  is  now  Pedford 
County,  Pa.,  served  with  distinction  under  George  Rogers  Clark.  James, 
born  in  1742,  was  twelve  years  old  when  his  father  died,  leaving  a  large 
family  on  an  exposed  frontier,  at  the  opening  of  the  Erench  and  Indian 
war.  In  November,  1755,  a  raid  was  made  on  the  Big  Cove  settlement 
by  the  Delaware  chief,  Shingiss,  but  the  Harrods  were  among  the  few 
families  who  escaped  unharmed  to  Eort  Littleton.  When  James  was 
sixteen  years  of  age  he  served  with  his  brother  William  on  luirbes'  cam- 
I)aign,  and  very  likely  saw  further  service  during  the  war.  In  1772,  when 
he  had  attained  wide  celebrity  on  the  border  as  an  a(le])t  in  woodcraft, 
he  helped  William  settle  on  Ten  Mile  Creek,  a  tributary  of  the  Mononga- 
hela ;  and  in  1773  he  and  several  others  explored  Kentucky,  returning 
home  by  way  of  Greenbrier  River.  We  have  seen  that  he  was  surveying 
the  site  of  Harrodsburg  in  1774,  when  w-arned  by  Boone  and  Stoner. 
Retiring  with  his  men  to  the  I  lolston,  he  and  they  joined  Colonel  Chris- 
tian's regiment,  but  arrived  at  Point  Pleasant  a  few  hours  after  the  battle 
of  October  10.  Returning  to  his  abandoned  Kentucky  settlement,  March 
18,  1775,  a  fortnight  before  I'ooncsborough  was  founded,  he  was  chosen 
a  delegate  to  the  Transylvania  conxention,  and  became  a  man  of  great 
prominence  in  the  Kentiuky  colony.  In  1779  he  commanded  a  company 
on  P.owman's  camjiaign,  declining  a  majorship;  he  served  as  a  private  on 
Clark's  Indian  campaign  of  1782.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Kentucky 
convention  (at  Danville)  of  December,  1784,  and  at  one  time  repre- 
sented Kentucky  in  the  Virginia  Legislature.     In   Mbruary,   1792,  hav- 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  115 

ing  made  his  will,  he  set  out  from  Washington,  Mason  County,  Ky., 
with  two  men  in  search  of  a  silver  mine  reported  to  be  at  the  Three 
Forks  of  the  Kentucky  River.  No  more  was  heard  of  him  or  his  com- 
panions, and  it  is  still  the  belief  of  the  family  that  the  latter  murdered 
him.  He  was  survived  by  his  wife  and  a  daughter  and  left  a  large 
landed  estate.  Harrod,  although  unlettered,  was  a  man  of  fine  presence 
and  many  sterling  qualities,  and  made  a  strong  impression  on  his  gen- 
eration. He  is  still  remembered  in  Kentucky  as  one  of  the  worthiest 
pioneers  of  that  State." 

There  are  some  errors  in  this  account  of  Doctor  Thwaites,  as  will 
appear  by  comparing  it  with  that  quoted  from  Collins.  It  is  reasonable 
to  suppose  that  Collins  obtained  the  exact  facts  from  Doctor  Graham. 

Bell  County 

Notices  appear  under  head  of  various  counties  of  Kentucky  in  Collins' 
History  of  Kentucky.  In  Volume  II,  page  414,  under  Josh  Bell  County, 
appears  the  following: 

Swift's  Silver  Mine 

"In  1854-5,  while  making  geological  investigations  in  the  Southeast 
part  of  Kentucky,  as  part  of  the  official  survey  of  the  State,  Prof.  David 
Dale  Owen  examined  the  supposed  location  of  the  notorious  Swift  Mine 
on  the  northeast  side  of  Log  Mountain,  only  a  few  miles  from  Cumber- 
land Ford,  then  in  Knox  County,  now  in  Josh  Bell,  or  rather.  Bell  County. 
The  Indians  are  said  in  former  times  to  have  made  a  reservation  of  30 
miles  square,  on  a  branch  of  the  Laurel  Fork  of  Clear  Creek.  Benjamin 
Herndon,  an  old  explorer  and  a  man  well  acquainted  with  the  country, 
guided  him  to  a  spot  where  the  ore  was  supposed  to  be  obtained  by  the 
Indians,  and  afterwards  by  Swift  and  his  party.  It  proved  to  be  a  kidney- 
shaped  mass  of  dark-gray  argillaceous  iron  stone,  containing  some  acciden- 
tal minerals  sparingly  disseminated,  such  as  sulphuret  of  zinc  and  lead — 
which  proved  on  examination  to  be  hydrated  silicate  of  alumina.  This 
ore  originated  in  a  thick  mass  of  dark  bituminous  argillaceous  shale,  with 
some  coal  interstratified,  that  occurs  about  500  to  600  feet  up  in  the 
Log  Mountain. 

"Judge  John  Haywood,  who  emigrated  from  North  Carolina  at 
an  early  day  to  Tennessee,  and  a  year  after,  in  1823,  wrote  its  civil  and 
political  history  from  its  earliest  settlement  up  to  the  year  1796,  says  of 
this  locality — ■ 

"  'Cumberland  Mountains  bear  N.  46°  E. ;  and  between  the  Laurel 
Mountain  and  the  Cumberland  Mountain,  Cumberland  River  breaks 
through  the  latter.  At  the  point  where  it  breaks  through  and  about  ten 
miles  north  of  the  State-line  is  Clear  Creek,  which  discharges  itself  into 
the  Cumberland,  bearing  northeast  till  it  reaches  the  river.  It  rises 
between  the  great  Laurel  Hill  and  Cumberland  Mountain ;  its  length  is 
about  fifteen  miles.  Not  far  from  its  head  rises  also  the  South  Fork 
of  the  Cumberland,  in  the  State  of  Kentucky,  and  runs  westwardly.  On 
Clear  Creek  are  two  old  furnaces,  about  half  way  between  the  head  and 
mouth  of  the  creek — first  discovered  by  hunters  in  the  time  of  the  first 
settlements  made  in  this  country. 

"  'These  furnaces  then  exhibited  very  ancient  appearances ;  about  them 
were  coals  and  cinders — very  unlike  iron  cinders,  as  they  have  no  marks 
of  the  rust  which  iron  cinders  are  said  uniformly  to  have  in  a  few  years. 
There  are  also  a  number  of  the  like  fumaces  on  the  South  Fork,  bearing 
similar  marks,  and  seemingly  of  a  very  ancient  date. 

"'One  Swift  came  to  East  Tennessee  in  1790  and  in  1791  ;  and  was 
at  Bean's  Station,  nn  his  way  to  a  part  of  the  country  near  which  these 


116  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

furnaces  are.  He  liad  with  him  a  Journal  of  his  former  transactions — 
by  which  it  appeared  tliat  in  1761,  1762,  and  1763,  and  afterwards  in 
1767,  he,  two  Frenchman,  and  some  few  others,  had  a  furnace  some- 
where about  the  Red  Bird  Fork  of  Kentucky  River — which  runs  toward 
Cumberland  River  and  Mountain  northeast  of  the  mouth  of  Clear  Creek. 
He  and  his  associates  made  silver  in  large  quantities  at  the  last  men- 
tioned furnace ;  they  got  the  ore  from  a  cave  aljout  three  miles  from 
the  ])lace  where  this  furnace  stood.  The  Indians  becoming  troublesome, 
he  went  off:  and  the  Frenchmen  went  towards  the  ]ilace  now  called  Nash- 
ville. Swift  was  deterred  from  the  prosecution  of  his  last  journey  by 
the  reports  he  heard  of  Indian  hostility,  and  rclin-ned  home — leaving  his 
Journals  in  the  possession  of  Mrs.  Renfro. 

"  'The  furnaces  on  Clear  Creek,  and  those  on  the  South  Fork  of  the 
Cumberland,  were  made  cither  before  or  since  the  time  when  Swift 
worked  his.  The  walls  of  these  furnaces,  and  horn  buttons  of  European 
manufacture  found  in  a  rockhouse.  prove  the  Europeans  erected  them. 
It  is  probable,  therefore,  that  the  French — when  they  claimed  the  coun- 
try' in  the  Alleghanies  in  1754.  and  prior  to  that  time,  and  afterwards 
up  to  175S — erected  these  works.  A  rockhouse  is  a  cavity  beneath  a 
rock,  jutted  out  from  the  side  of  a  mountain,  affording  a  cover  from 
the  weather  to  those  who  are  below  it.  In  one  of  these  was  found  a 
furnace  and  human  bones,  and  horn  buttons  supposed  to  have  been  a 
part  of  the  dress,  which  had  been  buried  with  the  body  to  which  the 
bones  belonged.  It  is  probable  that  the  French  who  were  with  Swift, 
showed  him  the  place  where  the  ore  was.'  " 

The  work  from  which  Collins  quoted  the  above  is  Tlie  Civil  and 
Political  History  of  the  State  of  Tennessee,  by  John  Haywood.  He 
was  born  in  North  Carolina,  was  a  lawyer,  and  rose  to  eminence  in 
his  profession.  At  an  early  period  of  his  professional  life  he  was  a 
judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  his  native  .state,  and  his  decisions  are 
now  a  part  of  the  law  of  that  commonwealth.  He  came  to  Tennessee 
very  early  after  its  settlement  and  was  for  almost  all  the  remainder  of 
his  life  either  a  judge  of  a  Circuit  Court  or  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  Tennessee.  He  was  one  of  the  ablest  judges  that  ever  occupied  the 
bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  that  state,  and  is  spoken  of  as  having 
laid  the  foundation  of  the  judiciary  of  Tennessee.  He  wrote  other 
books,  and  they  are  of  the  highest  character.  His  History  of  Tennessee 
is  one  of  the  most  valuable  historical  works  ever  written  of  any  state. 
Judge  Haywood  had  evidently  examined  the  journal  of  Swift  before 
he  wrote  that  book,  and  he  settles  the  point  of  the  existence  of  a  genuine 
jom-nal  of  John  .Swift.     Collins  is  convinced  on  this  jjoint,  and  says: 

"A  Memorandum  of  John  Swift's  Journal  has  fallen  into  our  hands, 
which  is  an  exceedingly  curious  document.  It  has  the  appearance  of 
being  a  copy  of  a  portion  of  the  same  document  referred  by  above  by 
Juflge  Haywood.  It  describes  with  some  miiuiteness  the  journeys  of 
1761  (which  began  at  Alexandria,  Virginia),  1762,  1764,  1767-8,  and 
1768-9,  and  alludes  to  three  other  trips  of  which  he  kept  no  account. 

"'On  the  1st  of  September,  1769,  we  left  between  22,000  and  30,000 
dollars  and  crowns  on  a  large  creek,  running  near  a  south  course.  Close 
to  the  sjjot  we  marked  our  names  (Swift,  JeiTerson,  Munday.  and  others) 
on  a  beech  tree — with  a  comjjasses.  square,  and  trowell.  No  great  dis- 
tance from  this  place  we  left  $15,000  of  the  same  kind,  marking  three 
or  four  trees  with  marks.  Not  far  from  these,  we  left  the  prize,  near 
a  forked  white-oak,  and  about  three  feet  under  ground,  and  laid  two 
long  stones  across  it,  marking  several  stones  close  about  it.  At  the 
Forks  of  Sandy,  clo.se  by  the  forks,  is  a  small  rock ;  has  a  spring  in  one 
end  of  it.  Between  it  and  a  small  branch,  we  hid  a  prize  under  the 
ground:  it  was  valued  at  $6,000.  We  likewi.se  left  $3,000  buried  in 
the  rocks  of  the  rockhouse.'  " 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  117 

"One  of  the  companies  in  search  of  the  mine  was  Staley,  Ireland, 
McCHntock,  Blackburn,  and  Swift." 

Collins  says  this  copy  was  furnished  him  by  Col.  William  G.  Terrell, 
from  the  papers  of  Wood  C.  Dollins,  of  Mount  Sterling,  Kentucky. 

Carter  County 

We  find  Carter  County,  Kentucky,  often  mentioned  in  connection 
with  Swift's  Silver  Mines.  Many  of  the  traditions  told  in  Eastern 
Kentucky  about  these  mines  located  them,  or  some  of  them,  in  Carter 
County.  Cr>llins  did  not  fail  to  secure  some  information  locating  these 
mines  in  this  county,  as  witness : 

"This  Silver  Mine  of  Swift's  had  been  located  by  tradition  in  dif- 
ferent counties  in  Eastern  Kentucky,  from  Josh  Bell  in  the  Southeast 
to  Carter  iq  the  North.  The  most  recent  claim  is  that  of  the  Greenup 
Independent,  in  February,   1873,  of  which  the  following  is  an  extract : 

"  'When  Swift  was  driven  from  the  silver  mines  in  Kentucky  by 
the  approach  of  hostile  Indians,  he  returned  to  his  home  in  North 
Carolina.  The  money  which  he  had  with  him  created  suspicion  among 
his  neighbors,  and  he  was  arrested  as  a  counterfeiter.  In  those  days 
there  existed  no  mint  in  the  United  States,  and  the  only  test  of  the 
circulating  money  was  the  purity  of  the  metal.  Upon  the  trial  of  the 
case  against  Swift,  it  was  proven  that  the  coins  in  his  possession  were 
pure  silver,  and  the  charges  were  dismissed. 

"  'The  ancient  tools  and  instruments  used  for  coining  money  which 
fell  from  a  clifif  in  Carter  County  were  seen  and  examined  by  men  now 
living.  These  men  are  highly  respectable  and  entitled  to  full  credit, 
and  they  vouch  for  the  truth  of  the  statements.  One  of  the  first  settlers 
of  the  county  found  near  his  cabin  a  quantity  of  cinder,  of  such  unusual 
color  and  weight  as  to  induce  him  to  have  it  tested  by  an  expert.  This 
was  done,  and  the  result  was  a  considerable  amount  of  pure  silver,  which 
at  his  instance  was  converted  into  spoons ;  these  spoons  are  still  in  the 
possession  of  the  family. 

"  'Several  years  ago  a  couple  of  Indians,  from  the  far  West,  visited 
Carter  County,  and  acted  in  such  a  manner  as  to  excite  the  attention 
of  the  citizens.  They  remained  for  a  cons:derable  time,  and  were  con- 
tinually wandering  over  the  mountains  and  making  minute  examina- 
tions of  the  country  along  the  small  streams.  When  about  to  leave, 
they  told  an  old  gentleman  with  whom  they  had  stayed  that  they  were 
in  search  of  a  silver  mine  which  the  traditions  of  their  tribe  located 
in  that  section  of  Kentucky,  but  they  were  unable  to  find  it,  owing  to 
the  changed  condition  of  the  country. 

"  'At  an  early  day,  siher  money  was  in  circulation  in  the  settlements 
qf  what  is  now  West  \'irginia,  said  to  have  been  made  by  Swift.  It 
was  free  from  alloy,  and  of  such  a  description  as  to  indicate  that  it 
never  passed  through  an  established  mint. 

"  'A  bar  of  pure  silver  was  found  many  years  ago  near  a  small  mill 
in  Carter  County,  w-hich  was  thought  to  have  been  smelted  from  ore 
obtained  from  the  silver  mines  said  to  exist  in  that  country.  And,  within 
the  past  few  days,  a  piece  of  ore  which  has  every  appearance  of  silver 
ore,  and  a  small  quantity  of  metal  which  is  said  be  to  silver,  was  shown 
by  a  gentleman  of  undoubted  veracity,  who  testifies  that  he  got  the 
ore  in  the  mountains  of  Kentucky,  and  with  his  own  hands  melted  the 
metal  from  ore  obtained  in  these  mountains.'  " 

L.'\UEEL  County 

Collins  says,  also,  under  the  head  of  Laurel  County: 

"Swift's  Silver  Mine  was  supposed,  in  1846,  to  be  in  Laurel  County." 


118  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

There  is  little  doubt  that  Swift  and  his  associates  passed  through 
that  country  more  than  once. 

IV 
The  Siiawnees  and  These  Mines 

The  Shawnee  Indians  sustained  peculiar  relations  to  Swift's  silver 
mines.  Some  members  of  tiie  tribe  acconii)anied  Swift  and  aided  in 
locating-  and  operating  the  mines.  Remembrance  of  these  mines  re- 
mained in  the  tribe  long  after  it  migrated  to  the  Golden  West.  Shawnees 
have  from  time  to  time  gone  into  the  mountains  of  Eastern  Kentucky 
to  search  for  hidden  treasure  told  of  around  camp  fires  for  three  gen- 
erations. Occasionally  an  old  map  of  the  regions  roamed  over  by  Swift 
and  his  associates  has  come  to  light  in  the  lodges  of  the  Shawnees 
beyond  the  Mississippi.  No  other  tribe  of  Indians  ever  had  anything 
like  the  interest  in  this  matter  shown  by  the  Shawnees. 

About  the  year  1870  (possibly  a  year  or  two  later)  an  intelligent 
and  well  informed  .^hawnee  Indian  came  to  the  vicinity  of  Rule's  Mill 
and  Little  Mudlick  Creek,  in  Johnson  County,  Kentucky.  He  carried 
with  him  a  number  of  rude  maps  by  the  aid  of  which  he  said  he  had 
come  to  that  particular  locality;  and  he  said  that  by  their  help  he  ex- 
pected to  discover  some  casks  of  coined  silver  concealed  there  by  some 
.Shawnees,  among  them  his  ancestors,  while  in  the  service  of  John  Swift 
more  than  a  hundred  years  before.  He  had  served  in  one  of  the  Kansas 
Indian  regiments  in  the  Civil  war,  and  he  had  a  soldier's  contempt  for 
danger.  When  told  he  might  be  harmed  and  even  murdered  by  vag- 
abonds or  evil-disposed  persons  he  said  he  could  give  a  good  account 
of  himself  if  attacked. - 

The  Shawnee  was  mounted  upon  a  huge  jack  which  was  as  black 
as  a  coal,  and  to  which  he  seemed  much  attached.  Some  of  the  resi- 
dents of  the  country  desired  to  secure  this  animal  for  breeding  pur- 
poses, and  offered  the  .Shawnee  a  fair  price  for  it,  but  to  no  purpose. 
He  offered  to  sell  another  animal  he  had,  a  very  good  horse,  and  per- 
haps did  sell  it  before  he  had  accomplished  his  designs  there.  The 
trappings  of  his  mount  were  ornamented  most  i)rofusely  with  silver 
settings,  nails  and  rosettes. 

Cornstalk  carried  a  number  of  buckskin  bags  of  different  sizes,  and 
in  one  of  the.se  he  carried  tools  for  digging.  He  spent  much  of  the 
time  every  night  searching  for  the  treasure  for  which  he  had  come  from 
the  Indian  territory.  By  day  he  could  be  found  at  the  old  mill — then 
abandoned — constructed  of  the  drilling  outfit  of  an  oil  well  which  had 
been  put  down  there  to  no  i)urf)ose.    This  old  mill  was  his  cam])ing-])Iace. 

The  Shawnee  remained  about  the  mouth  of  Little  Mudlick  Creek 
some  four  or  five  weeks.  The  last  week  he  was  not  seen  so  much  about 
his  camp,  but  was  observed  along  the  high  cliffs  in  the  big  bend  in 
Paint  Creek  below  Rule's  Mill.  At  dusk  one  day  he  passed  Rule's  Mill, 
going  up  P>ig  Paint  Creek.  There  had  been  rain,  and  there  was  a  head 
in  the  millpond.  The  mill  was  grinding,  and  several  people  were  gathered 
about  the  mill  yard.     The  buckskin  bags  were  filled  and  slung  across 

2  This  was  the  first  Indian  to  visit  that  country  in  half  a  century  or  more, 
except  possibly  an  Osage  brought  in  by  a  traveling  mathematician  and  lecturer 
named  Dodge  for  advertising  purposes.  He  gave  his  name  as  Cornstalk.  His 
dress  it  is  said  by  those  who  saw  him,  conformed  closely  to  the  Indian  standard 
of  fashions,  though  a  mixture  of  the  garbs  of  savagery  and  civilization,  being 
made  principally  of  dressed  buckskin  and  ornamented  with  broad  fringes,  beads 
of  different  colors,  and  porcupine  quills.  He  wore  a  broad-brimmed  high-crowned 
hat  made  of  white  felt,  something  after  the  style  of  the  Mexican  head  dress.  In 
the  band  of  tliis  hat  were  securely  fastened  a  number  of  large  feathers  evidently 
taken  from  the  plumage  of  the  eagle.  His  coat,  which  was  much  like  the  hunting- 
shirt  of  the  pioneers,  had  some  silver  ornaments  in  the  way  of  buckles  and  buttons. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  119 

the  saddle.  The  jack  seemed  heavily  laden,  so  much  in  fact  that  the 
Indian  was  walking  and  driving  the  animal  before  him.  There  had  been 
drinking  at  the  mill,  and  as  the  Indian  passed  he  was  rudely  accosted. 
A  jockey  or  horse-swapper,  a  quarrelsome  and  worthless  character,  shook 
the  buckskin  bags,  and  the  bystanders  were  sure  they  heard  the  clinking 
and  jingling  of  silver  coin. 

The  next  morning  the  jack  was  found  wandering  about  on  the  bank 
of  the  creek  below  the  mill  and  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  creek  from 
the  road,  and  without  bridle  or  saddle.  The  Shawnee  was  never  seen 
or  heard  of  again  in  that  vicinity.  A  skeleton  was  found  some  years 
afterwards  in  a  cliiT  of  rugged  rocks  in  a  wild  and  unfrequented  place 
on  Big  Paint  Creek  above  the  mill ;  and  with  it  were  found  a  buckskin 
moccasin  worked  with  colored  beads,  and  decaying  fragments  of  other 
buckskin  garments.  Twenty  years  ago  parts  of  this  skeleton  could  be 
seen  in  the  office  of  a  physician  in  Paintsville,  Kentucky. 

When  it  became  known  that  the  Shawnee  had  disappeared,  leaving 
his  jack,  there  was  some  excitement  in  the  country  about  Rule's  Mill, 
and  some  persons  were  under  suspicion  and  even  under  surveillance  for 
a  time.  The  excitement  died  down,  and  some  of  the  parties  went  to 
North  Carolina.  The  jockey  moved  to  Carter  County,  Kentucky.  It 
was  generally  known  who  killed  the  Shawnee,  but  there  was  no  direct 
evidence  of  the  fact.  That  the  Shawnee  had  found  the  hidden  treasure 
for  which  he  was  searching  there  is  little  doubt — in  fact  there  never 
was  any  doubt.    And  that  he  was  robbed  and  murdered  is  certain. ^ 

The  Blue-J.\ckets  and  Swift's  Silver  Mines 

The  Blue-Jacket  family  is  one  of  importance  and  influence  in  the 
Shawnee  tribe  of  Indians.  The  first  chief  of  the  family  of  which  his- 
tory gives  account  was  Weyapiersenwah,  who  was  in  command  of  the 
Indians'  forces  defeated  by  General  Wayne.  His  descendants  have  al- 
ways been  chiefs  in  the  .Shawnee  nation.  In  Drake's  Life  of  Tecumseh 
is  to  be  found  the  following: 

"We  are  indebted  to  Major  Galloway,  of  Xenia,  for  the  following 
anecdote  of  this  chief: 

"  'In  the  spring  of  iiSoo,  Blue- Jacket  and  another  chief,  whose  name 
I  have  forgotten,  boarded  for  several  weeks  at  my  father's,  in  Green 
County,  at  the  expense  of  a  company  of  Kentuckians,  who  engaged 
Blue-Jacket,  for  a  valuable  consideration,  to  show  them  a  great  silver 
mine,  which  the  tradition  said  was  known  to  the  Indians  as  existing 
on  Red  River,  one  of  the  head  branches  of  the  Kentucky.  A  Mr.  Jona- 
than Flack,  agent  of  this  company,  had  previously  spent  several  months 
among  the  Shawnees,  at  their  towns  and  hunting  camps,  in  order  to 
induce  this  chief  to  show  this  great  treasure.  At  the  time  agreed  on. 
ten  or  twelve  of  the  company  came  from  Kentucky  to  meet  Blue-Jacket 
at  my  father's,  where  a  day  or  two  was  spent  in  settling  the  terms 
upon  which  he  would  accompany  them,  the  crafty  chief  taking  his  own 

■'  Long  years  afterwards,  in  Kansas,  William  E.  Connelley  made  inquiry  about 
this  Indian  murdered  near  Rule's  Mill.  Charles  Blue-Jacket,  one  of  the  principal 
men  of  the  Shawnees  and  a  chief,  told  him  that  the  Indian  was  a  grandson  of 
Peter  Cornstalk,  and  a  descendant  of  Cornstalk,  who  was  treacherously  murdered 
by  the  whites  at  Point  Pleasant.  He  was  the  only  son  of  a  widow  who  died  many 
years  ago.  The  maps  he  carried  belonged  to  Chief  Blue-Jacket,  who  gave  him 
the  information  which  enabled  him  to  find  the  hidden  casks.  Blue-Jacket  advised 
him  to  not  go  upon  this  dangerous  journey,  but  being  a  young  man  of  enterprise 
and  courage  he  insisted  that  there  was  little  danger.  When  he  did  not  return  his 
friends  believed  that  he  had  been  murdered.  Mr.  Connelley  conveyed  the  first 
intelligence  of  his  actual  fate  to  his  people.  Blue-Jacket  was  very  positive  that 
he  was  the  Shawnee  to  whom  he  had  entrusted  his  maps.  He  regarded  it  as  an 
impossibility  that  he  should  be  mistaken  in  his  identity  after  hearing  the  descrip- 
tion  of  the   Indian. 


V20  lllSroRV  OF  KENTUCKY 

time  to  deliberate  on  the  offers  made  him,  and  rising  in  his  demands 
in  proportion  to  their  growing  eagerness  to  possess  the  knowledge  which 
was  to  bring  untold  wealth  to  all  the  company.  At  length  a  bargain 
was  made,  horses,  goods  and  money  were  given  as  presents,  and  the 
two  chiefs  and  their  squaws  were  escorted  in  triumph  to  Kentucky, 
where  they  were  feasted  and  caressed  in  the  most  flattering  manner, 
and  all  their  wants  anticipated  and  liberally  sujjplied.  In  due  time  and 
with  all  ])ossible  secrecy,  they  visited  the  region  where  this  great  mine 
was  said  to  be  emboweled  in  the  earth.  Here  the  wily  Shawnee  spent 
some  time  in  seclusion,  in  order  to  humble  himself,  by  fastings,  purifica- 
tions and  pow-xco-u'ijigs.  with  a  view  to  propitiate  the  Great  Spirit;  and 
to  get  his  permission  to  disclose  the  grand  secret  of  the  mine.  An 
equivocal  answer  was  all  the  response  that  was  given  to  him  in  his 
dreams;  and  after  many  days  of  fruitless  toil  and  careful  research,  the 
mine,  the  great  object  so  devoutly  sought  and  wished  for,  could  not 
be  found.  The  cunning  Blue-Jacket,  however,  extricated  himself  with 
much  address  from  the  anticipated  vengeance  of  the  disappointed  wor- 
shipers of  Plutus,  by  charging  his  want  of  success  to  his  eyes,  which 
were  dimmed  by  reason  of  his  old  age ;  and  by  proinising  to  send  his 
son  on  bis  return  home,  whose  eyes  were  young  and  good,  who  knew 
the  desired  S])ot  and  would  show  it.  The  son,  however,  never  visited 
the  scene  of  his  father's  failure;  and  thus  ended  the  adventures  of  the 
celebrated   mining  company   of   Kentucky.'  " 

It  is  evident  from  bis  style  of  writing  that  "Major  Galloway  of 
Xenia"  was  very  much  of  a  skeptic  on  the  subject  of  silver  mines  in 
Kentucky.  But  the  search  was  not  altogether  for  the  mines.  It  was 
as  much  for  the  discovery  of  hidden  treasure — jierhaps  more  for  this 
latter  object.  And  the  fact  remains  that  a  number  of  men  associated 
themselves  together  to  search  for  these  mines  and  this  hidden  treasure, 
and  put  their  "horses,  goods  and  money"  into  the  enterprise.  And  they 
believed  that  the  Shawnee  Indians  possessed  the  knowledge  of  the  loca- 
tion of  mines  and  treasure,  for  they  had  been  with  .Swift  in  bis  operations 
in  that  wilderness.  And  these  men,  like  Colonel  Harrod,  were  of  Swift's 
time.^ 


♦  William  E.  Connclley  discussed  the  above  quotation  with  the  late  chief, 
Charles  Blue-Jacket,  and  heard  what  he  had  to  say  in  defense  of  his  grandfather's 
course.  He  said  that  his  grandfather  went  into  retirement  as  much  for  the  pur- 
pose of  studyiuK  the  maps  as  for  religious  preparation  for  the  search,  and  that 
his  defective  sight  made  it  impossible  for  him  to  rightly  decipher  them.  This 
matter  of  imperfect  sight  was  discussed  before  the  agreement  was  made,  and  it 
was  insisted  by  Blue-Jacket  that  it  might  be  impossible  for  him  to  locate  the 
mines  and  treasure  because  of  the  failing  condition  of  his  eyes.  He  agreed  to  send 
liis  son,  or  one  of  his  sons,  but  none  would  go,  saying  that  they  had  not  been 
<mployed  by  the  company.  And  their  families  refused  to  consent  to  their  going, 
fearing  that  after  the  failure  of  the  old  chief  the  sons  would  be  in  danger  should 
llicy  fail.  Chief  Blue-Jacket  gave  many  other  reasons  in  justification  of  his 
grandfather's  action.  These  same  maps  were  carried  to  Kentucky  by  the  young 
.Shawnee  murdered  near  Rule's  Mill. 

Chief  Charles  Blue-Jacket  lost  his  life  as  the  result  of  illness  contracted  in 
a  search  for  the  grave  of  the  Shawnee  Prophet,  in  Wyandotte  County,  Kansas. 
His  condition  at  that  time  was  in  some  respect  similar  to  that  of  his  grandfather 
when  he  made  the  unsuccessful  search  for  the  mines  and  treasure  of  Swift  in  the 
mountains  of  I'^astern  Kentucky.  He  was  old  and  infirm,  and  his  sight  was  much 
dimmed.  So  much  timber  had  sprung  up  that  the  face  of  the  country  was  changed 
in  appearance,  and  fences  and  houses  and  fields  and  orchards  added  to  the  con- 
fusion. He  was  not  alw.ays  sure  of  the  points  he  relied  on  for  identification.  He 
failed  to  point  out  the  exact  location  of  the  grave,  although  he  had  been  present 
al  tin-  funeral,  fte  did  identify  the  spot  where  the  Prophet's  cabin  had  stood 
and  ill  the  yard  of  which  the  illustrious  Shawnee  was  buried.  His  over-exertion 
on  this  day  brought  on  an  illness  which  proved  fatal  in  the  course  of  a  few  weeks. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  121 

V 

Tradition  Told  by  Mr.  Reams 

The  quotations  set  out  in  the  preceding  chapters,  from  historical 
works  of  the  highest  standard,  conckisively  show : 

That  there  was  actually  such  a  man  as  John  Swift — that  John  Swift 
is  not  a  mythical  character. 

That  he  was  known  to  have  been  in  the  Western  Wilderness. 

That  he  was  reputed  to  have  worked  silver  mines  there  and  to  have 
concealed  much  treasure  in  those  wilds. 

That  he  was  of  good  character  and  entitled  to  credit. 

That  he  kept  a  journal  of  his  transactions. 

That  the  knowledge  of  the  existence  of  this  journal  was  common 
to  a  part  of  the  country  of  considerable  extent. 

That  neither  the  genuineness  of  his  journal  nor  the  probability  of 
its  truth  and  accuracy  were  ever  questioned  by  those  having  the  best 
opportunity  to  judge  of  it  in  these  respects. 

And  that  he  left  his  journal  in  the  possession  of  Mrs.  Renfro  when 
he  went  away,  never  to  be  heard  of  again. 

By  Judge  Haywood  we  are  told  that  Swift  was  at  Bean's  Station, 
in  East  Tennessee,  in  the  years  1790  and  1791,  and  that  he  was  deterred 
from  going  on  to  his  mines  by  the  troublesome  presence  of  Indians  in 
that  region.  A  part  of  this  conclusion  is  supported  by  tradition ;  and 
tradition  has  carried  dow^n,  too,  some  things  not  set  out  by  Judge  Hay- 
wood. These  additional  matters  are  given  here  as  traditions — traditions 
well  defined  and  of  common  recital  by  the  old  people  of  Eastern  Ken- 
tucky and  East  Tennessee  and  other  portions  of  Appalachian  America 
as  late  as  fifty  years  ago. 

It  is  said  in  these  traditions  that  Swift  had  become  almost  blind 
from  some  affection  of  the  eyes;  and,  also,  that  the  Frenchmen  who 
were  with  him  at  this  time  were  not  those  French  companions  of  his 
former  journeys,  but  others  having  a  knowledge  of  the  mines  worked 
and  the  treasure  hidden  by  Swift  and  their  countrymen.  Any  weak- 
ness in  a  man  of  cupidity  invariably  begets  suspicion  and  distrust  of 
those  with  whom  he  is  associated  in  any  business  enterprise.  Swift 
evidently  realized  that,  in  his  affliction,  he  was  at  a  disadvantage  with 
these  Frenchmen  should  they  choose  to  exercise  their  opportunities. 
He  feared  that  they  might  obtain  possession  of  the  written  information 
which  he  alone  had  concerning  the  mines  and  treasure,  and  render  him 
incapable  of  ever  again  finding  them — while  the  Frenchmen  would  be 
enabled  to  easily  discover  them,  and  profit  from  the  discovery,  with 
the  aid  of  his  journal. 

It  is  said,  also,  in  this  connection,  that  Swift  was  desirous  of  pro- 
curing the  hand  of  Mrs.  Renfro  in  marriage.  This  lady  was  the  widow 
of  Joseph  Renfro,  who  had  been  killed  by  the  Indians  in  the  defense 
of  the  country  while  it  was  a  part  of  the  State  of  North  Carolina,  the 
Legislature  of  which  state  granted  his  widow  a  large  tract  of  land  as 
a  compensation  for  his  loss  and  for  claims  he  had  then  pending  against 
the  state  for  settlement;  this  grant  was  made  in  1784.  Renfro  was  a 
man  of  standing  and  consequence  and  a  large  property  added  to  his 
prestige.  He  left  his  widow  with  a  large  estate.  She  is  reputed  to 
have  been  a  woman  of  beauty  and  rare  accomplishments,  and  to  have 
lived  on  a  large  plantation  near  Bean's  Station.  Swift  committed  his 
journals  to  her  for  safe-keeping  when  he  returned  to  North  Carolina 
in  1790  and  the  P'renchmen  descended  the  Cumberland  River  in  a  canoe 
and  forever  disappeared. 

Swift  returned  to  Bean's  Station  in  1791  and  attempted  to  re-discover 
his   mines  and   treasure,  but   in   the   meantime   the   disease   of   his   eyes 


122  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

had  made  such  progress  that  his  sight  was  ahiiost  wholly  destroyed. 
He  was  unable  even  with  the  assistance  of  his  journal  to  find  any  trace 
of  his  mines.  He  made  a  number  of  unsuccessful  attempts  to  locate 
them,  the  last  of  which,  it  is  said,  he  made  with  a  dark  bandage  bound 
closely  about  his  face  and  over  his  eyes.  In  this  condition  he  was 
mounted  upon  his  horse,  w'hich  was  led  by  an  attendant,  while  other 
attendants,  or  persons  employed  by  him,  endeavored  vainly  to  trace  the 
course  to  the  silver  mines,  as  set  down  in  his  journal,  and  as  directed 
by  him.  He  might  have  succeeded  had  not  the  condition  of  his  eyes 
compelled  him  to  cease  liis  efforts.  Leaving  a  large  sum  of  money  and 
his  journals  with  Mrs.  Renfro,  Swift  returned  to  North  Carolina  to 
consult  a  half-blood  Cherokee  Indian  physician  and  surgeon.  This  physi- 
cian had  been  educated  at  Paris,  and  for  many  years  he  was  the  leading 
surgeon  in  Western  North  Carolina.  His  name  was  Hicks,  and  he  was 
in  the  army  of  the  patriots  who  defeated  the  British  at  King's  Mountain. ■'' 

Swift  never  afterward  returned  to  Tennessee.  He  probably  died 
in  a  comparatively  short  time.  But  precisely  what  became  of  him  or 
what  fate  befell  him  is  not  positively  known. 

The  following  curious  tradition  or  account  was  related  by  the  late 
William  J.  Reains,  of  Wyandotte  County,  Kansas.  Mr.  Reams  was 
born  and  reared  in  Laurel  County,  Kentucky,  and  knew  many  of  the 
traditions  concerning  Swift  and  his  transactions.*' 

Swift  and  his  company  had  left  concealed  in  the  wilderness  treasure 
amounting  in  the  aggregate  to  a  vast  sum.  It  was  a  rigid  rule  among 
them  that  no  one  member  of  their  association  should  ever  visit  the 
place  of  concealment  of  any  part  of  this  hidden  treasure.  By  a  rule 
or  law  of  their  company  Swift  (who  was  the  leading  man  and  prin- 
cipal) and  any  three  others  of  the  company  might  visit  the  mines  or 
concealed  riches  and  carry  out  money.  An  account  was  kept  and  an 
absent  member  was  not  wronged.  It  seems  that  there  is  no  record  of 
any  visit  made  either  by  Swift  or  any  of  the  company  after  the  trip 
made  in  1769  until  1790,  and  this  tradition  asserts  that  none  were  made. 
Why  no  one  went  out  in  all  this  time  is  not  explained. 

In  1790  all  the  survivors  of  the  company  were  gathered  together 
to  go  into  the  wilderness  and  bring  out  the  treasure  left  there  in  former 
days  when  the  full  company  worked  so  persistently  in  the  mines.  This 
party  was  composed  of  Swift,  Munday,  McClintock,  the  two  French- 
men, and  the  two  Shawnee  Indians.  These  were  the  only  survivors 
of  the  original  company. 

The  party  arrived  at  the  mines  and  examined  the  treasure  hidden 
at  the  different  points  in  the  vicinity  of  their  various  furnaces.  Noth- 
ing had  been  disturbed.  The  last  place  of  concealment  to  be  examined 
was  the  great  cave.  When  Swift  saw  the  immense  sums  lying  on  the 
floor  of  this  ancient  retreat  of  the  Shawnees  the  evil  spirit  of  his  nature 
was  aroused,  and  he  resolved  to  possess  the  whole  of  the  great  riches 


■>  It  is  said  that  he  there  passed  a  silk  handkerchief  through  a  bullet  wound 
entirely  through  the  body  of  Thomas  Connelly,  one  of  those  battling  there  for 
American  liberty. 

"  This  tradition  was  secured  from  Mr.  Reams  by  William  E.  Connelley,  at 
that  time  County  Clerk  of  the  county.  There  existed  between  them  that  close 
fellowship  always  found  between  Kentuckians  in  an  alien  land.  Mr.  Reams  was 
a  farmer,  living  west  of  White  Church,  and  had  the  Kentucky  aptness  for 
political  affairs.  He  was  a  man  of  sound  judgment  and  good  character,  and  he 
spent  many  hours  in  Connelley's  office  planning  advantages  for  him  when  he  was 
a  candidate   for  office. 

The  tradition  mentioned  as  having  been  told  by  Mr.  Reams  differs  not  from 
all  others  collected.  It  conflicts  with  some  of  them.  It  is  the  design  to  set  down 
all  that  could  be  learned  of  Swift  and  his  operations,  not  to  make  statements 
agree  in  details  and  particulars,  so  this  tradition  is  recorded,  as  it  was  given  by 
Mr.  Reams. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  123 

before  him.  He  finally  reached  the  conclusion  to  murder  his  com- 
panions if  possible.  His  resolution  deepened.  At  nightfall  he  set  about 
the  execution  of  his  diabolical  plot. 

At  length,  when  his  companions  slept,  unconscious  of  the  bloody 
treachery  in  the  heart  of  their  leader.  Swift  stealthily  arose  from  the 
group  of  prostrate  forms  about  the  fire.  He  was  consumed  with  his 
passion  for  murder  and  blood-stained  riches.  His  countenance  was 
changed.  The  keen  blade  of  his  scalping-knife  glittered  coldly  in  the 
baleful  light  that  fitfully  fluttered  up  from  the  dying  camp-fire.  Noise- 
lessly did  he  glide  from  one  victim  to  another.  The  panther  of  the 
forest,  a  ghost,  a  phantom,  a  spectre,  could  not  have  moved  or  acted 
with  greater  stealth.  Quickly  was  the  dastardly  deed  done.  With  stroke 
sudden,  silent,  deadly,  did  the  reeking  blade  enter  the  heart  of  each  of 
his  associates,  companions,  friends. 

But  not  yet  was  his  crime  fully  consummated.  The  Shawnees  were 
sleeping  in  the  great  cave.  Thither  came  Swift  bent  on  further  murder. 
His  every  faculty  was  quickened,  his  every  act  deliberate.  There  was 
no  haste — there  was  manifested  no  premeditated  order  of  events.  With 
torches  held  aloft,  at  his  solicitation,  they  together  looked  upon  the 
treasure.  At  sight  of  it  his  inflamed  passions  broke  into  an  insane 
fury.  With  the  yell  of  a  demoniac  he  leaped  upon  the  aged  and  un- 
suspecting Shawnees.  In  a  moment  they  were  lying  lifeless,  and  Swift 
was  alone  in  the  darkness.  And  from  that  hour  did  Providence  smite 
him  with  almost  total  blindness.  He  groped  his  way  from  the  wilder- 
ness to  civilization.  The  riches,  bought  with  his  soul,  were  left  in  the 
trackless  forest  wastes.  They  are  guarded  by  the  manes  of  the  innocent 
slain.    And  no  man  hath  looked  upon  them  to  this  day. 

This  account  further  says  that  Mrs.  Renfro  would  have  married 
Swift  but  for  the  murders  he  committed  in  the  wilderness.  She  pressed 
him  closely  to  know  what  had  become  of  his  companions,  whom  she 
had  seen  in  his  company  only  so  short  a  time  before  when  they  accom- 
panied him  into  the  forest  wilds.  He  made  many  contradictory  state- 
ments, as  murderers  will,  and  she  refused  to  proceed  with  the  nuptials 
until  he  could  give  some  explanation  which  would  be  satisfactory  to  her. 
Seeing  that  she  suspected  the  truth,  and  believing  that  the  prospective 
wealth  he  had  gained  by  the  crime  would  still  gain  her,  he  confessed 
the  whole  truth.  She  was  shocked — horrified.  She  demanded  that  he 
get  out  of  her  sight  and  leave  her  premises  never  to  return.  This  he 
did  in  such  haste  that  his  journals  were  forgotten  and  remained  in  her 
possession.  Her  dislike  of  the  notoriety  which  the  disclosure  of  the 
crime  would  have  given  her  prevented  her  from  making  it  known  for 
many  years. 

Mr.  Reams  believed  that  Swift  and  his  associates  were  buccaneers, 
and  that  they  operated  in  the  Spanish  seas  and  against  the  Spanish 
coasts  in  America.  It  was  his  belief,  also,  that  they  carried  their  silver 
and  gold  into  the  wilderness  and  coined  it.  Their  mines  were  myths, 
and  only  invented  to  conceal  their  real  operations.  He  had  no  doubt 
that  they  left  millions  of  coined  silver  and  gold  in  the  mountains  of 
Eastern  Kentucky.    And  that  it  remains  there  to  this  hour. 

VI 

About  Swift  and  His  Men 

John  Swift  was  an  Englishman.  We  know  something  of  his  life, 
but  nothing  of  his  ancestry  or  the  causes  which  moved  him  to  cross  the 
Atlantic  and  seek  his  fortunes  on  American  seas  and  in  the  wilderness 
beyond  the  Appalachians.  It  is  not  known  when  he  came  from  Eng- 
land to  America,  nor  can  it  be  told  whether  he  came  first  to  the  colonies 


V2i  HISTORY  Ul'   KENTL'CKV 

or  was  devoted  to  the  ocean  and  sailed  the  Spanish  main.  It  is  probable 
that  he  was  first  in  Virginia  and  later  in  North  Carolina.  If  he  was 
ever  a  rover  of  the  seas  it  was  in  his  younger  days,  for  it  is  known 
that  his  later  life  was  spent  in  the  back  countries  of  Virginia  and  the 
Carolinas.  Northern  \'irginia  seems  to  have  been  his  field  of  action 
in  that  period  of  his  life  when  he  conies  directly  under  our  notice,  but 
his  enterprises  carried  him  more  and  more  to  North  Carolina.  And 
there  is  no  certainty  that  he  did  not  come  first  to  the  Old  North  State, 
and  from  there  phinge  into  the  wilderness  to  trade  with  its  savage 
inhabitants. 

Swift  was  an  adventurer,  and  he  had  the  daring,  the  courage,  and 
hardihood  and  contempt  for  danger  characteristic  of  the  Englishman  of 
his  times.  If  the  journal  carried  by  Spurlock  was  in  fact  in  Swift's 
handwriting,  we  have  that  evidence  that  he  was  to  some  extent  an 
educated  man,  for  often  the  characters  were  graceful,  uniform,  solid, 
legible  and  much  like  the  writing  of  Washington.  In  some  instances 
there  was  evidence  of  haste,  and  sometimes  the  chirography  of  another 
appeared.  Swift  must  have  known  something  of  higher  mathematics, 
for  he  notes  his  positions  from  astronomical  observations.  This  art  he 
may  have  learned  at  sea.  That  he  was  self-reliant  and  capable  of  main- 
taining himself  in  transactions  of  magnitude  and  importance  is  evidenced 
by  the  vigorous  management  of  the  enterprises  in  which  he  was  en- 
gaged. He  was  capable  of  ins])iring  others  with  his  own  enthusiasm 
and  enlisting  them  in  his  interests.  His  success  in  these  matters  would 
indicate  that  he  was  an  organizer  and  leader  of  men. 

Knowledge  of  Swift's  life  in  the  back  countries  embraced  in  the 
head  branches  of  the  Ohio  prior  to  Braddock's  disastrous  expedition 
is  preserved  in  tradition  alone.  It  is  reasonably  certain  that  about  the 
year  1753  he  was  an  Indian  trader,  and  it  is  more  than  likely  that  this 
had  been  his  pursuit  for  some  years  previous  to  that  date.  Or,  if  not 
an  Indian  trader  himself,  he  was,  and  bad  been,  in  some  way  con- 
nected with  the  English  fur  traders  in  that  part  of  the  country  now 
within  the  State  of  Ohio.  It  is  said  that  he  was  associated  with  Penn- 
sylvanians  in  this  business.  While  engaged  in  this  trade  he  spent  most 
of  his  time  with  the  Shawnees.  Some  traditions  say  that  he  married 
the  daughter  of  a  chief  of  that  tribe,  a  number  of  children  resulting 
from  the  union,  lly  other  accounts  it  is  said  that  his  Indian  wife  was 
a  half-blood  French  and  Shawnee  or  Wyandot  woman,  the  daughter 
of  a  I'^renchman  who  had  married  into  the  one  or  the  other  of  these 
tribes.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  he  possessed  influence  with  the 
I'rench  traders  beyond  what  could  be  exjiected  from  mere  acquaintance 
as  a  business  rival  in  an  Indian  \illage.  And  this  sustains  the  con- 
clusion recited  in  the  tradition  to  the  effect  that  he  had  connected  him- 
self with  both  the  French  and  Indians  in  his  marriage.  It  must  be 
remembered  that  these  marriages  with  the  women  of  the  savages  in 
the  great  woods  were  lightly  regarded  by  the  white  men  contracting 
them.  A  trader  might  have  a  resjiected  family  in  the  settlements  and 
an  Indian  wife  and  half-savage  children  in  the  wilderness. 

But  notwithstanding  the  favor  with  which  Swift  was  regarded  by 
the  Indians,  and  the  ties  he  had  in  some  one  of  their  tribes,  he  was. 
together  with  all  the  other  English,  finally  forced  to  leave  the  Ohio 
\'^alley  by  the  persistent  aggressions  of  the  French.  For  at  that  time 
France  was  establishing  forts  and  military  settlements  about  the  head 
waters  of  the  Ohio  with  the  avowed  purpose  of  saving  to  the  French 
trade  one  of  the  most  noble  and  beautiful  \-alleys  in  America. 

Coming  to  those  matters  more  closely  afTecting  Swift  himself,  it 
is  told  that  while  he  was  at  one  of  the  trading  stations  in  the  Indian 
country  he  was  seized  by  the   I'^reiich,  or  by  tlir  Indians  at  the  instiga- 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  125 

tion  of  the  French,  and  the  goods  in  his  charge  were  confiscated  or 
appropriated.  He  was  either  imprisoned  or  kept  a  closely  guarded  captive 
at  some  French  post  for  a  considerable  time.  He  was  threatened  with 
death  for  some  infraction  of  French  regulations  of  Indian  trade,  but 
was  finaJly  enabled  to  make  his  escape  through  the  friendship  of  the 
two  Frenchmen. 

After  his  escape,  Swift  made  his  way  through  the  unbroken  forests 
to  the  settlements  in  \'irginia.  Afterwards  he  was  with  Washington 
and  Braddock  in  the  famous  defeat,  but  in  what  capacity  he  served 
in  that  campaign  is  not  known. 

On  this  expedition  with  Braddock,  Swift  made  the  acquaintance 
of  some  North  Carolinians,  if,  indeed,  he  had  not  already  been  as- 
sociated with  them.  One  of  these  gentlemen  was  Samuel  Blackburn, 
who  had  been  a  trader,  or  a  visitor  with  others  in  some  conmiercial 
capacity,  to  the  Overhill  Cherokees  of  the  Carolinas  for  some  years. 
The  prospect  of  being  again  able  to  engage  in  the  traffic  with  the  Indians 
of  the  Ohio  having  been  destroyed  by  the  victory  of  the  French,  Swift 
accompanied  the  Carolinians  when  they  returned  home  from  that  un- 
fortunate attempt  against  Fort  DuQuesne.  A  majority  of  the  gentle- 
men afterwards  associated  with  Swift  were  in  this  canipaign,  which  had 
brought  together  the  hardy  pioneers  living  on  the  frontiers  of  the  colonies 
and  the  adventurous  traders  who  had  been  for  years  in  the  Ohio  Val- 
ley in  the  Indian  trade.  The  meeting  and  close  association  of  these 
two  classes  had  an  influence  on  the  future  of  the  West.  The  pioneers 
learned  of  its  beauties  and  its  capabilities,  and  upon  their  return  home 
they  began  to  discuss  its  exploration  and  even  its  settlement.  Boone 
was  with  Braddock,  and  tradition  says  that  he  learned  from  Swift  and 
other  Indian  traders  much  about  the  country  afterwards  called  Ken- 
tucky.    His  determination  to  explore  that  land  was  formed  at  that  time. 

Among  others.  Swift  became  acquainted  during  the  Braddock  cam- 
paign with  the  following  North  Carolinians :  James  Ireland,  Samuel 
Blackburn,  Isaac  Campbell,  Abram  Flint,  Harmon  Staley,  Shadrach 
Jeflferson.  and  Jonathan  Munday.  These  men  lived  about  the  head 
waters  of  the  Yadkin,  the  South  Yadkin,  and  the  Catawba,  and  they 
were  all  experienced  hunters  and  skilled  woodsmen. 

While  in  the  great  \'alley  of  the  Ohio  bartering  trinkets,  gaudy 
cloth  and  rum  to  the  Indians  for  valuable  skins.  Swift  must  have  ob- 
tained his  fir.st  information  of  the  existence  of  silver  mines  in  the  ter- 
ritory south  of  the  Ohio  River,  which  had  been  worked  in  times  past. 
Indeed,  he  was  infonned  that  some  of  them  were  being  worked  at 
that  very  time  by  Frenchmen  and  Indians.  And  these  Frenchmen  of 
Swift's  acquaintance,  and  others,  had.  in  company  with  some  Shawnees 
and  Cherokees,  \isited  the  mines  a  short  time  before,  but  from  some 
cause  had  not  been  able  to  obtain  any  product  from  them.  There  had 
been  work  done  there,  they  found,  however,  by  some  Frenchmen  who 
had  lived  in  what  is  now  Tennessee.  It  is  altogether  likely  that  the 
ajjproaching  conflict  between  the  French  and  the  English  was  even  then 
beginning  to  agitate  all  parts  of  tlie  Ohio  Valley,  causing  all  small 
parties  to  come  in  from  the  uninhabited  portions  of  the  country  to  the 
villages  and  the  trading  posts.  The  mines  were  in  the  country  claimed 
by  the  Cherokees.  but  which  was  not  then  occupied  by  them.  This 
country  had  been  the  home  of  the  Shawnees,  and  they  were  familiar 
with  every  portion  of  it. 

Swift  and  his  companions  were,  notwithstanding  the  storm  which 
was  gathering  in  the  forests  on  the  western  slopes  of  the  Alleghanies, 
preparing  to  set  out  for  these  mines  when  the  irruption  of  the  French 
into  the  Ohio  Valley  occurred,  and  which  delayed  their  journeys  thither 
for  several  years.     Knowledge  of  the  location  of  these  mines  remained 


12G  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

with  Swift,  and  he  was  enabled  to  discover  them  without  great  diffi- 
ciihy  ahoiit  the  year  1760,  when  he,  Staley,  Ireland,  McClintock,  Black- 
burn, and  others  visited  them  but  did  not  work  them,  not  having  gone 
for  that  purpose. 

The  next  year,  1761,  the  following,  together  with  other  persons  whose 
names  can  not  now  be  ascertained,  formed  a  party  which  visited  the 
mines  and  worked  them:  John  Swift,  Jonathan  ^Iunday,  Seth  Mont- 
gomcrj',  James  Ireland,  Shadrach  Jefferson,  Joshua  McClintock,  Samuel 
r.lackburn,  Henry  Hazlitt,  Isaac  Campbell,  Moses  Fletcher,  Abram  Flint. 
1  larmon  Staley,  William  Wilton,  John  Motts,  Alexander  Hartol,  and 
Jeremiah  Hates. 

With  this  party  were  a  number  of  Frenchmen  and  some  Shawnee 
Indians.  'I'he  names  of  the  two  principal  Frenchmen  were  Pierre  St. 
-Martin  and  Andrew  Kenaud.  1  he  Frenchmen  and  the  Indians  met 
the  other  members  of  the  party  at  Fort  Pitt  by  agreement  and  appoint- 
ment made  at  that  point  in  the  previous  summer. 

The  tools  and  appliances  used  by  Swift  and  his  company  in  working 
the  mines  were  obtained  at  Alexandria.  \'irginia,  and  were  transported 
on  ])ack-horses  froin  that  point  into  the  wilderness,  as  were  all  their 
supplies  for  living,  with  the  single  exception  of  meat,  which  was  easily 
procured  in  the  forests  through  which  they  passed.  Some  maize  was 
Iirought  from  the  Indian  settlements  and  villages  along  the  Ohio  River. 
Seth  Montgomery  and  Henry  Hazlitt  lived  in  .Alexandria,  or  in  Mary- 
land in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  that  city.  They  had  been  engaged 
in  the  fur  trade  on  the  frontiers,  and  it  is  possible  that  they  knew 
Swift  when  he  was  in  the  Ohio  country  previous  to  its  occupation  by 
the  French — or  they  may  have  been  in  some  way  associated  with  iiim 
at  that  time.  They  furnished  the  money  necessary  for  the  purchase  of 
the  horses  and  other  supplies  for  the  first  expedition  to  the  mines — that 
of  1760. 

VII 
Wilderness  TRAir.s — Lost  Metal  Found 

It  is  necessary  to  say  a  word  about  the  roads  and  paths  by  which 
the  wilderness  was  penetrated,  for  .Swift  and  his  associates  followed 
such  roads  as  then  existed. 

The  wilderness  had  its  highways  before  the  coming  of  the  white 
man.  Indeed,  our  modern  highways  and  railways  largely  follow  paths 
which  the  wild  denizens  of  the  forest  marked  with  constant  hoof  for 
their  ow-n  migration  and  wandering.  After  the  animals,  there  came 
the  aboriginal  inhabitants  of  the  American  forests,  going  up  the  stream, 
over  the  mountain,  along  the  divide,  through  the  rugged  pass,  winding 
down  a  mountain  system  to  a  great  river  which  rolls  in  silent  strength 
and  majesty  down  to  the  waves  of  the  wasting  sea. 

The  pale  face  came  along  these  same  ancient  ways  in  his  explora- 
tion and  subjection  of  the  land.  Braddock  crawled  along  on  these  for 
weeks  to  meet  death  before  he  came  to  its  end.  Gist,  Boone,  Sevier, 
the  Long  Hunters,  Kenton,  and  George  Rogers  Clark  all  followed  the 
old  trails  tramped  out  by  the  buffalo,  the  elk,  the  deer,  and  widencfl  and 
connected  by  the  savage  in  his  wanderings. 

One  of  these  old  ways  was  called  Nemicolon's  Path,  because  pointed 
out  by  the  Delaware  Nemicolon.  It  became  the  Braddock  Trail.  At 
Fort  Pitt,  it  branched  to  all  the  westward  points  of  the  compass.  One 
of  these  branches  followed  through  the  coimtry  south  of  the  Ohio  to 
the  point  where  Charleston,  West  Virginia,  now  stands ;  passing  over 
the  Kanawha,  here  it  plunged  into  the  heavy  woods  in  a  course  almost 
directly  west.     This  general  direction  was  held  until  the  Forks  of  Great 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  127 

Sandy  Creek  were  reached.  Here  again  a  number  of  branches  were 
encountered.  One  followed  up  each  fork  of  the  Great  Sandy,  one  to 
the  mouth  of  that  stream,  and  one  continued  on  to  the  westward.  At 
each  principal  branch  of  any  stream  a  road  left  the  main  way  to  follow 
the  subordinate  stream  up  to  its  head  waters,  there  to  clamber  through 
a  "gap"  and  descend  another  subordinate  stream  down  to  a  larger  one. 
This  process  was  repeated  everywhere,  and  the  forest  was  threaded 
with  roads.  The  main  roads  did  not  keep  down  by  the  streams,  but 
held  to  the  ridges  and  divides,  the  watersheds,  crossing  the  streams 
where  they  were  small.  Travel  might  hold  to  the  main  rivers  in  summer 
or  in  seasons  of  drought,  but  the  roads  here  were  mainly  for  local  travel. 
The  means  of  transportation  for  explorers  and  pioneers  over  these 
primeval  ways  was  by  pack-horses.  Burdens  were  strapped  and  tied 
upon  the  rude  saddle  which  was  only  a  frame-work  of  tree-branches 
with  a  padded  blanket  beneath  to  protect  the  horse's  back.  The  horses 
followed  a  leader,  which  was  an  old  horse  that  had  spent  his  best  days 
on  the  trail,  and  whose  sagacity  often  amounted  to  reason.  This  lead 
horse  usually  wore  a  bell ;  and  he  knew  at  a  glance  whether  a  stream 
was  fordable  or  not,  and  if  his  judgment  told  him  it  could  not  be  crossed 
it  was  useless  to  urge  him,  for  he  could  not  be  forced  in.  He  was  as 
expert  as  the  explorer  himself  in  selecting  suitable  camping  grounds; 
and  he  could  discover  the  presence  of  Indians  by  his  acute  sense  of 
smell  long  before  the  hunter  could  see  them;  in  this  capacity  he  was 
as  useful  as  the  dog.  Many  a  hunter  has  saved  himself  from  ambush 
by  observing  the  actions  of  his  horse  and  profiting  by  the  warning 
conveyed. 

Swift  and  his  men  followed  Braddock's  Trail  to  Fort  Pitt,  and  from 
thence  they  came  by  the  road  through  the  site  of  Charleston,  to  the 
Fork  of  Great  Sandy  Creek.  At  this  point  some  of  the  caravans  di- 
vided, a  portion  going  up  the  West  or  Louisa  Fork,  and  the  remainder 
continuing  on  their  way  westward.  After  a  time  the  different  mines 
were  connected  by  a  shorter  road  which  the  miners  groped  out  over 
rough  ground. 

The  pack-horses  followed  one  another  in  single  file  and  were  under 
the  command  of  the  Frenchmen;  and  the  company  often  had  as  many 
as  one  hundred  horses  in  a  train.  When  there  were  so  many,  they  were 
cut  into  smaller  companies.  On  the  journey  in,  they  were  loaded  with 
such  supplies  as  the  miners  found  indispensable  in  the  wilderness,  not 
the  least  of  which  was  rum.  On  the  journey  out,  they  carried  such 
treasure  as  the  miners  had  secured. 

Through  the  mishaps  of  the  rough  traveling  it  was  necessary  to 
secret  many  a  load  of  treasure  along  the  old  paths.  The  people  of 
Eastern  Kentucky  believe  that  in  this  latter  nii.schance  evidence  of  the 
presence  of  Swift  and  his  men  was  left  in  the  wilderness.  Bars  of 
both  gold  and  silver  have  occasionally  been  found  in  Eastern  Kentucky. 
Ely.  in  his  Big  Sandy  Valley,  gives  an  autobiography  of  Col.  John 
Dills.  Jr.,  in  which  is  mentioned  one  certain  "Uncle  Barney  Johnson, 
of  Block-house  and  golden-wedge  fame.  This  wedge  Barney  ploughed 
up  on  his  fann  from  an  Indian  burying-ground,  and  gave  it  to  a  neigh- 
bor to  braze  bells  with,  not  knowing  its  worth.  I  heard  the  brazier 
say  it  was  the  best  brazing  metal  he  ever  had  in  his  life." 

A  number  of  bars  of  pure  silver  were  found  on  Red  River  by  Lemuel 

Johnson,   who  afterwards   lived   on   the   land   of   John    Patrick,   on    the 

Burning  Spring  Fork  of  the  Licking  River,  in  Magoffin  County,  Kentucky. 

Johnson   brought   these   bars    of    silver   to   the    Blacksmith    shop   of 

William    Adams,    Esq.,    in    Salyersville,    Kentucky.'      They    were   black 

'  William  E.  Connelley  saw  them  often,  as  they  were  thrown  carelessly  on  the 
top  of  the  bellows,  where  they  remained  until  used  up  for  solder. 


128  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

with  age  and  \cry  heavy,  and  no  one  tliotiglit  of  their  lieing  silver  uniil 
one  Frederick  Stanibaugh.  who  was  having  some  bells  repaired  there, 
made  the  discovery.  The  bars  had  then  almost  all  been  used  up.  They 
were  about  six  inches  long  and  some  two  inches  square,  thfiugh  of  some 
irregularity  of  form. 

Enoch  Fairchild,  Esq.,  of  Johnson  County,  Kentucky,  was  a  fine 
mechanic.  He  was  a  famous  gunsmith  and  manufacturer  of  violins. 
I'or  a  time  he  had  his  shop  on  the  hank  of  I'.ig  Paint  Creek,  just  below 
K'uk'"s  Mill.  \oah  liranham.  a  native,  brought  to  his  shop  about  187J 
a  [liece  of  metal  much  like  those  bars  which  had  been  found  by  Johnson. 

Branhani  had  found  this  bar  of  metal  while  digging  out  and  widen- 
ing the  roadway  aroiuid  llie  hill,  beneath  the  tall  clilTs  just  below  the 
shop.* 

About  the  year  1840.  in  what  is  now  Johnson  County,  Kentucky. 
I'restley  Larkin.  a  Revolutionary  soldier,  long  afterwards  renicinbered 
as  "Dad"  l.arkin,  or  ''Daddy"  Larkin,  because  of  the  great  age  to 
whicji  he  lived,  found  a  number  of  bars  of  metal  similar  to  that  found 
by  Iiranhani.  and  the  bars  were  the  same  in  form.  Larkin  was  working 
for  John  .Stafford.  I'.sq..  one  of  the  jjioneers  of  that  region,  and  found 
these  bars  of  metal  in  the  ri\er  bottom,  on  the  farm  afterwards  known 
as  the  Jemian  Huff  farm.  I,arkin  found  these  bars  near  where  the 
road  has  cros.sed  the  stream  known  as  Big  Paint  Creek  ever  since  man 
has  been  in  .'\merica,  as  there  is  there  a  rock  bottom  and  the  water  is 
always  shallow.  The  point  is  locally  known  as  the  "Flat  Rock."  and 
is  just  above  what  for  a  century  was  known  as  the  "Deep  Hole"  in 
Paint  Creek. 

The  Rev.  Henry  Dickson  (Dixon  is  the  name  as  w'ritten  by  his 
descendants),  the  silversmith  heretofore  mentioned,  purchased  the  bars 
of  metal  from  Larkin.  From  them  he  manufactured  a  great  number 
of  ornamental  pins  and  brooches  so  much  in  demand  in  those  days.* 

vni 

TiiK  Pound  Cap  .\nd  Gre.\t  Cave 

Charles  Blue-Jacket  in  his  conversations  concerning  Kentucky,  and 
particularly  Eastern  Kentucky,  said  that  the  region  about  what  is  known 
as  Pound  Gap  and  the  "Breaks"  of  the  Sandy  River,  was  ever  held 
in  reverence  and  sacred  remembrance  by  the  .Sliawnees.  The  tradition 
in  the  tribe  describes  a  mighty  cave  there  in  which  the  warriors  hid 
their  women  and  cliildrcn  while  they  fought  a  great  battle  with  a  com- 
bination of  other  tribes,  among  them  the  Cherokces.  The  Shawnces 
were  defeated,  but  they  returned  when  their  enemies  had  retired  from 
the  country  and  brought  out  their  wives  and  children. 

In  his  descri])tion  of  the  cave  he  said  that  it  extended  from  one 
side  of  the  mountain  to  the  other,  being  many  miles  in  extent,  and 
that  it  could  be  entered  at  several  different  points  and  on  both  sides 
of  the  great  mountain  range  under  which  it  lay.  Some  of  the  principal 
mines  worked  by  Swift  and  his  companions  were  in  the  vicinity  of  this 
great  cave,  and  they  finally  made  it  the  storehouse  for  all  their  surplus 
production  of  siher.  They  carefully  co\ered  the  entrances  to  the  cavern 
when  they  departed  from  the  country.  The  Shawnees  and  the  W'^andots 
often  went   to  this  country  to  hunt,  even  after  Eastern   Kentucky  was 

"  Fairchild  believed  tlic  chunk  of  metal  to  be  pure  silver,  and  be  gave  Branbam 
two  dollars  for  it.  His  wife  stormed  much  about  having  to  produce  the  two  dol- 
lars to  be  iiaid  out  for  a  piece  of  pewter,  as  she  termed  the  metal.  Fairchild 
used  this  nielal  for  the  "beads"  in  the  sights  of  the  guns  he  made  and  repaired, 
and  it  proved  to  be  pure  silver. 

■■'  Mrs.  Susan  Joynes  Connelly,  one  of  the  pioneers  of  Eastern  Kentucky,  wore 
one  of  these  brooches  for  half  a  century.     It  was  unquestionably  pure  silver. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  129 

settled  by  the  white  people.  Charles  Blue-Jacket's  father  went  into 
the  cave  on  more  than  one  occasion.  He  had  not  been  with  Swift,  but 
his  father  had  been.  There  is  a  secret  religious  society  among  the 
Shawnees,  which  preserves  many  of  the  rites  of  the  old  pagan  life,  and 
this  great  cave  had  some  significance  in  the  ritual  of  that  order. 

To  the  hoof-beats  of  the  horse  along  the  roadway  through  Pound 
Gap  the  mountain  sounds  like  it  was  hollow,  especially  when  the  solid 
rock  is  trodden.  .\t  some  points  in  this  mountain  gap  every  step  seems 
echoed  through  the  underground  caverns  with  which  it  is  certain  the 
mountain  is  honeycombed.  'Jhere  are  some  places  in  this  region  where 
a  smart  blow  with  an  iron  implement,  on  the  living  bed-rock,  or  with 
a  maul  upon  the  ground,  sounrls  like  a  blow  upon  a  huge  drum.  From 
this  cause  the  gap  was  first  called  Sounding  Gap.  The  Shawnees  called 
all  this  land  "The  Country  about  the  Hollow  Mountain."  It  is  evident 
that  the  Indians  lived  here  in  considerable  numbers  at  some  time  in 
the  past,  for  many  of  the  ridge-tops  are  covered  with  long  heaps  of 
loose  stones,  plainly  carried  there,  called  by  the  people  of  that  country 
"Indian  graves." 

Some  parts  of  the  journal  of  John  Swift  refer  in  unmistakable  terms 
to  this  region. 

The  name  "Sounding  Gap"  fell  into  disuse  and  was  replaced  by 
the  name  "Pound  Gap"  after  the  name  "Pound"  was  bestowed  on  the 
upper  course  of  the  Big  Sandy  River.  It  seems  that  this  name  was 
given  the  river  at  rather  an  early  period.  A  number  of  pioneers  came 
once  into  that  country  to  hunt  and  brought  their  horses  with  them. 
In  casting  about  for  a  convenient  place  for  an  enclosure  they  found 
the  points  in  the  river  where  it  makes  a  great  bend  or  circle,  coming 
back  to  within  a  few  hundred  yards  of  where  it  was  first  deflected  from 
a  direct  course.  The  nearest  points  in  this  circle  were  joined  with  a 
fence  built  across  the  "Neck,"  and  this  with  the  river  formed  a  perfect 
enclosure,  which  came  to  be  spoken  as  the  "Pound."  It  bore  this  name 
wherever  the  fame  of  the  country  as  a  hunting  ground  was  carried. 
The  river  was  spoken  of  as  the  "Pound"  River,  and  it  was  said  to  run 
through  the  "Pound"  country.  This  name  finally  replaced  the  original 
one,  and  one  branch  of  the  Big  Sandy  River  in  its  upper  course  be- 
came the  Pound  River.  And  this  name,  having  a  similar  sound,  soon 
usurped  the  name  of  the  mountain  pass,  and  "Sounding  Gap"  took  the 
name  "Pound  Gap."  '" 

IX 
JoHX  Swift's  Journ.^l 

There  are  many  forms  of  the  Swift  Journal  and  no  doubt,  many 
copies  of  each  of  these  forms.  They  agree  substantially.  They  are 
evidently  all  copies  of  some  part  or  parts  of  Szcift's  Original  Manuscript 
Journal  left  with  Mrs.  Renfro.  Through  repeated  copying  from  copies 
by  persons  little  capable  of  doing  accurate  work,  the  journal  degenerated 
finally  into  a  few  pages  of  incoherent  jargon,  as  will  appear  from  an 
examination  of  the  most  common  form  of  the  journal,  many  copies  of 
which  are  extant  in  Eastern  Kentucky. 

The  usual  form  of  Swift's  Journal  is  a  document  covering  about 
four  pages  of  legal  cap  paper  and  was  very  common  in  Eastern  Ken- 
tucky half  a  century  ago,  and  is  a  condensation  of  the  whole  of  Swift's 
Journal. 

1"  All  this  is  lore  common  to  the  Big  Sandy  Valley.  It  is  the  foundation  of  the 
story  The  Queen  of  Appalachia^  written  by  Joe  H.  Borders,  who  was  born  at 
Paintsvillc.  in  Johnson  County,  Kentucky.  He  learned  these  stories  as  he  learned 
to  talk,  as  all  did  who  cared  to  learn  them. 

Vol.  I— 1?, 


130  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

A  better  form  of  Swift's  Journal  was  preserved  by  Judge  Richard 
Apperson,  of  Mount  Sterling.  Kentucky.  Jniniediately  after  the  Civil 
war  he  was  judge  of  the  Circuit  Court  of  some  district  which  included 
Magoffin  County,  While  holding  court  at  Salyersville,  Jucige  Ajiperson 
stopped  at  the  tavern  conducted  by  William  Adams,  I'"sq.,  the  founder 
of  the  town  and  a  pioneer  settler  in  that  region. '^ 

In  the  year  1878,  a  North  Carolinian  named  James  McI.eMoore, 
came  to  Kentucky  to  search  for  Swift's  Silver  Mines  and  the  hidden 
treasure  left  by  Swift  and  his  companions.  He  had  some  knowledge 
of  geology  and  mincrology  and  had  spent  some  considerable  time  in 
niim'ng  in  the  gold-fields  of  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina  and  Georgia. 
He  was  a  man  of  easy  and  careless  disposition  and  fond  of  roaming 
about  the  world.  He  was  a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  and  belonged  to 
the  Jiaptist  Church. 

McLeMoore  had  in  his  possession  a  luuiiher  of  couies  of  John  Swift's 
Manuscript  Journal  of  different  forms.  Some  were  very  short  and 
others  quite  long.  He  had  also  some  maps  and  was  certain  that  these 
indicated  that  nuich  of  Swift's  treasure  was  hidden  in  Johnson  County, 
Kentucky.  A  number  of  the  residents  of  Johnson  and  Magoffin  coun- 
ties, joined  with  him  in  a  search  for  the  mines  and  Swift's  hidden 
silver.  He  said  he  had  secured  the  maps  in  North  Carolina,  on  the 
Upper  ^'adkin.  where  Swift  had  li\ed;  that  .Swift  had  died  there,  and 
was  buried  in  that  countrv'.^- 

Robert  Alley  was  a  resident  of  Johnson  County  from  1859  to  his 
death — about  1890.  He  came  there  from  East  Tennessee  to  search  for 
Swift's  mines,  which  he  and  some  associates  had  sought  unsuccess- 
fully in  the  region  of  the  Cumberland  Gap.  Among  these  associates 
was  one  William  Turlington,  sometimes  known  as  William  Spurlock. 
He  was  a  very  eccentric  character.  He  tramped  the  roads  of  East 
Tennessee  and  Eastern  Kentucky  for  half  a  century,  and  undoubtedly 
discovered  some  hidden  treasure.  He  had  in  his  possession  a  docu- 
ment which,  he  asserted,  was  the  original  journal  of  John  Swift.  In 
the   fall   of    1873   he   was  at  the  hou.se  of   Mr.   Alley.Cs     At   that  time 

'^  Judge  Apperson  was  a  student  of  pioneer  times  in  Kentucky  and  could 
relate  many  stories  of  the  adventures  of  the  early  settlers.  At  the  end  of  one  of 
his  terms  of  Court  one  of  the  sons  of  Adams  and  William  E.  Connelley  were 
assisting  him  to  gather  up  his  hooks,  papers,  and  a  few  articles  of  clothing.  He 
was  stufihig  these  into  a  pair  nf  saddle-hags  preparatory  to  his  departure  for  the 
ne.xt  county  in  lii^  circuit.  When  he  was  leaving  the  room  with  his  saddle-bags 
on  his  arm  the  boys  found  this  copy  of  Swift's  Journal.  Either  he  did  not  wish 
to  reopen  his  crowded  bags  to  store  it  away,  or  he  did  not  care  to  preserve  the 
paper.  He  may  have  had  other  copies  of  it.  He  looked  it  over  and  then  handed 
it  to  Connelley  telling  him  to  be  careful  to  preserve  it.  The  form  of  tliis  Journal 
is  of  a  much  better  type,  from  a  literary  standpoint,  tlian  the  one  gcner.ally  known, 
and  is  at  least  twice  its  length.     In  substance  the  two  are  much  the  same. 

'=  William  E.  Connelley  made  a  copy  of  what  he  considered  the  best  form  of 
Swift's  Journal  owned  by  McLe^^onre.  It  is  of  much  greater  extent  than  either 
of  the  copies  already  mentioned.  It  makes  si.xtccn  typewritten  pages,  and  con- 
tains nearly  six  thousand  words. 

'^  Mr.  .Alley  believed  that  it  was  the  original  Journal,  and  he  believed  that 
Spurlock  had  discovered  a  considerable  amount  of  the  treasure  hidden  by  Swift 
and  his  companions.  He  carried  always  on  his  slioulders  a  pair  (jf  immense  saddle- 
bags supposed  to  contain  money.  He  had  a  large  sum  of  money  willi  him,  and 
Mr.  .Xlley  paid  him  at  that  time  quite  a  large  amount  of  money  which  he  had  bor- 
rowed some  years  before. 

William  E.  Connelley  was  teaching  school  in  the  Alley  district  that  year.  He 
desired  very  much  to  make  a  copy  of  Swift's  Journal  owned  by  Spurlock.  Mr. 
Alley  took  up  the  matter  with  him.  and  he  finally  consented  that  a  copy  of  some 
portions  of  the  Journal  niiglit  be  made.  Spurlock  kept  this  Journal  between  two 
thin  cedar  boards  and  securely  wrapped  in  a  sort  of  sheet  made  of  bladders  to 
protect  it  from  rain  or  dampness.  It  had  every  appearance  of  an  original  docu- 
ment. The  book  had  been  worn  to  pieces,  and  if  it  had  ever  been  bcmnd  the  board 
covers  were  gone  and  many  of  the  .sheets  or  leaves  had  been  worn  througli  at  the 
back.     The  edges  and  corners  were  worn,  and  in  some  instances  the  writing  was 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  131 

copies  of  portions  of  this  journal  were  made.  According  to  this  docu- 
ment, Hazlitt,  Ireland,  Blackburn,  McClintock,  Staley  and  Swift  made 
a  preliminary  journey  into  what  is  now  Eastern  Kentucky  in  the  spring 
of  1760.  This  trip  was  for  the  purpose  of  making  arrangements  to 
work  the  silver  mines  supposed  to  be  in  that  region.  They  built  a 
furnace  and  burned  a  pit  of  charcoal  somewhere  about  the  breaks  of 
the  Big  Sandy  River.  From  that  point  they  went  southwesterly  along 
the  base  of  the  mountains  a  considerable  distance,  where  they  found 
other  mines.  There,  also,  a  furnace  was  erected  and  charcoal  burned 
for  use  the  next  year.  They  then  departed  from  these  mountains  and 
arrived  at  Alexandria,  Virginia,  December  10,  1760.  They  there  set 
about  preparations  for  taking  up  the  work  in  the  wilderness  the  next 
year.  In  this  connection  the  following,  taken  from  the  journal,  is  of 
interest : 

"Montgomery  bought  two  additional  vessels  to  sail  to  the  Spanish 
Seas  and  return  with  cargoes  suited  to  our  enterprise,  and  he  began 
the  work  of  engraving  and  cutting  the  dies  with  which  the  silver  and 
gold  was  to  be  coined,  he  being  in  that  matter  very  expert,  having 
labored  long  in  the  Royal  Mint  in  the  Tower  of  London." 

A  reorganization  of  the  company  was  effected  during  the  winter. 
This  company  seems  to  have  been  a  partnership,  although  the  common 
fund  was  divided  into  shares  of  which  there  were  fifteen.  They  took 
out  a  large  number  of  pack  horses,  when  they  set  out  for  the  mines, 
leaving  Alexandria  on  the  25th  day  of  June,  1761.  At  the  forks  of  the 
Big  Sandy  the  company  was  divided  into  two  parties,  one  party  going 
to  work  at  each  of  the  locations  selected  the  previous  year.  Much  prog-" 
ress  seems  to  have  been  made  in  the  development  of  their  mines  during 
the  summer.  A  large  force  was  left  to  work  during  the  winter,  but 
the  managers  arrived  at  Alexandria,  December  2,  1761.  They  found 
their  vessels  returned  from  the  Spanish  seas  after  profitable  cruises, 
which  gave  them  so  much  encouragement  for  this  branch  of  their  busi- 
ness, that  they  bought  five  more  vessels  for  this  service  the  next  year. 

Swift  and  his  company  left  Alexandria  in  the  last  week  of  March, 
1762,  and,  as  in  the  previous  trips,  they  went  by  the  way  of  Fort  Pitt. 
A  large  pack-train  was  taken  out.  Two  horses  were  drowned  in  the 
Kanawha.  At  the  forks  of  the  Big  Sandy  they  cast  lots  to  see  who 
should  go  to  the  different  points  and  work  these  mines.  They  found 
that  the  men  who  had  been  left  all  winter  were  dissatisfied  and  home- 
sick, although  much  work  had  been  done.  Swift  and  others  set  out 
on  their  return  to  Virginia  on  the  1st  day  of  September,  1762,  and 
arrived  at  Alexandria  on  the  12th  day  of  October.  .They  found  that 
their  shipping  interests  had  prospered  much.  In  the  preparations  for 
the  work  for  the  coming  year,  they  more  than  doubled  their  number 
of  pack-horses. 

In  1763,  Swift  and  his  train  left  Alexandria  on  the  21st  day  of 
April.  They  arrived  at  the  mines  on  the  head  waters  of  the  Big  Sandy 
on  the  17th  day  of  May.  Much  progress  had  been  made  in  their  mining 
operations.  Swift  set  out  for  Alexandria  on  the  i6th  day  of  September 
and  arrived  there  the  last  day  of  October,  and  records  that  they  had 
a  successful  year. 

In  1764  the  operations  of  the  company  were  hindered  by  w^ars  in 
the  wilderness,  and  it  was  deemed  unsafe  to  go  out  by  the  way  of  Fort 

dim  and  scarcely  legible.  It  agrees  largely  with  other  forms  of  the  lournal,  al- 
though it  is  much  more  complete  and  preserves  many  more  incidents  of  the 
transactions  of  Swift  and  his  companions.  It  recites  that  Swift  and  his  associates 
were  engaged  in  some  sort  of  commercial  ventures  by  sea  and  from  what  was 
written  there,  it  is  evident  that  they  preyed  on  the  Spanish  shipping  and  that 
these  men  carried  precious  metals,  secured  in  this  manner,  into  the  wilderness 
back  of  the  Virginia  settlements  to  be  coined  into  English  money. 


132  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

Pitt.  They  had  now  become  somewhat  more  familiar  witli  the  gjeography 
of  the  country.  'I'hey  left  .Alexandria  on  the  jtli  day  of  June,  1764, 
and  went  by  the  way  of  Xew  River  and  the  Cumberland  Cap,  reaching 
what  they  called  their  lower  mines  on  the  nth  day  of  July.  This  year 
was  not  a  successful  one.  It  seems  that  they  abandoned  the  route  bv 
Fort  Pitt  for  the  time  being.  They  left  the  mine  on  the  8th  day  of 
November,  going  out  by  the  way  of  New  River,  and  arrived  at  Mun- 
day's  house  the  ist  day  of  December,  1764. 

in  1765  the  train  set  out  from  Munday's  house  on  the  14th  day 
of  April.  1765.  They  went  by  the  way  of  Ingles'  Ferry  on  the  New 
River,  arriving  at  their  lower  mines  on  the  2nd  day  of  May.  They 
had  a  profitable  year,  and  gathered  into  a  great  cave,  "our  immense 
store  of  precious  metal,  both  of  the  coined  and  the  uncoined,  and  hid 
it  therein  until  we  could  in  the  providence  of  God  convey  it  thence 
to  the  trade  of  the  seas."  At  another  point  the  journal  says,  "that 
store  of  treasure  lieth  in  that  cave  to  this  day."  Their  geographical 
knowledge  was  increased,  and  in  going  out  from  their  mines  this  year 
they  went  by  a  gap  at  the  head  of  the  Big  Sandy,  in  all  probability, 
the  Pound  (jaj).  They  arrived  at  Munday's  house  on  the  20th  day  of 
November,  1/65. 

On  the  6th  day  of  June,  1766,  they  set  out  on  their  journey  to  the 
mines.  Their  delay  this  year  was  caused  by  wounds  inflicted  upon  each 
other  by  two  of  their  company,  Fletcher  and  Flint.  They  were  drinking 
heavily  on  Christmas  Day  and  came  to  blows  with  swords.  They  made 
their  wills  and  concealed  their  money  in  the  vicinity  of  Mimday's  house, 
which  was  probablv  on  the  "S'adkin.  I'lint  buried  240,000  crown  jiieces, 
and  Fletcher  hid  360,200  crowns.  Fletcher  died  on  the  2nd  day  of 
July,  and  Mint  reco\cred.  This  year  the  company  was  troubled  with 
a  mutiny  of  their  workmen,  who  left  and  returned  to  the  settlements. 
After  taking  every  precaution  to  conceal  their  operations  they  left  the 
mines  on  the  6th  of  November  and  set  out  for  North  Carolina,  arriving 
at  Munday's  house  on  the  6th  of  December. 

In  1767  the  company  left  Munday's  house  on  the  ist  day  of  October 
and  arrived  at  the  mines  on  the  4th  day  of  November,  bringing  in 
their  largest  train,  to  that  time.  .-Xfter  a  successful  year  they  went 
out  by  the  way  of  Fort  I^ilt  and  arri\ed  at  .Alexandria  on  the  7th  dav 
of  May,  1768. 

For  the  ne.xt  year,  a  great  train  was  made  up,  and  on  the  4th  of 
June,  1768,  they  went  by  the  way  of  Fort  Pitt.  The  date  of  arrival 
at  the  mines  is  not  given.  This  proved  a  prosperous  year.  Swift  and 
some  of  his  companions  left  the  mines  on  the  29th  of  October.  On  the 
Big  Sandy  they  were  ambushed  by  Indians,  and  Campbell  was  killeil. 
Hazlitt  and  Staley  were  badly  wounded.  The  company  arrived  at  Mun- 
day's house  on  the  14th  day  of  December,  1768.  and  on  the  24th  Hazlitt 
died  of  his  wounds.  Mention  is  made  of  a  settlement  with  the  "Scotch 
Conipanv."  It  is  .said  that  the  settlement  was  not  easily  effected,  as 
the  company. 

"Seeing  thai  we  prospered  in  all  onr  enterprises,  both  at  sea  and 
on  the  land,  took  advantage  of  the  nature  of  our  business  to  extort 
from  us  a  great  sum,  not  their  due,  and  this  we  paid,  though  very 
unwillingly,  but  fearing  that  worse  might  come  of  refusal  to  come  to 
this  agreement  wrcjugfully  exacted  of  us.  In  making  that  settlement 
we  closed  our  business  in  North  Carolina  deeming  it  imprudent  to  longer 
move  with  our  affairs  there." 

In  1769  the  con)pany  left  Munday's  house  on  the  i6th  day  of  May 
and  went  bv  the  New  River  and  Cumberland  Gap.  The  pack-train  was 
large  and  niiw  iclch-.  .nid  their  ])rogress  was  slow.  The  arrival  at  the 
lower   mines    was   on   the    24th   day   of   June.      This   year  it    was   deter- 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  133 

mined  to  close  up  the  affairs  of  the  cinnijany  and  quit  business.  All 
their  workmen  were  pledged  to  secrecy  and  paid  se\en-fold  their  agreed 
wages.    The  paragraph  describing  the  close  of  their  business  is  as  follows : 

"And  it  came  up  to  us  to  settle  what  was  to  be  done,  and  seeing 
that  we  had  prospered  beyond  all  our  expectations,  and  had  gathered 
gold  and  silver  until  we  had  heaped  up  great  riches,  and  seeing  also 
that  the  stormy  life  we  had  led  in  this  wild  land  for  more  than  a  third 
of  a  century  was  wearing  away  our  strength ;  and  being  minded  that 
the  works  of  men  are  always  unfinished  and  unsatisfactory,  leaving 
the  heart  at  unrest  and  in  tumult ;  and,  too,  being  fully  persuaded  that 
the  life  of  man  should  be  at  some  period  turned  about  for  reflection 
on  God  and  his  mind  drawn  in  from  the  wanderings  of  this  world,  we 
decided  to  quit  and  abandon  this  hard  life  for  the  present  and  mayhap 
for  all  time,  returning  here  to  carry  out  that  store  now  hidden  in  the 
great  cavern  of  the  Shawnees,  which  fact  is  known  to  no  living  soul 
beyond  our  company." 

They  left  the  mines  on  the  9th  of  October  going  by  the  way  of  Big 
Sandy  and  Fort  Pitt,  and  arrived  at  Alexandria  the  nth  day  of  De- 
cember, 1769.  They  closed  out  their  "sea-faring  operations,"  as  it  was 
written  in  the  journal.  "So,  we  end  the  labor  of  ten  years  on  sea  and 
land,  praising  God  that  it  was  successful."  The  journal  ends  with 
specific  directions  for  finding  the  treasure  left  in  all  parts  of  the  wilder- 
ness and  for  the  discovery  of  the  mines.  If  there  is  any  reliance  to  be 
placed  on  the  journal  there  is  concealed  treasure  in  Eastern  Kentucky 
in  untold  amounts. 

Whatever  may  be  the  facts  concerning  Swift's  mines  it  is  certain 
there  were  many  expeditions  made  to  Eastern  Kentucky  by  men  in 
pursuit  of  hidden  minerals  long  before  the  central  portion  of  the  state 
was  settled. 


CHAPTER  X 

TIIF.  I'OUNDING  (JF  HARMAN'S  STATION 

I 

IIkzkkiaii  Ski. lards 

llezL'kiah  Sellards  was  a  Scotch-Irish  pioneer  in  the  Upper  Shenan- 
doali  Valley.  He  moved  into  that  country  from  Pennsylvania.  He 
built  his  cabin  twenty  miles  from  the  nearest  neighl)or.  He  was  a  typical 
settler  and  a  genuine  frontiersman  and  backwoodsman.  The  location 
of  his  residence  in  the  valley  cannot  now  be  determined  with  any  de- 
gree of  certainty.  It  was  in  the  mountains  about  the  sources  of  the 
Shenandoah  River.  It  was  in  the  conniumiiy  where  niany  Presbyterians 
afterward  settled.  Sellards  himself  was  a  Presbyterian  of  the  strictest 
sort.  In  company  with  his  neighbors  he  made  annual  journeys  into  forests 
beyond  the  New  River.  The  object  of  the  hunter  in  those  days  was  as 
much  to  find  desirable  place  in  which  to  locate  when  ne.\t  he  deter- 
mined to  move  as  to  secure  meat  and  skins.  A  more  charming  country 
than  the  western  highlands  of  Virginia  would  he  difhcult  indeed  lo 
find.  Sellards  and  his  associates  hunted  in  that  region  alxnit  the  head 
of  Wolf  Creek,  and  along  Walker's  Creek,  going  sometimes  to  the  Clinch 
and  the  Ilolstou.  Their  choice  of  locality  finally  fell  upon  W'alker's 
Creek  and  Walker's  Mountain.  Long  before  it  was  safe  to  do  so,  per- 
haps before  1760,  a  colony  of  which  Sellards  was  a  member  and  perhaps 
the  leader  settled  about  Walker's  Mountain.  The  date  is  not  definite, 
but  they  were  beset  by  Indians  for  thirty  years.  In  their  migration 
to  their  new  home  they  drove  their  flocks  and  herds  before  them  and 
carried  their  wives  and  children  and  their  household  effects  upon  pack- 
horses. 

II 

The  Walker's  Crkkk   Skttlf.mknt 

Ilezekiah  Sellards  had  a  large  family,  but  all  his  children  save  four 
died  before  they  were  grown  up.  Two  of  his  .sons,  Thomas  and  Jack, 
lived  on  the  Buffalo  I'ork  of  John's  Creek  and  died  there,  each  at  a 
great  age.'  One  daughter  married  John  Borders,  a  British  soldier  who 
.served  under  Cornwallis  and  was  captured  at  Yorktown.  During  his 
service  he  had  come  to  believe  in  America  and  in  her  cause  and  had 
resolved  to  make  this  country  his  home  as  soon  as  he  could  secure  his 
discharge  from  the  army.  It  is  said  that  he  had  acquainted  his  officers 
of  his  intention.  After  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis  ]5orders  soon  con- 
trived to  be  released,  and  he  went  immediately  to  the  back  settlements 
of  Virginia  to  begin  life  in  his  adopted  country.  There  he  met  and 
married  a  daughter  of  Ilezekiah  Sellards.  He  was  an  excellent  man 
in  every  respect,  so  it  is  said.     From  his  marriage  with  Miss  Sellards 

'  Stated  on  the  authority  of  Adam  P.  Wiley,  also  Rev.  M.  T.  Burris.  Mr. 
Burris  knew  these  brothers.  He  was  born  and  brought  up  in  the  Leslie  Settlement 
on  John's  Creek,  and  is  a  descendant  of  the  Pioneer  Leslie. 

134 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  135 

are  descended  several  families  living  now  in  Eastern  Kentucky,  one 
of  the  most  numerous  and  respectable  being  that  of  Borders. 2 

The  remaining  daughter  of  Hezekiah  Sellards  was  Jean,  familiarly 
called  by  her  family  and  others  Jennie  Sellards.  Her  son  informed 
me  that  she  had  black  hair  through  which  ran  a  tinge  of  auburn  in 
her  youth.  Others  say  her  hair  was  coal  black,  and  they  saw  her  many 
times  and  had  opportunity  to  know.  All  agree  that  she  was  strong  and 
capable  of  great  exertion  and  great  endurance.  Until  past  middle  life 
she  was  of  fine  form  and  her  movements  were  quick.  In  her  old  age 
she  became  heavy  and  slow.  She  had  then,  too,  heavy  overhanging 
brows.  Her  eyes  were  black.  She  was  above  medium  height.  Her 
face  was  agreeable  and  indicated  superior  intelligence.^ 

Capt.  Matthias  Harman  lived  on  Walker's  Creek  and  not  a  great 
distance  from  Hezekiah  Sellards.  He  was  familiar  with  all  the  coun- 
try along  the  frontier  and  this  brought  his  services  into  demand  by  per- 
sons seeking  new  lands  suitable  for  settlements.  It  is  said  that  in  the 
spring  of  1777  he  led  a  number  of  settlers  from  Strasburg,  Virginia, 
to  Ab's  Valley.  Thomas  and  Samuel  Wiley  were  members  of  this  party. 
They  were  brothers,  recently  arrived  from  the  north  of  Ireland.  Samuel 
Wiley  settled  in  Ab's  Valley,  but  Thomas  remained  at  the  home  of 
Captain  Harman,  of  whom  he  finally  purchased  a  tract  of  land.  This 
tract  of  land  was  on  a  branch  of  Walker's  Creek  immediately  north 
of  the  residence  of  Harman.  Wiley  built  a  cabin  of  two  rooms  with 
an  open  space  between  on  his  land  and  cleared  a  field.  He  courted 
Jennie  Sellards  and  met  with  many  a  rebuff  from  her  father  whose 
hostility  availed  nothing,  for  Jennie  looked  with  favor  on  the  young 
man  and  they  were  married.    This  was  in  the  year  1779. 

It  is  necessary  here  to  return  to  the  transactions  of  Matthias  Har- 
man.-*    Mention  has  been  already   made  of  the  colony  located  by  him 

~  The  descendants  of  John  Border  live  now  mainly  in  Lawrence  and  Johnson 
counties,  Kentucky.  They  are  scattered  over  all  the  Mississippi  Valley.  While 
many  of  them  were  farmers,  they  usually  followed  commercial  life  and  were 
very  successful.  One  of  his  descendants,  a  Mr.  Davis,  informed  William  E.  Con- 
nelley  in  November,  1920,  at  his  home,  in  Louisa,  Kentucky,  that  the  wife  of 
Hezekiah  Sellards  was  a  Cherokee  Indian  woman.  He  could  not  say  whether 
or  not  she  was  a  full-blood  or  part  white. 

2  Rev.  M.  T.  Burris  says  "she  was  rather  dark  skinned,  dark  hair  and  heavy 
eye  bones."  He  also  says  that  Thomas  Lewis,  a  pioneer  in  the  Big  Sandy  Valley 
who  knew  Mrs.  Wiley  well,  told  him  that  she  "had  dark  hair,  rather  heavy  eye- 
bones,  and  dark  eyebrows."  Joseph  Kelley  was  also  a  pioneer  in  the  Big  Sandy 
Valley  and  knew  Mrs.  Wiley  well;  he  told  Mr.  Burris  that  she  had  dark  hair. 
Mr.  Burris  says  that  her  brothers,  Thomas  and  Jack  Sellards,  had  black  or  dark 
hair.  Mr.  Burris  did  not  know  Mrs.  Wiley.  Adam  P.  Wiley  was  dark  of  skin, 
and  his  hair  was  black.  Mrs.  Susan  Joynes  Connelly,  knew  Mrs.  Wiley  well;  she 
said  that  Mrs.  Wiley  had  very  dark  hair,  was  tall,  handsome  of  form  and  face 
imtil  old  age  made  her  heavy  and  slow,  very  intelligent,  kindly  disposition  but 
lirm  and  determined,  and  a  devout  and  earnest  Christian. 

■•  Matthias  Harman  was  born  in  or  near  Strasburg,  Virginia,  about  the  year 
1732.  His  father,  Heinrich  Herrmann,  came  from  Prussia  to  Pennsylvania,  and 
from  thence  to  the  vicinity  of  Strasburg  while  yet  a  young  man.  Matthias  Har- 
man and  his  brothers,  of  whom  he  had  several,  early  became  hunters  and  ranged 
the  woods  far  and  near.  They  joined  every  expedition  into  the  wilderness  made 
up  in  their  community,  and  it  is  said  that  their  father  also  joined  these  expedi- 
tions, whether  for  hunting,  exploration,  or  for  war.  The  Harmans  bore  the 
Indian  a  bitter  hatred  and  believed  in  his  extermination.  There  came  to  America 
also,  two  brothers,  of  Heinrich  Herrmann,  Adam  and  Jacob,  but  they  came  at 
a  later  date.  These  three  brothers  and  their  families  were  among  the  first  set- 
tlers at  Draper's  Meadows  in  1748.  Michael  Steiner  or  Stoner,  (afterwards  a 
pioneer  in  Kentucky,  and  for  whom  Stoner  Creek,  in  Bourbon  County,  was  named,) 
was  a  cousin  to  Matthias  Harman,  and  was  also  an  early  settler  at  Draper's 
Meadows.  It  is  said  that  Casper  Mansker,  the  famous  pioneer  of  Tennessee, 
was  in  some  degree  related  to  the  Harmans.  These  men  were  called  Dutchmen  by 
the  early  settlers.  They  were  all  explorers  of  the  wilderness,  and  hunting  became 
a  passion  with  them.     Matthias   Harman  became  infatuated  with  the  life  of   the 


13()  IIISTURV  OI'    KKXTUCKY 

in  the  \icinity  of  Ab's  N'alk'y.  He  fuuiidctl  a  number  of  such  settle- 
ments in  the  eoimtry  west  of  the  New  River.  It  had  been  for  thirty 
years  his  intention  to  ff)rni  a  settlement  at  the  mouth  of  John's  Creek 
on  the  Louisa  ]\iver  when  the  attitude  of  the  Indians  would  j)ermit  him 
to  do  so  with  safety.  The  Indian  tribes  beyond  the  Ohio  and  the 
Cherokees  living  along  the  Little  Tennessee  had  all  to  be  taken  into 
account.  Some  vagrant  band.s  of  Cherokees  lived  also  along  the  Ohio 
River  at  the  time.  Ilarman  was  infatuated  with  the  Louisa  River 
country  because  game  was  more  jjlentifnl  there  than  in  any  other  region 
of  which  he  knew.  The  great  Indian  trails  between  the  Ohio  River 
Indians  and  the  Cherokees  and  other  Southern  tribes  lay  up  the  Big 
Sandy,  which  accounts  for  the  fact  that  the  Indians  roamed  that  coun- 
try several  years  after  they  had  disai)peared  from  all  other  parts  of 
Kentucky.  For  this  colony  Ilanuan  had  enlisted  a  number  of  his  old- 
time  associates  and  companions  in  wilderness  exploration.  In  1787  he 
believed  it  safe  to  establish  his  settlement,  and  it  was  agreed  that  it 
should  be  made  in  the  winter  of  1787-88.^' 

Harman's  father  was  yet  living.  He  always  went  with  the  other 
jjioneers  to  hunt  in  the  Big  .'^andy  \'alley.  Except  for  a  few  years 
during  the  Revolution  this  hunt  had  been  made  annually  for  twenty- 
five  years  and  perhaps  longer.  As  the  hunters  would  not  return  when 
they  went  out  in  the  fall  of  1787,  and  as  Harman,  senior,  was  now  too 
old  to  go  with  the  colony  and  was  desirous  of  making  a  hunt  with  his 

woodsman  and  tlie  dangers  of  the  frontier.  In  woodcraft  and  Indian  warfare 
it  is  donbtfnl  if  lie  ever  liad  a  superior.  He  was  one  of  the  men  employed  to 
guide  the  Sandy  Creek  Voyage,  and  tradition  says  that  if  General  Lewis  had 
been  governed  by  his  judgment  the  expedition  would  not  have  failed  at  its  pur- 
pose. He  and  his  Dutch  companions  and  relatives  slew  about  forty  Cherokees 
who  were  returning  liomc  from  assisting  the  English  against  Fort  De  Quesne  in 
1758,  so  tradition  in  the  Harman  family  says,  and  they  justified  their  action  by 
affirming  that  the  Indians  had  stolen  horses  and  cattle  from  tlie  settlers  along 
their  route.  Tradition  in  the  Big  Sandy  Valley  said  that  Michael  Stoner  and 
Casper  Mansker  were  with  Harman  in  this  foray,  and  that  the  party  received  pay 
from  the  colony  of  Virginia  for  the  scalps  of  the  Indians  slain  and  that  it 
amounted  to  a  considerable  sum  per  man. 

These  Germ;;ns  and  explorers  with  whom  tliey  were  associated  became  fa- 
miliar with  every  part  of  the  Big  Sandy  Valley  soon  after  settling  at  Draper's 
Meadows.  They  built  a  lodge  or  hunter's  cabin  on  the  Loui.sa  River  just  below 
tlie  mouth  of  John's  Creek  about  the  year  1755,  and  tlicy  went  there  to  hunt  the 
deer.  elk.  biifi'alo,  bear,  beaver,  and  other  game  animrds  and  birds  every  year. 
Matthias  Harman  ajipears  to  have  been  the  leader.  .Associated  witli  him  were 
Henry   Skaggs   and  James   Skaggs.   famous  hunters  and  explorers. 

Matthias  Harman  was  called  "Tice"  or  "Tias"  Harman  by  his  companions. 
He  was  diminiUive  in  size,  in  height  being  but  little  more  than  five  feet,  and  his 
weight  never  exceeded  one  luindred  and  twenty  pounds.  He  had  an  enormous 
nose  and  a  thin  sharp  face.  He  had  an  abundance  of  hair  of  a  yellow  tinge, 
beard  of  a  darker  hue,  blue  eyes  which  anger  made  green  and  glittering,  and  a 
bearing  bold  and  fearless.  He  ])ossessed  an  iron  constitution,  and  could  endure 
more  fatigue  and  privation  than  any  iif  his  associates.  He  was  a  dead  shot  witli 
the  long  rifle  of  his  day.  The  Indians  believed  him  in  league  with  the  devil  or 
some  other  malevolent  power  because  of  their  numbers  he  killed,  his  miraculous 
escapes,  and  the  bitterness  and  relentless  daring  of  his  warfare  against  them. 
He  was  one  of  the  Long  Hunters,  as  were  others  of  the  Harmans,  and  more  than 
once  did  his  journeys  into  the  wilderness  carry  him  to  the  Mississippi  River. 
He  and  the  otlier  H.'.rmans  able  to  bear  arms  were  in  the  Virginia  service  in  the 
War  of  the  Revolution.  He  is  said  to  have  formed  the  colony  which  made  the 
first  settlement  in  .'Mi's  Valley.  He  formed  the  colony  which  made  the  first  settle- 
ment in  Kastern  Kentucky  and  erected  the  blockliouse.  He  brought  in  the  set- 
tlers wlu)  re-built  the  blockhouse,  and  for  a  munber  of  years  he  lived  in  the 
Blnckhonse  Bottom  or  its  vicinity.  In  his  extreme  old  age  lie  returned  to  Virginia 
and  died  there.  It  is  said  he  lived  to  be  ninety-six,  but  the  date  or  place  of  his 
death  has  not  been  ascertained. 

■"'  Summers,  in  his  work  on  Southwestern  Virginia,  says  this  was  a  year  later, 
or  in  the  winter  of  1788-89.  It  may  have  been.  But  .Adam  P.  Wiley  has  been  fol- 
lowed here  in  the  matter  of  dates.  If  Summers  is  right,  then  the  hunting  party 
of   Harman  went  out  in  the   fall  of   1788. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  137 

sons,  this  year  it  was  arranged  that  a  party  would  go  out   for  a   few 
weeks  prior  to  the  departure  to  huihl  the  fort  on  the  Louisa.""'     Where 


^^  The  Louisa  River  was  named  by  Dr.  Thomas  Walker  on  Tlnirsday,  the  7th 
day  of  June,  1750.  The  entry  in  Dr.  Walker's  Journal  describing  this  event  is  as 
follovi'S  :  "June  7th. — The  Creek  being  fordable,  we  Crossed  it  &  kept  down  12 
miles  to  a  River  about  100  yards  over,  which  we  called  Louisa  River.  The  Creek 
is  about  30  yards  wide,  &  part  of  ye  River  breaks  into  ye  Creek — making  an  Island 
on  which  we  Camped." 

In  the  early  days  of  the  settlement  of  the  Big  Sandy  Valley  this  stream  was 
known  altogether  as  the  Louisa  River,  As  late  as  1825  it  was  generally  called 
the  Louisa  River.  After  that  time,  and  to  some  extent  before,  the  name  began 
to  be  corrupted  to  that  of  Levisa.  The  name  Levisa  is  now  used  almost  entirely. 
That  the  name  is  a  corruption  of  tlie  true  name,  Louisa,  there  is  no  doubt.  It 
appears  that  the  name  Louisa  once  attached  to  the  whole  State  of  Kentucky,  but 
the  extent  of  the  application  of  this  name  is  not  now  known.  There  is  reason  to 
believe  that  as  early  as  1775  the  name  Louisa  was  corrupted  to  Levisa.  Speed,  in 
the  Wilderness  Road  says,  "that  Feli.x  Walker,  with  Captain  Twetty  and  si.x 
others,  left  Rutherford,  North  Carolina,  in  February,  1775,  (according  to  Felix 
Walker's  narrative,  'to  explore  the  country  of  Leowvisay,  now  Kentucky.'"  But 
the  i(  was  formerly  written  v,  and  it  may  have  been  so  in  this  word  Lcowuisay, 
an    erroneous    spelling    of    Louisa. 

The  Kentucky  River  was  sometimes  called  the  Louisa  River  by  the  pioneers 
and  explorers,  and  it  was  called,  also,  the  Cherokee  River.  In  the  deed  from  the 
Cherokces  to  Richard  Henderson  and  others,  proprietors  of  the  Transylvania 
Company,  conveying  the  tract  of  land  known  as  the  Great  Grant,  we  find  the 
description  of  the  land  beginning  as  follows :  "All  that  tract,  territory,  or  parcel 
of  land,  situated,  lying  and  being  in  North  America,  on  the  Ohio  River  one  of 
the  eastern  branches  of  the  Mississippi  River,  beginning  on  the  said  Oliio,  at 
the  mouth  of  Kentucky,  Cherokee,  or  what  by  the  English  is  called  Louisa  River." 
This  calling  of  the  Kentucky  River  by  the  name  Louisa  was  caused  by  a  misap- 
prehension. It  was  not  certainly  known  what  river  had  been  called  Louisa  by 
Dr.  Walker,  as  he  traced  none  of  the  rivers,  which  he  named,  to  the  Ohio.  But 
that  he  did  not  call  the  Kentucky  River  Louisa  is  shown  by  Lewis  Evans's  Map, 
177.S,  on  which  the  Louisa  River  is  marked  as  flowing  into  the  Great  Kanawha, 
and  the  upper  course  of  the  "Tottery  or  Big  Sandy  C."  is  marked  "Frederick  R." 
Frederick's  River  was  discovered  and  named  by  Dr.  Walker  on  the  2d  of  June, 
1750,  five  days  before  he  discovered  and  named  the  Louisa  River,  and  as  it  is 
now  known  that  the  Louisa  River  does  not  flow  into  the  Great  Kanawha,  it  fol- 
lows that  the  west  branch  of  the  Big  Sandy  River  was  the  stream  upon  wliich 
Dr.  Walker  bestowed  the  name  Louisa. 

The  late  Rev.  Zephaniali  Meek  wrote  William  E.  Connelley  from  Catlcttsburg, 
Kentucky,  November  ig,  1895,  as  follows:  "I  called  on  Capt.  Owens  yesterday 
formerly  of  Pike  county,  and  asked  him  the  origin  of  the  name  Levisa  as  applied 
to  the  west  fork  of  the  Big  Sandy.  He  says  that  in  the  early  settlement  of  this 
part  of  the  State,  a  French  trader  by  the  naine  of  Le  Visa  came  to  what  is  now 
Louisa,  and  owing  to  some  experiences  of  his,  that  fork  came  to  be  called  after 
his  name,  hence.  Americanized  Levisa." 

There  may  have  been  a  French  trader  at  the  forks  of  the  Big  Sandy  by  the 
name  of  Le  Visa,  but  the  word  of  Captain  Owens  is  all  the  evidence  found  of  that 
fact.  If  there  was  such  a  trader  he  was  not  prominent  enough  to  change  the 
n,?me  of  a  river  or  to  have  his  name  attached  to  it.  The  1  in  French  is  e  in 
English.  Anglicized,  the  Frenchman's  name  would  have  been  Levesay  or  Levesy. 
Levisa  could  not  have  come  from  it.  The  explanation  of  Captain  Owens  is  an 
improbable  one. 

John  P.  Hale,  in  his  Trans-Allegheny  Pioneers  says  ;  "The  La  Visa,  or  Levisa, 
fork  is  said  to  mean  the  picture,  design,  or  representation.  It  was  so  called  by  an 
early  French  explorer  in  that  region,  from  Indian  pictures  or  signs,  painted  on 
trees,  near  the  head  of  the  stream." 

These  painted  trees  were  to  be  found  in  early  times  all  along  the  Louisa  River 
from  the  mouth  of  Big  Paint  Creek,  where  they  were  most  numerous  to  its  head. 
Christoi)her  Gist  was  on  the  Pound  River  in  1751.  The  entry  in  his  Journal  for 
Wednesday,  April  ,3,  is  as  follows :  "  ....  to  a  small  Creek  on  which  was  a 
large  Warriors  camp,  that  would  contain  70  to  80  Warriors,  their  Captains,  Name 
or  Title  w::s  the  Crane,  as  I  knew  by  his  Picture  or  Arms  painted  on  a  tree." 
Darlington  says:  "This  was  on  the  stream  called  Indian  Creek,  the  middle  fork 
of  the  Big  Sandy,  in  Wise  County.  The  Crane  was  a  totem  or  badge  of  one  of 
the  Miami  tribes;  also  of  the  Wyandots.  A  common  practice  among  the  Indian 
tribes,  with  war  parties  of  a  distance  from  home,  was  to  paint  on  trees  or  a 
rock  figures  of  warriors,  prisoners,  animals,  etc.,  as  intelligible  to  other  Indians 
as  a  printed  hand  bill  among  the  whites."  Darlington  is  in  error  when  he  says 
there    was   a   totem   of   the   Crane   among   the   Wyandots.      But   they   had    a   chief 


138  HISTORY  Ol'  KENTUCKY 

the  hunters  made  their  camp  camiut  iinw  be  determined.  It  was  not 
far  from  the  settlements,  and  it  api)ears  to  have  been  near  the  head 
waters  of  both  the  'I'lif^  and  Louisa  rivers.  It  is  said  that  about  twenty 
hunters  went  out  in  this  party.  Henry  Ilarman  and  his  sons,  Henry 
Skaggs,  James  Skaggs,  Robert  Hawes,  some  of  the  Damrons,  and  a  man 
named  Draper  are  i\nown  to  have  been  of  the  party  that  went  on  this 
])reliminary  hunt. 

As  it  was  tlie  intention  of  the  liunters  to  remain  some  time  in  the 
woods  they  built  a  rough  camp  in  which  to  sleep  and  to  shelter  their 
trappings  in  case  of  rain.  The  camp  must  have  been  near  the  Indian 
highw'ay,  for  one  day  it  was  surprised  and  attacked  by  a  moving  band 
of  Indians.  I-'cw  particulars  of  this  skirmish  have  been  preserved,  though 
the  memory  of  it  is  widesjiread.  It  is  said  that  the  i)revious  night  had 
been  rainy  aufl  the  morning  cloudy  and  dam]).  The  men  had  not  gone 
out  early,  and  that  fortunate  circumstance  sa\'ed  the  camp  from  de- 
struction, in  all  jirobability.  The  hunters  not  being  beyond  hearing  of 
gun-shots  returned  at  once,  catching  the  Indian  party  in  the  rear  and 
defeating  the  savages  in  a  short  time.  Robert  Hawes  was  wounded 
in  one  of  his  arms.  The  Indians  were  pressing  the  party  at  the  camp 
when  the  other  hunters  returned.  A  young  Cherokee,  son  of  the  chief 
and  leader,  was  armed  with  bow  and  arrows  only,  but  he  came  near 
killing  Henry  Harman  and  would  possibly  have  done  so  had  not  Matthias 
Harman  killed  him  with  a  rifle  shot.  The  death  of  the  Indian  boy 
ended  the  fight.  The  chief  carried  the  body  of  his  son  away  with  him. 
.Matthias  Ilarman  recognized  the  Cherokee  chief  as  one  of  the  boldest 
raiders  on  the  Virginia  settlements  to  be  found  in  all  the  tribes.  He 
stole  horses  all  along  the  frontier,  murdered  families,  and  carried  off 
lilunder  of  all  kinds.  Harman  had  followed  him  often  and  had  met 
liim  in  many  a  running  fight.  A  bitter  hatred  existed  between  the 
two  men,  and  the  Cherokee  had  tried  to  destroj-  Harman's  family  sev- 
eral times  when  Harman  was  engaged  in  scouting  and  was  absent  from 
home,  but  his  attempts  had  never  been  successful ;  he  had  frequently 
driven  off  horses  and  cattle  belonging  to  Harman.  It  is  said  that  Har- 
man and  this  chief  had  been  friends  at  one  time,  and  that  they  were 
both  guides  in  the  .Sandy  Creek  Voyage." 

named  Tarhc,  or  the  Crane,  who  was  old  enough  in  1751  to  have  led  a  hunting 
party  or  even  a  war  party  into  the  wilderness.  He  became  head  chief  of  the 
Wyandots  on  the  death  of  the  Half-King. 

It  is  said  that  Dr.  Walker  gave  this  river  the  name  Louisa  in  honor  of  Louisa, 
the  wife  of  the  Duke  of  Cumberland.  Louisa  is  a  good  old  English  name.  It 
was  in  much  favor  witli  our  ancestors.  It  should  be  restored  to  the  river  to  which 
Dr.  Walker  gave  it.  The  Louisa  Fork  should  be  called  the  Louisa  River.  The 
'i"ug  Fork  should  be  called  the  Tug  River.  The  river  formed  by  their  junction 
should  be  called  the  Big  Sandy  River. 

'■■The  traditionary  accounts  of  this  Indian  attack  vary  inuch.  In  some  of  them 
little  of  what  actually  happened  can  be  foimd.  Matlliias  Harman,  a  nephew  of 
the  fourtli  generation  from  his  famous  uncle,  for  whom  he  was  named,  wrote 
the   following: 

"William  Harman  and  Aquilla  Harman  were  once  out  hunting  on  a  very  cold 
day  and  the  Indians  made  a  raid  upon  the  settlement  in  the  Baptist  Valley  [and] 
about  this  time,  or  1780,  gave  the  settlers  some  trouble.  Henry  Harman  and  his 
three  sons,  George  Harman,  Ed.  Harman,  Tias  Harman,  and  a  man  by  tlie  name 
of  Draper  followed  him  down  the  Tug  Fork  of  Sandy  to  what  is  now  Warfield 
where  they  found  the  Indians  camped  by  a  log  and  Harman  fired  on  them.  Draper 
left  them. 

"The  Indians  shot  the  old  man  Harman  in  the  breast  with  arrow  spikes  until 
he  could  not  stand  without  leaning  against  a  tree.  His  son,  George,  loaded  his 
gun  for  him.  There  he  stood  until  he  shot  six  of  the  Indians  dead.  The  seventh 
was   wounded,   ran   into  the  Tug  River  and   drowned  himself." 

Rev.  M.  T.  Burris  included  the  following  account  in  his  manuscript  : 

"Daniel  Harman  was  a  brother  of  Henry,  George  and  Matthias  Harman,  the 
great  Indian  fighters  and  early  explorers  of  the  Tug  and  Levisa  forks  of  Big 
Sandy.     Tliey  had  a  terrible  battle  with   Indians   on  Tug  River,  up   near   the  Va. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  139 

When  the  Indians  disappeared  Matthias  Harman  determined  to  re- 
turn home  at  once.  He  was  certain  that  the  Cherokee  would  fall  upon 
the  settlements  and  inflict  what  damage  he  could,  for  he  was  a  daring 
marauder  and  is  represented  to  have  been  persistent  in  the  pursuit  of 
revenge,  which  it  was  believed  he  would  now  seek  for  his  son  slain 
in  battle.  The  absence  of  Harman  and  other  riflemen  from  the  settle- 
ments gave  him  an  opportunity  which  the  hunters  believed  he  would 
not  let  pass. 

A  number  of  arrowheads  remained  in  the  wounds  of  Henry  Har- 
man, making  his  condition  serious.  On  this  account  no  pursuit  of  the 
Indians  was  attempted.  A  litter  was  made  and  the  wounded  man  was 
sent  to  his  home,  which  was  in  the  vicinity  of  Ab's  Valley. 

The  surmise  of  the  hunters  concerning  the  intention  of  the  Cher- 
okee chief  proved  correct.  He  went  as  directly  to  Walker's  Creek 
as  he  could  from  the  battlefield.  It  was  the  judgment  of  the  hunters 
afterwards  when  all  the  facts  were  known  that  he  divided  his  band 
and  sent  a  part  of  it  on  to  the  Cherokee  towns,  perhaps  with  the  body 
of  his  son.  The  hunters  believed  there  were  more  Indians  in  the  party 
which  attacked  their  camp  than  in  the  band  which  fell  upon  the  home 
of  Thomas  Wiley.  It  was  known  later  that  the  party  with  which  the 
Cherokee  attacked  the  settlement  was  composed  of  two  Cherokees,  three 
Shawnees,  three  Wyandots,  three  Delawares,  a  total  of  eleven  Indians 
— a  mongrel  band,  a  thing  not  uncommon  at  that  time.  It  was  also 
learned  that  the  party  was  on  the  trail  from  the  villages  beyond  the 
r)hio  to  the  Cherokee  towns  on  the  Little  Tennessee,  and  that  they 
had  come  upon  the  camp  of  the  hunters  by  chance.  It  was  not  a  war 
party  but  a  roving  band  such  as  might  be  encountered  at  any  time  in 
those  davs  in  the  wilderness.' 


line.  They  came  upon  the  Indians  a  little  une.xpected,  George  Harman  com- 
manded his  squad,  and  the  battle  opened  in  earnest  it  seemed  at  first  that  the 
Indians  would  be  too  much  for  them  ;  Harman's  boys  said  to  him,  'Had  we  not 
better  retreat  and  try  to   save  ourselves?'      (A  man   bj'  the  name  of  Draper  ran 

at  the  first  fire.)     Harman  replied  in  a  determined  voice,  'No,  give  them   h 1! 

When  you  see  me  fall  it  will  be  time  to  retreat.'  At  that  word  the  boys  took  fresh 
courage  and  loaded  and  kept  blazing  away.  G.  Harman  was  a  brave  man ;  the 
chief  ran  up  close  to  him,  made  motions  to  Harman  to  throw  down  his  gun  so 
he  could  take  him  a  prisoner  but  he  would  not,  they  closed  in  a  scuffle,  they  were 
so  near  equally  yoked  in  strength  the  Indian  could  not  bold  him  down  ;  in  [tli£] 
scuffle  Harman  got  hold  of  the  Indian's  butcher  knife  that  was  in  his  belt,  and 
began  to  use  it  in  earnest,  having  the  Indian  by  the  legs,  Indian's  head  down, 
biting  Harman's  legs.  Harman  stabbed  him  24  times  before  he  dispatched  him, 
the  others  took  to  their  heels,  as  the  Harman  company  was  proving  too  much 
for  them.  The  Harmans  had  a  rock  [house]  or  cave  in  that  region  where  they 
camped  on  Tug,  hunting  and  exploring.  (These  facts  I  learned  from  Adam 
Harman)." 

Adam  Harman,  here  mentioned  by  Mr.  Burris.  was  a  nephew  in  the  third 
generation,  of  Matthias  Harman.  While  there  is  much  error  in  these  meager  ac- 
counts, they  evidently  preserve  some  of  the  details  of  the  battle  between  the  hunt- 
ers and  the  Indians.  The  one  written  in  the  text  is  that  of  Adam  P.  Wiley.  There 
were  some  things  of  whicli  he  was  uncertain,  and  his  description  of  the  encounter 
is  deficient  in  the  matter  of  detail.    But  I  wrote  down  all  that  I  was  certain  of. 

It  is  believed  that  this  battle  with  the  Indians  by  Harman  and  his  sons  and 
others  was  in  fact  that  which  is  described  by  Bickley  in  his  History  of  Tazewell 
County,  Virginia.  Adam  P.  Wiley  said  that  Bickley  had  this  battle  in  mind  when 
he  wrote  his  account,  and  that  he  was  in  error  in  many  things,  particularly  the 
date,  locality,  the  number  of  persons  engaged  on  each  side,  and  the  important 
developments   which   grew   out   of   it. 

The  late  Dr.  Witten,  of  Oklahoma  City,  Oklahoma,  knew  Bickley,  and  was 
in  Tazewell  Cotmty  when  his  history  was  published.  He  said  that  Bickley  fell 
into  a  good  many  errors,  and  that  these  were  pointed  out  by  the  people  upon  the 
appearance  of  the  book.  He  is  authority  for  the  assurance  that  Bickley  was  con- 
scientious, and  that  the  errors  in  his  book  were  the  result  of  insufficient  research 
and  investigation.  Bickley  places  the  battle  in  1784  and  makes  nothing  of  it  more 
than  an  insignificant  collision  of  stragglers,  while  in  fact  it  was  an  important 
meeting  of   those   contesting   for  the   supremacy   of   the   wilderness. 

'  The  number  of   Indians  belonging  to  the  different   tribes  represented   in  the 


140  HISTORY  OF  KF.^"IT■(■K^■ 

Mrs.  Wiley,  upon  her  return,  gave  a  good  description  of  the  In- 
dians. She  supposed  the  Cherokee  chief  to  have  been  more  than  fifty 
years  of  age,  possibly  sixty.  He  was  a  large  man,  stern  and  hard  of 
countenance,  resourceful,  full  of  energy  and  quick  of  mind  and  body 
for  an  Indian,  much  more  cruel  than  his  companions,  and  treachert)us 
but  bold  and  relentless.  His  ears  and  nose  were  decorated  with  Indian 
ornaments,  among  them  siher  rings  of  elaborate  workmansliip,  some 
of  them  as  much  as  three  inches  in  diameter.  He  wore  buckskin  leggins 
and  beaded  moccasins,  a  shirt  of  red  cloth,  carried  a  knife  and  a  toma- 
hawk in  his  belt,  had  the  shot-pouch  and  powder-horn  of  the  white  man 
slung  over  his  left  shoulder  and  under  his  right  arm,  and  was  armed  with 
a  long  rifle  which  he  carried  muzzle  forward  on  his  shoulder.  He  was 
fierce  and  irascible,  and  Mrs.  Wiley  stood  in  much  fear  of  him  from  the 
first.  He  had  carried  away  a  white  woman  from  some  Kanawha  settle- 
ment a  few  years  previous  to  this  raid.  Many  years  afterwards  it  was 
believed  this  was  a  Mrs.  Tacket,  descendants  of  whom  live  now  in 
Johnson  County.  Kentucky. 

Among  the  Shawnees  of  the  band  there  was  a  chief.  He  was  an 
old  man  and  while  a  warrior  he  was  also  a  sort  of  medicine  man  or 
priest.  He  was  of  grave  and  solemn  mien  and,  like  the  Cherokee,  had 
his  nose  and  ears  decorated  with  Indian  gewgaws,  but  these  he  seldom 
wore  while  on  the  war-path,  they  being  a  part  of  his  ceremonial  regalia. 
He  had  a  number  of  small  silver  brooches  strung  together  in  chains 
with  which  he  ornamented  himself,  and  he  carried  rings  and  other  orna- 
ments for  his  arms,  wrists  aiul  ankles.  He  worshi])ed  the  New  Moon, 
or  performed  some  manner  of  incantation  at  the  appearance  of  every 
new  moon.  His  songs  were  long  and  always  recited  with  solemn  dignity, 
often  sung  while  he  marched  about  a  fire  kindled  for  the  purpose  and 
upon  which  he  flung  some  substance  with  which  tobacco  had  been  pre- 
viously mixed.  Age  had  not  impaired  his  strength,  although  he  was 
long  since  done  witli  much  of  the  ardor  which  had  animated  his  youth. 
He  was  of  a  more  kindly  disposition  than  the  other  Indians.  He  did  not 
make  such  show  of  his  ornaments  as  did  tiie  Cherokee  chief,  who  carried 
a  buckskin  bag  containing  iiis  silver  ornaments,  and  another  also  which 
contained  ornaments  of  shell,  bone,  brass  and  copper.  Mrs.  Wiley  gave 
good  descriptions  of  the  other  Indians,  but  it  is  not  necessary  to  repeat 
them  here. 

HI 
Indi.\.\  Att.ack  o.n  the  Settlicment 

Mrs.  Wiley  remembered  well  the  state  of  the  weather  the  day  the 
attack  was  made  upon  her  home.  A  heavy  rain  began  at  noon,  and  soon 
clouds  of  fog  hung  about  the  mountain  tops  and  drifted  up  the  valleys. 
The  autunm  frosts  had  turned  the  forests  a  sombre  hue  which,  showing 
under  the  dull  and   leaden  sky,  aroused  a  sense  of   melancholy. 

Thomas  Wiley  was  absent  from  home  that  day.  Hefore  daylight  he 
had  .set  out  for  some  trading  station  with  a  horse  laden  with  ginseng 
and  other  marketable  commodities  which  he  would  barter  for  domestic 
necessaries.  Mrs.  Wiley's  brother,  a  lad  of  fifteen,  remained  with  her 
in  the  absence  of  her  husband.  The  trading  station  was  a  considerable 
distance  from  Wiley's  residence,  and  it  was  not  expected  that  he  could 
reach  home  until  late  at  night. 

There  had  been  born  to  Thomas  Wiley  and  his  wife  four  children, 
the  age  of  the  youngest  being  about  fifteen  months. 

band  Mr.  Wiley  had  from  his  mother.  This  party  was  not  on  the  war-path.  The 
Indians  were  going  to  visit  in  the  Cherokee  country.  Their  meeting  with  these 
hunters    was    i)urely   accidental. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  141 

John  Borders  lived  about  two  miles  from  the  house  of  Wiley.  Some 
of  his  sheep  had  broken  from  an  enclosure  and  escaped  into  the  woods. 
While  they  remained  there  they  were  in  danger  of  destruction  from 
wolves  and  other  wild  animals.  In  the  morning  of  this  day  Borders 
had  gone  out  to  search  for  his  sheep.  He  had  not  found  them  when 
the  rain  set  in.  After  wandering  awhile  in  the  rain  he  found  himself 
in  the  vicinity  of  Wiley's  cabin  and  went  down  to  it.  He  found  Mrs. 
Wiley  engaged  in  weaving  a  piece  of  cloth  for  use  in  her  family.  He 
called  her  attention  to  the  cries  and  hooting  of  owls  which  could  be  plain- 
ly heard  from  different  points  in  the  woods  around  the  house.  He  said 
that  he  had  heard  these  cries  since  the  rain  began  to  fall,  but  had  not 
heard  them  before.  While  it  was  not  unusual  for  the  owls  to  call  from 
mountain  to  mountain  on  dark  and  rainy  days  Borders  was  apprehensive 
that  the  hootings  heard  this  day  came  from  Indians  signaling  to  one  an- 
other. Indians  always  used  the  cries  of  wild  animals  as  such  signals. 
Borders  urged  Mrs.  Wiley  to  take  her  children  to  his  house  and  remain 
there  o\er  night  as  a  matter  of  precaution.  Mr.  Wiley  would  pass  his 
house  on  his  return  and  could  be  hailed  and  remain  there  also.  Mrs. 
Wiley  agreed  to  go  as  Borders  requested,  but  wished  first  to  complete 
the  piece  of  cloth,  which  would  require  but  a  few  minutes.  As  her 
brother  could  assist  her  in  bringing  the  children  Borders  returned  home 
at  once  through  the  woods  and  made  further  search  for  his  sheep.* 

As  soon  as  ISorders  departed  Mrs.  Wiley  made  all  haste  to  feed  and 
care  for  the  domestic  animals  on  the  farm  and  arrange  for  her  absence 
from  home  over  night.  The  Indians  were  always  expected  in  those  days, 
but  Mrs.  Wiley  felt  no  fear.  It  was  her  judgment  that  no  attack  would 
be  made  upon  any  settler  until  after  night  came  on.  Usually  that  course 
would  have  been  taken  by  the  Indians,  but  in  this  instance  they  were 
anxious  to  proceed  as  rapidly  as  possible. 

It  was  about  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  when  Mrs.  Wiley  and  the 
children  were  wrapped  and  ready  to  start  to  the  home  of  Borders.  Sud- 
denly the  house  was  filled  with  Indians.  They  came  in  at  the  open 
door  yelling  the  war-whoop  and  began  to  strike  down  the  children  with 
their  tomahawks.  Little  resistance  could  be  offered  by  Mrs.  Wiley.  She 
realized  the  awful  condition  she  was  in,  but  she  tried  to  save  her  chil- 
dren. She  could  not  reach  any  weapon  and  could  only  struggle  to  protect 
the  little  ones.  Her  brother  aided  her  as  much  as  he  could  until  he  was 
Ijrained  with  a  tomahawk.  Only  the  youngest  child  remained  alive  of 
her  children.  She  caught  up  this  child  and  fought  off  the  Indians  a  few 
moments,  after  which  the  Shawnee  chief  found  an  opportunity  to  seize 
her  and  claim  her  as  his  captive.  This  angered  the  Cherokee  chief,  and 
a  controversy  arose.  Mrs.  Wiley  learned  in  some  way  from  the  actions 
of  the  two  chiefs  and  what  they  said  that  they  supposed  themselves  at 
the  house  of  Matthias  Harman.  She  made  haste  to  inform  them  that 
they  were  not  at  the  Harman  residence  and  told  them  her  name.  It  ap- 
pears that  there  had  been  some  doubt  as  to  which  was  Harman's  house 
in  the  minds  of  the  savages.  For  the  time  being  Mrs.  W'iley's  life  was 
spared,  also  that  of  the  child  she  had  in  her  arms.  Her  slain  children 
and  her  brother  were  scalped  before  her  eyes. 

The  Indians  found  that  their  plans  had  miscarried.  The  family  of 
their  arch  enemy  had  escaped,  though  they  had  perpetrated  a  bloody  deed 
in  the  settlement.  The  Cherokee  insisted  that  Mrs.  Wiley  and  her  child 
should  be  killed  at  once  and  a  descent  made  upon  Harman's  house.     The 


1  To  follow  along  the  course  of  the  creek  it  was  a  mile  from  the  cabin  of 
Thomas  Wiley  to  that  of  Matthias  Harman,  but  by  the  path  which  led  over  a  low 
hill  the  distance  was  less  than  half  a  mile.  When  standing  in  this  Indian  trail 
on  the  top  of  the  range  if  you  went  down  to  the  south  you  came  to  Harman's 
house ;  by  descending  to  the  north  Wiley's  cabin  was  reached. 


142  HISTORY  Ol"  KENTUCKY 

Shawnee  chief  beheved  that  tlie  luinters  would  return  that  day  and  that 
they  would  meet  with  resistance  at  the  Hamian  cabin.  It  was  his  opinion 
that  they  should  make  their  escape  from  the  settlements  and  continue 
their  journey,  for  pursuit  was  certain.  The  Cherokee  was  equally  certain 
that  they  would  he  followed  by  the  settlers  and  was  finally  brought  to 
the  opinion  of  the  Shawnee,  but  he  pointed  out  that  they  could  not  escape 
if  they  carried  any  prisoners.  'l"he  Shawnee  chief  contended  for  his 
ii,<;ht  to  take  a  captive  and  carry  her  to  his  town.  It  was  finally  decided 
that  the  Shawnee  might  retain  his  captive  for  the  time  being,  though  it 
necessitated  as  they  believed,  a  return  to  the  Indian  towns  beyond  the 
Ohio.  Their  decision  to  follow  this  course  saved  Mrs.  Wiley's  hfe. 
She  did  not  know  what  the  Indians  were  saying,  and  only  came  to  know 
what  had  passed  long  afterwards  when  she  understood  the  Shawnee 
language.  Both  chiefs  could  speak  English  a  little,  but  this  discussion 
had  been  carried  on  in  the  Indian  tongue.  The  Shawnee  chief  informed 
her  that  he  had  saved  her  life  that  she  might  take  the  place  of  his  daughter 
who  had  recently  died,  the  last  of  his  children. - 

The  Indians  set  the  house  on  fire,  but  such  torrents  of  rain  were 
falling  that  it  did  not  completely  burn.  They  entered  the  woods  at  a 
])oint  near  the  house.  Darkness  was  coming  rapidly  on.  Mists  and  the 
black  clouds  of  night  swallowed  up  the  valley  and  shut  out  the  view. 
Mrs.  \\'ile3's  dog  came  hesitatingly  after  them  an-l  was  permitted  to 
follow  her.  They  ascended  a  hill  north  of  the  house,  marching  in  Indian 
file  heade<l  by  the  Cherokee  chief,  the  Shawnee  chief  being  hindmost 
with  Mrs.  \\'iley,  her  child  in  her  arms,  just  in  front  of  him. 

IV 

The  M.muii  to  the  Ohio 

After  leaving  W'iley's  house  the  Indians  took  a  general  course  leading 
to  the  head  of  Walker's  Creek.  They  followed  moimlain  ways  and  short 
cuts  from  one  valley  to  another,  coming  to  Brushy  Mountain,  which  they 
crossed  to  the  head  waters  of  Wolf  Creek.  When  the  night  was  far 
advanced  they  halted  in  a  large  rockhouse'  in  the  range  between  Wolf 
Creek  and  the  Bluestone  River.  There  they  made  a  fire  under  the  over- 
hanging rock  and  broiled  some  venison  which  a  Cherokee  took  from  a 
pack  he  carried  bv  thongs  on  his  back.  They  made  a  hasty  meal  of 
this  venison,  which  appeared  to  refresh  them  all,  and  when  the  rain 
ceased  they  again  set  forward  after  extinguishing  the  fire  and  concealing 
as  far  as  possible  all  traces  of  its  existence.  It  was  still  quite  dark. 
The  dull  dawn  found  them  on  the  head  waters  of  the  Bluestone,  branches 
of  which  river  they  waded  as  they  came  to  them,  though  all  were  running 
high  from  the  recent  rains.  They  crossed  the  Great  Flat  Top  Mountain 
and  ascended  the  south  end  of  one  of  those  ridges  lying  in  the  watershed 


-  In  all  hi.s  recitals  of  Iii.';  mother's  captivity  Mr.  Wiley  never  omitted  to  in- 
clude the  fact  that  lii.s  mother  was  to  be  the  daughter  of  the  Shawnee  chief.  The 
formal  adoption,  he  insisted,  could  not  be  made  until  the  Indians  reached  the 
towns  of  the  Sliawnoes.  consequently  she  could  not  be  pivcn  in  marriage  to  any 
one  before  tliey  reached  there.  Being,  to  all  intents  and  inirposos,  the  daughter 
of  the  cliicf,  Mr.  Wiley  maintained  tliat  his  mother  was  safe  from  violation  and 
escaped  tliat  humiliation.  It  has  been  stated  that  an  Indian  daughter  was  born 
to  Mrs.  Wiley  after  her  escape  and  return  to  the  Virginia  settlements.  Mr.  Burris 
confums  this.  Some  versions  of  the  captivity  of  Mrs.  Wiley  had  it  that  she 
was  carried  to  Old  Chillicothe  and  that  her  sale  to  the  Cherokee  occurred  there, 
after  which  she  was  carried  to  the  old  Indian  town  at  the  mouth  of  Little  Mud- 
lick  Creek  by  the  Cherokee  as  his  wife. 

'  The  term  "rorkhouse"  is  heard  only  in  the  -Soutli,  and  principally  in  the 
region  of  the  .Alleghenies  south  of  Pennsylvania.  It  is  not  used  in  connection 
with  a  cave.  It  does  not  apply  to  a  cave.  A  rockhousc  is  the  open  space  beneath 
an  ovtilianging  rock  or  cliff. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  143 

between  Guyandotte  and  Tug  rivers.  This  rough  range  extends  almost 
to  the  Ohio.  The  great  Indian  trail  up  the  Tug  River  often  followed 
along  its  tortuous  and  uneven  crest  and  from  that  cause  it  was  long 
known  as   Indian  Ridge,  especially  in  its  southern   reaches. 

Tiie  Indians  made  no  halt  during  this  day's  travel  until  late  in  the 
afternoon,  when,  believing  themselves  beyond  any  immediate  danger  of 
being  overtaken  by  the  whites,  they  made  a  camp  in  a  rockhouse  in  the 
head  of  a  creek  below  the  crest  of  the  mountain.  They  had  not  killed 
any  game  during  the  day,  although  both  bear  and  deer  were  in  sight 
more  tlian  once.  Their  meal  consisted  of  venison  from  the  pack  of  the 
Cherokee.  This  venison  was  dried  until  hard,  but  the  Indians  held  it  in 
the  flames  of  their  camp  fire  until  it  was  cooked  a  little,  then  they  ate  it. 
Mrs.  Wiley  ate  some  of  it,  also  some  parched  corn  from  the  wallet  of 
one  of  the  Indians.  She  was  exhausted  with  the  long  and  rough  march 
of  twenty-four  hours  she  had  been  forced  to  make.  She  had  climbed 
mountains  and  waded  streams;  she  had  forced  her  way  through  thickets 
of  laurel  and  ivy,  and  had  tramped  through  quagmires  and  over  stones; 
she  had  been  compelled  to  ascend  almost  perpendicular  cliffs  and  to 
descend  sheer  precipices.  Much  of  the  time  she  had  been  drenched  to 
the  skin.  Her  child  was  in  great  distress  and  had  cried  until  it  could 
cry  no  more  because  of  hoarseness.  At  this  camp  she  saw  the  warriors 
make  hoops  of  green  boughs  and  over  them  stretch  the  scalps  of  her 
brother  and  her  children.  In  after  life  she  often  declared  that  at  no 
other  time  did  despair  so  take  hold  of  her  as  it  did  this  second  night  of 
her  captivity.  When  the  Indians  lay  down  to  sleep  they  bound  Mrs. 
Wiley  with  strips  of  raw  deer  skin.  She  was  in  a  state  of  nervous 
delirium  and  could  not  sleep,  neither  could  she  rest.  Every  time  she 
closed  her  eyes  she  seemed  to  behold  the  slaughter  of  her  children  anew, 
and  more  than  once  she  shrieked  aloud.  Her  cries  aroused  the  old 
Shawnee,  who  finally  unbound  her.  He  lighted  a  torch  and  carried  it 
into  the  woods,  returning  soon  with  some  leaves  from  which  he  made 
an  infusion  in  a  small  vessel  he  carried.  He  gave  her  some  of  this  prep- 
aration to  drink,  after  which  she  fell  into  a  troubled  sleep  that  continued 
through  the  night. 

The  Shawnee  chief  aroused  Mrs.  Wiley  before  the  dawn.  The 
Indians  were  preparing  to  depart.  She  was  given  some  corn  and  venison 
for  the  morning  meal,  and  the  whole  party  again  set  forward.  The 
mountain  streams  were  running  bank  full  from  the  recent  heavy  rain, 
and  the  Indians  avoided  them  as  much  as  possible  by  keeping  to  the  paths 
which  followed  the  ridges.  It  was  with  much  difficulty  that  Mrs.  Wiley 
could  proceed.  She  was  urged  by  the  Indians  to  quicken  her  pace,  but 
her  progress  was  slow  and  painful.  The  only  thing  which  enabled  her 
to  drag  herself  along  was  the  fear  that  if  she  failed  to  keep  up  with  the 
Indians  they  would  kill  her  child.  IMore  than  once  was  this  proposed 
by  the  Cherokee  chief,  and  it  was  acquiesced  in  by  all  the  band  save  the 
old  Shawnee.  As  the  day  advanced  the  reserve  forces  of  her  strong 
constitution  came  to  her  aid  and  she  made  better  time,  but  her  marching 
was  not  satisfactory  to  the  Indians. 

When  the  Indians  were  starting  out  this  morning  they  sent  two  of 
their  number  back  over  the  trail  to  keep  watch  for  the  whites,  for  they 
were  confident  that  the  hunters  would  follow  them.  Some  of  the  younger 
members  of  the  band  believed  the  heavy  rains  had  washed  out  their 
trail,  but  the  Cherokee  said  such  was  not  the  case,  especially  if  they 
should  be  followed  by  Matthias  Harman.  This  was  one  of  his  strong 
arguments  in  favor  of  killing  Mrs.  Wiley's  child.  It  was  with  difficulty 
that  the  old  Shawnee  withstood  the  demands  of  the  Cherokee  chief. 

At  the  end  of  this  day's  march  an  encampment  was  made  in  a  loca- 
tion much  like  that  of  the  preceding  night.     The  Indians  halted  before 


144  IIISTORV  OI"  KRXTUCKY 

tlif  .sun  was  down  becau.sc  unc  of  their  number  had  killed  a  I'al  bear  at 
the  tiiiic,  and  tiiey  feasted  most  of  the  night.  Though  the  march  had  been 
severe  the  distance  passed  had  been  much  less  than  was  covered  during 
the  same  time  of  the  day  before,  and  -Mrs.  Wiley's  condition  had  im- 
proved somewhat,  but  her  feet  were  terribly  bruised  and  blistered.  She 
had  little  ho])e  that  her  child  would  live  through  the  night.  There  being 
nothing  better  at  hand  she  rubbed  it  well  with  bear's  grease,  and  at 
the  suggestion  of  the  .Shawnee  chief  she  forced  it  to  swallow  some  of 
the  melted  fat.  'Jhis  seeined  in  a  measure  effective,  for  the  morning 
showed  improvement  in  the  child's  health.  The  Shawnee  chief  made  a 
decoction  of  some  leaves  boiled  with  the  inner  layers  of  the  bark  of  the 
white  oak.  which  he  caused  Mrs.  Wiley  to  a])ply  to  her  feet,  and  which 
gave  her  immediate  relief.  An  additional  apjilication  in  the  morning 
caused  still  further  improvement,  and  this,  together  with  the  improved 
condition  of  her  child,  caused  Mrs.  Wiley  to  begin  the  day  with  more 
hope  than  she  began  the  previous  one.  The  party  left  the  camp  before 
it  was  light  and  continued  the  journey  in  the  direction  of  the  Ohio.  A 
heavy  rain  had  fallen  in  the  night,  and  it  rained  most  of  the  day.  A 
terrific  storm  of  wind  and  rain  drove  the  party  under  a  cliff  shortly 
before  darkness  came  on,  and  they  built  a  fire  and  camped  there.  That 
camp  was  in  the  hills  just  west  of  the  head  of  Twelve  Pole  Creek.  The 
Indian  scouts  who  had  been  sent  back  each  day  reported  late  at  night, 
and  here  they  said  they  had  seen  no  jjursuers  on  their  trail. 

The  Indians  left  their  cam]),  as  was  their  custom,  on  the  following 
morning  before  it  was  light.  Insufiticient  food  and  the  continuous  march- 
ing was  rapidlv  exhausting  Mrs.  Wiley,  and  she  found  herself  unable  to 
move  forward  so  ra])idly  as  on  the  previous  day.  She  was  failing  under 
hardships  and  the  burden  of  her  child.  Tiie  Shawnee  chief  warned  her 
of  the  conse(|uences  of  failing  to  keep  up  with  the  warriors.  But  try  as 
she  might  she  could  not  satisfy  her  captors. 

The  Indians  who  had  been  sent  back  as  scouts  this  morning  returned 
late  in  the  day  and  reported  that  they  had  seen  a  large  party  of  white 
men  on  horseback  following  their  trail.  This  was  not  unexpected  in- 
telligence, but  the  Indians  discussed  earnestly  what  it  was  best  to  do  in 
the  matter.  Some  proposed  an  ambush  of  the  white  men,  but  this  was 
not  taken  as  the  best  course  to  follow.  The  Cherokee  chief  proposed 
the  immediate  death  of  the  chikl  and  a  change  of  course.  Mrs.  Wiley 
])romised  to  keep  up  with  the  march,  and  with  the  aid  of  the  .Shawnee 
chief  saved  the  life  of  the  child  for  a  time.  The  Indians  turned  we.st  and 
descended  the  hills  toward  Tug  River.  They  sought  a  small  stream  and 
waded  down  it  until  it  became  too  deep  for  that  purpose,  when  they 
changed  to  another.  Mrs.  Wiley  kept  well  up  for  a  few  iniles,  then  began 
to  fail.  Despite  her  utmost  exertions  she  could  not  march  at  the  rate 
the  Indians  were  then  going.  She  fell  behind  the  Indians  marching  in 
front  of  her,  and  began  to  feel  that  her  child  was  in  great  danger.  She 
suspected  that  her  friends  were  near,  although  the  Indians  had  told  her 
notliing.  At  length  the  Cherokee  chief  stopjjcd.  lie  was  leading  the 
march,  and  he  and  most  of  the  party  were  far  in  ad\ance.  Mrs.  Wiley 
knew  what  he  would  do  when  he  came  back  to  her  place  in  line.  His 
arrival  there  meant  death  for  her  child  and  possibly  death  for  herself. 
The  Shawnee  chief  was  following  her  in  the  water.  Mrs.  Wiley  ran  out 
of  the  stream  and  with  her  last  strength  ran  back  up  its  course  with  her 
child.-     She  had  no  particular  object  in  doing  this  e.xcept  to  carry  her 

-  This  stream  flow.s  into  Tiir  River.  It  is  the  first  stream  of  any  considerable 
size  on  the  West  Virginia  side  below  Marrowl)one  creek.  The  Indians  waded 
down  tlic  last  named  creek  until  it  got  too  deep  to  allow  rapid  traveling;  tlien 
they  crossed  tlie  mountain  to  the  creek  upon  which  Mrs.  Wiley's  child  was  killed. 
Ever  since  the  country  had  been  settled  this  creek  has  been  called  Jeiuiie's  Creek, 
in  honor  of   Mrs.  Wiley.     After  she  moved  to   Kentucky   Mrs.  Wiley  went   to  this 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  145 

child  out  of  danger,  and  that  was  a  vain  effort.  The  old  Shawnee  was 
surprised,  but  he  ran  after  her  and  caught  her  just  as  the  Cherokee  chief 
came  up.  She  was  surrounded  by  the  Indians.  The  Cherokee  chief 
seized  her  child  b}-  the  feet  and  dashed  out  its  brains  against  a  big  beech 
tree.  He  scalped  it,  and  she  was  pushed  back  into  the  stream  and  forced 
to  continue  her  flight. 

It  was  almost  dark  when  the  party  reached  the  Tug  River,  which  they 
found  much  swollen  from  the  recent  rains.  As  the  Indians  arrived  on 
its  banks  a  violent  thunder  storm  broke  over  the  valley.  The  Indians 
realized  that  in  crossing  the  river  at  once  lay  their  only  hope  of  escape 
from  the  party  in  pursuit.  Their  only  means  of  crossing  the  stream  was 
by  swimming.  With  the  river  at  the  stage  at  which  they  found  it,  that 
was  a  dangerous  undertaking.  At  all  times  a  swift  mountain  stream, 
it  was  now  a  raging  torrent  covered  with  drift  and  all  manner  of  river- 
rubbish.  Mrs.  Wiley  was  amazed  and  terrified  when  told  she  must 
cross  the  mad  stream  by  swimming  in  company  with  the  Indians.  In  the 
gathering  gloom  its  contortions  were  visible  only  by  the  fierce  flashes 
of  lightning  that  burned  in  the  heavens.  It  seems  impossible  for  any 
one  to  survive  a  conflict  with  this  raging  river.  But  she  was  seized  by 
two  Shawnees  and  dragged  screaming  into  the  surging  flood.  One  swam 
on  either  side  of  her.  They  grasped  her  firmly  by  her  arms  and  swam 
easily  and  swiftly.  They  went  with  the  current  of  the  stream  and  avoided 
the  drift  with  the  dexterity  of  otters.  Their  position  was  almost  upright 
with  much  of  the  body  above  the  water ;  and  they  pushed  but  slightly 
against  the  current  but  were  all  the  time  working  themselves  toward  the 
opposite  shore.  After  being  carried  down  the  river  what  seemed  to  Mrs. 
Wiley  several  miles  they  were  all  cast  to  the  west  bank  and  found 
themselves  in  "dead"  water  in  the  mouth  of  a  small  creek.  There  it 
was  much  more  difficult  to  swim  and  support  the  captive  above  the 
water,  but  they  succeeded  in  effecting  a  landing.  The  whole  party  was 
exhausted  and  some  time  was  spent  in  resting,  after  which  the  journey 
was  continued.  The  Indians  waded  up  the  stream  into  the  mouth  of 
which  they  had  been  cast  by  the  river.  It  led  up  into  a  very  rough  moun- 
tain covered  with  bristling  thickets  of  laurel  and  ivy.  The  storm  cleared 
and  the  air  became  chill  as  they  descended  the  mountain  range  they  were 
crossing.  A  large  rockhouse  was  sought  at  the  base  of  the  range  and  a 
small  fire  made  in  it  and  the  blaze  screened.  The  Indians  left  this  camp 
at  dawn,  and  in  the  afternoon  reached  the  Louisa  River.  There  they 
cooked  and  ate  a  small  deer  which  had  been  killed  on  the  march  and 
which  made  an  insufficient  meal  for  the  party.  The  Louisa  River  was 
found  full  to  the  brim.  After  resting  until  almost  dark  the  Indians 
crossed  it  as  they  had  crossed  the  Tug.  They  went  into  camp  under  a 
clifT  behind  a  mountain  and  built  a  roaring  fire  about  which  all  slept 
through  the  night.  In  the  early  light  of  the  following  morning  thev  sent 
out  two  of  their  number  to  hunt.  In  a  short  time  the  hunters  returned 
with  part  of  a  buffalo  they  had  killed  in  a  cane-brake.  The  day  was 
spent  in  eating  and  sleeping.  The  Indians  believed  they  had  made  a 
complete  escape  from  their  pursuers  and  did  not  again  give  that  subject 
any  serious  consideration.  As  the  sun  was  nearing  the  tops  of  the  hills 
in  the  western  range  the  party  set  forward  again.  They  followed  a  trail 
which  led  through  valleys  and  over  rough  hills,  but  they  marched  in  a 
leisurely  way.  It  was  well  for  Mrs.  Wiley  that  they  made  no  forced 
marches  for  she  was  by  this  time  worn  out.  The  loitering  marches 
brought  the  Indians  to  the  Ohio  River  on  the  ninth  day  of  Mrs.  Wiley's 
captivity. 

creek  and  identified  the  place  where  her  child  was  killed;  she  identified  the  big 
beech  tree  against  which  the  Cherokee  chief  dashed  out  its  brains.  This  tree  was 
preserved,  and  it  was  standing  twenty  years  ago. 

Vol.  1—14 


146  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 


Taken   Back  to  Littli:  Mvulick  Crf.ek 

Tlie  Indians  did  not  descend  directly  to  the  Ohio,  but  came  down  the 
liills  west  ol  the  Bi;^  Sandy  and  followed  that  stream  about  a  mile  to 
its  mouth.  They  found  an  immense  flood  in  the  Ohio,  something  they 
said  was  unusual  for  that  season  of  the  year.  This  flood  increased  the 
difticulty  of  their  retreat.  Notwithstanding  this  fact,  however,  the 
Indians  ajipearcd  much  pleased  to  reach  the  Ohio.  The  younger  members 
of  the  l)and  exclaimed  "O-hi-yo!  O-hi-yo!  O-hi-yo!"  seemingly  in  great 
delight. 

lliiw  to  cross  the  (Jhio  was  now  the  question  for  the  Indians.  They 
discussed  the  matter  for  some  time  without  arriving  at  a  satisfactory 
conclusion  and  linally  returned  to  the  hills  to  avoid  the  backwater,  jnished 
far  up  the  small  streams,  and  kept  down  the  Ohio.  Much  of  the  time 
they  were  not  in  sight  of  the  Ohio.  They  reached  the  mouth  of  the 
Little  Sandy  River  without  finding  any  means  to  cross  the  Ohio  and 
again  held  council  to  determine  upon  a  course.  They  were  assisted  in 
a  decision  apparently  by  the  return  of  two  Indians  whom  they  had  sent 
back  from  the  crossing  of  the  Louisa  River  to  spy  upon  the  movements  of 
the  jnirsuing  jjarty.  Their  re])ort  was  delivered  out  of  the  hearing  of 
Mrs.  Wiley  who  was  beginning  to  understand  a  few  words  of  the  ditTerent 
Indian  tongues.  After  several  hours  spent  in  talk  the  party  divided.  The 
Cherokee  chief,  the  Cherokee  warrior,  two  Wyandots,  and  two  Delawares 
swam  across  the  Little  Sandy  River  and  disappeared  in  the  woods. 

The  remaining  Indians,  with  Mrs.  Wiley,  took  their  w^ay  up  the 
Little  Sandy.  They  appeared  to  be  in  no  hurry.  They  left  the  main 
stream  at  the  mouth  of  the  Dry  Fork,  which  they  followed  to  the  head 
of  one  of  its  branches.  They  crossed  the  divide  through  the  Cherokee 
Gap  to  the  Cherokee  Fork  of  Big  Blaine  Creek.  As  they  were  descending 
this  creek  Mrs.  Wiley  became  seriously  ill,  but  she  concealed  her  con- 
dition from  the  Indians  as  long  as  possible,  fearing  she  might  be  killed 
should  they  discover  the  truth.  It  soon  became  impossible  for  her  to 
proceed,  however,  and  the  Indians  went  into  camp  near  the  mouth  of  the 
creek.  They  placed  Mrs.  Wiley  in  a  small  rockhouse  near  the  camp 
and  left  her  alone.  There  a  son  was  born  to  her.  The  birth  was  prema- 
ture and  she  was  near  death  for  some  time,  but  she  finally  recovered  and 
the  child  lived.  She  attributed  her  recovery  to  a  season  of  line  weather 
which  came  on.  The  Indians  brought  her  meat  from  the  game  they 
killed  and  from  the  first  of  her  illness  kept  her  a  fire;  but  as  soon  as  she 
could  walk  they  left  her  to  gather  her  own  fire-wood.  Knowing  that  it 
was  impossible  for  her  to  escape,  the  Indians  paid  little  attention  to  her. 

The  Indian  party  spent  the  winter  in  camp  at  the  mouth  of  Cherokee 
Creek  and  allowed  Mrs.  W'iley  to  live  alone  in  the  rockhouse  with  her 
child.  She  lost  all  account  of  time.  She  did  not  know  the  day  of  the 
week  from  the  time  they  went  into  cam])  there  until  she  made  her  escape. 
']"he  .Shawnee  chief  gave  her  child  a  name.  The  sojourn  at  this  place 
was  uneventful  but  for  one  instance.  ( )ne  day  when  the  weather  was 
becoming  warmer  the  .Shawnee  chief  came  to  the  rockhouse  and  said  the 
child  was  "three  moons,"  meaning  that  its  age  was  then  about  three 
months.  Me  informed  her  that  he  was  making  pre])arations  to  give  it 
the  first  test  a  boy  was  expected  to  undergo.  lie  made  no  explanation 
and  soon  left  the  rockhouse.  lie  returned  in  a  short  time  and  commanded 
her  to  take  the  child  and  follow  him.  He  led  her  to  the  creek  where  the 
other  Indians  were  assembled.  'Jhe  chief  tied  the  child  to  a  large  slab 
of  dry  liark  and  set  it  adrift  in  the  swift  water  of  a  small  shoal.  The 
child  begrui  to  cry  as  soon  as  it  felt  the  cold  water,  and  this  action 
seemed  to  cundcnni  it  in   the  minds  of  the  w.-irrinrs.     Thev  brandished 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  147 

their  tomahawks,  and  Mrs.  Wiley  rushed  into  the  water  and  rescued 
the  infant,  immediately  returning  to  the  rockhouse  with  it.  The  Indians 
followed  her,  and  when  they  arrived  at  the  rockhouse  the  Wyandot  killed 
the  child  with  his  tomahawk  and  inmiediately  proceeded  to  scalp  it.  She 
was  not  molested,  but  she  saw  that  the  Indians  were  very  angry.  She 
was  permitted  to  bury  the  child  in  a  corner  of  the  rockhouse. 

Soon  after  the  murder  of  her  child  and  while  the  streams  were  full 
from  melting  snow  the  Indians  left  their  camp  at  the  mouth  of  Cherokee 
Creek.  Mrs.  Wiley  was  not  strong  but  was  forced  to  keep  up  with  the 
party.  They  followed  a  trail  which  led  up  Hood's  Fork  of  Big  Blaine 
Creek.  Crossing  through  a  gap  at  the  head  of  one  of  its  branches  they 
came  to  the  Laurel  Fork,  which  they  followed  to  that  fine  rolling  coun- 
try now  known  as  Flat  Gap,  in  Johnson  County.  From  that  point  they 
followed  a  small  stream  to  the  main  branch  of  Big  Mudlick  Creek,  which 
they  descended  to  the  great  buffalo  lick  from  which  the  stream  derived 
its  name.  They  camped  at  the  lick  in  hope  of  killing  some  game,  but  none 
came  during  their  stay.  They  broke  camp  one  morning  at  dawn  and 
went  down  the  creek,  arriving  during  the  day  at  an  old  Indian  town  at 
the  mouth  of  Little  Mudlick  Creek.  The  actions  of  the  Indians  there 
made  Mrs.  Wiley  suiajrose  that  the  end  of  their  journey  had  been  reached 
and  that  they  would  remain  for  some  time.  As  that  is  a  somewhat  re- 
markable location  and  the  Indians  kept  Mrs.  Wiley  there  until  the  fol- 
lowing October  a  description  of  some  of  its  most  prominent  features 
will  not  be  out  of  place  here. 

Little  Mudlick  Creek  is  about  three  miles  in  length.  In  dry  summers 
there  are  times  when  little  water  can  be  found  in  its  bed.  Its  general 
course  is  from  north  to  south,  but  it  falls  into  Big  Mudlick  Creek  from 
the  east.  It  joins  the  larger  stream  about  half  a  mile  from  where  Big 
Mudlick  and  Big  Paint  Creek  unite. 

On  the  face  of  the  cliff  overhanging  the  waters  of  the  larger  creek 
were  formerly  found  many  Indian  hieroglyphics  and  strange  pictures. 
These  pictures  were  usually  skeleton  drawings  of  animals  native  to  the 
country,  such  as  the  buffalo,  bear,  deer,  panther,  wolf,  turkey,  and  a  few 
of  turtles  and  rattlesnakes.  These  figures  were  put  on  the  cliffs  with 
black  or  red  paint ;  no  other  colors  were  used.  There  was  no  mi.xing  of 
colors ;  there  were  red  groups  and  black  groups,  but  nowhere  were  the 
two  colors  found  in  the  same  group.  In  no  instance  were  the  figures 
cut  or  scratched  into  the  rock.  Time,  thoughtless  and  mischievous  van- 
dalism, and  the  weather  have  destroyed  them  all.  In  1850,  some  of  the 
groups  were  faintly  visible,  and  as  late  as  1880  one  group  of  deer  in 
black,  on  the  cliff  over  the  larger  creek,  was  yet  very  distinct. » 

1  When  Johnson  County,  Kentucky,  was  first  settled  there  were  found  along 
the  Indian  trail  from  the  mouth  of  Mudlick  Creek  to  the  mouth  of  Big  Paint 
Creek  occasional  trees  which  had  been  stripped  of  their  bark  from  the  ground  to 
a  considerable  height,  sometimes  as  far  up  as  thirty  feet.  Often  a  tree  had  the 
bark  stripped  from  but  one  side,  which  made  a  dry  hard  surface  on  that  side  of 
Hie  tree,  while  the  other  side  still  lived  and  preserved  the  tree.  Trees  thus  treated 
were  found  all  along  the  trail,  but  at  some  points  there  would  be  found  groups  of 
them,  all  of  which  had  l)tcn  so  denuded.  The  smooth  surface  thus  provided  was  cov- 
ered by  the  Indians  witli  outline  figures  of  animals  and  birds,  put  on  with  a  tenacious 
and  lasting  paint  of  two  colors  only— red  and  black.  As  it  is  not  known  that 
trees  thus  treated  and  marked  were  found  at  any  other  place  in  the  United  States, 
this  circumstance  may  be  regarded  as  very  remarkable.  The  signification  of  these 
paintings  was  never  discovered,  and  if  is  not  known  whether  they  were  made  by 
but  one  tribe  or  by  all  the  tribes  inhabiting  the  Ohio  Valley.  Trees  so  marked 
were  to  be  found  all  along  the  valley  of  the  Big  Sandy,  including  both  branches, 
but,  so  far  as  has  been  ascertained,  no  locality  had  them  in  so  great  abundance 
as  the  country  around  the  lower  course  of  Big  Paint  Creek.  Whether  the  cus- 
tom had  prevailed  among  the  tribes  for  ages,  or  whether  it  was  of  recent  date 
and  origin  was  never  known.  It  is  known  that  the  Shawnees.  Delawares,  Wyan- 
dots,  Toteros,  Cherokees,  and  Iroquois,  regarded  the  Big  Sandy  Valley  with 
peculiar  and   lasting  veneration.     They   clung  to   it   with  tenacity,  and   it   was   the 


148  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

Beyond  each  of  the  creeks  the  plateau  is  irregularly  continued.  To 
the  east  across  the  smaller  creek  there  is  a  mound-like  hill  the  base  of 

last  stream  in  Kentucky  to  be  surrendered  by  them.  It  was  a  favorite  valley  of 
the  Mound  Builders,  as  evidenced  by  many  remains  of  their  occupation. 

Upon  the  south  bank  of  the  creek  against  the  "flat  rock  ford"  is  a  low  cliff, 
beneath  wliich  there  is  a  small  rockhouse,  which  would  afford  shelter  for  fifty 
or  si.xty  people.  This  locality  seemed  to  hold  a  fascination  for  the  Indians.  On 
the  top  of  the  cliff  a  great  elm  had  been  stripped  of  its  bark  to  a  height  of  thirty 
feet  or  more.  Winding  about  the  tree  and  encircling  all  the  smooth  surface 
made  by  taking  off  the  bark  was  a  huge  rattlesnake  put  on  with  black  paint.  Many 
other  trees  in  the  vicinity  were  stripped  or  partly  stripped  of  their  bark,  and  painted, 
various  animals  of  the  country  being  represented.  One  tree  in  the  upper  end  of 
the  creek  bottom  in  which  is  situated  the  town  of  Paintsville,  on  the  spot  where 
Rev.  Henry  Dickson  (Dixon,  it  is  now  written  by  his  descendants)  built  a  grist 
mill  to  be  ojierated  by  horse,  mule,  or  ox  power,  and  called  by  the  early  settlers 
a  "horse  mill,"  was  painted;  it  was  a  giant  tlm,  and  it  bore  a  huge  bear  put  on 
with  red  paint. 

There  are  many  salt  springs  or  "licks"  in  the  vicinity  of  where  Paintsville 
was  located.  Several  of  them  were  at  the  foot  of  the  hills  back  of  the  town  and 
are  now  covered  by  the  washings  from  the  cleared  hillsides  above  them.  The 
trees  about  these  licks  were  painted  by  the  Indians,  the  characters  being  of  the 
same  nature  as  those  already  described.  From  this  cause  the  first  hunters  and 
explorers  of  the  country  called  these  licks  "painted  licks,"  and  they  named  the 
stream  upon  which  they  were  found  Paint  Lick  Creek,  and  it  is  so  marked  on 
the  map  of  Kentucky  in  the  1797  edition  of  Imlay's  America.  The  name  was 
given  by  Matthias  Harman  and  his  associates.  When  Colonel  John  Preston,  Judge 
French,  and  others  of  Virginia,  who  speculated  in  the  lands  of  the  Louisa  River 
Valley,  wished  to  name  the  trading  station  which  they  established  on  the  present 
site  of  Paintsville  in  l/QO,  they  called  it  Paint  Lick.  The  Rev.  Henry  Dickson 
came  from  North  Carolina  and  bought  the  land  about  the  old  station  and  laid 
out  the  present  town  and  named  it  Paintsville.  Prestonsburg  was  also  founded 
by  Col.  Preston  and  others,  and  first  called  Preston's  Station.  The  station  was 
established  in  1799.  After  Vancouver  left  the  forks  of  the  Big  Sandy  a  town 
was  established  there  and  named  Balclutha.  On  the  Imlay  map,  already  mentioned. 
Paint  Lick  and  Balclutha  are  both  marked.  To  Johnson  County  belongs  the  honor 
of  having  within  her  bounds  the  sites  of  both  the  first  and  second  settlements  made 
in  the  Big  Sandy  Valley  and  in   Eastern   Kentucky. 

Above  the  mouth  of  Big  Paint  Creek  there  is  a  river  bottom  extending  up  the 
Louisa  River  about  a  mile.  At  a  point  near  the  creek  bank,  and  at  an  equal  dis- 
tance from  the  river,  there  is  a  large  mound,  the  work  of  prehistoric  inhabitants 
of  the  valley.  Several  hundred  feet  up  the  river,  and  directly  south  of  this  mound. 
there  is  another,  not  quite  so  large.  At  an  equal  distance  south  of  the  second  mound 
there  is  a  third  one  a  little  smaller  than  the  second.  And  there  is  at  an  equal  dis- 
tance south  from  this  mound  a  fourth  one  still  a  little  smaller  than  the  third. 
There  is  a  mound  just  back  of  the  rockhouse  overlooking  the  flat  rock  ford.  These 
mounds  were  covered  with  large  trees  when  first  seen  by  white  men.  The  original 
public  highway  up  the  Rig  Sandy  River  was  laid  out  to  cut  the  north  side  of 
the  second  mound.  In  making  tliis  public  road  the  mound  was  cut,  and  the  skele- 
ton of  a  man  of  large  size  was  found.  It  was  enclosed  in  a  sort  of  rude  box 
made  by  placing  flat  thin  river  stones  about  and  over  it.  The  large  mound  was 
opened  a  few  years  since,  and  the  skeleton  of  a  man  was  found,  or  rather  the 
plain  imprint  of  one,  but  the  bones  had  perished.  These  mounds  were  made  of 
layers  of  different  kinds  of  earth,  and  there  were  several  layer.s  of  clean  river 
sand  in  them.  Layers  of  ashes  and  charcoal  were  found,  indicating  that  it  may 
have  I>ecn  tlie  custom  of  the  builders  to  burn  their  dead  there,  or  place  the  ashes 
of  their  dead  there  after  the  bodies  had  been  burned  at  some  other  place.  The 
Cherokee  Indians  said  to  the  early  settlers  there,  in  speaking  of  these  mounds: 
"There  is  fire  in  all  those  mounds."  What  they  meant  by  this  statement  they 
could  not  explain.  Many  pipes,  arrowheads,  spearheads,  and  stone  axes  were 
found  in  and  about  these  mounds. 

To  the  southwest  of  Paintsville  and  in  plain  view  of  the  town  there  is  a  solid 
sandstone  ledge  rising  from  the  top  of  a  hill  to  a  height  far  above  the  surround- 
ing forest.  This  immense  mass  of  sandstone  is  locally  known  as  the  "hanging 
rock."  On  the  hilltop  back  of  this  great  cliff  there  are  a  number  of  Indian  graves 
covered  with  a  great  quantity  of  loose  sandstone  fragments  which  have  evidently 
been  carried  there  from  a  considerable  distance.  Indian  graves  of  this  descrip- 
tion are  very  common  in  Kastcrn  Kentucky,  and  they  are  always  found  on  the 
tops  of  ridges. 

Alx)ve  the  small  cliff  at  the  "flat  rock  ford"  the  first  explorers  found  a  num- 
ber of  decaying  cabins.  The  Ohio  Indians  said  that  they  and  the  French  had 
built  them  many  years  before,  and  that  they  had  lived  there.     They  also  said  that 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  149 

which  rests  upon  an  expanse  of  country  of  the  same  elevation  as  the 
plateau.  To  the  north  between  the  smaller  stream  and  Big  Paint  Creek 
stand  two  such  hills  with  bases  resting  upon  a  similar  elevation.  To  the 
west  beyond  the  larger  creek  the  continuation  of  the  plateau  is  narrow, 
a  ledge  of  sandstone  with  its  east  and  south  sides  almost  perpendicular. 
At  a  little  distance  south  of  this  ledge  and  entirely  detached  from  it  is  a 
large  mass  of  sandstone  with  sides  nearly  perpendicular.  This  rock  rises 
from  the  low-lying  creek  bottom  and  has  a  flat  top  of  considerable  area 
which  can  be  reached  with  difficulty.  From  this  elevation  to  the  mouth 
of  Big  JNIudlick  Creek  is  half  a  mile,  and  the  land  is  a  bottom  lying  just 
above  overflow.  This  creek  bottom  is  an  old  Indian  field.  At  the  time  of 
the  coming  of  the  white  man  it  contained  many  mounds.  There  is  one 
very  large  mound  or  mound-shaped  hill  covered  with  broken  sandstone. 
Human  bones,  stone  axes,  spear  and  arrow  heads  of  flint,  carved  shells, 
and  stone  pipes  were  here  turned  up  in  great  abundance  by  the  plows  of 
the  first  settlers. 

The  Shawnees  told  Mrs.  Wiley  that  in  ancient  times  their  ancestors 
had  their  villages  about  the  junction  of  the  Mudlick  creeks,  also  ail  along 
Big  Paint  Creek  from  the  mouth  of  Big  Mudlick  Creek  to  the  Big  Sandy 
River.  They  also  told  her  that  they  never  passed  through  that  part  of  the 
country  without  visiting  Little  Mudlick  Creek  and  the  country  about 
their  ancient  village. 

VI 

The  Prisoner  Burned 

The  Indians  holding  Mrs.  Wiley  in  captivity  arrived  at  the  mouth 
of  Little  Mudlick  Creek  about  the  first  of  April,  possibly  as  much  as 
a  week  or  ten  days  earlier  than  that.  They  took  up  their  abode  in  a 
rockhouse  in  the  face  of  the  clifif  on  the  east  side  of  the  plateau.  This 
rockhouse  was  just  below  the  falls  of  Little  Mudlick  Creek,  but  at  a 
higher  elevation  in  the  cliff  than  is  the  bed  of  the  creek  at  the  falls.  The 
ledge  at  the  entrance  of  the  rockhouse  overhangs  the  creek  which  runs 
lOO  feet  or  more  below  it,  and  the  entrance  is  sixty  feet  at  least  below 
the  top  of  the  cliff.  It  is  reached  by  following  a  narrow  ledge  along  the 
face  of  the  cliff  from  a  point  opposite  the  upper  falls.  This  rockhouse  is 
of  considerable  extent.  It  affords  a  safe  retreat  for  the  party  and  one 
almost  inaccessible  to  enemies  if  properly  defended  by  even  a  few 
persons.     It  afforded  a  cool  and  pleasant  habitation  in  summer. 

The  manner  of  life  of  the  party  was  not  unlike  the  daily  life  in  an 

the  Toteros  or  .Shatara  Indians  had  lived  there  before  they  built  the  cabins.  These 
Totero  Indians  had  a  town  on  the  Lick  Fork  of  Jennie's  Creek,  extending  from 
the  forks  of  that  stream  to  the  point  now  known  as  Hager  Hill.  The  Shawnees 
and  Cherokees  pointed  out  to  the  early  settlers  the  sites  of  many  towns  occupied 
by  the  Totero  Indians. 

It  is  a  tradition  that  some  of  the  Connellys,  probably  Harmon  Connelly  and 
his  brother  Thomas,  Daniel  Boone,  Matthias  Harman,  Walter  Mankins,  and  a 
number  of  other  parties,  among  them  James  Skaggs  and  Henry  Skaggs,  descended 
the  Louisa  River  about  1763  in  search  of  a  suitable  place  to  settle.  They  camped 
about  these  old  cabins  at  the  mouth  of  Big  Paint  Creek  for  six  weeks.  The 
river  and  creek  bottoms  were  covered  with  a  rank  growth  of  cane,  much  of  it 
so  high  that  it  would  conceal  a  man  on  horseback.  The  fierceness  of  the  Indians 
made  it  impossible  for  them  to  locate  there  then.  They  killed  much  game.  Great 
herds  of  Buffalo  roamed  the  country  at  the  time.  John  Howe,  Esq.,  the  famous 
millwright,  son-in-law  of  Rev.  Henry  Dickson,  has  often  spoke  of  the  journey 
of  the  Connellys,  Boone,  and  others.  He  also  said  that  the  river  was  sometimes 
so  full  of  buffalo  wallowing  in  the  shoals  that  it  was  impossible  to  get  a  canoe 
either  up  or  down  until  the  shaggy  animals  had  departed.  Mr.  Howe  and  many 
other  pioneers  of  Johnson  County  repeatedly  said  that  Simon  Kenton  occupied 
the  old  cabins  at  the  mouth  of  Big  Paint  Creek  two  winters,  or  parts  of  two  win- 
ters, 1773-74  and  1774-75.  He  hunted  in  that  region  during  those  winters  and  very 
probably  lived  in  one  of  those  old  cabins. 


150  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

Indian  village.  Mrs.  Wiley  was  compelled  to  perform  all  the  drudgery 
of  the  camp.  The  warriors  lounged  about  the  caves  and  slept  when  not 
hunting  or  scouting.  Hunting  was  not  extensively  engaged  in,  summer 
peltries  being  of  poor  quality.  Only  enough  game  was  killed  to  furnish 
food  for  the  party.  Usually  turkeys,  deer,  and  buffalo  were  easily 
found  near  the  camp,  though  the  Indians  often  went  to  the  great  lick  on 
Big  Mudlick  Creek  to  kill  buffalo,  especially  when  visited  by  other  bands. 
They  sometimes  hunted  on  what  is  now  known  as  r'arnett's  Creek,  also 
on  Big  Paint  Creek  between  that  stream  and  Big  Mudlick  Creek.  They 
sometimes  required  Mrs.  Wiley  to  follow  them  and  bring  in  the  game 
they  killed.  She  was  shown  how  to  care  for  the  skins  of  the  animals 
killed.  She  gatherecl  the  wood  for  the  camp  fires.  As  the  Indians  had  no 
axe  she  was  obliged  to  gather  the  dry  branches  which  had  fallen  from 
the  trees,  and  before  the  summer  was  over  these  were  exhausted  near  the 
camp.  The  French  and  the  Indians  had  discovered  lead  in  that  vicinity, 
and  Mrs.  Wiley  was  made  to  carry  the  ore  from  the  lead  mines  to  the 
east  edge  of  the  plateau  and  there  smelt  it  out  to  be  used  for  bullets 
for  the  guns.  To  do  this  she  had  to  collect  a  great  quantity  of  wood  and 
build  a  hot  fire  which  had  to  be  maintained  for  some  hours.  Wlien  the 
lead  was  melted  from  the  ore  it  was  conducted  through  small  trenches 
to  the  bottom  of  a  depression  which  Mrs.  Wiley  had  made  for  the 
purpose  and  which  was  to  be  seen  as  late  as  1880.  It  was  just  above 
the  entrance  to  the  rockhouse.  She  was  also  made  to  plant  some  com 
in  the  old  Indian  field  w^hich  had  been  the  site  of  the  old  Indian  town. 

The  Indians  remained  at  the  camp  on  some  mysterious  mission,  as 
Mrs.  Wiley  judged.  They  were  often  visited  by  other  bands,  some  of 
which  contained  as  many  as  twenty  Indians.  Sometimes  these  visiting 
bands  remained  several  days ;  at  other  times  they  departed  in  a  few- 
hours.  Mrs.  Wiley  learned  the  Shawnee  language,  also  something  of 
other  Indian  tongues.  She  made  many  efTorts  to  hear  what  the  visiting 
Indians  said  to  her  captors,  but  was  never  able  to  get  any  information 
of  benefit  to  her.  The  Shawnee  chief  told  Mrs.  Wiley  he  would  take  her 
to  the  Indian  towns  beyond  the  Ohio  when  Indian  summer  came  on,  at 
which  time  he  expected  a  large  force  of  Indians  to  arrive  and  relieve  him. 
Mrs.  Wiley  sought  an  oi)portunit)'  to  escape  after  this  conversation  with 
the  old  Shawnee,  but  none  presented  itself  that  she  could  believe  prom- 
ised success.  She  was  entirely  ignt)rant  of  the  general  physical  features 
of  the  country  in  which  she  was  held,  although  she  believed  that  she 
was  nearer  the  Virginia  settlements  than  when  she  was  on  the  Ohio 
River.  She  had  feigned  sleep  in  the  hope  that  her  captors  would  say 
something  about  the  settlements  of  white  people  that  she  might  hear, 
but  they  never  did  so.  There  had  been  times  when  she  was  out  of  sight 
of  her  captors  and  might  ha\c  escajied,  but  never  having  been  able  to 
bring  herself  to  believe  the  efforts  would  prove  successful,  she  had  waited 
for  a  mfirc  favorable  o])])ort unity.  As  the  time  approached  when  she 
was  to  be  taken  to  the  Indian  towns  she  became  more  determined  upon 
escape,  or  upon  death  in  the  effort.  Her  resolution  in  this  matter  was 
overturned  by  an  event  wholly  unexpected. 

One  day  about  the  end  of  October  the  Indians  were  aroused  from 
their  indolent  Inungings  by  the  quavering  war-whoop  cried  by  some  party 
about  the  mouth  of  Rig  Mudlick  Creek.  The  Shawnee  chief  answered 
the  war-cr)',  and  it  was  repeated.  The  Shawnee  chief  informed  his 
party  that  the  Cherokee  chief  had  been  on  the  war-i)ath.  had  lost  some 
of  his  warriors,  and  was  now  coming  into  camp  with  a  captive  white 
man.  War-whoops  were  exchanged,  and  guns  were  fired  by  both  parties. 
The  Shawnee  chief  led  his  party  to  the  plateau  to  receive  the  Cherokee 
chief  and  his  warriors,  who  soon  arrived.  The  Cherokee  chief  was 
followed  by  a  mongrel  band  of  some  twenty   Indians,  and  he  brought 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  151 

with  him  a  white  man  as  prisoner.  Mrs.  W  iley  supposed  this  prisoner 
to  be  about  twenty  years  old,  though  she  was  not  permitted  to  come  near 
enough  to  him  to  have  any  conversation  with  him.  This  captive  was 
terribly  beaten  when  he  arrived  on  the  plateau. 

Mrs.  Wiley  was  sent  back  to  the  rockhouse  when  the  Cherokee  chief 
had  talked  with  the  Shawnee  chief.  The  Cherokee  gave  her  a  kettle 
and  told  her  to  cook  him  some  meat  as  soon  as  she  could.  She  built  up 
a  fire  in  the  rockhouse  and  slung  the  kettle,  which  she  tilled  with  bear 
meat  and  venison.  She  could  hear  the  mad  howling,  whooping,  and 
screeching  of  the  warriors  on  the  height  above  her,  also  the  discharge  of 
guns  and  the  thumping  and  stamping  of  feet  in  an  Indian  dance.  Shortly 
after  dark  the  whole  band  came  down  from  the  plateau,  and  the  captive 
was  not  with  them.  It  did  not  take  her  long  to  gather  from  the  con- 
versation of  the  Indians  that  the  prisoner  had  been  tortured  at  the  stake. 
The  Cherokee  chief  was  in  a  great  rage,  sullen  and  savage.  He  did  not 
remain  long  in  the  camp  but  returned  to  the  heights  above  with  his  hands 
full  of  meat  from  the  kettle.  Mrs.  Wiley  was  rudely  treated  by  the 
Indians  recently  arrived,  and  the  Shawnee  chief  and  his  followers  were 
excited  and  blood-thirsty.  The  camp  was  overflowing  with  whooping 
Indians  threatening  to  kill  her,  and  for  the  first  time  the  Shawnee  chief 
did  not  stand  her  friend.  She  appealed  to  him  but  he  did  nothing  to  quiet 
the  howling  mob,  and  he  left  the  camp  to  join  the  Cherokee.  Finally  the 
Indians  left  the  camp  and  went  above,  yelling  along  the  gorge  above  the 
falls.  Mrs.  Wiley  was  more  at  ease  when  she  heard  them  whooping  on 
the  plateau,  but  what  the  night  would  bring  forth  she  could  not  tell.' 

An  hour  or  two  after  dark  a  band  of  Indians,  all  of  the  late  arrivals, 
came  down  •from  the  assembly.  They  tied  Mrs.  Wiley's  hands  with  a 
.strip  of  raw  hide,  by  one  end  of  which  she  was  led  to  the  height  where 
the  Indians  were  assembled  about  a  big  fire.  The  dancing  ceased  when 
she  arrived.  The  Cherokee  chief  appeared  as  the  commander  of  the 
Indians  and  told  her  that  she  was  to  be  burned.  She  appealed  to  the 
Shawnee  chief,  but  he  made  no  definite  answer.  There  w-as  no  sympathy 
for  her  in  the  mad  band.  She  remembered  the  cruelties  and  many  out- 
rages she  had  suffered  at  the  hands  of  the  Indians,  and  as  no  prospect 
of  escape  came  to  her  or  seemed  likely  to  come  in  the  future  even  should 
she  live,  she  was  the  more  easily  reconciled  to  death.  In  after  years  she 
affirmed  that  concern  for  her  life  and  all  earthly  things  departed  from 
her  leaving  her  calm  and  collected.  In  this  frame  of  mind  she  was 
bound  to  the  tree,  a  small  oak  from  w'hich  all  the  lower  branches  had 
been  cut.  Her  demeanor  seemed  to  please  the  Cherokee  chief.  Because 
of  her  courage  or  from  some  other  cause  which  was  never  known  to  her, 
proceedings  in  the  execution  were  suspended.  The  Indians  retired  for 
council  and  talked  for  a  long  time,  as  Mrs.  Wiley  believed.  When  they 
returned  the  Cherokee  chief  informed  Mrs.  Wiley  that  he  had  bought 
her  from  the  Shawnee  and  that  he  would  take  her  to  his  town  on  the 
Little  Tennessee  where  she  could  teach  his  wives  (he  spoke  as  though 
he  had  quite  a  number  of  them)  to  write  and  to  weave  cloth  like  her 
dress.  He  unbound  her  and  led  her  back  to  the  camp  in  the  rockhouse, 
followed  by  the  Shawnee  chief.  There  the  fire  was  lighted  anew.  The 
Cherokee  chief  produced  a  buckskin  bag  from  which  he  counted  down 
to  the  Shawnee  five  hundred  little  silver  brooches  about  as  large  as  the 
silver  dime  of  today,  the  price  he  had  agreed  to  pay  for  Mrs.  Wiley. 
They  were  received  by  the  Shawnee  as  though  he  had  a  supreme  con- 
tempt for  money,  and  swept  by  him  from  the  buckskin  upon  which  they 

1  Mr.  Wiley  was  positive  of  the  death  of  this  white  man.  Mrs.  Wiley  did 
not  see  him  tortured,  nor  did  she  see  his  dead  body.  She  said  the  captive  was 
tortured  on  the  plateau  overlooking  Big  Mudlick  Creek.  The  fire  about  which 
the  Indians  were  gathered  when  she  was  taken  to  the  plateau  was  near  the  falls 
of  Little  Mudlick. 


152  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

had  been  counted  to  him  into  a  bag  similar  to  that  which  tliey  had  been 
taken.  This  bag  he  placed  in  his  pack  and  lay  down  by  the  fire  to  sleep. 
The  Cherokee  chief  bound  Mrs.  Wiley  with  raw  thongs  cut  from  a 
buffalo  hide,  which  he  drew  very  tight,  causing  her  great  pain.  He  re- 
turned to  the  plateau  and  was  gone  a  long  time.  He  came  back  with 
several  of  his  band  some  time  in  the  night,  and  all  sle])t  in  the  rockhnuse. 

vn 

IIarm.\n's  St.\tion  Founded 

It  was  late  in  the  day  when  John  Borders  returned  home  from  the 
search  for  his  sheep,  and  a  thick  and  foggy  darkness  was  settling  ovei 
the  valley  of  Walker's  Creek.  When  he  f(jund  that  Mrs.  Wiley  had  not 
yet  arrived  at  his  house  he  feared  that  harm  had  come  to  her  and  her 
family,  and  her  sister,  Mrs.  Border,  was  distressed  and  anxious.  Bor- 
ders sought  a  neighbor  who  lived  near  him  and  together  they  went 
to  Wiley's  house,  which  they  found  partly  burned.  After  some  time 
spent  in  a  cautious  examination  of  the  place  they  ventured  to  enter  the 
house,  where  they  found  the  bodies  of  the  slain  children.  The  animals 
about  the  place  were  excited  and  Borders  believed  the  Indians  were  yet 
lying  in  wait  to  do  further  murder.  Not  finding  Mrs.  Wiley  and  the 
young  child  they  were  uncertain  of  their  fate,  but  they  supposed  none  of 
the  family  liad  escaped  death.  Xo  light  was  kindled  by  Borders  and  his 
companion,  and  after  a  short  time  spent  in  making  the  examination  by 
which  they  learned  the  facts  set  out  above  they  left  the  house  and  alarmed 
the  settlers. 

The  Indians  had  been  seen  by  no  one,  and  the  uncertainty  in  the 
minds  of  the  people  as  to  their  number  and  further  purpose  spread  terror 
in  the  settlement.  No  attempt  could  be  made  to  follow  the  Indians 
during  the  night.  Those  most  capable  of  determining  just  what  to  do 
in  this  extremity  were  out  of  the  settlement  and  it  was  not  known  when 
they  would  return.  On  the  following  morning  a  number  of  the  settlers 
gathered  at  Wiley's  cabin  and  looked  the  premises  over  carefully,  but 
the  trail  of  the  savages  was  not  discovered.  From  some  cause  it  was 
supjxised  that  the  Indians  had  gone  down  the  New  River.  Thomas  Wiley 
and  a  dozen  settlers  followed  the  Indian  road  down  that  stream  hoping  to 
come  up  with  the  Indians,  but  no  tidings  of  Mrs.  Wiley  came  from  that 
pursuit. 

In  the  afternoon  of  the  day  after  the  attack  upon  Wiley's  house, 
Matthias  Ilarman  and  the  hunters  returned  to  the  settlement.  The 
swollen  streams  and  the  heavy  loads  carried  by  their  horses  had  delayed 
them  twenty-four  hours;  but  for  these  impediments  they  would  have  ar- 
rived in  time  to  have  prevented  the  murders  committed  by  the  Indians. 
The  confidence  of  the  hunters,  that  they  would  arrive  in  the  settlement 
before  the  Indians,  had  caused  them  to  neglect  to  send  a  runner  to  warn 
the  settlers  of  their  danger. 

Immecliatelv  u])on  his  return  Matthias  Harman  went  to  the  house  of 
Wiley  where  he  fountl  many  of  the  settlers.  He  made  a  minute  examina- 
tion of  the  country  around  the  house.  In  the  hills  north  of  the  house  he 
found  evidence  that  the  Indians  had  passed  that  way.  He  followed  this 
discovery  some  miles,  and  upon  his  return  to  the  cabin  he  assured  the 
settlers  that  Mrs.  Wiley  was  alive  and  a  prisoner,  that  she  was  carrying 
her  child  which  had  been  spared,  and  that  the  Indians  would  follow  the 
Tug  River  war-trail  and  try  to  cross  the  Ohio  to  their  towns.  It  was  his 
opinion  that  the  Cherokee  chief  was  the  leader  of  the  band,  the  nun'iber 
of  which  he  had  detemiined  from  the  trail.  He  was  confident  that  he 
could  overtake  the  Indians  and  recover  the  prisoners.  His  inir])o.se  to  do 
this  was  determined  upon  at  once. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  153 

Harinan  was  a  bold  and  active  man.  He  believed  this  raid  was  made 
more  by  accident  than  design  and  that  it  indicated  no  uprising  of  the 
Indians  nor  any  purpose  to  harass  the  settlements.  It  was  not  regarded 
as  of  sufficient  importance  to  delay  the  settlement  to  be  made  at  the  mouth 
of  John's  Creek.  He  assembled  those  interested  in  that  enterprise  and 
gave  them  instructions  as  to  what  they  should  carry  with  them,  when  to 
set  out,  what  to  do  in  case  they  should  arrive  before  he  could  return  there 
from  pursuit  of  the  Indians,  and  the  most  favorable  route  for  them  to 
take  on  the  journey.  There  were  about  twenty-five  men  in  this  colony, 
but  the  exact  number  is  not  known,  and  their  names  are  lost  to  us.  We 
know  that  among  them  were  Matthias  Harman,  Absalom  Lusk,  Henry 
Skaggs,  James  Skaggs  his  brother,  Robert  Hawes,  Daniel  Harman,  Adam 
Harman,  and  Henry  Harman.  It  is  believed  that  a  man  named  Horn, 
also  one  named  Leek,  were  with  the  colonists.  Harman  selected  ten 
of  the  most  experienced  Indian  fighters  to  go  with  him  in  pursuit  of  the 
party  having  Mrs.  Wiley  and  her  child  in  captivity.  Thomas  Wiley  was 
not  a  member  of  the  colony  and  did  not  go  out  with  them.i 

Matthias  Harman  and  his  company  of  hunters  set  out  early  in  the 
day  in  pursuit  of  the  Indians.  So  confident  that  he  was  right  did  Har- 
man feel  that  he  did  not  at  first  attempt  to  follow  the  trail  made  by  the 
savages,  but  went  directly  to  the  head  waters  of  the  Bluestone  River  and 
crossed  the  Great  Flat  Top  Mountain.  He  found  the  trail  of  the  Indians 
in  the  hills  about  the  head  of  the  Tug  River;  it  followed  the  old  Indian 
warpath  as  Harman  had  conjectured.  This  ancient  way  was  so  well 
defined  that  it  required  no  effort  to  discover  and  follow  it,  which  made 
their  pursuit  rapid  and  certain.  Each  camp  of  the  Indians  was  dis- 
covered, and  it  was  plain  that  the  Indians  were  being  gained  upon  every 
day. 

If  the  Indians  had  not  left  the  old  war-path  and  turned  down  the 
small  streams  to  Tug  River  they  would  have  been  overhauled  by  Harman 
and  his  party  in  a  few  hours.  It  was  difficult  traveling  on  horseback  along 
the  small  streams,  for  they  were  frequently  choked  with  thickets.  This 
caused  delay  when  rapid  movement  was  so  necessary.  Harman  saw  that 
Indians  were  not  far  in  advance  and  were  aware  of  the  presence  of  the 
party  in  pursuit.  Just  before  night  they  found  the  body  of  Mrs.  Wiley's 
child  which  they  buried  in  a  shallow  grave  hastily  dug  with  tomahawks 
and  scalping  knives.  A  few  minutes  after  the  Indians  had  plunged  into 
the  water  and  crossed  Tug  River,  Harman  and  his  men  stood  upon  the 
spot  they  had  left.  It  was  impossible  to  get  the  horses  across  the  river  in 
its  flooded  condition  on  such  a  night.  The  party  camped  on  the  bank  of 
the  river  and  spent  the  night  in  building  rafts  upon  which  to  carry  over 
the  baggage  in  the  morning. 

Harman  effected  a  safe  crossing  early  the  following  day.  It  was  past 
noon  when  he  again  found  the  Indian  trail,  which  wound  through  a 
country  so  rough  and  hilly  that  it  was  well  nigh  impossible  to  follow  it 
with  horses.  When  he  arrived  at  the  point  where  the  Indians  had 
crossed  the  Louisa  River  it  was  the  unanimous  opinion  of  all  the  hunters 
that  it  was  useless  to  follow  the  trail  further.  They  all  believed  that  it 
would  be  impossible  to  come  up  with  the  Indians.  Mrs.  Wiley  was  re- 
lieved of  the  burden  of  her  child,  and  the  Indians  being  apprised  of  the 
pursuit  would  hold  their  course  to  the  rough,  bushgrown,  stony  ridges 
where  horses  could  scarcely  go.  So,  with  regret,  the  pursuit  was 
abandoned  at  the  Louisa  River. 

From  the  point  where  the  Indian  trail  was  abandoned  Harman  and 
his  company  ascended  the  Louisa  River  to  the  mouth  of  John's  Creek 

1  Mr.  Wiley  had  not  returned  from  the  pursuit  made  down  the  New  River, 
so  his  son  always  said.  He  also  said  that  his  father  was  unnerved  by  the  destruc- 
tion of  his  family,  and  that  he  was  at  the  time  unfit  for  the  war-path. 


154  HISTORY  Ol"  KKNTUCKY 

and  went  into  camp  in  the  old  hunting  lodge  built  there  by  Harman  more 
than  thirty  years  before.  There  the  river  runs  against  the  bluff  on  its 
west  side,  leaving  a  broad  bottom  on  the  east  side  of  the  river  below 
the  mouth  of  John's  Creek.  It  was  an  ideal  place  for  a  pioneer  settle- 
ment. The  great  war-path  up  the  river  ran  on  the  west  side  of  the 
stream  at  that  point.  Tiicre  the  stream  is  deep.  John's  Creek  is  a  stream 
of  considerable  size,  having  its  sources  in  the  mountain  ranges  about  the 
head  waters  of  the  Tug  and  Louisa  rivers.  Should  the  larger  streams 
be  beset  with  Indians  the  valley  of  the  smaller  one  would  atford  a  safe 
way  to  the  settlements  m  Virginia. 

The  bottom  in  which  it  was  designed  to  build  the  fort  of  the  settle- 
ment was  then  covered  with  trees  ranging  in  size  from  the  shrub  to  the 
giant  sycamore  with  its  girth  of  forty  feet.  These  trees  were  of  several 
varieties — birch,  beech,  maple,  linn,  oak,  poplar,  and  others.  It  was 
covered  with  a  thick  growth  of  cane  which  furnished  winter  pastures  for 
buffalo,  elk,  and  deer,  and  which  was  an  indication  of  deep  and  lasting 
fertility. 

The  colonists  expected  directly  from  Virginia  did  not  arrive  for  some 
days  after  the  coming  of  Harman  and  his  company.  Their  horses  were 
heavily  packed,  and  their  progress  through  forests  and  over  streams  was 
necessarily  slow.     High  water  hindered  much. 

The  site  selected  for  the  fort  was  almost  half  a  mile  below  the  mouth 
of  John's  Creek  and  about  loo  yards  back  from  the  east  bank  of  the 
Louisa  River.  The  fort  was  built  on  the  plan  common  to  the  forts  in 
frontier  settlements.  It  was  about  twenty  feet  square  and  two  stories 
in  height.  The  u])per  story  projected  beyond  the  walls  of  the  lower  story 
about  two  feet  on  every  side,  and  this  extra  space  was  floored  with 
heavy  timbers  in  which  loop-holes  were  cut  through  which  to  fire  down 
upon  besieging  Indians  should  they  ever  come  to  such  close  quarters. 
The  walls  of  both  stories  were  provided  with  openings  through  which  to 
fire  upon  a  foe.  The  door  or  gate  was  made  of  split  oak  timbers  six 
inches  in  thickness.  It  was  hung  upon  strong  wooden  hinges  made  by 
the  hunters,  opened  inward  and  was  secured  by  an  immense  beam  of  oak. 
The  roof  sloped  up  from  each  of  the  four  sides  of  the  fort  to  a  point 
in  the  center,  and  was  made  of  thick  slabs  of  white  oak  timber  "pinned" 
to  the  log  "ribs"  or  rafters  with  long  wooden  pins  or  pegs  driven  into 
holes  bored  with  an  auger.  A  small  stream  flowed  from  the  hills  back 
of  the  bottom  and  passed  close  by  the  fort,  and  upon  it  the  settlers  relied 
for  water.  Tiie  timber  about  the  fort  was  cut  ofif  close  to  the  ground  and 
burned  back  the  full  space  of  rille  range.  This  was  done  to  dejirive  the 
Indians  of  cover  should  they  ever  besiege  the  fort. 

This  rude  and  strong  buiUling  thus  creeled  by  the  rough  backwoods- 
men of  the  Virginia  frontier,  all  of  whom  were  as  brave  and  hardy  as 
any  who  ever  founded  a  frontier  post,  was  the  famous  blockhouse.  The 
settlement  commenced  by  its  erection  was  called 

11.\um.\n's   St.ation 

It  was  the  first  settlement  made  in  Eastern  Kentucky.  There  was  at 
that  timi'  no  settlement  in  cither  of  the  present  counties  of  Pike,  I'loyd, 
Lawrence,  Boyd,  Greenup,  Carter,  I'.lliott,  Morgan,  Wolfe,  Magoffin, 
I'reathitt.  Knott,  Letcher,  or  Martin.  There  were  no  settlements  on  the 
Tug  River  and  none  in  any  of  the  present  counties  of  West  Virginia 
touching  that  stream. 

This  fort  was  built  by  Matthias  Harman  and  backwoodsmen  whom  he 
had  induced  to  cast  their  lots  with  him  in  the  wilderness,  in  the  winter 
of  1787-88.- 

2  The  dates  fixed  by  Mr.  Wiley  are  here  followed.     Tliis   is  the   date  fixed  by 
him.     Reference    is   again    made   to   the    map   to   be    found    in    Imlay's    American 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  155 

vni 

The  Escape  and  Rescue 

After  passing  through  the  horrors  of  such  an  ordeal  as  that  to  which 
she  had  been  subjected  Mrs.  Wiley  found  it  impossible  to  sleep.  She 
had  nerved  herself  to  face  death  with  resignation,  and  her  nerves  were 
unstrung  with  the  relaxation  following  her  unexpected  deliverance  from 
the  stake.  And  she  was  troubled  by  the  change  of  masters.  She  feared 
the  Cherokee.  He  was  in  every  way  different  from  the  Shawnee  chief. 
He  was  quick  and  energetic  of  action,  cruel,  savage,  and  treacherous  by 
nature,  always  restless  and  anxious  to  be  moving.  While  she  believed 
that  she  owed  her  life  to  his  interference  in  her  behalf  she  was  not  sure 
the  future  would  prove  that  she  would  have  much  to  be  thankful  for 
in  that  matter.  Her  chance  of  escape  seemed  cut  off  and  that  troubled 
her;  she  regretted  that  she  had  not  made  the  effort  to  escape  months 
before.  While  pondering  over  these  things  she  fell  into  a  broken  and 
troubled  sleep.  She  found  this  a  most  strange  sleep  for  she  seemed 
more  awake  than  ever.  She  was  never  sure  she  was  asleep  at  all,  but 
.she  always  insisted  that  she  saw  this  vision  or  had  this  remarkable  dream : 
The  young  man  so  lately  tortured  by  the  Indians  came  to  her  bearing  in 
his  hand  a  lamp  made  from  the  bleached  skull  of  a  sheep,  the  brain  cavity 
of  which  was  filled  with  buffalo  tallow  in  which  was  a  wick  that  was 
burning  brightly.  The  young  man  did  not  speak,  but  by  signs  indicated 
that  she  must  follow  him.  Then  her  bonds  fell  away.  The  young  man 
threaded  the  deep  defiles  of  the  forest  with  the  flame  of  his  lamp  flutter- 


Topography.  The  author  says :  "In  order  to  communicate  a  distinct  idea  of  the 
present  complexion  of  the  State  of  Kentucky,  I  have  drawn  a  map  from  the 
best  authorities,  from  which  you  will  discern  that  Kentucky  is  already  divided 
into  nine  counties ;  and  villages  are  springing  up  in  every  part  within  its  limits, 
while  roads  have  been  opened  to  shorten  the  distance  to  Virginia."  Harman's 
Station  is  correctly  located  on  this  map.  The  site  of  Vancouver's  attempted  settlo- 
ment  is  marked  "Vancouvers."  Relative  to  that  attempt  an  affidavit  was  made 
by  John  Hanks  in  1838  when  Hanks  was  in  his  seventy-fifth  year.  It  was  pub- 
lished by  Dr.  Ely  in  his  work  on  the  Big  Sandy  Valley: 

"I  was  employed  by  Charles  Vancouver  in  the  month  of  February,  1789,  along 
with  several  other  men,  to  go  to  the  forks  of  Big  Sandy  River,  for  the  purpose 
of  settling,  clearing  and  improving  the  Vancouver  tract,  situated  on  the  point 
formed  by  the  junction  of  the  Tug  and  Levisa  Forks,  and  near  where  the  town 
of  Louisa  now  stands.  In  March,  1789,  shortly  after  Vancouver  and  his  men 
settled  on  said  point,  the  Indians  stole  all  their  horses  but  one,  which  they  killed. 
We  all,  about  ten  in  number,  except  three  or  four  of  Vancouver's  men,  remained 
there  during  the  year,  and  left  the  next  March,  except  three  or  four  men  to  hold 
possession.  But  they  were  driven  oflf  in  April,  1790,  by  the  Indians.  Vancouver 
went  East  in  May,  1789,  for  a  stock  of  goods,  and  returned  in  the  fall  of  the  same 
year.  We  had  to  go  to  the  mouth  of  the  Kanawha  River,  a  distance  of  eighty- 
seven  miles,  for  corn,  and  no  one  was  settled  near  us,  probably  the  nearest  was 
a  fort  about  thirty  or  forty  miles  away,  and  this  was  built  maybe  early  in  1790. 
The  fort  we  built  consisted  of  three  cabins  and  some  pens  made  of  logs,  like  corn 
cribs,  and  reaching  from  one  cabin  to  the  other. 

"We  raised  some  vegetables  and  deadened  several  acres  of  ground,  say  about 
eighteen,  on  the  point,  but  the  horses  being  stolen,  we  were  unable  to  raise  a 
crop. 

"(Signed)     John   Hanks." 

The  nearest  fort,  "about  thirty  or  forty  miles  away,"  which  was  "built  maybe 
early  in  1790,"  was  the  fort  erected  in  rebuilding  the  blockhouse  put  up  by 
Matthias  Harman  and  his  associates  in  the  winter  of  1787-88,  and  which  had  been 
destroyed  by  the  Indians,  who  burned  it.  The  settlers  who  had  been  obliged  to 
return  to  Virginia  at  the  time  of  its  destruction,  returned  with  reinforcements 
in  the  winter  of  1789-90  and  built  another  fort  in  the  Blockhouse  Bottom.  Although 
often  attacked,  they  never  again  abandoned  the  settlement. 

But  as  to  all  these  dates  see  note  based  on  statement  of  Mrs.  Wiley  and  set 
out  by  Summers.  That  would  make  the  date  of  the  erection  of  the  Blockhouse 
by  Matthias  Harman  the  fall  of  1789.  The  rebuilding  of  this  Blockhouse  would, 
by  that  date,  be  moved  up  to  1791,  the  year  in  which  the  Auxier  and  other  families 
arrived  to  make  a  settlement. 


156  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

ing  in  the  wind.  He  did  not  look  back  to  see  if  she  were  following  him. 
Arriving  at  a  steep  mountain  of  great  height  he  rapidly  ascended  it. 
\\hen  he  reached  the  top  he  blew  strongly  upon  his  lamp-flame  which 
immediately  leaped  to  a  height  sufficient  to  reveal  the  whole  country 
below.  She  looked  where  he  pointed  across  a  river.  There  stood  a  fort 
erected  by  white  men.  As  she  was  an.xiously  ajipealing  to  him  for  in- 
formation as  to  who  dwelt  there  the  light  paled,  flickered  a  moment,  then 
was  gone.  She  was  left  alone  in  the  darkness,  and  was  immediately 
roused  from  her  slumber.  This  dream  or  manifestation  or  phenomena, 
by  whatever  name,  was  repeated  twice,  the  last  time  being  just  as  the 
Indians  began  to  stir  in  the  camp.' 

Mrs.  Wiley  was  unbound  by  the  Cherokee,  and  infonued  by  him  that 
it  was  his  purpose  to  set  out  on  the  journey  to  his  town  in  a  day  or  two, 
but  that  he  was  going  that  morning  to  the  great  buffalo  lick  on  Big  Mud- 
lick  Creek  to  kill  game.  It  was  not  long  until  the  whole  band  of 
Indians  left  the  camj).  Mrs.  Wiley  was  again  bound  and  left  in  the  camp 
in  the  rockhouse.  She  soon  fell  into  a  deep  sleep  from  which  she  was 
wakened  by  the  roaring  of  a  heavy  storm  of  wind  and  rain.  The  instant 
that  she  awoke  the  peculiar  dream  came  to  her  mind  with  great  force.  It 
seemed  to  be  a  call  to  her  to  make  an  effort  to  escape;  at  least,  she  so 
regarded  it,  and  she  decided  to  act  upon  it.  She  saw  the  wind  was  blow- 
ing the  rain  into  one  corner  of  the  rockhouse.  She  rolled  herself  over 
and  over  until  she  lay  in  this  rain  blown  in  by  the  wind.  It  was  but  a 
short  time  until  the  rawhide  thongs  with  which  she  was  bound  were 
soaked  and  became  slippery  and  easily  removed.  When  free  she  bound 
her  dog  to  a  large  stone  to  prevent  his  following  her,  seized  a  tomahawk 
and  a  scalping  knife,  and  descended  quickly  to  the  bed  of  Little  Mudlick 
Creek.  She  waded  that  stream  to  its  junction  with  the  large  stream,  which 
she  waded  to  Big  Paint  Creek.  There  she  remembered  that  she  had  no 
well-defined  plan  of  action,  but  after  a  little  time  spent  in  reflection  she 
remembered  that  she  had  seen  a  river  in  her  dream,  and  concluded  that 
she  might  reach  this  river  by  wading  continuously  down  stream.  She 
acted  u])on  that  conclusion.  She  found  it  difficult  to  wade  in  Big  Paint 
Creek.  It  is  a  dec]),  swift  stream,  and  the  heavy  rain  quickly  raised  the 
small  streams  flowing  into  it,  and  they  carried  in  muddy  water,  which  soon 
made  it  impossible  for  her  to  determine  the  depth.  She  was  often  carried 
off  her  footing,  and  more  than  once  was  in  danger  of  drowning. 

Big  Paint  Creek  makes  a  big  bend  which  she  was  compelled  to  follow 
around,  and  it  was  growing  dusk  when  she  was  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Rockhouse  branch.  At  the  mouth  of  Jennie's  Creek  she  crossed  Paint 
Creek.  She  waded  up  Jennie's  Creek,  which  the  heavy  rain  had  jnit  out 
of  its  banks.  W'ind  and  rain  continued  all  night.  When  she  reached  the 
forks  of  Jennie's  Creek  she  was  almost  exhausted,  and  for  a  time  there 
she  was  much  puzzled  as  to  which  branch  of  the  stream  she  should  follow. 
Her  choice  of  branches  was  right;  she  turned  to  the  left  ruid  followed 
the  Lick  Fork.  In  half  a  mile  slie  was  again  compelled  to  choose  between 
two  branches  of  the  stream,  for  there  the  Middle  Fork  falls  into  the  Lick 
Fork.  She  again  turned  to  the  left,  and  again  her  choice  was  right.  She 
followed  the  Lick  Fork  to  the  mouth  of  a  small  branch  coming  in  from 


'  To  those  familiar  with  psychology  and  psychical  plienomcna  remarkable  dreams 
or  manifestations  to  one  under  stress  of  nervous  excitement  or  great  strain  or 
disturbance  of  the  mental  faculties  are  not  strange ;  they  are  not  impossible,  im- 
probable, nor  even  unusual.  Volumes  could  be  filled  with  authentic  instances  of 
such  dreams  or  manifestations.  Mrs.  Wiley  always  believed  she  was  assisted  by 
this  dream  to  make  her  escape.  She  believed  after  this  dream  that  there  were 
white  people  in  the  country  about  her.  The  route  by  which  the  .settlement  could 
be  reached  was  unknown  to  her  and  had  not  been  seen  in  her  dream.  The  young 
man  led  her  straight  through  the  woods  to  a  high  mountain  which  does  not  in 
fact  exist.  But  she  saw  it  in  her  dream,  and  from  the  top  of  it  she  saw  the  fort 
m  a  settlement  of  her  own  people. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  157 

the  east.  Here  she  left  the  larger  stream  and  followed  the  little  one  to 
its  head,  where  she  crossed  through  a  gap  to  the  stream  now  known  as 
the  Bear  Branch,  which  she  descended  to  its  junction  with  Little  Paint 
Creek.  Continuing  down  the  latter  stream  she  stood  upon  the  bank  of 
the  Louisa  River  as  the  dull  dawn  of  a  cloudy  morning  appeared  in  the 
east.  It  is  unnecessary  to  dwell  here  upon  the  exhausted  condition  of 
Mrs.  Wiley.  She  had  waded  against  swift  currents  of  overflowed  streams 
for  more  than  twelve  hours,  and  had  been  wading  for  as  much  as  eighteen 
hours.  She  dragged  herself  up  the  bank  of  the  river  and  soon  came  oppo- 
site the  blockhouse.  She  saw  women  and  children  there,  but  no  man  was 
in  sight.  She  called  out  to  make  her  presence  known  and  for  assistance 
to  cross  the  river.  So  unexpected  a  cry  alarmed  the  people  at  the  fort, 
and  they  went  in  hurriedly  and  closed  the  gate.- 

Here  was  a  wholly  unlooked-for  discouragement.  Mrs.  Wiley  was 
impatient  and  anxious,  fully  expecting  to  be  followed  by  the  savages. 
Seeing  now  the  blockhouse,  she  reasoned  that  the  Indians  knew  of  its 
existence  and  would  seek  her  in  that  direction.  She  was  fearful  that  they 
might  appear  at  any  minute.  She  continued  to  call  to  the  people  in  the 
fort,  calling  out  her  name  and  saying  that  she  had  escaped  from  the 
Indians,  whom  she  expected  to  follow  her.  After  what  appeared  to  her 
to  be  a  long  time  an  old  man  came  out  of  the  fort.  She  recognized  him 
at  once  as  Henry  Skaggs,  an  old-time  friend  of  her  father.  It  did  not 
require  much  time  for  her  to  convince  him  that  she  was  Jennie  Wiley, 
and  that  she  stood  in  great  danger  of  being  recaptured  by  the  Indians. 
Skaggs  knew  the  Cherokee  chief  well.  He  saw  that  no  time  was  to  be 
lost  in  getting  her  across  the  river.  He  told  Mrs.  Wiley  that  the  men 
of  the  fort,  except  himself,  had  gone  away  early  in  the  morning  with 
the  canoes.  He  said  they  would  not  return  for  some  time,  and  that  he 
would  be  compelled  to  construct  a  raft  upon  which  to  bring  her  over.  He 
advised  her  to  endeavor  to  swim  across  should  the  Indians  appear,  as  it 
was  his  opinion  that  she  would  suffer  death  if  recaptured. 

A  dead  mulberry  tree  stood  on  the  bank  of  the  river  and  Skaggs 
and  the  women  went  vigorously  to  work  to  fell  it.  It  was  tall  and  had 
but  few  branches.  When  it  fell  it  very  fortunately  broke  into  three 
pieces  of  about  equal  length.  These  logs  were  hastily  rolled  into  the 
river  and  bound  together  with  long  grapevines  pulled  down  from  the 
forest  trees  where  they  grew  wild.  Placing  two  rifles  upon  the  raft, 
Skaggs  pushed  out  into  the  river,  which  was  full  to  overflow  and  which 
was  carrying  much  drift.  After  being  carried  far  down  the  stream, 
Skaggs  made  a  landing.  Mrs.  Wiley  stepped  upon  the  rude  raft  and 
it  was  again  pushed  into  the  stream.  When  in  mid-stream  the  raft 
was  caught  by  drift  and  nearly  pulled  to  pieces,  but  by  hard  work  both 
raft  and  drift  were  brought  to  some  overhanging  trees  standing  on  the 
east  bank.  The  branches  of  these  trees  were  seized  and  the  raft  brought 
to  shore  about  half  a  mile  below  the  blockhouse. 

When  Mrs.  Wiley  and  .Skaggs'  had  gone  uj)  the  river  to  the  fort  and 
were  about  to  enter  the  gate,  Indian  yells  broke  from  the  thickets  over 
the  Louisa.  A  moment  later  a  large  band  of  Indians  came  into  view, 
among  them  the  Cherokee  chief,  and  with  them  was  Mrs.  Wiley's  dog. 
The  Cherokee  chief  saw  Mrs.  Wiley  at  the  entrance  to  the  fort.  He 
called  out  to  her  to  know  why  she  had  left  him  after  he  had  saved  her 
life  and  paid  his  silver  for  her.  He  insisted  that  she  had  not  treated 
him  as  she  should  have  done,  and  closed  his  appeal  with  the  words, 
"Honor.  Jennie,  honor!"     She  did  not  reply  to  him.     Skaggs  fired  his 

2  Mrs.  Wiley  always  insisted  that  .she  had  no  knowledge  of  the  existence  of  the 
blockhouse  when  she  left  the  rockhoiise  at  the  falls  of  Little  Mudlick  Creek. 

Jennie's  Creek  was  given  its  name  in  her  honor  and  because  she  made  her 
escape  in  wading  several  miles  against  its  rapid  current.  Considered  from  any 
point,  the  achievements  of  Mrs.  Wiley  that  night  were  most  remarkable. 


158  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

rifle  in  the  direction  of  the  savages,  though  the  distance  was  too  great 
for  the  range  of  small  arms.  At  the  discharge  of  the  rifle  the  Cherokee 
turned  about  and  with  a  defiant  gesture  '■'  uttered  a  fearful  whoop,  in 
which  he  was  joined  l)y  his  warriors.  Seeing  that  Mrs.  Wiley  had 
escaped  and  that  he  could  not  recapture  her,  the  Cherokee  chief  disap- 
peared in  the  woods,  followed  by  his  savage  companions  and  Mrs. 
Wiley's  dog. 

The  report  of  the  gun  discharged  by  Henry  Skaggs  brought  the 
mun  I  lack  to  the  blockhouse.  Later  in  the  day,  after  some  preparation, 
the  men  crossed  the  river  and  followed  the  trail  of  the  Indians  almost 
to  Little  Mudlick  Creek.  From  Mrs.  Wiley's  accotmt  of  the  number 
of  Indians  at  the  camp  the  hunters  believed  they  had  a  force  too  small 
to  attack  them,  so  they  returned,  after  having  gone  to  the  mouth  of 
jeimie's  Creek.  It  was  not  improbable  that  the  Indians  would  attack 
the  fort  soon,  and  upon  the  return  of  the  hunters  things  were  put  in  a 
posture  of  defense.  No  attack  was  made  upon  the  blockhouse,  but  the 
Indians  prowled  about  it  for  several  days,  and  they  were  in  the  vicinity 
for  some  weeks. 

Mrs.  Wiley  found  friends  in  the  blockhouse.  Most  of  the  settlers 
were  well  known  to  her  in  Virginia.  She  was  an.xious  to  return  to  her 
husband  and  relati\es.  When  the  winter  was  well  commenced  a  party 
commanded  by  Matthias  Ilarman  took  her  to  her  Virginia  settlements 
and  restored  her  to  her  husband  and  relatives.  On  the  way  the  party 
was  attacked  several  times,  but  succeeded  in  beating  oiT  the  savages.^ 
It  was  unusual  to  find  Indians  in  the  woods  in  the  winter,  and  from 
this  circumstance  it  was  feared  that  they  would  prove  exceedingly  trou- 
blesome to  the  settlers  at  the  blockhouse  the  next  summer. 

Mrs.  Wiley  was  in  captivity  about  eleven  months.  After  her  retiu-n 
she  and  her  husband  lived  in  Virginia  about  twelve  years ;  they  then 
moved  to  Kentucky,  settling  on  the  Big  Sandy  River  just  above  the  mouth 
of  Tom's  Creek,  in  what  is  now  Johnson  County,  and  some  fifteen  miles 
from  the  blockhouse  and  ten  or  twelve  miles  from  the  old  Indian  town 
at  the  mouth  of  Little  Mudlick  Creek.  The  Presbyterians  had  no  church 
organization  in  that  part  of  Kentucky,  and  she  and  her  husband  were 
members  of  the  Baptist  Church.  Thomas  Wiley  died  where  he  first 
settled  in  Kentucky  about  the  year  1810,  and  Mrs.  Wiley  remained  a 
widow  twenty-one  years,  dying  of  paralysis  in  the  year  1S31.  They  left 
a  large  family,  and  their  descendants  live  now  in  the  Big  Sandy  \'allcy 
and  are  numerous  and  respectable. 

The  Indians  attacked  the  blockhouse  several  times  during  the  summer 
of  1788.'"  The  settlers  surrounded  it  with  a  stockade.  The  Indians 
maintained  something  of  a  siege  which  lasted  for  about  three  weeks. 
This  was  in  September.  On  account  of  their  presence  all  the  time  no 
crops  could  be  raised  that  summer.  Several  of  them  were  killed  by  the 
settlers.  Some  of  the  settlers  became  discouraged  and,  as  soon  as 
cold  weather  enabled  them  to  do  so,  they  returned  to  the  Virginia  settle- 
ments. Thus  weakened,  it  w'as  not  believed  thai  the  fort  could  be  de- 
fended another  year.  The  settlers  all  returned  to  X'iiginia  during  the 
winter  of  1788-89.  The  Indians  innnediately  destroyed  the  blockhouse. 
It  was  burned,  together  with  some  cabins  which  the  settlers  had  erected 
in  the  vicinity. 


8  Patted  Ills  buttocks. 

*  The  attacks  made  by  the  Indians  upon  the  party  wbicli  escorted  Mrs.  Wiley 
back  to  Virginia  and  the  devices  practiced  to  evade  ttie  savages  wonld  in  tliem- 
selves  make  an  interesting  story.  It  often  .seemed  as  tlioiigh  tbey  were  lost,  and 
Mrs.  Wiley  had  to  bear  a  rifle  and  fight  with  the  others,  which  she  did  cfTcctively 
and  with  a  good   will. 

'•  Read  carefully  the  notes  on  the  subject  of  these  dates  set  out  on  previous 
pages.     These  dates  may  al!  be  one  year  too  early. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  159 

In  the  winter  of  1789-90  some  of  these  settlers  returned  to  the  block- 
house site.  They  were  accompanied  by  other  settlers,  a  majority  of 
whom  were  from  Lee  and  Scott  counties,  Virginia.  They  erected  a 
second  blockhouse  where  the  first  one  had  stood,  but  it  was  not  so  sub- 
stantially built  as  was  the  first  one.  In  the  summer  of  1791  many  new 
settlers  came.  The  settlement  was  troubled  much  by  the  Indians  for 
several  years,  but  it  was  never  again  broken  up.  It  is  believed  that 
Matthias  Harman  did  not  again  settle  permanently  in  the  Blockhouse 
Bottom,  though  he  was  there  for  some  years.  He  died  in  Tazewell 
County,  \'irginia.  Daniel  Harman  became  a  permanent  settler  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  first  settlement,  and  his  descendants  in  the  Big  Sandy 
Valley  are  many.  They  are  industrious  and  are  good  citizens.  Henry 
Skaggs  and  James  Skaggs  both  returned  to  Kentucky.  They  lived  for 
some  years  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Blockhouse  Bottom,  but  when  times 
were  settled  they  went  to  live  on  the  head  waters  of  Big  Blaine  Creek. 
Their  descendants  live  now  on  Big  Blaine  Creek,  the  Little  Sandy  River 
and  the  Licking  River.  The  Leeks  came  with  the  second  settlement, 
and  their  descendants  are  yet  to  be  found  on  the  Louisa  River.  The 
same  can  be  said  of  the  Horns. 


CHAPTER  XI 
TKAXSVIAAXIA  AND  Till-.  FIRST  SETTLEMENTS 

'J  he  rt-f^ions  of  \  irgiiiia  beyoiul  the  niuiintaiiis  and  south  of  the  Ohio 
River, were  by  no  means  a  terra  incoijnita  durint;  the  latter  part  of  the 
Scventeeiitli  and  the  Jughtecnth  centuries  when  the  European  nations 
were  seeking  to  explore  the  innermost  parts  of  the  North  American  con- 
tinent and  lay  hold  on  it.  The  first  European  visitors  of  this  territory 
later  to  be  called  Kentucky  were  French  traders,  the  agile  men  of  the 
forest  who  learned  early  to  understand  the  Indians  and  who  used  them 
well.  Arnold  \'iele  probably  visited  this  region  as  early  as  1693  ''""^ 
resided  there  a  while,  'ihe  Big  Bone  Lick  was  found  and  described  as 
early  as  1729,  and  soon  the  whole  southern  shore  was  familiar  to  the 
traders  and  explorers,  who  traversed  the  waters  of  the  Ohio.'  By  the 
middle  of  the  Eighteenth  century  luiglish  traders  and  explorers  were 
making  their  way  into  the  country  south  of  the  Ohio;  some  sent  to  spy 
out  lands  for  land  companies,  as  Walker  and  Gist,  already  noted,  others 
carried  there  by  the  spirit  of  adventure  and  gain,  as  John  Findlay  and 
Henry  Scaggs.  The  earlier  visitors  had  merely  skirted  the  shores  and 
noted  certain  landmarks  and  settlement  sites ;  but  from  the  middle  of 
the  eighteenth  century  on  the  new-comers  began  to  penetrate  the  regions 
in  every  direction.  In  1764  John  Ross  and  a  party  crossed  the  country 
from  Mobile  to  the  Ohio,  while  jireviously  explorers  had  come  in  from 
the  East  and  the  North.-  Plentiful  game  not  only  attracted  the  isolated 
hunters,  but  led  to  exjjloitation  by  organized  companies.  The  firm  of 
Baynton.  Wharton,  and  Morgan  regularly  sent  boats  up  the  Kentucky 
River  to  get  furs  and  butTalo  meat.  Organized  buffalo  hunts  were  also 
carried  out  in  the  Cumberland  River  regions.''  Hunting  parties  of  vary- 
ing sizes  entered  the  Kentucky  regions  from  the  eastward  following 
1769.  when  Uriah  .Stone.  Gasper  ]\lansker,  John  Rains,  and  more  than 
a  dozen  others  j)assed  through  Cumberland  Cja]).  The  following  year 
the  so-called  "Long  Hunters,"  about  forty  in  numl)cr,  carried  out  their 
famous  hunting  expedition  into  this  region  and  into  tlie  lower  Cumlx;r- 
land  country. 

But  (lesi)ite  the  fact  that  the  Kentucky  regions  had  been  visited  by 
numerous  jieople  and  described  by  some,  still  one  i^ioneer  has  come  to 
embody  in  the  [jopuiar  imagination  the  greater  jiart  of  the  romance  and 
daring  of  the  times.  This  was  Daniel  IVione.  lioone  was  pre-eminently 
a  man  of  the  forest,  delighting  in  its  solitudes  and  well  understanding 
its  denizens,  l)oth  man  and  beast.  He  was  a  ])roduct  of  the  frontier  and 
forever  remained  such,  always  moving  westward  to  keep  on  the  edge 
of  the  wilderness.  While  living  in  the  'S'adkia  River  valley  in  North 
Carolina,  he  made  many  long  trii)s  into  the  western  mountains,  penetrating 
further  and  further  into  the  fastnesses.     The  hire  of  the  wild  led  him 

1  C.  A.  Haiina,  The  Wilderness  Trail  (New  York,  1912),  II,  ^37-256;  R.  G. 
Thwaitcs,  Diinicl  Boone  (New  York,  1902),  85-96;  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky, 
I,  14.  I.^i.  .SOO,  510. 

=  C.  "W.  Alvord  and  C  E.  Carter,  The  Critical  Period  1763-1765  (Springfield, 
III.,   191.=;),  -xlviii.     Also  sec  Hanna,   Wilderness  Trail.  II.  215,  216. 

'•''C.  W.  Alvord,  The  Mississipfi  Vallev  in  British  Folilics  (Cleveland,  1917). 
II    172;  C.  \V.  Alvord,  The  Illinois  Country  1673-lSiS  (Springfield,  III.,  1920),  282. 

160 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  161 

also  far  to  the  south,  even  into  Florida,  where  he  visited  St.  Augustine 
and  Pensacola  about  1766.  But  the  wanderlust  that  had  laid  strongest 
hold  on  Boone  led  constantly  to  the  westward,  to  the  land  beyond  the 
Alleghanies  of  which  he  had  heard  the  most  glowing  descriptions.  In 
1767  he  decided  to  cross  the  mountains  and  to  see  for  himself  the  coun- 
try of  cane  brakes  where  wild  game  abounded.  Gathering  a  few  com- 
panions he  set  out  across  the  Blue  Ridge  and  Alleghanies,  and  finally 
reached  the  valley  of  the  Big  Sandy.  He  spent  the  winter  in  the  moun- 
tains of  what  is  now  Eastern  Kentucky,  and  being  deterred  by  the  rugged 
nature  of  the  country  from  going  further  to  the  westward  returned  in 
the  spring  to  his  home  in  the  Yadkin  River  valley. 

But  reports  of  the  Kentucky  country  were  too  persistent  and  too 
irresistible  in  their  attractiveness  for  Boone  to  remain  contented  in  his 
North  Carolina  home.  In  1769,  in  company  with  John  Findlay  and  four 
others,  Boone  set  out  once  more  bent  on  finding  the  land  of  promise. 
They  crossed  the  successive  ridges  of  the  Appalachian  system  and  guided 
by  John  Findlay  passed  through  the  Cumberland  Gap,  "and  from  the 
top  of  an  eminence  saw  with  pleasure  the  beautiful  level  of  Kentucky." 
They  found  game  plentiful,  and  revelling  in  the  beauty  of  the  land  and 
its  abundance  they  "hunted  with  great  success."  Prowling  bands  of 
Indians  soon  disputed  their  presence  and  gave  them  additional  excite- 
ment. Boone  with  one  of  his  companions  was  taken  captive  and  the 
party  broke  up.  After  various  experiences  they  made  their  escape,  but 
continued  to  hunt  and  explore  the  regions.  Aid  in  the  shape  of  more 
ammunition  was  brought  to  these  wanderers  in  the  wilderness  by  Boone's 
brother.  Squire,  and  a  companion,  and  Kentucky  still  held  them  with 
its  delights.  The  next  spring  one  of  the  party,  Stewart,  was  killed  by 
the  Indians,  and  another  returned  to  the  settlements,  and  now  the  Boone 
brothers  alone  continued  their  hunting  and  trapping  expeditions.  Finally 
Squire  Boone  returned  to  North  Carolina  for  more  ammunition  and 
Daniel  alone  remained.  He  now  continued  his  explorations  far  to  the 
north  and  touched  the  Ohio  River.  Returning  to  the  old  camp,  he  was 
joined  by  Squire,  who  had  arrived  with  more  ammunition,  and  the  two 
now  plunged  into  the  wilderness  again.  When  ammunition  ran  low 
again.  Squire  a  second  time  left  for  the  East  to  replenish  the  supply, 
and  on  his  return  the  Boones  journeyed  far  to  the  West,  exploring  the 
Green  and  Cumberland  River  regions.  Here  they  unexpectedly  ran  upon 
a  party  of  Long  Hunters  and  uniting  with  them  continued  to  trap  and 
hunt.  Finally  in  the  spring  of  1771  the  Boones  turned  homeward  with 
their  horses  laden  with  furs,  .^fter  suffering  the  loss  of  their  accumu- 
lations through  an  Indian  attack,  they  finally  reached  North  Carolina. 
During  this  period  of  almost  two  years  in  Kentucky,  Boone  had  learned 
much  about  the  country  and  was  filled  with  a  desire  to  return  and  settle 
there. 

Walker  and  Gist  had  written  journals  on  their  visits  to  the  Kentucky 
country  two  decades  earlier,  but  it  remained  for  Boone  to  popularize 
this  western  paradise.  Other  factors  were  also  working  toward  the 
appropriation  and  settlement  of  this  region.  Not  only  had  isolated  hun- 
ters and  hunting  parties  been  entering  it  for  many  years  past,  but  about 
this  time  the  more  substantial  agent  of  acquisition,  the  surveyor,  was 
making  his  appearance.  Many  were  at  work  laying  off  lands  promised 
to  the  soldiers  of  the  French  and  Indian  war,  while  others  were  taking 
up  lands  for  speculation  or  for  future  settlement  apart  from  service  in 
the  war.  The  military  surveys  were  generally  in  sizes  varying  from  50 
to  5,000  acres.  By  1773  surveying  parties  were  to  be  found  in  many 
parts  of  the  country,  locating  tracts  of  land  and  laying  off  town  sites. 
The  McAfee  brothers  floated  down  the  Ohio  and  then  ascended  the 
Kentucky  to  the  present  site  of  Frankfort  and  made  surveys;  while  an- 

Vol.  1—15 


Ib2  HISTURV  UF  KEXTUCKY 

other  party  under  Thomas  lUillitt  continued  down  the  Ohio  to  the  Falls 
and  surveyed  lands  for  Dr.  John  Connolly,  and  laid  out  a  town-site  where 
Louisville  now  stands.  The  next  year  John  Floyd  anda  party  arrived  in 
this  vicinity  and  were  soon  busy  surveying  lands  for  Patrick'  1  lenry  and 
other  i)roniinent  \irginians.  In  this  same  year  surveys  were  made  in 
the  \icinity  of  the  present  City  of  Lexington.  One  of  the  most  ])reten- 
tious  of  these  groups  entering  the  land  was  James  Harrod  and  forty 
associates,  who  laid  out  a  town  in  June,  1774.  The  leaven  was  work- 
ing; this  region  was  fast  being  laid  hold  of.-* 

In  1773  Daniel  Boone,  without  extensive  preparations,  set  out  with 
his  family  and  a  few  other  families  who  joined  him  on  the  way  intent 
upon  settling  permanently  in  the  Kentucky  country;  but  the  party  was 
so  fiercely  set  u]jon  by  a  band  of  Shawnees  that  it  was  forced  to  desist 
further  efiforts  to  enter  Kentucky  at  that  time.  This  attack  was  a  stern 
warning  that  the  Indians  were  becoming  increasingly  impatient  at  the 
various  groups  of  ])ioneers  threading  their  way  through  the  Indian  coun- 
try and  settling  down  u])on  it  here  and  there.  War  was  soon  precipi- 
tated by  a  number  of  atrocities  on  both  sides.  Boone  and  Michael  Stoner 
were  dispatched  in  July,  1774,  to  the  trans-Alleghany  region  to  warn 
the  surveying  parties  and  others  to  return  to  the  Eastern  settlements. 
A  pioneer  army  was  soon  on  the  march  and  came  upon  the  main  Indian 
forces  at  Point  Pleasant  near  the  mouth  of  the  (ireat  Kanawha  Ri\er. 
Here  was  fought  a  fierce  engagement  which  for  a  time,  it  seemed,  would 
result  in  favor  of  the  Indians.  But  largely  due  to  a  flanking  movement 
carried  out  by  Isaac  Shelby,  a  young  lieutenant,  the  Shawnees  were  de- 
feated and  forced  to  make  a  treaty  relinquishing  all  claim  to  territory 
south  of  the  Ohio  River.  This  conflict,  known  as  Dunmore's  War,  set- 
tled the  question  of  the  occupation  of  Kentucky.  The  gates  were  now 
open  for  an  in-pouring  of  hardy  pioneers. 

There  now  appeared  prominently  a  new  factor  in  the  appropriation 
and  settlement  of  the  trans-Alleghany  region,  but  which  was,  in  fact. 
an  expression  of  an  old  and  widespread  movement.  This  was  a  land 
company  known  as  the  Transylvania  Company,  reorganized  in  January, 
1775,  out  of  the  Louisa  Company,  which  had  itself  previously  grown 
out  of  the  original  "Richard  Henderson  and  Company."  Speculation 
and  money-making  was  at  the  bottom  of  most  of  the  Western  land 
projects.  The  Ohio  and  Loyal  land  companies  have  been  previously 
mentioned.  Shortly  after  these  companies  had  been  organized  Samuel 
Hazard,  a  Philadelphia  merchant,  conceived  the  project  of  a  colony  in 
the  West  including  a  vast  area  of  land,  and  in  part  embracing  most  of 
the  Kentucky  region.  This  project  soon  died,  but  others  were  in  the 
making.  The  Proclamation  I.ine  of  1763  seemed  for  a  time  to  be  an 
impassable  barrier  against  further  land  appropriation  beyond  the  Alle- 
ghanics ;  but  it  was  soon  evident  that  such  an  arbitrary  line  could  not 
withstand  the  expansive  force  of  the  land-hungry  pioneer  or  the  cupidity 
of  land  companies;  and,  indeed,  there  was  much  reason  to  believe  that 
it  was  intended  as  only  a  temporary  makeshift.  At  any  rate  soon  after 
the  end  of  the  French  and  Indian  war.  the  \'andalia  project,  which  in- 
cluded the  Kentucky  region  north  of  the  Kentucky  River,  was  being 
pushed  by  men  of  prominence  and  with  good  prospects  of  success.  Other 
projects  such  as  the  Indiana  Company,  which  did  not  concern  the  regions 

<  For  these  various  early  surveys  see  C.  M.  Ambler,  Life  and  Diary  nf  John 
rioyd  (Richmond,  1018),  1.3-15;  Collins,  History  of  Kfniucky,  I,  510,  511;  II,  540- 
^^1';  passim;  John  Mason  Brown,  An  Address  Delivered  on  the  Occasion  of  the 
Centennial  Commemoration  of  the  Toivn  of  Frankfort,  Kentucky,  6th  October,  1SS6 
(pamphlet,  38  pp.)  ;  J.  D.  Monctte,  History  of  the  Discovery  of  the  Valley  of  the 
.Mississif<f>i  (New  York.  184S),  I.  360,  361;  Yearbook.  The  Kentucky  Society  of 
Colonial  IVars  1917;  Reuben  T.  Durrett,  The  Centenary  of  Kentucky  (Filson  Club 
Publication,  Number  7),  30-33. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  163 

south  of  the  Ohio,  were  fermenting.  These  schemes  ranged  from  am- 
bitious dreams  of  new  colonies  simply  to  great  private  land  companies. 
Of  the  latter  there  were  enough.  The  man  who  would  today  be  a  cap- 
tain of  industry  was  then  likely  scheming  to  gain  control  of  great  tracts 
of  Western  lands.  Among  these  was  Patrick  Henry,  who,  in  1767,  was 
interested  in  forming  a  company  to  secure  control  of  much  of  the  trans- 
Alleghany  region  of  Virginia.  The  year  following  the  Treaty  of  Fort 
Stanwix.  a  large  number  of  petitioners  sought  of  Governor  Botetourt 
a  tract  of  land  of  60,000  acres  laying  east  of  the  Ohio  "to  begin  at  the 
I'alls  of  the  Cumberland  River."  The  House  f)f  Burgesses  took  up  the 
question  of  granting  Western  lands  at  this  time  and  assumed  a  favorable 
altitude  toward  it.^ 

The  Transylvania  Company  had  its  inception  directly  following  the 
Treaty  of  1763,  with  Richard  Henderson  as  the  moving  spirit.  Known 
at  this  time  as  Richard  Henderson  &  Company,  it  pursued  no  definite 
])rogram,  but  merely  kept  a  watchful  eye  for  opportunities.  It  undoubt- 
edly sought  the  aid  of  wandering  hunters  and  trappers  in  spying  out 
good  lands,  and  it  is  possible  that  Daniel  Boone  was  engaged  at  this 
early  time  to  report  on  the  lands  he  saw  on  his  numerous  trips  into  the 
western  mountains.  There  is  more  probability  that  he  had  an  under- 
standing with  Henderson,  when  he  made  his  extensive  hunting  trip  into 
the  Kentucky  country  in  1769;  but  there  is  no  absolute  proof  of  his  con- 
nection with  the  Henderson  projects  until  1773.  li  he  did  have  an  agree- 
ment with  Henderson  before  this  time,  it  certainly  was  of  a  very  loose 
and  perfunctory  nature,  for  the  character  of  Boone's  trips  into  the  moun- 
tains and  beyond  shows  that  he  was  impelled  by  his  own  uncontrollable 
love  of  the  forest  and. the  chase  and  in  nowise  directed  by  any  other 
force."  By  1774.  with  the  reorganization  of  Richard  Henderson  &  Com- 
pany into  the  Louisa  Company,  new  life  was  inspired  and  a  definite  pro- 
gram adopted.  The  change  in  name  was  significant :  the  company,  due 
to  reports  that  Boone  had  brought  back  from  Kentucky  regions,  was 
now  definitely  bent  on  acquiring  a  portion  of  the  trans-Alleghany  coun- 
try. It  came  prominently  before  the  people  when  it  issued  its  "Proposals" 
on  December  25,  1774,  intimating  that  a  new  colony  was  to  be  set  up 
and  giving  the  scale  of  land  prices.  The  name  was  changed  to  the 
Transylvania  Company  in  January.  1775,  and  efforts  were  immediately 
undertaken  to  secure  control  of  the  country  by  a  treaty  with  the  Chero- 
kees.  who  claimed  it.  Such  a  treaty  was  negotiated  at  the  Sycamore 
Shoals  and  signed  on  March  17th.  by  which  the  Transylvania  Company 
was  granted  all  of  Kentucky  between  the  Cumberland  and  Kentucky 
rivers  and  much  of  Tennessee.'^ 


^  James  R.  Robertson,  Petitions  of  the  Early  Inhabitants  of  Kentucky  (Filson 
Club  Publication,  Number  27),  35,  36;  Alvord,  Mississippi  Valley  in  British  Poli- 
tics, II,  III;  G.  H.  Alden,  New  Governments  West  of  the  Alleghanies  before  1780 
(Bulletin  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin,  Historical  Series,  Vol.  2,  No.   i),  7-1 1; 

i6-3S;  36-48. 

8  See  Archibald  Henderson,  "The  Creative  Forces  m  Westward  Expansion :  Hen- 
derson and  Boone"  in  American  Historical  Review,  XX,  86-107;  Archibald  Hender- 
son, The  Conquest  of  the  Old  Southzcest  (New  York,  1920),  chapters  VII-X, 
.Mthough  there  is  no  absolute  evidence  that  Boone  had  any  connection  with  Judge 
Henderson  before  1773,  surmises  that  he  did  arose  in  the  early  part  of  the  Nineteenth 
Century.  In  James  Hall,  SketcJies  of  History,  Life,  and  Manners  of  the  West 
(Philadelphia,  1835),  I,  242,  243,  appears  this  statement:  "But  there  is  some 
reason  to  believe  that  even  in  his  first  visit  to  Kentucky,  Boone  came  as  the  agent 
of  some  wealthy  individuals  in  North  Carolina,  who  were  desirous  to  speculate  in 
these  lands,  and  who  selected  him  to  make  the  first  reconnoissance  of  the  country, 
not  only  because  he  was  an  intrepid  hunter,  but  in  consideration  of  his  judgment  and 
probity.  It  is  certain  that  he  was  employed  immediately  after  his  return,  and  that 
he  continued  for  many  years  to  be  engaged  in  the  transaction  of  business  for  others, 
to  the  entire  neglect  of  his  personal  aggrandizement." 

^  Archibald  Henderson,  "Richard  Henderson  and  the  Occupation  of  Kentucky, 
1775"  in  Mississippi  Valley  Historical  Review,  I,  No.  3   (Dec.  1914)1  341-363. 


IG-t  lilSTuRV  Ol'    KKNTUCKY 

Even  before  the  treaty  with  the  Cherokecs  was  concluded,  definite 
plans  for  occupying  the  country  had  been  formulated  and  Boone  had 
been  commissioned  to  blaze  a  trail  across  the  mountains.  He  immediately 
set  out  with  thirty  ax-mcn  and  directly  after  the  treaty  was  followed 
by  Henderson,  himself,  and  a  party  with  pack  horses.  Boone's  i)ioneer- 
ing  i)arty  after  much  trouble  marked  the  trail  to  the  Kentucky  River 
and  began  the  erection  of  a  fort.  But  in  the  meantime  15oone  dis'patched 
a  message  to  Henderson  telling  of  Indian  attacks  and  the  death  of  a 
few  members  of  the  party,  and  calling  for  aid  as  soon  as  possible.  As 
Henderson  i)rocecded  he  had  constant  evidence  of  the  unsettled  condi- 
tions beyond  the  mountains.  Numerous  peo])le  were  met  returning  to 
the  East,  who  told  of  Indian  dangers.  Some  joined  Henderson's  party, 
while  others  continued  on  to  the  settlements."*  A  fort  was  erected  on 
the  south  side  of  the  Kentucky  River  in  what  is  now  Madison  County, 
and  called  Boonesborough,  and  the  ambitious  scheme  of  a  Fourteenth 
Colony  was  entered  ui)on  in  earnest. 

But  the  troubles  from  almost  every  ijuarter  began  to  rise  immediately. 
As  Transyhania  lay  in  the  western  stretches  of  both  North  Carolina 
and  Virginia  the  o])j)osition  of  these  two  colonies  was  aroused.  Even 
before  Henderson  had  made  his  treaty  with  the  Cherokees,  Governor 
Martin  of  North  Carolina  issued  his  proclamation  against  Henderson's 
scheme,  in  which  he  denominated  the  company  "an  infamous  Company 
of  land  Pyrates,"  declared  that  "a  settlement  may  be  formed  that  will 
become  an  asylum  to  the  most  abandoned  Fugitives  from  the  several 
colonies,"  forbade  Henderson  to  carry  his  plans  further,  and  warned 
all  i^eople  to  stay  out  of  the  project.'-*  On  March  21,  before  Boones- 
borough had  been  founded.  Lord  Dunmore.  governor  of  Virginia,  recited 
in  a  jiroclamation  the  manner  in  which  lands  could  be  taken  up  and  de- 
clared that  Henderson  had  not  com])lied  with  the  laws.  On  the  contrary. 
he  "and  other  disorderly  Persons,  his  .Associates,  under  Pretence  of  a 
Purchase  made  from  the  Indians"  had  laid  "Claim  to  the  Lands  of  the 
Crown  within  the  Limits  of  this  Colony.''  Dunmore  then  called  upon 
"all  Justices  of  the  Peace,  SheritTs,  and  other  Officers,  civil  and  mili- 
tary, to  use  their  utmost  Endeavours  to  prevent  the  unwarrantable  De- 
signs of  the  said  H cnderson  and  his  Abettors."  '" 

But  Transylvania  was  far  from  the  reach  of  the  governors  of  North 
Carolina  and  \'irginia  and  Henderson  needed  to  give  little  attention  to 
this  rather  distant  problem  in  the  face  of  new  troubles  pressing  for  an 
immediate  solution.  Land  was  now  the  lodestone  attracting  settlers  to 
the  West,  while  rivalry  for  its  acquisitions  and  the  certainty  of  posses- 
sion were  points  around  which  all  activities  turned.  In  fact  an  intima- 
tion of  the  scramble  for  good  lands  was  seen  at  the  very  beginning  of 
Boonesborough,  when  Boone  laid  off  a  site  for  a  fort  and  marked  off 
the  best  lands  for  the  advance  party  with  him.  Henderson  moved  the 
location  in  order  that  land  drawings  might  be  carried  out  more  advan- 
tageously for  his  party.  Some  refused  to  participate  in  the  allotinents 
and  left  Boonesborough  to  take  up  lands  as  they  desired.     Henderson 


'William  Calk,  who  joined  Henderson's  party,  wrote  in  his  journal  on  .-Vpril  8, 
■■\Vc  all  pact  up  &  Started  Crost  Cumberland  gap  about  one  o'clock  this  Day  we 
Met  a  great  many  peopel  turned  Back  for  fear  of  the  indians  but  our  Company 
goes  on  Still  with  good  courage.  ■*  '*  *"  "Journal  of  William  Calk,  Kentucky 
Pioneer"  in  Mississifpi  Valh-y  Hislorkal  Review,  VII.  \o.  4,  (March,  lO^i),  .VV- 
For  part  of  Hender.son's  Journal  and  Boone's  letter  see  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky, 
II,  408-501. 

"George  W.  Ranck,  Booin'sborouiih  (Filson  Club  Publication,  Number  16),  147- 
140;  North  Carolina  Colonial  Records,  X,  273,  323.  This  proclamation  was  issued 
February   IQ,   1775- 

1"  Ranck,  Bonncsborouiih,  181,  182;  Aldcn,  Nen'  Governments  West  of  the  Alle- 
(ihanies,  54.  A  photostatic  copy  of  this  proclamation  is  reproduced  in  Henderson. 
Conquest  of  the  Old  Southwest,  opposite  page  240. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  165 

made  it  plain  at  this  time  that  he  would  tolerate  no  land  squatting.  The 
land  question  assumed  a  wider  significance  and  greater  importance  when 
troubles  began  brewing  among  the  other  settlers  who  had  come  out  pre- 
vious to  Henderson's  party.  James  Harrod  had  settled  Harrodsburg 
during  the  preceding  year,  but  had  been  driven  in  when  Dunmore's  war 
came.  He  was  now  back  at  Harrodsburg  with  about  fifty  men  and  had 
a  rival  center  of  influence  set  going.  Harrod  soon  had  misunderstand- 
ings with  Slaughter,  who  was  the  leader  of  another  party,  and,  to  settle 
the  whole  policy  of  law  and  order,  the  Transylvania  government  was 
soon  set  up.^^ 

May  23d  was  designated  as  the  time  for  the  delegates  from  the  four 
principal  areas  of  settlement  to  come  together  as  a  law-making  body. 
According  to  Henderson,  "Members  or  delegates  [were  to  be  elected] 
from  every  place  by  free  choice  of  Individuals,  they  first  having  intering 
into  writing  solemnly  binding  themselves  to  obey  and  carry  into  execu- 
tion such  Laws  as  representatives  should  from  time  to  time  make,  con- 
curred with  by  a  Majority  of  the  Proprietors  present  in  the  Country."  ^- 
Representatives  were  elected  from  the  settlement  as  follows :  From 
Ijoonesborough,  six ;  and  four  each  from  Harrodsburg,  Boiling  Springs, 
and  St.  Asaph.  At  the  appointed  time  the  delegates  met  at  Boones- 
borough,  where  was  now  established  the  first  pioneer  government  of 
Anglo-Saxons  beyond  the  Alleghanies,  short-lived  though  it  was.  Judge 
Henderson,  duly  impressed  by  the  occasion,  delivered  an  address  to  the 
convention  in  keeping  with  the  time-honored  custom  of  a  sovereign.  He 
had  no  uncertain  visions  of  the  future  and  he  left  it  not  for  others  to 
tell  of  the  mighty  things  that  were  about  to  transpire  in  the  wilderness. 
He  said :  "You,  perhaps,  are  fixing  the  palladium,  or  placing  the  first 
corner-stone  of  an  edifice,  the  height  and  magnificence  of  whose  super- 
structure is  now  in  the  womb  of  futurity,  and  can  only  become  great 
and  glorious  in  proportion  to  the  excellence  of  its  foundation.  These 
considerations,  gentlemen,  will,  no  doubt,  animate  and  inspire  you  with 
sentiments  worthy  the  grandeur  of  the  subject."  He  felt  the  latent  dan- 
gers of  the  situation  where  the  groups  of  settlers  were  already  beginning 
to  resolve  into  jarring  factions,  and  in  his  sound  admonitions  he  betrayed 
a  lurking  fear  that  the  stability  of  the  Transylvania  venture  depended 
on  united  action  and  accord.  The  people  must  resolve  themselves  into 
a  governmental  unit  and  support  the  structure  about  to  be  set  up.  "For," 
he  said,  "it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  a  people,  anxious  and  desirous  of 
having  laws  made — who  approve  of  the  method  of  choosing  delegates 
or  representatives  to  meet  in  general  convention  for  that  purpose — can 
want  the  necessary  and  concomitant  virtue  to  carry  them  into  execution." 
He  took  pains  to  silence  any  doubts  that  might  be  held  of  the  right  of 
the  Transylvania  proprietors  to  set  up  a  government.  "And  now,  Mr. 
Chairman,  and  gentlemen  of  the  convention,  as  it  is  indispensably  neces- 
sary that  laws  should  be  composed  for  the  regulation  of  our  conduct, 
as  we  have  a  right  to  make  such  laws  without  giving  olTense  to  Great 
Britain  or  any  of  the  American  colonies,  without  disturbing  the  repose 
of  any  society  or  community  under  heaven ;  if  it  is  probable,  nay  certain, 
that  the  laws  may  derive  force  and  efficacy  from  our  mutual  consent, 
and  that  consent  resulting  from  our  own  virtue,  interest  and  convenience, 
nothing  remains  but  to  set  about  the  business  immediately  and  let  the 
event  determine  the  wisdom  of  the  undertaking."  He  took  occasion  to 
deny  the  "infamous  and  scurrilous  libel"  that  Transylvania  was  a  refuge 
for  debtors  and  persons  in  desperate  circumstances.     He  called   for  a 

11  See  Henderson's  Journal  in  John  R.  Commona,  U.  B.  Phillips,  and  others, 
Dociimenlary  History  of  American  Industrial  Society  (Cleveland,  1910),  (Planta- 
tion and  Frontier,  1649-1863),  II,  225-228;  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  500. 

12  F.  J.  Turner,  "Western  State-Making  in  the  Revolutionary  Era,"  in  American 
Historical  Review,  I,  76-81. 


s 


166  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

framework  of  government  and  for  measures  to  protect  the  people  against 
the  Indians." 

The  convention  replied  in  a  tone  of  complete  accord  and  agreement, 
and  then  set  to  work  enacting  laws  and  framing  a  fundamental  compact 
of  government.  A  wide  variety  of  subjects  was  discussed  and  nine  laws 
finally  passed ;  also  a  compact  of  government,  consisting  of  eighteen 
sections,  was  agreed  upon  and  accepted  by  the  ])roprietors.  Section  u 
described  in  broad  outlines  the  framework:'  "That  the  legislative  author- 
ity, after  the  strength  and  maturity  of  the  colony  will  permit,  consist  of 
three  branches,  to  wit:  tiie  delegates  or  representatives  chosen  by  the  peo- 
ple; a  council  not  exceeding  twelve  men,  possessed  of  landed  estate,  who 
reside  in  the  colony ;  and  the  proprietors."  The  bills  passed  were  listed 
as  follows : 

"ist.  An  act  establishing  Courts  of  Judicature,  and  regulating  the 
[)ractice  therein. 

"2d.       An  act  for  regulating  a  militia. 

"3d.       An  act   for  the  punishment  of  criminals. 

"4th.     An  act  to  prevent  profane  swearing  and  Sabbath  breaking. 

"5th.     An  act  for  writs  of  attachment. 

"6th.     An  act  for  ascertaining  clerks'  and  sheriffs'  fees. 

"7th.     An  act  to  preserve  the  range. 

"8th.     An  act  for  improving  the  breed  of  hf)rses. 

"9th.     An  act  for  preserving  game."  "^^ 

These  laws  were  wise  and  forward-looking,  and  bore  a  most  direct 
relation  to  the  problems  at  hand.  In  legislating  on  such  subjects  as  the 
last  two,  the  representatives  were  far  ahead  of  their  day.  The  last  sub- 
ject, that  of  the  preservation  of  game,  was  of  particular  importance  and 
interest  to  the  settlers.  The  inroads  made  upon  wild  game  had  already 
become  painfully  evident.  Henderson  observed  in  his  Journal  that  some 
hunters  wounded  game  and  let  it  escape  to  die,  with  benefit  to  no  one. 
"Others."  he  .said,  "of  wicked  and  wanton  disposition,  would  kill  three, 
four,  five,  or  half  a  dozen  buffaloes,  and  not  take  half  a  horse-load  from 
them  all.  *  *  *  Pgr  want  of  a  little  obligatory  law,  or  some  restrain- 
ing authority,  our  game  soon,  nearly  as  soon  as  we  get  here,  if  not  be- 
fore, was  drove  very  much.  Fifteen  or  twenty  miles  was  a  short  distance 
as  our  good  hunters  thought  of  getting  meat,  nay,  sometimes  they  were 
obliged  to  go  thirty,  though  by  chance  once  or  twice  a  week,  a  buffalo 
was  killed  within  five  or  six  miles."  '^  In  his  message  to  the  convention 
he  also  called  attention  to  the  needless  slaughter  of  game  and  asked  for 
laws  on  the  subject.  It  was  eminently  fitting  that  Boone  should  be  the 
one  to  introduce  a  bill  "for  preserving  game." 

Dissensions  and  lack  of  coo])eratit)n  among  the  different  groups  of 
settlers,  apprehensions  which  Henderson  had  early  entertained,  were  not 
silenced  by  this  rather  out-of-date  proprietary  form  of  government  set 
up  for  pioneers  with  a  ijlentiful  supply  of  resource  and  initiative.  Un- 
easiness still  remained  among  many  of  them  over  titles  to  their  lands. 
The  proclamation  of  the  governors  of  North  Carolina  and  Virginia  were 
anything  else  but  reassuring.  People  did  not  care  to  settle  down  on  land 
:ind  later  be  ejected  because  the  power  granting  their  title  be  declared 
illegal.  The  bewildering  situation  was  well  set  forth  by  an  early  writer : 
"The  adventurer  to  the  wilds  of  Kentucky  must  have  possessed  a  pro- 
phetic spirit,  as  well  as  a  more  than  ordinary  knowledge,  political  and 
legal,  to  have  been  able  to  decide  between  the  proprietary  rights  of  the 
Cherokees  and  the  six  nations,  the  Transylvania  Company  and  the  state 

"Collins,  Hislorv  of  Kentucky,  II,  .S02-.qo3. 

i-i  For  tlic  journal  of  the  convention,  inchKlinK  Henderson's  speech,  the  compact 
of  government,  etc.,  sec  Collins,  Ilislory  of  Kentucky,  II,  501-508;  Hall,  Sketches 
of  the  West,  I,  272,  274,  passim;  /Uncrican  Archives,  Series  IV,  Vol.  IV,  S43-S6l- 

"  Commons  and   Phillips,  Documentary  History,  II,  229. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  167 

of  \'irginia,  the  Congress  and  the  crown  of  Great  Britain;  and  to  select 
from  so  great  a  number,  the  lord  paramount  under  whom  it  would  be 
most  safe  to  hold."  ^'^  A  land  office  had  been  early  opened,  the  land  sold 
at  20S  the  lOO  acres  to  each  person  settling  and  raising  a  crop  of  corn 
before  September  i,  1775,  with  the  privilege  of  buying  as  much  as  500 
acres  for  himself  and  250  acres  for  each  tithable  person  brought  along. 
The  price  was  soon  raised  to  50s  the  100  acres  and  other  limitations 
imposed.'"  Among  these  were  that  2s  quit-rent  the  100  acres  should  be 
paid  the  proprietors,  to  begin  in  178Q;  that  no  lands  should  be  sold 
adjoining  salt  springs,  gold,  silver,  copper,  lead  or  sulphur  mines,  or 
when  such  lands  should  be  unknowingly  granted  that  one-half  the  prod- 
ucts should  go  to  the  proprietors ;  and  that  not  more  than  5,000  acres 
should  be  granted  to  any  person  under  any  circumstances.  The  pro- 
prietors also  preempted  200,000  acres  for  their  own  use.  Many  of  the 
settlers,  led  by  Harrod  and  Abraham  Hite,  were  soon  in  open  opposition 
to  this  land  system  and  to  the  Transylvania  Company  in  general.  To 
them  it  seemed  as  if  this  vast  fertile  country  was  being  exploited  by  a 
small  group  of  avaricious  land  grabbers.  A  well-defined  hostility  was 
now  fast  growing  up,  destined  to  bring  about  the  final  downfall  of  the 
company. 

It  was  soon  necessary  for  the  proprietors  to  take  note  of  the  broader 
situation  brought  about  by  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution.  Boones- 
horough  had  scarcely  been  set  up  when  the  battle  of  Lexington  took 
place,  and  all  hope  of  receiving  the  assent  of  the  king  of  England  for  a 
fourteenth  colony  vanished.  But  there  was  now  an  authority  acting  in 
the  place  of  the  king,  and,  disregarding  Virginia's  claim  to  the  Transyl- 
vania territory,  the  proprietors  decided  to  go  directly  to  the  Continental 
Congress  in  Philadelphia  for  permission  to  erect  themselves  into  a  sep- 
arate political  division.  James  Hogg  was  selected  by  the  proprietors 
to  present  their  memorial  and  seek  admission  as  a  delegate  from  Transyl- 
vania. The  memorialists  "hope  and  earnestly  request  that  Transylvania 
be  added  to  the  number  of  the  United  Colonies,  and  that  James  Hogg, 
Esq.,  be  received  as  their  delegate  and  admitted  to  a  seat  in  the  honor- 
able the  Continental  Congress."  He  found  various  ideas  entertained  as 
to  the  project  of  the  proprietors,  and  not  a  little  sympathy.  He  talked 
much  with  John  and  Samuel  Adams,  but  was  warned  by  the  former  that 
"the  taking  under  our  protection  of  a  body  of  people  who  have  acted 
in  defiance  of  the  king's  proclamation,  will  be  looked  on  as  a  confirmation 
of  that  independent  spirit  with  which  we  are  daily  reproached."  Silas 
Dean,  of  Connecticut,  was  much  interested  and  informed  Hogg  that  if 
agreeable  arrangements  could  be  made,  a  number  of  Connecticut  adven- 
turers might  be  attracted.  Hogg  wrote  the  proprietors :  "You  would  be 
amazed  to  see  how  much  in  earnest  all  these  speculative  gentlemen  are 
about  the  plan  to  be  adopted  by  the  Transyhanians.  They  entreat,  they 
jiray  that  we  make  it  a  free  government,  and  beg  that  no  mercenary  or 
ambitious  views  in  the  proprietors  may  prevent  it.  Quit-rents,  they  say, 
is  a  mark  of  vassalage,  and  hope  they  shall  not  be  established  in  Transyl- 
vania. They  even  threaten  us  with  their  opposition  if  we  do  not  act  upon 
liberal  principles  w-hen  we  have  it  so  much  in  our  power  to  make  our- 
selves immortal."  '^  Since  Transylvania  lay  in  \'irginia  territory,  Hogg 
was  advised  to  approach  the  \'irginia  delegation  on  the  subject  of  its 
separate  existence.  JeiYerson  and  Wythe  were  interviewed,  and  the 
former  observed  that  \'irginia  would  very  likely  set   up  no  hindrances 

i«  Hall,  Sketches  of  the  West,  I,  262. 

»"  Virginia  Gazette.  September  30,  1775.  A  photostatic  copy  of  the  Advertisement 
may  be  found  in  Henderson,  Conquest  of  the  Old  Southwest,  opposite  page  220. 

18  Turner,  "Western  State-Making  in  the  Revolutionary  Era,"  in  American  His- 
torical Review.  I,  76-81;  Hall,  Sketches  of  the  IVest,  H,  225;  American  Archives, 
Series   IV,  Vol.   IV,  544,  545- 


168  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

against  a  government  that  diti  nut  become  oppressive,  but  that  in  any 
event  the  consent  of  the  Virginia  Convention  would  be  necessary  before 
Congress  could  by  right  deal  with  the  question.  Hogg  afterwards  saw 
Patrick  Henry  and  sought  to  win  his  support  with  the  offer  of  an  interest 
in  the  company,  but  Henry  refused. 

While  the  proprietcjrs  were  seeking  to  gain  recognition  for  Transyl- 
vania, the  discontented  settlers  were  not  inactive.  The  leaders  in  this 
movement  kept  their  grievances  constantly  before  the  people,  and  by 
the  end  of  1775  had  embodied  their  complaints  in  a  ])etition  to  the  \'ir- 
ginia  Convention,  entitled  "The  Petition  of  the  Inhabitants,  and  some 
of  the  intended  Settlers,  of  that  part  of  North-America  now  de- 
nominated Tr.\nsylvania."  Herein  they  spoke  of  their  hardships  in 
settling  the  country  and  of  the  grasping  policy  of  the  proprietors  in 
increasing  the  prices  of  land.  They  were  furthermore  alarmed  by  the 
questions  that  arose  in  their  minds  when  they  learned  of  the  contents  of 
the  Treaty  of  Fort  Stanwix  as  to  whether  tlie  proprietors  had  made  a 
valid  purchase  from  the  Cherokees.  They  now  feared  for  the  validity  of 
their  titles.  These  eighty-eight  petitioners  ended  their  plea  thus :  "And 
as  we  are  anxious  to  concur  in  every  respect  with  our  brethren  of  the 
United  Colonies  for  our  just  rights  and  privileges,  as  far  as  our  infant 
settlement  and  remote  situation  will  admit  of,  we  humbly  expect  and 
implore  to  be  taken  under  the  protection  of  the  honorable  Convention 
of  the  Colony  of  Virginia,  of  which  we  cannot  help  thinking  ourselves 
still  a  part,  and  request  your  kind  interposition  in  our  behalf,  that  we  may 
not  suffer  under  the  rigorous  demands  and  impositions  of  the  gentlemen 
styling  themselves  Proprietors,  who,  the  better  to  effect  their  oppressive 
designs,  have  gi\en  them  the  colour  of  a  law,  enacted  by  a  score  of  men, 
artfully  picked  from  the  few  adventurers  who  went  to  see  the  country 
last  summer,  overawed  by  the  presence  of  Mr.  Henderson.  And  that 
you  would  take  such  measures  as  your  Honours  in  your  wisdom  shall 
judge  most  expedient  for  restoring  peace  and  harmony  to  our  divided 
settlement;  or,  if  your  Honours  apprehend  that  our  case  comes  more 
Iiro])erly  before  the  honorable  the  General  Congress,  that  you  would  in 
your  goodness  recommend  the  same  to  your  worthy  Delegates  to  espouse 
it  as  the  cause  of  the  Colony."  '" 

With  their  power  constantly  on  the  wane  among  the  settlers,  the  pro- 
prietors were  forced  by  this  position  and  the  movement  it  represented  to 
take  immediate  action  to  nullify  its  cflect.  A  long  memorial  was  sent 
to  the  Virginia  Convention  in  answer  to  the  charges  contained  in  the  peti- 
tion of  the  discontented.  The  proprietors  recited  a  short  account  of  their 
treaty  with  the  Indians  and  the  hazards  and  expenses  they  had  undergone 
in  setting  up  Transylvania  and  noted  that  numerous  adventurers  had 
migrated  thither  "and  have  continued  thereon  perfectly  satislied  with 
the  terms  and  title,  until  some  interested,  artful  and  designing  jjcrsons, 
by  cunning,  specious  and  false  suggestions,  with  intent  to  injure  and 
o]jpress  tiiem,  have  raised  doubts  in  the  minds  of  some  few  with  res])ect 
to  the  justice  and  validity  of  the  title,  and  consequently  of  the  propriety 
of  making  payment,  according  to  their  original  contract  and  agreement, 
until  some  objections  shall  be  removed,  or  themselves  better  satisfied." 
They  admitted  that  they  might  be  amenable  to  Virginia  or  the  Continental 
Congress  when  it  came  to  a  question  of  "the  peace,  happiness  and  safety 
of  the  United  Colonies  in  general,  or  any  of  the  Colonies  in  ]iarticular," 
but  they  conceived  that  when  it  came  to  a  matter  of  "disputes  relative 
til  ]iri\ate  pro])erty,"  it  did  "not  jjroperly  come  within  the  consideration 
or  determination  of  this  Convention,  or  any  other  Convention  or  Con- 
gress on  the   Continent,"     'J'hey    furthermore   stated,   having  noted   the 

^^  American  Archives,  Scries  IV,  Vol.  VI,  1528,   1529;  Collins,  History  of  Ken- 
tucky, II,  510,  511;  Hall,  Sketches  of  the  West,  II,  235-239. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  169 

changed  state  of  affairs  with  regard  to  Great  Britain,  "That  as  the  means 
of  acquiring  and  possessing  property  is  an  unahenable  right,  so  such 
Confederacy,  Declaration  of  Independence,  or  non-allegiance  to  the  King 
of  England,  or  any  other  Power  or  State  whatever,  and  declaring  our- 
selves to  be  a  free  people,  does  by  no  means  interfere  with  the  rights 
of  individuals ;  and  that  every  attempt  to  destroy  such  idea  of  property, 
as  well  with  respect  to  them  as  others,  is  injurious,  and  they  hope  will 
be  considered  as  infringements  on  the  rights  of  humanity,  and  treated 
accordingly."  Forgetful  now  of  their  former  purpose  of  setting  up  a 
F^ourteenth  Colony,  they  now  declared  that  they  had  never  harbored  any 
such  intentions :  "That,  well  aware  of  the  impropriety  and  danger  of 
erecting  or  suffering  a  separate  Government  within  the  limits  or  verge 
of  another,  they  do  declare  they  never  entertained  thoughts  of  such  an 
absurdity,  and  that  their  doings,  together  with  the  Delegates  chosen  by 
the  inhabitants  of  Transylvania  for  the  purpose  of  legislation,  were  in- 
tended as  mere  temporary  by-laws  for  the  good  of  their  little  community, 
and  which  the  necessity  of  the  case,  too  obvious  to  need  explanation, 
they  hope  will  sufficiently  justify;  and  that,  from  the  beginning,  their 
constant  attention  and  tenour  of  conduct  has  been  to  make  the  benefit 
of  their  lands  as  diffusive  as  possible,  and  that  they  now  are,  and  at 
all  times  have  been,  ready  to  submit  to  such  Government  as  should  be 
placed  by  authority  over  them,  wishing  and  desiring  their  case  may  be 
thought  of  sufficient  importance  to  call  the  attention  of  such  power."  "'^ 

This  position,  in  fact,  represented  a  long  retreat  from  their  former 
stand.  They  were  now  willing  to  sacrifice  the  glittering  jewel  of  political 
power  in  order  to  save  the  more  substantial  and  valuable  right  of  pri- 
vate property  in  their  vast  territory. 

But  the  situation  was  fast  resolving  itself  into  a  solution  from  causes 
originating  in  another  quarter.  There  now  came  prominently  onto  the 
stage  George  Rogers  Clark,  who  had  been  planning  the  destruction  of 
Transylvania  for  some  time  and  was  now  soon  to  succeed.  Clark  had 
been  in  the  Western  country  as  early  as  1773,  and  was  greatly  impressed 
with  the  fertility  and  attractiveness  of  the  land.  He  was  back  surveying 
in  1775,  when  he  came  in  contact  with  the  Henderson  project.-'  From 
the  beginning  he  had  no  sympathy  with  this  scheme  to  lay  hold  of  the 
best  lands  of  the  West,  and  before  the  end  of  the  year  he  returned  to 
the  East,  resolved  to  put  a  stop  to  it.  But  Clark's  plans  did  not  end  here. 
Transylvania  was  far  from  Eastern  X'irginia  and  he  believed  a  spirit 
of  independence  was  fast  developing  among  its  inhabitants.  This  situa- 
tion called  for  initiative  and  daring  statesmanship.  Destroy  Transyl- 
vania, but  do  not  let  the  advantage  of  exacting  a  desirable  position  from 
Virginia  escape.  Clark  made  his  plans  accordingly.  He  said :  "I  im- 
mediately fixed  on  my  plans,  that  of  assembling  the  people,  get  them  to 
elect  deputies  and  send  them  to  the  assembly  of  Virginia,  and  treat  with 
them  Respecting  the  Country.  If  Valuable  Conditions  were  procured,  to 
declare  ourselves  Citizens  of  the  State ;  otherwise  Establish  an  Inde- 
pendent Government,  and  by  giving  away  great  part  of  the  Lands  and 
disposing  of  the  Remainder  other  ways  we  could  not  only  gain  great 
numbers  of  Inhabitants,  but  in  good  measure  protect  them  to  carry  this 
scheme  into  effect." 

Clark  had  been  laying  good  foundation  for  his  plans,  for  when  the 
proprietors  called  another  convention  for  April  10  (1776),  to  sit  at  Har- 
rodsburg,  some  of  the  settlers,  fearful  that  "the  proprietors  would  wish 
to  establish  some  laws  which  might  operate  to  their  disadvantage,"  re- 
quested that  the  convention  be  postponed  until  a   "few  men  of  better 

_-'>  American  Archives,  Series  IV,  Vol.  VI,  I573-I575.     Paraphrased  report  in  the 
minutes  of  the  Virginia  Convention. 

"A.   B.   Hulbert,  Pilots  of  llic  Republic    (Chicago,    1906),   171. 


170  HISTORY  UF  KENTUCKY 

abilitys  come  among  lliem  to  assist  in  making  such  laws."  .Might  this 
not  have  reference  to  Clark,  who  had  not  yet  returned  from  the  East? 
This  convention  was  never  held,  but  another  was.  In  pursuance  of  his 
plans,  Clark  called  a  convention  to  meet  in  Harrodsburg  in  the  early 
part  of  June,  but  failed  to  mention  the  purpose  of  the  meeting.  The 
assembly  met  and,  with  Clark  absent  during  most  of  the  lirst  day's  ses- 
sion, not  knowing  what  else  to  do,  elected  him  and  Gabriel  John  Jones 
as  delegates  to  the  Virginia  Assembly  and  made  preparations  to  draw 
up  a  petition  asking  that  they  be  admitted  and  that  this  region  be  erected 
into  a  county.  This  was  not  Clark's  purpose  at  all,  but  he  preferred  not 
to  balk  the  proceedings  at  this  stage.  It  wholly  ignored  the  independent 
position  that  Clark  would  have  the  people  assume,  and  left  him  no 
grounds  to  negotiate  on.  The  petitions  formulated  and  other  proceedings 
carried  out,  retrieved  in  a  way  the  people's  former  independent  stand. 
Transylvania  was  wholly  ignored  as  a  designation  for  the  region  in  "The 
Humble  Petition  of  the  Inhabitants  of  Kenlucke  (or  Louisa)  River  on 
the  Western  parts  of  b'incastle  County."  Other  expressions,  such  as 
"the  inhabitants  of  the  nortli  and  south  side  of  the  Kentucke  river,"  were 
used.  Henderson  was  declared  to  have  set  up  a  policy  "which  does  not 
at  all  harmonize  with  that  lately  adojned  by  the  United  Colonies."  After 
expressing  loyalty  to  the  Revolution,  the  petitioners  added :  "And  we 
cannot  but  observe  how  impolitical  it  would  be  to  Sufi'er  such  a  Re- 
spectable Body  of  Annie  Rille  Men  to  remain  in  a  state  of  Neutrality." 
As  this  meeting  had  wholly  repudiated  and  ignored  the  Transylvania 
Company,  it  was  felt  that  some  sort  of  a  governing  body  should  be  con- 
stituted. The  assembly,  therefore,  set  up  a  Committee  of  Twenty-one, 
"as  it  is  the  request  of  the  inhabitants  that  we  should  point  out  a  num- 
ber of  men  capable  and  most  acquainted  with  the  laws  of  this  Colony 
to  act  as  civil  Magistrates.  *  *  *"  The  petition  to  the  Virginia  As- 
sembly noted  that  the  committee  had  been  selected  "for,  without  law 
or  authority,  vice  here  could  take  its  full  scope,  having  no  laws  to  re- 
strain, or  power  to  control."  -- 

Clark  and  Jones  now  set  out  for  Williamsburg,  but  learned  before 
reaching  there  that  the  Assembly  had  adjourned.  Jones  turned  back, 
but  Clark  continued  on  to  carry  out  his  negotiations  with  Patrick  Henry, 
who  was  governor  at  that  time.  Governor  Henry  introduced  him  to  the 
Council  of  State,  whom  Clark  immediately  asked  for  500  pounds  of 
powder  for  frontier  defense.  He  knew  that  if  Virginia  should  once 
assume  the  protection  of  this  region  that  such  action  would  automatically 
be  a  disallowance  of  Henderson's  government.  The  council  so  sensing 
refused  to  deliver  it  to  Clark  as  a  representative  of  the  Harrodsburg 
meeting,  but  agreed  to  lend  him  the  powder,  provided  he  would  stand 
[icrsonally  responsible  for  it.  This  Clark  refused  to  do.  on  the  ground 
that  he  did  not  have  the  money  necessary  to  purchase  it,  and  added, 
with  compelling  effect,  "that  I  was  sorry  to  tind  th;it  we  should  have  to 
seek  protection  elsewhere  which  1  did  not  doubt  of  getting  that  if  a  Coun- 
trey  was  not  worth  protecting  it  was  not  worth  Claiming  iK;  &."  -*  The 
powder  was  granted  and  conveyed  to  Pittsburg,  there  to  remain  subject 
to  the  order  of  Clark. 

When  the  Virginia  Assembly  met  in  the  fall,  Clark  and  Jones  were 
on  hand,  but  seats  were  refused  them.     However,  they  secured  a  victory 


^^  George  Rogers  Clark  Papers,  1771-1781  (Illinois  Historical  Collections,  Vol. 
VIII,  Springfield,  1912),  edited  by  J.  A.  James,  11-13;  14-16;  J.  M.  Brown,  Battle 
of  the  Blue  Licks  (Frankfort,  1882),  booklet,  55  pp. 

-^  Clark  Papers,  212,  213.  Tliis  was  most  likely  an  empty  threat  Clark  used, 
knowing  tbc  cfTect  it  would  have  on  the  Council.  However,  William  Wirt  Henry 
believed  Clark  had  the  Spaniards  in  mind;  while  Lyman  C.  Draper  held  that  it  was 
nothing  more  than  a  threat  to  set  up  an  independent  government.  See  footnote  2,  in 
Alden,  Nciv  Government  West  of  the  Alleghanies,  61. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 


171 


in  the  erection  of  the  County  of  Kentucky  out  of  the  western  stretches 
of  Fincastle.  The  Hmits  were  practically  the  same  as  the  present  State 
of  Kentucky.  According  to  the  act  setting  it  off  (December  31,  1776)  : 
"All  that  part  thereof  which  lies  to  the  south  and  westward  of  a  line 
beginning  on  the  Ohio  at  the  mouth  of  the  Great  Sandy  Creek  and  run- 
ning up  the  same  and  the  main  or  northeasterly  branch  thereof  to  the 
Great  Laurel  Ridge  or  Cumberland  Mountain,  then  southwesterly  along 
the  said  mountain  to  the  line  of  North  Carolina  shall  be  one  distinct 
county  and  called  and  known  by  the  name  of  Kentucky."  It  was  to 
have  the  regular  county  organization  and  the  franchise  was  to  rest  in 
"every  white  man  possessing  twenty-five  acres  of  land  with  house  and 
plantation  thereon."  ^* 

This  action  of  the  Virginia  Assembly  in  effect  sounded  the  death  knell 
of  Transylvania.  During  this  session  Henderson  had  been  present,  fever- 
ishly working  to  prevent  unfavorable  action  by  the  Assembly.     It  was 


Plan  of  Louisville,  1779,  Cy  Gb.uK<.ii  Rue.Eks  Clark,  Siiovving  Station 
ON  Corn  Island  and  on  Shore  at  Floytds 


to  a  great  extent  a  battle  between  Clark  and  Henderson.  The  beginning 
of  the  end  of  Henderson's  scheme  had  already  come  on  June  24  (1776), 
when  the  \'irginia  Convention  announced  its  policy  regarding  the  Tran- 
sylvania lands.  It  was  resolved :  "That  all  persons  actually  settled  on 
any  of  the  said  Lands  ought  to  hold  the  same,  without  paying  any 
pecuniary  or  other  consideration  whatever  to  any  private  person  or  per- 
sons, until  the  said  petitions  [from  the  dissatisfied  settlers],  as  well  as 
the  validity  of  the  titles  under  such  Indian  deeds  and  purchases,  shall 
have  been  considered  and  determined  on  by  the  Legislature  of  this  coun- 
try; and  that  all  persons  who  are  now  actually  settled  on  any  unlocated 
or  unappropriated  Lands  in  Virginia,  to  which  there  is  no  other  just 
claim,  shall  have  the  preemption  or  preference  in  the  grants  of  such 
Lands. 

"Resolved,  That  no  purchases  of   Lands  within  the  chartered  limits 
of  Virginia  shall  be  made,  under  any  pretence  whatever,  from  any  Indian 

^'^  Robertson,  Petitions  of  the  Early  Inhabitants  of  Kentucky,  41.  Harrodsburg 
was  made  the  county  seat.  H.  A.  Scomp,  "Kentucky  County  Names"  in  Magazine 
of  History,  Vol.  7,  (1908),  144-154;  Mann  Butler,  A  History  of  the  Common- 
wealth of  Kentucky  (Cincinnati,  1836),  2nd  edition,  89;  Proceedings  of  the  Ameri- 
can Historical  Association,  IV,  351,  353. 


172  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

tribe  or  iiatiuii,  w  iihout  ilic  apprubatiuii  uf  the  yircjiitia  Lej^islature."  -•■' 
With  the  Transylvania  government  definitely  destroyed  by  the  establish- 
ment of  the  County  of  Kentucky  and  with  the  above  land  policy  an- 
nounced by  \'irginia,  it  only  remained  for  the  Transylvania  Company  to 
fight  for  private  ownership  of  the  vast  area  they  claimed.  The  \'irginia 
Assembly  carried  out  exhaustive  investigations,  while  Judge  Henderson 
on  behalf  of  his  conii)any  carried  on  the  contest  for  the  recognition  of 
ownership.  i''inally.  on  November  4,  i/J-S.  the  Assembly  declaretl :  "That 
the  purchases  heretofore  made  by  Richard  Henderson  and  Company,  of 
the  tract  of  land  called  Transylvania,  within  the  commonwealth,  of  the 
Cherokee  Indians,  i.s  void;  but  as  the  said  Richard  Henderson  and  Com- 
pany have  been  at  very  great  exjiense  in  making  the  said  purchase,  and 
in  settling  the  said  lands,  by  which  this  commonwealth  is  likely  to  receive 
great  advantage,  by  increasing  its  inhabitants,  and  establishing  a  barrier 
against  the  Indians,  it  is  just  and  reasonable  to  allow  the  said  Richard 
Henderson  and  Company  a  compensation  for  their  trouble  and  ex- 
pense." -''  Henderson  and  his  associates  were  finally  given  2Ckj,ocxd  acres 
in  the  present  State  of  Kentucky,  lying  between  the  Ohio  and  Green 
rivers.  North  Carolina  ajjpropriated  the  remainder  of  the  Transylvania 
purchase,  lying  within  her  borders,  and  recompensed  the  proprietors  in 
Powell's  Valley. 

The  Transylvania  proj)rietary  idea  was  too  belated  lo  secure  pojnilar 
sujiport.  and  the  scene  of  its  operations,  amid  a  self-willed  people  there 
through  the  operations  of  natural  selection,  made  the  project  doublv 
hazardous.  But  the  Transylvania  Qimpany  did  a  valuable  work,  and 
it  was  so  recognized  by  \irginia.  The  fall  of  Transylvania  was  the 
fall  of  Henderson  as  the  Kentucky  state-maker,  and  the  rise  of  Clark. 

'^^  American  Archives,  Series  IV,  Vol.  IV,  1044. 
2«  Hall,  Sketches  of  the  West,  I,  277. 


CHAPTER  XII 
KENTUCKY  IN  THE  REVOLUTION 

The  strategy  of  the  American  Revolutionary  war  as  contemplated  by 
Great  Britain  was  by  no  means  limited  to  the  area  of  the  seaboard.  The 
conduct  of  the  war  in  the  West  was  a  very  material  and  important  part 
of  her  general  plan  for  carrying  on  the  conflict,  and  she  was  not  long 
in  realizing  it.  The  Colonies  were  much  longer  in  making  this  realization, 
if,  indeed,  they  ever  did  fully ;  and  it  was  only  due  to  the  broad  vision 
of  George  Rogers  Clark  and  to  those  whom  he  could  interest  that  Ken- 
tucky and  the  whole  West  was  not  lost  to  the  British  and  the  terms  of 
the  final  treaty  of  peace  vastly  changed  from  what  they  came  to  be. 
Kentucky  was,  in  fact,  the  keystone  to  the  Western  arch.  Had  the  hardy 
pioneers  faltered  in  their  determination  to  hold  their  new  homes,  the  back- 
door to  Virginia  would  have  been  thrown  open  for  the  inroads  of  the 
Indians  and  their  British  allies,  and  many  troops  would  have  been  diverted 
from  the  major  operations  on  the  seaboard  to  repel  these  new  invasions. 

The  isolated  raids  by  the  Indians  during  1775  and  their  greater  fre- 
quency and  persistence  during  the  following  year  gave  indication  enough 
that  events  were  shaping  themselves  for  a  general  war  in  the  West.  The 
British  in  Detroit  under  Lieut-Gov.  Henry  Hamilton  early  saw  the 
advantage  of  arraying  the  Indians  against  the  outlying  settlements,  and 
undeterred  by  the  barbarities  sure  to  accompany  savage  warfare,  had  in 
the  fall  of  1776  held  councils  with  the  northwestern  tribes  for  the  pur- 
pose of  cementing  an  alliance  against  the  Americans.  There  was  soon  let 
loose  on  the  frontiers  a  war  of  virtual  extermination,  for  which  the  British 
were  largely  to  blame,  but  in  which  the  pioneers  were  little  behind 
their  opponents  in  cunning  and  severity.  Hamilton  to  the  frontiersmen 
represented  the  sum  total  of  all  villanies.  and  was  popularly  known  as 
the  '"hair-buyer"  on  account  of  the  general  belief  that  he  paid  the  Indians 
for  the  scalps  they  took.^ 

John  Bowman,  being  the  County  Lieutenant  of  Kentucky,  was  tech- 
nically the  military  leader  of  the  western  settlers  i^  but  George  Rogers 
Clark  came,  in  fact,  to  be  the  most  outstanding  military  figure  in  the 
West.  As  has  been  already  noted,  he  assumed  virtual  leadership  when 
he  maneuvered  Virginia  into  granting  him  500  pounds  of  powder  in  the 
fall  of  1776.  Having  succeeded  in  getting  Kentucky  erected  into  a  county 
organization.  Clark  and  Jones  set  out  for  Pittsburg  to  convey  the  powder 
down  the  Ohio.  They  reached  the  mouth  of  Limestone  Creek  without 
any  serious  mishap,  despite  the  fact  that  tlney  were  pursued  by  the 
Indians.  Using  a  little  strategy  they  eluded  the  enemy,  hid  their  cargo 
on  the  banks  of  the  Limestone,  and  i^roceeded  to  Harrodsburg  to  secure 
aid.  They  had  gone  only  a  short  distance  when  they  met  surveyors,  who 
informed  Clark  that  a  sufiicient  number  of  men  could  be  gathered  up 
in.  the  neighborhood  to  safely  convey  the  powder  to  the  settlers.  Jones 
remained  to  supervise  the  work,  while  Oark,  piloted  by  Simon  Kenton, 
who  had  already  largely  identified  himself  with  this  region,  proceeded  on 
to  Harrodsburg  by  the  way  of  McClelland's  Fort.     Jones  with  the  aid 

1  Theodore  Roosevelt.  The  IViiwing  of  the  West  (New  York,  1897),  11,  1-7. 
~  Collins,  History  of  Kentuckv,  I,  10. 

173 


174  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

of  Col.  John  Todd  and  his  surveyors  proceeded  to  the  banks  of  the  Lime- 
stone where  they  were  suddenly  attacked  by  a  band  of  Indians  led  by 
the  Mingo  Oiief,  Pluggy.  Jones  and  another  man  were  killed  and  two 
were  captured.  The  remainder  escaped  to  McClelland's  Fort  where  they 
were  soon  joined  by  Clark  and  Kenton  on  their  return.  The  Indians  not 
content  with  their  first  victory  now  closed  in  on  the  fort,  but  meeting 
unexpected  resistance  soon  withdrew  with  the  loss  of  their  chief.  This 
attack  took  place  on  the  New  Year  Day  of  1777.  McQelland's  Fort  was 
soon  abandoned,  and  these  and  other  scattered  settlers  began  to  concen- 
trate south  of  the  Kentucky  River  or  to  thread  their  way  back  to  the 
Eastern  settlements. 

The  frontiersmen  now  organized  their  activities  to  the  smallest  detail 
on  a  war  basis.  The  lives  of  men,  women,  and  children  were  all  regu- 
lated by  the  exigencies  of  war  and  defense.  All  were  grouped  in  a  fort 
or  barricaded  settlement  within  one  enclosure,  with  cabins,  stockades,  and 
block-houses.  The  cabins  formed  the  walls  of  at  least  one  side  of  the 
fort,  or  in  some  instances  possibly  all  sides.  Stockade  walls  of  strong 
timbers  completed  the  enclosure  where  there  were  no  cabins.  The  outer 
walls  of  the  cabins  extended  perpendicularly  to  the  top  and  the  roof 
sloped  down  inward.  The  cabins  were  separated  from  one  another  by 
log  partitions  and  consisted  generally  of  one  room  with  the  ground  as  a 
floor  or  sometimes  puncheon.  At  each  angle  of  the  fort  (and  they  were 
generally  quadrilateral)  there  was  a  block-house  with  the  upper  story 
protruding  from  one  to  two  feet  in  every  direction.  Portholes  were  cut 
at  convenient  places  in  all  the  outer  walls  of  the  fort.  A  large  folding 
gate  was  made  on  the  side  nearest  the  water  supply.  The  wilderness  was 
cleared  back  for  a  way  on  all  sides,  both  to  secure  protection  against  sud- 
den Indian  surprises  as  well  as  to  provide  fields  for  corn,  pumpkins, 
melons,  and  garden  products. 

The  men  cultivated  the  fields,  carried  out  hunting  expeditions  into 
the  surrounding  forests,  and  fought  the  Indians.  The  women  and  chil- 
dren busied  themselves  with  the  many  tasks  in  and  about  the  fort,  helped 
in  planting  and  harvesting,  and  always  stood  ready  to  aid  in  repelling 
Indian  attacks.  The  simple  furnishings  of  the  cabins  were  for  the  most 
part  the  handiwork  of  the  frontiersmen,  themselves,  with  now  and  then 
a  few  articles  brought  out  from  the  Eastern  settlements.  Their  dress 
was  simple  but  substantial ;  the  hunting  shirt  was  a  distinctive  part  of 
their  clothing.  The  restricted  lives  of  the  people  were  not  wholly  unin- 
teresting nor  without  their  pleasures.  The  ever-present  Indian  dangers 
provided  excitement  enough  of  its  kind ;  and  the  manners  and  customs  in 
the  forts  were  so  shaped  as  to  minister  to  many  a  want  and  craving  for 
social  outlets.  Games  and  sports  were  indulged,  and  marriages  were 
made  and  celebrated.  The  children  were  taught  in  a  rudimentary  way 
to  read  and  write. 

Warfare  ranged  around  these  forts  as  centers.  They  were  constantly 
the  object  of  attack  by  the  crafty  bands  of  Indians  who  lurked  in  the 
forests  waiting  to  cut  off  someone  who  ventured  too  far  out.  They  were 
also  at  times  besieged  in  force.  The  hunters  abroad  in  the  forests  to 
replenish  the  meat  supply  were  now  and  then  killed  or  captured  and  at 
all  times  were  required  to  exercise  the  utmost  vigilance.  The  mo.st  adept 
were  equal  to  the  Indians  in  cunning  and  woodscraft.  This  warfare  was 
marked  by  many  an  unchronicled  combat  between  small  parties  as  well 
as  by  larger  engagements  that  approached  organized  warfare.  In  every 
instance  individual  initiative  and  daring  were  prime  requisites  and  were 
always  present  in  the  successful  frontier  fighter.' 

'For  a  description  of  frontier  life  and  customs,  see  Daniel  Drake,  Pioneer  Life 
in  Kentucky  (Cincinnati.  1S70)  ;  Joseph  Doddridge,  Notes  on  the  Settlement  of 
West   Virginia,   etc.      (Wellsburg,    1824")  ;   Collins,   History   of  Kentucky.   It,   28-31. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  175 

Witli  the  coming  of  the  spring  of  1777,  the  British  in  Detroit  began 
concerted  action  with  the  Indians  to  lay  waste  the  Kentucky  settlements 
and  to  destroy  the  inhabitants  or  drive  them  back  to  the  East.  In  this 
way  could  the  British  maintain  their  good  standing  with  the  Indians  by 
restoring  to  them  their  hunting  grounds,  and  by  this  action  they  would 
also  lay  open  the  frontiers  of  Virginia  to  attack.  The  first  blow  fell  on 
Harrodsburg.  In  early  March  the  approach  of  the  Indians  was  revealed 
by  their  sudden  attack  on  a  group  of  surveyors  near  the  fort.  Only  one 
escaped  to  give  the  alarm.  Harrodsburg  was  immediately  put  in  a  state 
of  defense,  and  the  approach  of  the  enemy  was  anxiously  awaited.  The 
Indians  began  their  attack  a  few  days  later  with  customary  trickery 
which  however  failed,  and  rather  than  conduct  a  long  siege,  which  was 
never  the  Indian  method,  they  suddenly  vanished  into  the  forests.*  But 
their  purpose  was  not  to  leave  Kentucky ;  in  the  middle  of  April  they 
suddenly  appeared  before  Boonesborough,  more  than  fifty  strong,  and 
began  an  assault  on  the  settlers,  who  could  not  muster  more  than  twenty- 
two  riflemen.  The  defenders  received  the  attack  with  such  coolness  that 
after  two  days  the  Indians  withdrew,  but  not  before  taking  one  scalp 
and  wounding  four  whites,  one  of  whom  was  Boone.  Having  failed  in 
their  purpose  here,  the  Indians  next  attempted  to  capture  Logan's  Fort, 
which  they  suddenly  assailed  on  May  20.  The  initial  onset  resulted  in 
the  death  of  one  settler,  and  the  wounding  of  two  others,  one  mortally. 
As  the  gates  of  the  stockade  were  closed  against  the  Indians  it  was  seen 
with  horror  that  one  of  the  wounded  had  been  left  outside.  With  great 
daring  and  coolness  Logan  rescued  him  amid  a  rain  of  bullets.  The 
Indians  now  began  a  close  watch  on  the  fort,  ready  to  shoot  any  settler 
so  fool-hardy  as  to  expose  himself.  As  ammunition  ran  low,  Logan  with 
two  companions  slipped  away  to  the  Holston  settlements  and  returned 
with  supplies.  The  siege  was  finally  terminated  by  the  approach  of 
Colonel  Bowman  with  a  hundred  men.  In  the  meantime  a  party  of 
Indians  had  attacked  Boonesborough  a  second  time,  in  July,  but  the 
defenders  were  on  their  guard  and  beat  off  their  assailants  and  succeeded 
in  slaying  a  half  dozen  of  them.^ 

As  far  as  the  destruction  of  the  Kentucky  settlements  was  concerned, 
the  British  and  Indians  had  failed ;  however,  they  had  showed  the  settlers 
the  extreme  dangers  that  surrounded  them  and  had  steeled  the  hearts  of 
many  to  resist  to  the  end.  During  the  summer  they  had  been  cheered 
by  tjie  arrival  of  parties  from  the  Holston  settlements  to  help  in  the 
struggle;  but  these  forces  had  returned  after  a  few  weeks.  However 
several  parties  of  immigrants  came  out  to  settle  permanently.  By  the 
end  of  1777,  the  small  outlying  stations  had  all  been  abandoned  and  the 
people  had  concentrated  for  better  defense  into  four  chief  forts,  Boones- 
borough, Harrodsburg,  Logan's  Fort  and  McGarry's  Station  at  Shawnee 
Springs.  There  were,  in  all,  about  five  or  six  hundred  permanent  settlers, 
with  about  one  half  able  bodied  riflemen.^ 

Clark's  vision  of  the  Western  situation  was  broad  and  far-seeing. 
He  earlv  began  to  believe  that  there  would  be  an  interminable  period 
of  hostilities  in  Kentucky,  or  the  settlements  would  be  destroyed,  unless 
efforts  should  be  made  to  reach  the  trouble  at  its  source.  The  swarming 
hordes  of  Indians  from  north  of  the  Ohio  clearly  pointed  to  the  solution : 
the  British,  who  were  responsible  for  this  warfare,  must  be  attacked  in 

For  a  drawing  of  the  fort  at  Boonesborough,  see  among  others  Henderson,  Con- 
quest of  the  Old  Southwest,  opposite  page  56. 

<  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky.  I,  48,  49;  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  II, 
611,  612. 

=  Roosevelt,  IVImiing  of  the  West,  II,  13,  14;  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky, 
I,  49-55;  Winsor,  Westward  Movement,  in. 

"  These  figures  differ  from  those  given  in  many  other  places.  For  an  explana- 
tion see  Roosevelt,  Winning  of  the  West,  II,  18,  footnote. 


176  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

their  strongholds.  Early  in  the  summer  of  1777,  Clark  had  sent  spies 
into  the  Illinois  countrj'  to  find  out  the  strength  of  the  British  there  and 
to  note  the  disposition  of  the  French  settlers.  In  this  manner  he  learned 
that  the  French  settlers  ^vere  inclined  to  be  friendly  to  the  Americans, 
and  with  other  favorable  information  he  resolved  to  carry  out  a  bold 
stroke  against  the  British  posts.  But  for  so  important  an  undertaking. 
he,  of  course,  could  not  depend  upon  the  limited  resources  of  the  Ken- 
tucky settlements.  It  was  to  be  an  important  part  of  the  Revolution,  in 
which  all  the  states  should  be  interested,  and  Virginia  especially. 

Dn  October  i,  1777,  Clark  set  out  for  W'illiamsburg,  bent  on  secur- 
ing the  aid  of  Virginia  in  carrying  out  the  conquest  of  the  Northwest. 
He  saw  Governor  Henry,  laid  his  plans  before  him,  and  asked  for  men 
and  money.  Governor  Henry  was  almost  staggered  by  Clark's  bold 
designs,  and  oflFered  the  opinion  that  whereas  such  an  expedition  would 
be  of  great  value  if  it  succeeded,  still  there  was  much  danger  and  likeli- 
hood that  the  party  would  be  destroyed  before  it  should  go  far.  How- 
ever he  agreed  to  call  together  Thomas  Jefferson,  George  Wythe,  and 
George  Mason,  in  order  that  Clark  might  lay  his  plans  before  them. 
Clark's  power  of  persuasion  and  reputation  as  an  intrepid  and  successful 
fighter  won  for  him.  An  order  was  issued  to  the  Virginia  Council  to  give 
Clark  the  necessary  aid  as  soon  as  possible.  As  secrecy  was  necessary  for 
surprise,  and  as  only  by  this  method  could  the  most  hopeful  expect  the 
expedition  to  succeed,  two  sets  of  instructions  were  issued.  According 
to  the  public  announcement  Clark  was  ordered  to  enlist  seven  companies 
of  men  for  three  months  to  proceed  to  Kentucky  ostensibly  for  the  de- 
fense of  the  settlements  there.  The  situation  and  the  clamoring  of  the 
people  for  protection  made  this  procedure  perfectly  logical.  But  on  the 
same  day  on  which  this  order  was  issued  (January  2,  1778),  a  set  of 
private  instructions  were  handed  Clark  in  which  he  was  authorized  "to 
proceed  with  all  convenient  Speed  to  raise  Seven  Companies  of  Soldiers 
to  consist  of  fifty  men  each  officered  in  the  usual  manner  armed 
most  properly  for  the  Enterprise,  with  this  Force  attack  the  British 
post  at  Kaskasky."  He  was  further  instructed  to  lay  hold  of  any  artillery 
he  might  take  in  the  enemy's  country,  and  to  show  humanity  to  British 
subjects  and  all  others  who  might  fall  into  his  hands.  He  was  to  use 
his  power  of  kindness  and  persuasion  to  detach  the  people  around  the 
British  posts  from  British  allegiance  and  offer  them  the  protection  of 
Virginia.''  Governor  Henry  seems  to  have  been  completely  won  over 
to  this  undertaking  in  all  its  boldness.  On  January  15,  he  addressed  a 
letter  to  Clark,  in  which  he  said,  "What  I  have  in  View  is  that  your 
Operations  should  not  be  confined  to  the  Fort  and  the  Settlement  at  the 
place  mentioned  in  your  recent  Instructions  [Kaskaskia]  but  that  you 
proceed  to  the  Enemy's  Settlements  above  or  across  as  you  may  find  it 
proper."  * 

Clark  immediately  set  about   raising  his  troops  with  great  zeal   and 


'  Col.  George  Rogers  Clark's  Sketch  of  His  Campaign  in  the  Illinois  in 
1778-0  (Cincinnati,  i860).  CS.  passim.  This  is  in  the  form  of  a  letter  from  Clark 
to  George  Mason,  dated  November  IQ,  1779.  For  other  accounts  of  the  Clark 
Expedition,  see  \V.  H.  English,  Conquest  of  the  Country  Nortlmest  of  the  River 
Ohio.  177R-1783;  and  Life  of  Gen.  George  Rogers  Clark  (Indianapohs,  1896),  2 
vohimes.  Clark's  Memoir  is  reprinted  in  this  work.  For  an  estimate  of  the  trust- 
worthiness of  this  document,  see  James  A.  James,  "The  Value  of  the  Memoir  of 
General  Georce  Ropers  Clark  as  an  Historical  Document"  in  Proceedings  of  the 
Missi.'rsippi  Valley  Historical  Association,  1016-1917,  249-270.  Another  source  is 
Clark's  journals,  a  cojiy  of  which  may  be  found  in  the  American  Historical  Rez'ieiv, 
I,  91-94.  Clark's  diary,  another  source  of  importance,  mav  be  found  in  J.  A. 
James,  George  Rogers  Clark  Papers,  1771-1781  (Illiiinis  Historical  Collections, 
Vni).  A  copy  of  Bowman's  Journal,  which  covers  the  campaign  from  January 
29  to  March  20.  1779,  may  be  found  in  EuRlish,  Conquest  of  the  Northwest,  I. 
James,  George  Roqers  Clark  Papers  is  the  best  single  volume  of  sources. 

» Ibid.,  38. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  177 

much  haste.  Jefferson,  Wythe,  and  Mason,  were  very  anxious  to  have 
Clark  succeed  quickly  in  raising  a  force,  and  in  order  to  make  his  service 
particularly  attractive  to  a  people  who  had  already  been  com.bed  many 
times  for  fighters,  suggested  to  him  that  he  offer  three  hundred  acres  of 
land  in  the  territory  yet  to  be  conquered  to  the  privates  and  a  proportional 
amount  to  officers.  Despite  Oark's  ceaseless  activity,  he  found  great 
difficulty  in  raising  his  men.  He  had  promised  Governor  Henry  to  enlist 
his  men  in  Carolina,  Kentucky,  and  the  frontiers  generally  and  when 
he  sought  men  too  far  to  the  eastward  in  Virginia  he  received  orders 
from  the  governor  to  desist.'  The  Holston  settlements  promised  him 
four  companies  to  be  sent  to  join  him  in  Kentucky,  but  only  one  company 
actually  went  and  of  these  only  a  dozen  took  service  with  Oark.  Finally 
in  May  (1778)  he  left  the  Redstone  settlements  with  150  men,  together 
with  a  number  of  private  adventurers  and  families  of  immigrants.  He 
took  on  stores  at  Pittsburg  and  Wheeling  and  drifted  on  down  the  Ohio 
with  his  little  flotilla.  He  first  considered  establishing  a  post  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Kentucky  River,  but  with  better  judgment  concluded  to 
set  up  headquarters  at  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio.  Here  some  of  the  immi- 
grants remained  to  establish  the  Town  of  Louisville,  while  others  wandered 
off  into  the  interior.  Clark  had  been  joined  by  a  few  troops  on  his  way 
down  the  Ohio,  but  he  had  hoped  to  receive  considerable  additions  from 
Kentucky.  In  this  he  was  disappointed,  as  only  Simon  Kenton  and  one 
other  left  the  stations  to  accompany  him.  This  refusal  of  Kentuckians 
to  join  him  was  due  to  the  fact  that  at  this  very  time  the  settlements 
were  on  the  verge  of  an  Indian  attack  in  force,  and  rightly  did  they 
refuse  to  leave  their  women  and  children  to  the  mercy  of  the  invaders. 
Although  Clark's  men  in  the  beginning  were  not  Kentuckians,  they  almost 
to  a  man  became  identified  with  Kentucky  later. 

On  June  24,  Oark  shot  the  rapids  with  four  small  companies,  com- 
manded by  John  Montgomery,  Joseph  Bowman,  Leonard  Helm,  and  Wil- 
liam Harrod  and  continued  down  the  Ohio  to  an  island  not  far  below  the 
mouth  of  the  Tennessee  where  he  prepared  to  take  the  overland  trip  to 
Kaskaskia.**'  At  this  point  six  hunters  lately  come  from  Kaskaskia  were 
run  upon,  and  one  of  these  Clark  engaged  to  pilot  his  expedition  to  the 
British  fort.  Direct  information  of  the  strength  of  the  British  was  thus 
secured,  and  it  was  apparent  that  a  surprise  was  the  sole  method  of  win- 
ning against  the  British  garrison.  The  march  over  one  hundred  and 
twentv  miles  of  swamps  and  difficult  roads  was  immediately  begun.  At 
one  time  the  hunter  lost  his  bearings  and  the  expedition  was  floundering 
in  confusion;  but  Gark's  threats  against  the  guide,  and  good  fortune 
soon  set  them  on  the  right  road  again,  and  on  July  4,  thev  reached  the 
Kaskaskia  River  three  miles  from  the  fort.  Then  according  to  Clark, 
"I  immediately  divided  my  little  army  into  two  divisions,  ordered  one 
to  surround  the  town,  with  the  other  I  broke  into  the  fort,  secured  the 
Governor,  Mr.  Rochblave.  in  fifteen  minutes  had  every  street  secured, 
sent  runners  through  the  town  ordering  the  people  on  pain  of  death, 
to  keep  close  to  their  houses,  which  they  observed,  and  before  daylight 
had  the  whole  town  disarmed."  A  dance  and  merry-making  had  been 
going  on  within  the  fort,  and  Oark  had  been  able  to  take  the  garrison 
and  town  by  complete  surprise.  Otherwise  the  outcome  might  have  been 
very  different  as  Rochblave  had  an  effective  force  two  or  three  times  the 
size  of  Oark's.  The  Americans  were  yet  in  a  dangerous  situation  as 
Cahokia  and  Vincennes  still  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  British  and 
Kaskaskia  might  carry  out  a  sudden  uprising.  With  great  cunning  and 
diplomacy  Clark  harangued  the  inhabitants,  telling  them  how  he  might 

'  American  Historical  Reviezv,  VIII,  495. 

'"  Qark  did  not  continue  farther  by  water  through  fear  that  his  presence  might 
be  detected  and  information  conveyed  to  the  British. 

Vol.  1—16 


178  lllSTURV  UF  KENTUCKY 

carry  out  the  utmost  rij^ors  of  war  against  tliem,  but  ending  up  by  ])roin- 
ising  them  full  protection  should  they  remain  peaceable  and  sup[X)rt  the 
American  cause.  He  also  promised  the  Catholics  full  religious  liberty, 
and  thereby  won  the  strong  sup{X)rt  of  Pierre  Gibault,  the  priest  in  charge. 
Clark  was  also  able  to  use  with  good  effect  on  the  French  settlers  the 
news  of  the  alliance  lately  made  between  the  Americans  and  France. 

Clark  now  set  about  systematically  securing  the  other  British  posts. 
He  sent  Captain  Bowman  with  some  volunteer  French  militia  against 
Cahokia,  a  post  on  the  Mississippi  a  few  miles  below  St.  Louis,  who  took 
possession  of  it  without  resistcnce.  Clark  now  sent  Kenton  with  dis- 
patches to  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio  and  also  with  instructions  to  spy  out  con- 
ditions in  and  around  V'incennes.  Kenton  si)ent  a  few  days  in  and  about 
the  post,  and  sent  a  messenger  back  to  Clark  telling  him  that  the  hVench 
inhabitants  were  well  disposed  to  the  Americans.  With  such  conditions 
prevailing  there  Clark  decided  to  take  advantage  of  Pierre  Gibault's  offer 
to  go  to  Vincennes  and  endeavor  to  persuade  the  i>eoi)le  to  throw  off  their 
British  allegiance.  On  the  14th  of  July,  Gibault  set  out  with  an  in- 
tluential  F'renchman  of  Kaskaskia  and  Lieutenant  Helm,  who  was  to 
act  as  military  governor  of  the  post  if  the  negotiations  should  succeed. 
On  reaching  Vincennes  a  few  days  of  quiet  explanation  among  the  in- 
habitants was  carried  out,  which  resulted  in  the  French  throwing  off 
their  British  allegiance  and  joining  the  American  cause.  The  British 
flag  was  taken  down,  the  American  flag  was  run  up,  and  the  few  British 
officers  escaped.  Thus  was  Vincennes  taken  without  a  struggle,  thanks 
to  the  strategy  of  Clark  and  the  diplomacy  of  the  French  leaders. 

Clark  was  now  in  a  jxjsition  of  great  difficulty,  despite  the  complete 
success  that  had  been  his  so  far.  He  was  far  from  re-enforcements  or 
any  sort  of  aid  that  might  be  sent  him  from  Virginia,  and  just  at  this  very 
time  the  term  of  enlistments  of  his  soldiers  was  running  out.  Without 
the  individual  choice  of  his  men,  he  would  soon  be  automatically  with- 
out an  army.  Here  he  used  another  of  those  strategems,  which  he  was 
so  adept  in  devising.  By  presents  and  promises  he  was  able  to  enlist  a 
hundred  of  them  for  a  further  period  of  eight  months,  and  with  these 
he  made  showy  preparations  of  departing  for  Virginia.  The  French  be- 
came alarmed  at  this  sudden  abandonment  of  them,  and  begged  him  to 
stay.  With  apparent  great  reluctance  he  finally  agreed  to  remain,  and 
out  of  the  enthusiasm  stirred  up  among  the  inhabitants  he  succeeded  in 
enlisting  enough  young  Frenchmen  to  fill  his  four  companies  again.  He 
also  took  occasion  to  make  friends  with  the  Spaniards  in  St.  Louis  and 
in  the  other  posts  beyond  the  Mississippi.  Perhaps  the  most  pregnant 
danger  was  the  hordes  of  Indians  who  visited  the  posts  and  had  been 
liangers-on  to  the  British.  Clark  gathered  representatives  of  almost  every 
tribe  throughout  the  Northwest  at  Cahokia,  and  there  with  consummate 
skill,  at  one  time  severe  and  uncompromising  and  at  others  friendly  and 
merciful,  comjjletely  won  over  the  respect  and  support  of  the  Indians. 

During  this  time  the  British  were  not  idly  looking  on  a  scene  which 
showed  a  complete  destruction  of  their  power  in  the  Northwest.  Hamil- 
ton immediately  on  Clark's  victories  set  feverishly  to  work  collecting  food 
and  ammunition,  enlisting  men  and  winning  over  the  Indians.  Early  in 
October  O779)  he  set  out  from  Detroit  with  one  hundred  and  seventy- 
seven  whites  and  soon  succeeded  in  gathering  up  enough  Indians  to  make 
a  force  of  five  hundred  men.  He  went  bv  water  through  the  Great  I^kes 
to  the  MatuTiec,  flowing  into  Erie,  and  followed  up  this  stream  to  its  head, 
crossed  the  j)ortage  into  the  W;d)ash,  and  after  great  hardshi])s  and  diffi- 
culties, succeeded  in  reaching  Vincennes.  The  French  garrison  went  over 
without  a  struggle  and  Helm  and  his  one  or  two  Americans  were  forced 
to  surrender.  Hamilton  now  conceived  a  bold  plan  of  destroying  Clark 
and  his  little  force  in  Kaskaskia,  and  with  a  force  of  a  thousand  whites 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  179 

and  Indians,  march  against  Kentucky.  The  only  hazard  that  lay  between 
him  and  the  complete  destruction  of  the  American  power  throughout  the 
West  was  Clark;  for  had  the  latter  been  defeated,  there  is  little  question 
that  he  would  have  succeeded  in  battering  to  pieces  the  Kentucky  forts 
with  his  cannon.  When  he  took  Vincennes  he  had  a  force  about  five  times 
tiie  size  of  Oark's  effective  troops,  and  had  he  been  able  to  reach  Clark 
at  this  time  he  might  easily  have  succeeded.  But  it  was  now  December, 
and  the  route  to  Kaskaskia  lay  across  a  most  difficult  country,  so  uninvit- 
ing that  Hamilton  resolved  to  await  the  coming  of  spring  to  destroy  Clark. 

When  the  news  of  Hamilton's  capture  of  Vincennes  reached  Kas- 
kaskia the  French  were  in  great  terror,  and  although  loyal  to  the  Ameri- 
cans they  let  Clark  know  they  were  unwilling  to  fight  the  British  through 
fear  of  dire  consequences.  Hamilton  now  settled  down  to  spend  a  com- 
fortable winter  in  Vincennes,  awaiting  the  time  when  he  should  proceed 
to  the  destruction  of  Clark.  He  allowed  his  forces  to  disintegrate  to 
only  a  hundred  or  two.  Intelligence  of  this  situation  was  conveyed  to 
Clark  by  Francis  Vigo,  a  St.  Louis  trader,  whom  Hamilton  had  im- 
prisoned and  later  released.  Clark  now  saw  his  chance;  but  only  a  leader 
of  Clark's  intrepidity  and  daring  would  ever  have  had  the  hardihood  to 
attempt  it.  He  began  preparations  to  attack  Vincennes  in  the  dead  of 
winter,  and  two  days  before  he  began  his  march  he  wrote  Governor 
Henry,  "Being  sensible  that  withotat  reinforcements,  which  at  present  I 
have  hardly  a  right  to  expect,  I  shall  be  obliged  to  give  up  the  Country 
to  Mr.  Hamilton  without  a  turn  of  fortune  in  my  favour,  I  am  resolved 
to  take  advantage  of  the  present  situation  and  risque  the  whole  in  a 
single  battle.  I  shall  set  out  in  a  few  days,  with  all  the  force  I  can  raise 
of  my  own  troops,  and  a  few  militia  that  I  can  depend  on,  amounting 
in  the  whole  to  only  170     *     *     *     men     *     *     *  j  know  the  case 

is  desperate,  but  Sir!  we  must  either  quit  the  country  or  attack  Mr. 
Hamilton  *  *  *  .  In  case  we  fall  *  *  *  ^j^jg  country  as  well 
as  Kentucky  I  believe  is  lost     *     *     *      " 

Clark  had  now  decided  to  do  the  very  thing  which  Hamilton  had  con- 
sidered next  to  impossible,  and  in  this  very  fact  lay  the  possibility  of 
surprise  which  was  necessary  if  Clark  was  to  succeed.  In  early  Feb- 
ruary he  set  out  with  his  Americans  and  a  few  French  volunteers  across 
a  country  ofl^ering  almost  insurmountable  obstacles.  The  cold  winter  had 
given  way  to  warmer  weather,  and  the  melting  ice  and  snow  had  flooded 
the  streams  running  across  his  path  and  had  made  great  inland  seas  out 
of  the  small  river  systems.  Qark  sent  as  a  forerunner  a  boat  with  two 
four-pounders  and  forty-six  men  to  force  its  way  up  the  Wabash  and 
await  further  orders  at  the  mouth  of  the  White  River.  The  main  forces 
marching  across  country  surmounted  many  dangers  and  endured  many 
hardships ;  but  when  they  reached  the  valley  of  the  Wabash  they  found 
a  country  flooded  for  miles  in  every  direction,  with  a  hillock  here  and 
there  rearing  itself  above  the  water.  Over  the  shallow  jjarts  the  men 
waded  often  up  to  their  necks  in  the  chilly  waters,  and  over  the  main 
channels  it  was  necessary  to  use  boats  hurriedly  constructed  for  the 
purpose.  At  times  Clark  was  able  to  spur  his  men  on  by  the  most  reck- 
less daring  on  his  part,  going  first  as  an  example  to  his  men ;  at  other 
times  he  threatened  with  death  the  timid  who  would  turn  back.  As 
they  approached  Vincennes,  a  few  captives  were  taken,  and  Clark  made 
use  of  a  ruse  in  this  connection.  Realizing  the  desperate  situation  he 
was  in,  and  knowing  that  should  he  be  discovered  before  he  could  attack, 
he  with  his  force  would  hkely  be  destroyed,  he  sent  forward  a  message 
by  a  captive  to  the  French  inhabitants  warning  them  that  they  should 
go  to  their  homes  or  join  Hamilton  in  the  fort,  for  if  they  should  be  found 
in  the  streets  during  the  attack  they  would  be  considered  enemies  and 
would  be  dealt  with  accordingly.     Among  them  this  announcement  spread 


180  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

terror,  for  they  could  not  conceive  that  Clark  had  marched  across  the 
supposedly  impassable  country  from  Kaskaskia ;  and  they,  therefore,  con- 
cluded that  Clark  had  come  from  Kentucky  with  a  great  army.  They 
repaired  to  their  homes  without  informing  the  British  in  the  fort,  and 
on  Clark's  arrival,  he  found  Hamilton  wholly  unsuspecting.  After  de- 
ploying his  troops  in  two  groups,  and  after  a  hit  of  skirmishing  in  which 
Hamilton  was  taken  completely  by  surprise,  a  parley  was  held  between 
Clark  and  Hamilton,  which  resulted  in  the  surrender  of  the  British. 
Hamilton  and  the  whole  garrison  became  prisoners  of  war.  Most  of  the 
prisoners  were  ]Kiroled  ;  but  Hamilton  and  twenty-six  others  were  sent  to 
\'irginia.  The  party  in  the  gunboat  did  not  arrive  until  two  days  after 
the  fort  had  been  taken. 

This  brilliant  campaign  ])Ut  the  British  fortunes  at  a  low  ebb  in  the 
West,  and  saved  Kentucky  from  the  almost  inevitable  subjugation  that 
awaited  her.  Clark  struck  terror  to  the  Indians,  and  their  disaffection  to 
the  I'.ritish  became  so  general  that  on  the  admission  of  the  British,  them- 
selves, only  the  Sioux  remained  loyal."  Though  Clark's  campaign  played 
no  big  part  in  the  peace  negotiations,  it  certainly  stands  to  reason  that 
without  this  conquest  of  the  Northwest,  the  boundary  of  the  United 
States  might  have  been  fixed  at  the  Ohio  River;  or  indeed,  conditions 
might  easily  have  shaped  themselves  in  such  a  way  that  the  Americans 
would  have  been  forced  to  accept  the  Alleghanies  as  the  western  boun- 
dary. Qark  put  the  following  estimate  on  the  activities  of  the  W'estern 
forces :  "  *  *  *  y,^^^  j  j^now  and  always  knew  that  this  Department 
was  of  more  real  Service  to  the  united  States  than  half  of  all  their  Fron- 
tier Posts,  and  have  proved  of  great  importance  by  engaging  the  atten- 
tion of  the  Enemy  that  otherwise  woul<l  have  spread  Slaughter  &  Devas- 
tation through  out  the  more  Interior  Frontier,  deprived  them  of  giving 
any  assistance  to  our  Eastern  Armies,  and  more  then  probable,  the  Alle- 
ghany would  have  been  our  I'.oundary  at  this  time."  '^ 

But  in  the  meantime,  while  Clark  was  busily  carrying  forward  his 
conquest,  of  the  Northwest.  Kentucky  was  being  sorely  beset  by  the 
Indians,  aided  by  the  liritish.  While  Clark  was  raising  his  forces  in 
Virginia  to  go  on  his  Kaskaskia  expedition,  Hamilton  in  Detroit  was 
stirring  u])  the  Indians  to  make  a  raid  against  Boonesborough.  Two 
French  Canadians  were  sent  off  to  engage  as  many  .Shawnees  as  pos- 
sible for  the  expedition,  and  soon  about  a  hundred  Indians  were  on 
the  march  southward.  On  February  7,  1778,  they  came  suddenly  upon 
Daniel  Boone,  who  had  established  a  camp  of  salt-makers  at  the  Lower 
Blue  Licks,  and  made  him  prisoner.!^  They  soon  came  upon  the  main 
party  of  twenty-seven,  whom  Boone  advised  to  surrender.  The  Indians 
now  in  the  possession  of  so  likely  a  lot  of  prisoners  gave  up  the  expedi- 
tion against  Boonesborough.  as  Boone  had  contemplated  when  he  ordered 
his  party  to  surrender,  and  retraced  their  steps  to  Detroit.  Here  the 
Indians  receiving  rewards  for  their  prisoners,  handed  them  over  to  the 
British.  But  they  had  taken  so  strong  a  liking  to  Boone  that  they  refused 
to  give  him  up.  even  for  a  hundred  pounds  sterling,  which  Hamilton 
offered  them.  The  Indians  now  adopted  Boone  as  a  member  of  their 
tribe,  going  through  with  a  most  trying  ceremony  for  their  new  member. 
Boone  was  carried  back  in  Old  Chillicothe,  and  according  to  all  outward 
appearances  he  had  become  a  good  Indian ;  but  he  was  secretly  meditat- 
ing his  escape  and  cleverly  preparing  for  it. 

Finallv  in   lune   (177?^)   he  saw  unmistakable  signs  of  a   formidable 

"James  A.  James,  "To  What  Extent  was  George  Ropers  Clark  in  Military 
Control  of  the  Northwest  at  tlic  Close  of  tlic  American  Revolution?"  in  AniuKil 
Report  of  the  American  Historical  Assncialion,  1917,  p.  .^l6. 

'-James,  Clark  Papers,  ^gy.     Clark  to  county  officers  in  Kentucky,  Sept.  5,  1781. 

"  T/i<?  Revolution  on  the  Upper  Ohio,  \77^-l777,  edited  by  R.  0.  Twaites  and 
I..  P.  Kellogg,  Draper  Series,  II   (Madison,   1908),  17s,  177,  187,  188,  passim. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  181 

expedition  preparing  against  Boonesborough,  and  he  resolved  to  escape 
and  carry  the  warning.  On  June  i6,  he  escaped  and  four  days  later 
reached  Boonesborough  a  distance  of  i6o  miles.  Instead  of  being  received 
with  joy  by  all,  Boone  was  immediately  confronted  with  charges  of  trea- 
son for  having  surrendered  his  party  at  the  Blue  Licks.  A  court  martial 
was  held  later,  and  Boone  not  only  succeeded  in  establishing  his  innocence, 
but  was  elevated  in  rank.  As  the  attack  that  Boone  expected  did  not 
come,  he  grew  tired  of  waiting,  and  getting  together  a  party  of  nineteen 
made  a  foray  into  the  Scioto  country,  where  he  soon  learned  that  a  for- 
midable expedition  was  at  that  time  marching  on  Boonesborough.  He 
hurriedly  retraced  his  steps,  and  succeeded  in  passing  the  enemy  and 
reaching  the  fort  the  day  before  the  attack.  This  was  in  fact  a  bold 
attempt  on  the  part  of  the  British  to  detach  Kentucky  from  the  Americans 
by  trickery  and  bribery,  failing  which,  systematic  subjugation  should 
be  carried  out.  Lieutenant  de  Quindre  with  eleven  other  French 
Canadians  had  gathered  together  more  than  four  hundred  Indians,  mostly 
Shawnees,  and  well  supplied  with  arms  and  ammunition  and  bearing  aloft 
the  British  and  French  flags  they  appeared  before  Boonesborough,  and 
demanded  the  surrender  of  the  fort.  Boone  asked  for  two  days  in  which 
to  consider  the  situation,  during  which  time  he  made  every  preparation 
for  a  siege,  although  there  were  only  seventy-five  men  in  the  fort.  When 
the  time  had  expired,  Boone  answered  with  derision,  thanking  the  enemy 
for  the  time  they  had  given  him  to  put  the  fort  in  readiness.  De  Quindre 
still  hoping  to  get  possession  of  the  fort  without  a  fight,  asked  for  a  treaty 
parley.  Boone,  rightly  suspicious  of  the  enemy's  actions,  agreed  to  send 
out  a  party  to  treat,  but  demanded  that  the  conversations  be  carried  on 
near  the  walls  of  the  fort.  With  each  undoubtedly  suspecting  the  other 
of  trickery,  a  treaty  of  unknown  terms  was  signed,  whereupon  the  In- 
dians suggesting  that  it  should  be  sealed  by  shaking  hands,  seized  Boone 
and  his  men  and  attempted  to  hold  them  prisoners.  The  defenders  freed 
themselves  and  fled  to  the  fort  under  a  heavy  fire  from  the  Indians. 
Having  failed  in  their  trickery,  the  Indians  now  began  an  attack  in  which 
different  plans  were  resorted  to  to  gain  the  fort.  At  one  time  torches 
were  thrown  against  the  stockades  in  an  attempt  to  set  the  fort  on  fire; 
at  other  times  efforts  were  made  to  tunnel  under  the  stockade.  This  latter 
plan  was  checkmated  by  counter-tunnelling  by  those  within  the  fort. 
Finally  after  nine  days  of  fruitless  attacks,  the  French  and  Indians 
abandoned  the  fight.  This  was  the  last  siege  of  Boonesborough.  Had  it 
succeeded  it  might  easily  have  led  to  the  subjugation  of  the  other  posts 
in  Kentucky,  and  to  the  complete  destruction  of  the  settlement.** 

Desultory  Indian  attacks  and  scattered  raids  continued,  and  gradually 
became  so  unbearable  that  Lieutenant  John  Bowman  in  May,  1779,  decided 
to  lead  an  expedition  into  the  Indian  country  to  punish  the  marauders. 
Aided  by  Logan,  Harrod,  and  other  famous  frontier  fighters  he  gathered 
a  force  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  Kentuckians  and  marched  on  Chillicothe. 
He  surprised  the  town,  burned  a  number  of  cabins,  and  captured  a  few 
horses ;  but  the  Indians  suddenly  rallied  and  succeeded  in  inflicting  a  de- 
feat on  the  whites.  Nine  of  Bowman's  men  were  killed;  whereas  only 
two  Indians  lost  their  lives.  Although  this  reverse  caused  much  mortifi- 
cation among  the  Kentuckians,  the  expedition  served  a  very  valuable 
purpose.  It  threw  the  Indians  into  a  state  of  terror,  and  broke  up  for 
the  time  an  attempt  that  was  forming  to  invade  Kentucky. 

1*  It  has  been  stated  by  some  writers  that  the  treaty  contained  provisions  re- 
nouncing American  allegiance  and  renewing  loyalty  to  the  British.  See  W.  H. 
Siebert,  "Kentucky's  Struggle  with  its  Loyalist  Proprietors"  in  Mississifipi  Valky 
Historical  Reincw,  VII,  No.  2  (September,  1920),  117.  Also  see  Roosevelt, 
Winning  of  the  West,  II,  20-22;  McEIroy,  Kentucky  in  the  Nation's  History, 
77-85;  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  I,  58-62;  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  II 
528,  529;  American  Historical  Review,  VIII,  505. 


182  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

Having  by  the  beginning  of  1779  secured  control  of  much  of  the 
Northwest,  Clark  set  about  consolidating  his  gains  as  far  as  it  was 
possible  with  the  scanty  forces  at  his  command.  He  left  small  garrisons 
in  Vincenncs,  Kaskaskia,  and  Cahokia,  and  by  the  latter  part  of  April 
had  turned  over  this  region  to  John  Todd,  who  had  been  recently  appointed 
civil  governor  by  the  authority  of  \'irginia.  By  a  broad  view  of  the 
situation  in  the  Northwest  Clark  saw  that  the  fight  was  only  half  won. 
.\s  long  as  the  British  held  Detroit,  Sandusky,  and  Mackinac,  as  well 
as  other  Northwest  posts,  there  could  be  no  peace  in  the  West,  and  indeed 
there  could  be  no  certain  security  for  the  gains  already  made.  The 
capture  of  Detroit  became  an  obsession  with  him ;  indeed,  he  had  seen 
the  great  desirability  of  marching  upon  it  immediately  after  he  had 
captured  \incennes.  It  was  a  forlorn  hope  at  this  time,  however,  as  he 
did  not  possess  sufficient  forces,  and  there  was  no  likelihood  of  obtaining 
them  soon.  He  later  declared,  "Had  I  been  able  to  raise  only  five  hun- 
dred men  when  I  first  arrived  in  the  country,  or  when  I  was  at  St. 
\'incent's  could  1  have  secured  my  prisoners,  and  only  have  had  three 
hundred  good  men,  1  should  have  attempted  it."  '^  On  November  19, 
1779,  he  bemoaned  the  situation  in  a  letter  to  George  Mason,  "Never  was 
a  person  more  mortitied  than  I  was  at  this  time,  to  see  so  fair  an  ojjportun- 
ity  to  push  a  victory;  Detroit  lost  for  want  of  a  few  men."  '" 

In  the  summer  of  1779,  Clark  returned  to  Kentucky  and  resumed  his 
headquarters  at  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio.  The  families  that  had  followed 
him  out  on  his  expedition  and  had  settled  down  here  had  begun  a  town, 
which  was  now  growing  fast.  His  reputation  had  spread  far,  and  his 
identification  with  Louisville,  as  this  town  was  called,  caused  many 
families  to  settle  here.  It  was  reported  that  in  one  day  in  April  no  less 
than  seventy  men  and  several  families  arrived."  Much  real  progress 
was  now  settling  in  throughout  this  whole  region ;  but  the  extreme 
severities  of  the  winter  of  1779-1780  were  enough  to  try  the  souls  of 
the  most  hardy.  This  season  was  long  remembered  as  the  winter  when 
wild  animals  died  in  the  forests  of  starvation  and  exposure,  or  were 
tamed  by  hunger  to  come  into  the  yards  of  the  pioneers. 

The  military  situation  in  the  West  commanded  the  constant  attention 
of  Clark,  who  was  looked  upon  as  a  protector  for  this  region.  One  of 
the  early  concerns  of  Clark  was  to  erect  a  fort  near  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio. 
The  strategic  importance  of  this  point  had  been  previously  noted  in 
Clark's  instructions  to  prepare  for  his  Northwest  expedition.  Governor 
Henry  at  this  time  suggested  that  the  fort  might  be  supplied  with  cannon 
which  he  expected  Clark  to  capture  at  Kaskasia.  Up  until  the  fort  was 
actually  built,  the  project  was  constantly  in  the  mind  of  Clark  and  the 
Virginia  authorities.  In  September,  1779,  Clark  wrote  Jefferson  that 
such  a  fort  "would  Amediately  become  the  key  of  the  whole  Trade  of 
the  Western  Countrey  and  well  Situated  for  tlie  Indian  department  in 
(ieneral  Besides  Many  Salutary  effects  it  would  Rcndr  during  the  War 
by  Awing  our  Enemies  the  Chickasaws  and  the  Fngli.sh  posts  on  the 
Mississippi."  "*  In  the  spring  of  1780,  Clark  set  up  the  fort  naming  it 
Fort  Jefferson,  and  succeeded  in  inducing  a  number  of  families  of  immi- 
grants to  take  up  land  nearby.  He  hoped  to  bring  out  at  lea.^t  one 
hundred  families  "as  they  are  always  followed  by  two  or  three  times 
their  number  of  young  men."  Knowing  the  propensities  of  the  Indians 
to  exaggerate,  he  believed  they  would  carry  the  report  to  the  British 
that  at  least  three  times  the  actual  number  were  there.'"     As  Clark  be- 


'=^  Butler,  History  of  Kentucky,  87. 

'"James  A.  James,  "George  Rogers  Clark  and  Detroit"  in  Proceedings  of 
Mississil'pi   Valley  Historical  Association,  III,    (1909-1910)    291-317. 

"  Ibid. 

18  James,  Clark  Papers,  365.     Letter  dated  September  23. 

^"Calendar  of  Virginia  State  Papers  (Richmond,  187s),  edited  by  Wm.  P. 
Palmer,  I,  338,  339. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  183 

lieved,  this  would  be  an  important  link  in  the  control  of  the  trade  of  the 
West.  It  would  be  in  particular  a  key  to  the  commerce  of  the  Illinois 
country.  It  would  be  also  a  most  strategic  point  in  securing  the  control 
of  the  Mississippi  River  and  maintaining  it  against  the  British ;  and  being 
in  the  Chickasaw  country,  would  hold  those  Indians  in  check.  It  could 
also  be  made  to  serve  as  an  imporant  link  in  a  chain  of  forts  that  was 
contemplated  up  and  down  the  Mississippi,  which  would  effectually  extend 
American  territory  westward  to  that  river.-" 

The  British  were  now  about  to  attempt  to  carry  out  a  bold  plan  of 
conquest  which  they  hoped  would  place  the  whole  West  in  their  control. 
A  force  was  to  proceed  from  Pensacola  to  take  New  Orleans;  an  ex- 
pedition was  to  march  from  the  north  to  sieze  St.  Louis  and  join  forces  in 
New  Orleans;  and  a  third  army  was  to  form  at  Detroit  to  proceed  against 
Clark  at  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio.^i  Clark  at  the  urgent  appeals  of  the 
Spaniards  in  St.  Louis  hastened  there,  where  he  succeeded  in  dispersing 
the  British  attackers.  He  then  hurried  back  to  Fort  Jefferson  in  time  to 
drive  away  a  force  of  i,ooo  or  more  Indians  who  had  been  besieging  the 
small  garrison  there.  But  by  this  time  rumors  of  the  British  expedition 
fitting  out  in  Detroit  had  thrown  the  Kentucky  settlements  into  a  panic, 
and  had  led  them  to  call  for  Clark.  In  March,  1780,  the  Boonesborough 
settlers  sent  Clark  a  petition  in  which  they  said,  "The  almost  incredible 
number  of  Distressed  and  defenceless  Families  settled  through  our  woods 
for  the  sake  of  sustinance  instead  of  adding  to  our  strength  are  in  fact, 
so  many  allurments,  and  must  become  a  daily  sacrifice  to  the  savage 
brutality  of  our  inhuman  enemies;  who  from  their  unavoidable  success 
will  be  encouraged  to  reiterate  their  attempts  and  Render  this  Country 
a  Mere  scene  of  Carange  and  Desolation.  *  *  *  Destitute  of  every 
other  hope,  the  Inhabitants  of  this  Country  look  to  you  for  Protection."  22 
A  few  days  later  the  settlers  around  Bryant's  Station  wrote  Clark  of  the 
ever-present  Indian  dangers  surrounding  them,  how  the  savages  were  kill- 
ing, burning,  and  pillaging.  They  promised  every  aid,  if  he  would  come  to 
lead  them  against  the  Indians.  "You,  Sir,  are  therefore  earnestly  re- 
quested by  us  to  take  the  Command,  to  appoint  a  place  of  rendezvous, 
and  we  on  our  part  will  not  be  backward  to  give  you  all  the  assistance  the 
strength  of  this  garrison  can  possibly  spare."  ^3  Clark  hurried  with  two 
companions  from  Fort  Jefferson  to  Harrodsburg,  intent  on  raising  a 
force  and  taking  the  offensive,  but  before  he  was  able  to  accomplish  his 
purpose,  the  invaders  had  crossed  the  Ohio. 

Captain  Henry  Bird  had  been  placed  in  command  of  about  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  Canadians  and  loyalists,  by  the  authorities  at  Detroit,  and 
ordered  to  collect  as  many  Indian  allies  as  possible  for  an  invasion  of 
Kentucky.  He  succeeded  in  gathering  up  about  700  Indians  and  well 
armed  and  carrying  two  field  pieces  crossed  the  Ohio  in  June  and  on  the 
22nd  appeared  before  Ruddle's  Station  which  he  forced  to  surrender. 
He  then  marched  against  Martin's  Station  which  likewise  fell  before  his 
force.  It  seemed  that  Kentucky  was  now  at  his  mercy;  but  well  satis- 
fied with  his  success  and  having  a  command  made  up  chiefly  of  Indians, 
he  decided  to  rest  contented  with  his  plunder  and  retire  beyond  the  Ohio.-^ 

Clark  now  hurried  forward  his  preparations,  determined  to  mobilize 


20  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  39,  40;  James,  "George  Rogers  Clark  and 
the  Northwest"  in  Annual  Report  of  the  American  Historical  Association,  1917,  316, 

317- 

21  Justin  Winsor,  Narrative  and  Critical  History  of  America,  VI,  742. 

22  James,  Clark  Papers,  398,  400. 
'^^  Ibid.,  401,  402. 

^*  W.  H.  Siebert,  "The  Tory  Proprietors  of  Kentucky  Lands"  in  Ohio  Archaeo- 
logical and  Historical  Quarterly,  XXVHI,  No.  i  (January,  1919)  14-16;  Marshall, 
History  of  Kentucky,  I,  105-109;  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  I,  254;  II,  328,  329; 
Roosevelt,  Winning  of  tlie  West,  II,  102,  103. 


Ib-i  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

the  whole  power  of  the  Kentucky  settlements  and  invade  the  Indian 
country  in  force.  On  reaching  Harrodsburg  he  had  seen  the  people 
evidently  more  intent  on  securing  land  from  tiie  land  court  then  in  session 
there  than  in  protecting  themselves.  He  summarily  ordered  the  court 
to  close  and  not  to  reopen  until  he  returned.  He  ordered  a  draft  and 
stationed  men  at  Crab  Orchard  with  instructions  to  turn  back  any  persons 
attempting  to  leave  for  the  East.  Ordering  most  of  his  garrison  at  Louis- 
ville to  repair  to  the  mouth  of  the  Licking,  which  was  made  the  place 
of  rendezvous,  he  had  soon  gathered  almost  a  thousand  troops  ready  to 
march  on  the  Indian  country.  Logan,  Kenton,  llarrod,  Moyd,  and  other 
noted  fighters  accompanied  him.  Carrying  a  three  pounder,  they  set  out 
in  July  (1780)  for  Chillicothe,  where  tliey  arrived  after  a  difficult  march, 
only  to  find  the  town  deserted.  Clark  ordered  the  town  burned,  and 
marched  on  to  Piqua,  where  a  brisk  engagement  took  j)lace  with  the 
Indians  there,  under  the  command  of  the  renegade,  Simon  Girty.  Although 
Clark's  forces  lost  seventeen  men  killed  to  about  six  on  the  Indians'  side, 
they  destroyed  much  property,  and  so  completely  subdued  the  spirit  of 
the  Indians  that  Kentucky  was  freed  from  invasion  for  the  remainder  of 
the  year.  ,      », 

Clark  had  not  yet  given  up  his  hope  of  leading  an  expedition  against 
Detroit ;  and  now  in  order  to  secure  aid  and  support  for  this  venture  he 
went  to  Richmond  to  plead  his  cause.  He  was  able  to  impress  the 
Virginia  authorities  with  the  importance  of  the  undertaking  and  the  ease 
with  which  it  might  be  carried  out,  if  he  were  given  sufficient  support. 
Now  for  the  first  time  was  the  West  regarded  as  a  unit  in  the  handling 
of  the  mihtary  situation.  Clark  was  made  brigadier  general  of  the  forces 
"westward  of  the  Ohio"  and  was  given  permission  to  raise  2000  troops 
with  which  to  take  Detroit.  He  enlisted  the  sympathy  and  aid  of  Wash- 
ington, who  promised  him  contributions  from  the  continental  supplies  and 
agreed  with  him  that  the  capture  of  Detroit  "would  be  the  only  means 
of  giving  peace  and  security  to  the  whole  western  frontier."  But  the 
country  was  so  disorganized  and  used  up  for  war  purposes  that  Clark  soon 
found  it  impossible  to  raise  even  a  half  of  the  troops  necessary.  By  the 
first  of  October  (1781)  he  had  despaired  of  raising  his  force.  He  said, 
"I  have  lost  the  object  that  was  one  of  the  principal  inducements  to  my 
fatigues  and  transactions  for  several  years  past — my  chain  appears  to 
have  run  out.  I  find  myself  enclosed  with  few  troops,  in  a  trilling  fort 
and  shortly  exi)ect  to  bear  the  insults  of  those  who  have  for  several 
years  been  in  continued  dread  of  me."  2°  From  plans  of  aggression 
(!lark  now  turned  to  measures  of  defense.  He  was  ordered  by  Governor 
Harrison  (of  Virginia)  to  garrison  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio,  where  Fort 
.Nelson  had  just  been  completed,  the  mouth  of  Licking  River,  and  the 
mouth  of  Limestone  Creek.  A  gunboat  patrol  of  two  units  for  each 
garrison  was  to  be  established,  which  it  was  hoped  would  secure  the  Ken- 
tuckians  from  further  molestation  from  the  Indians  north  of  the  Ohio.-" 
But  this  defense  was  not  set  u])  in  time  to  prevent  numerous  Indian  forays 
that  marked  the  next  few  months.  Among  the  most  im{)(irtant  and 
spectacular  was  the  defense  of  McAfee's  .Station  near  Harrodsburg  and 
the  defeat  of  h2still  near  Mount  .Sterling.  In  the  former  engagement  the 
Indians  were  finally  beat  off  with  considerable  losses,  while  in  the  latter 
instance  Captain  James  Estill  and  eight  of  his  men  were  killed  in  a 
desperate  hand-to-hand  engagement  with  a  band  of  twenty-five  marauding 
Wyandots.2'' 

"'■  Quoted  ill  James,  "George  Rogers  Clark  and  Detroit"  in  Proceedings  of 
Mississippi  I'ullcy  Historical  Association,  III,  291-317. 

-"  J.  D.  Monette,  History  of  the  Discovery  and  Settlement  of  the  Valley  of  the 
Mississippi  (New  York,  1848),  II,  123;  James,  "George  Rogers  Clark  and  the 
Northwest"  in  /Innual  Report  of  the  American  Historical  Association,  1917,  .321,  323. 

2' Roosevelt,  Winning  of  the  West,  II,  119-124;  Butler,  History  Kentucky,  S15- 
SI7- 


CHAPTER  XIII 

AFTER  THE  REVOLUTION— INDIAN  TROUBLES— BATTLE 

OF  BLUE  LICKS 

In  the  midst  of  this  warfare  in  the  West,  which  gave  no  signs  of  a 
speedy  termination,  news  was  received  of  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis 
in  October  (1781)  at  Yorktown.  It  was  only  natural  for  many  to  feel 
that  as  the  war  was  fast  approaching  an  end  in  the  East,  hostilities 
should  soon  cease  in  the  West  and  the  people  be  given  a  chance  to  develop 
in  the  pursuits  of  peace.  But  such  hopes  were  vain  and  delusive; 
for  some  of  the  most  bitter  strife  was  yet  to  come,  and,  in  fact,  the  greatest 
battle  of  the  Revolution  in  Kentucky  was  yet  to  be  fought.  That  peace 
that  came  to  the  East  was  to  be  long  deferred  in  the  West.'  Before  news 
of  Cornwallis'  surrender  had  reached  the  British  at  Detroit,  plans  for  a 
strong  attack  on  Wheeling  had  been  worked  out  and  different  commands 
were  being  concentrated,  including  eleven  hundred  Indians,  the  greatest 
number  of  redskins  ever  mustered  throughout  the  Revolution.  Word  soon 
reached  this  force  that  Clark  was  preparing  to  attack  the  Indian  villages, 
whereupon  most  of  the  Indians  turned  back  and  refused  to  go  farther  at 
this  time  on  any  expedition.  However  about  300  Indians  and  some 
rangers  from  Detroit,  led  by  Captains  Caldwell  and  McKee,  decided  to 
carry  out  an  attack  against  the  posts  in  Kentucky.  They  crossed  the  Ohio 
in  August  (1782)  and  directed  their  march  toward  Bryant's  Station  the 
most  northern  of  the  Kentucky  outposts.  They  attempted  to  take  the 
station  by  surprise,  but  failing  in  this,  they  began  preparations  for  a 
systematic  siege.  On  the  appearance  of  the  attackers,  a  few  swift  runners 
had  escaped  to  carry  the  alarm  to  the  other  stations  and  to  arouse  an 
army  of  deliverance.  After  a  determined  night  attack  in  which  the  Indians 
used  unsuccessfully  every  method  available  to  burn  or  storm  the  fort,  they 
withdrew  the  next  morning.  They  left  a  plainly  marked  trail,  with  every 
indication  to  the  untrained  eye  of  hurried  retreat  and  confusion  but  to 
one  trained  in  Indian  ways  plainly  a  ruse  to  lure  the  pursuers  into  a  trap.^ 

Without  waiting  for  the  arrival  of  reinforcements  who  were  gather- 
ing under  Colonel  Logan  the  garrison  set  out  in  pursuit.  As  they 
approached  the  Licking  River  at  the  Blue  Licks  a  few  of  the  retreating 
Indians  were  sighted,  and  contrary  to  the  advice  of  Boone  the  more  im- 
petuous hot-heads  resolved  to  attack  at  once  rather  than  await  the  coming 
of  Logan's  forces.  Impelled  by  the  reckless  bravery  of  Major  McGary, 
who  leaped  into  the  river  in  pursuit,  a  general  attack  was  made.  The 
Indians  retreated  until  they  had  lured  the  Kentuckians  into  an  ambush 
where  they  soon  had  them  surrounded.  Amidst  a  terrific  onslaught  by  the 
red  skins,  the  whites  broke  away  and  made  a  dash  for  life.  Soon  every- 
thing was  confusion  and  turmoil  as  they  attempted  to  re-cross  the  river. 
Many  were  killed  at  this  point.  The  Indians  pursued  some  of  the  whites 
for  twenty  miles,  before  giving  up  the  chase.    The  battle  of  Blue  Licks 

'  See  James  A.  James,  "Significant  Events  during  the  Last  Year  of  the  Revolu- 
tion in  the  West"  in  Proceedings  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  Historical  Association, 
1912-1913,  pp.  239-257. 

2  Reuben  T.  Durrett,  Bryant's  Station  (Louisville,  1897),  Filson  Club  Publica- 
tion, No.  12,  227  pp. 

185 


186  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

was  a  most  disastrous  defeat  for  the  Kentuckians,  a  melancholy  blow 
which  they  were  long  in  forgetting.  Colonel  Todd  and  Lieutenant-Colunul 
Trigg,  the  first  and  third  in  command,  were  killed,  in  addition  to  sixty- 
eight  others.  Seven  were  captured,  four  of  whom  were  afterwards 
tortured  to  death,  and  twelve  were  seriously  wounded.  Some  time  later 
Logan  came  up  with  reinforcements,  but  the  Indians  had  disappeared,  and 
his  forces  now  busied  themselves  in  burying  the  dead.^ 

Genuine  despair  spread  over  the  Kentucky  settlements.  It  was  feared 
that  this  success  of  the  British  and  Indians  would  lead  to  renewed  attacks 
which  might  destroy  the  people  completely.  Boone  wrote  Governor  Harri- 
son that  he  had  encouraged  the  people  as  much  as  jx)ssible  but  the  late  turn 
of  affairs  left  him  little  argument.  He  feared  greatly  for  the  future.  In 
September  another  pioneer  wrote  the  Virginia  governor,  "A  few  of  the 
primitive  adventurers  yet  survive,  who  supplicate  your  Excellencies  Im- 
mediate Interposition  in  their  behalf,  in  granting  them  such  strength,  as 
may  enable  them  to  carry  on  an  offensive  war,  or  at  least  Act  in  the  De- 
fensive with  safety,  for  if  some  mode  of  preservation  is  not  speedily 
adopted  the  wealthy  will  forthwith  Emigrate  to  the  Interior  parts  of  the 
Settlements  &  the  Poor  to  the  Spaniards.  Dreadful  alternative!!!"'' 
Clark  was  bitterly  blamed  by  many  for  the  desperate  situation.  Boone 
wrote  Governor  Harrison  on  August  30,  "I  trust  about  five  hundred  men 
may  be  sent  to  our  assistance  immediately.  If  these  shall  be  stationed 
as  our  county  lieutenants  shall  deem  necessary,  it  may  be  the  means  of 
serving  our  part  of  the  country ;  but  if  they  are  placed  under  the  direction 
of  General  Clark,  they  will  be  of  little  or  no  service  to  our  settlement."  ^ 
The  main  charge  against  Clark  was  partiality  to  the  settlements  around  the 
Falls  of  the  Ohio.  Boone  and  others  from  Fayette  County  after  informing 
Governor  Harrison  that  "We  can  scarcely  behold  a  spot  of  Earth,  but 
what  reminds  us  of  the  fall  of  some  fellow  adventurer  massacred  by 
Savage  hands,"  declared  that  the  frontier  was  left  exposed  in  favor  of 
"Louisville,  a  Town  without  Inhabitants,  a  Fort  situated  in  such  a  manner, 
that  the  Enemy  coming  with  a  design  to  Lay  waste  our  Country,  would 
scarcely  come  within  one  Hundred  miles  of  it,  &  our  own  Frontiers  open 
&  unguarded."*  Governor  Harrison  rebuked  Clark  for  not  fortifying 
other  posts  in  addition  to  Fort  Nelson  (at  Louisville).  Clark  laid  the 
blame  for  the  defeat  at  Blue  Licks  to  the  foolhardy  course  the  settlers 
had  taken  in  a  reckless  pursuit  and  to  their  failure  to  send  out  scouting 
parties. 

Although  blamed,  as  Clark  believed  unjustly,  he  immediately  set  about 
with  his  accustomed  energy  to  put  Kentucky  in  a  state  of  defense  and  to 
carry  the  war  into  the  Indian  country.  To  satisfy  the  clamor  for  other 
forts,  he  attemjjted  to  fortify  the  mouth  of  the  Licking  River,  but  due  to 
the  lack  of  support  of  the  county  officials  and  of  the  people  generally  he 
was  forced  to  abandon  the  plan.  More  to  his  liking  as  well  as  to  the  jjleasure 
of  the  settlers  was  an  exjjedition  to  the  north  of  the  Ohio.  In  conjunction 
with  a  plan  for  a  general  attack  against  the  Indian  towns  around 
Sandusky  and  southward  in  which  General  Irvine  was  to  march  against 
the  former  with  1,200  men  from  the  regions  of  Wheeling  and  Fort  Pitt, 
Clark  began  hasty  prejiarations  during  September  and  October  (1782). 
He  found  the  spirit  of  the  people  running  high,  with  many  clamoring  to 
join  his  forces ;  but  he  found  it  difficult  to  gather  together  the  proper 
I)rovisions  and  equipment  due  to  the  low  state  of  Virginia's  credit.  In 
response  to  the  clamors  of  those  whom  the  state  owed,  he  said,  "If  I  was 

»  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  657-663;  Roosevelt,  IVinning  of  the  JVest,  II, 
197-207. 

*  yirginia  State  Papers,  III,  303.  Andrew  Steele  to  Governor  Harrison,  Sep- 
tember 12,  1782. 

»  Butler,  History  of  Kentucky,  535. 

«  Virginia  State  Papers,  III,  301,  302. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  187 

worth  the  money,  I  would  most  cheerfully  pay  it  myself  and  trust  the 
State,  But  can  assure  you  with  truth  that  I  am  entirely  Reduced  myself 
by  advancing  Everything  I  could  Raise,  and  except  what  the  State  owes 
me  am  not  worth  a  Spanish  dollar.  I  wish  it  was  in  my  power  to  follow 
your  proposition  to  step  forth  and  save  my  country  from  the  disgrace  that 
is  like  to  fall  on  her."  ^  He  provided  flour  for  his  expedition  by  the  ex- 
change of  3,200  acres  of  his  own  land.  By  the  early  part  of  November 
he  had  collected  two  divisions  of  troops  at  the  mouth  of  the  Licking  River, 
one  composed  of  regulars  from  Fort  Nelson  commanded  by  Colonel  Floyd 
the  other  from  the  eastern  settlements  in  charge  of  Colonel  Logan.  In 
all  there  were  1,050,  all  mounted,  and  eager  to  avenge  the  disaster  at 
Blue  Licks.  After  a  march  of  six  days  Qiillicothe  was  reached,  but  due 
to  the  discovery  of  an  advanced  detachment  of  300  sent  forward  under 
Colonel  Floyd,  the  Indians  made  their  escape  before  the  whole  army 
could  give  battle.  Chillicothe  and  other  villages  of  the  Shawnees  nearby 
were  burned  and  much  corn  and  other  provisions  destroyed.  Logan  with 
150  horsemen  marched  on  northward  to  the  head  of  the  Miami  where  he 
destroyed  a  British  trading  post  with  a  large  amount  of  supplies.  Accord- 
ing to  Clark,  "The  property  destroyed  was  of  great  amount,  and  the 
quantity  of  provisions  burned  surpassed  all  idea  we  had  of  Indian  stores." 
Ten  enemy  scalps  were  taken  and  also  seven  prisoners,  two  whites  being 
retaken.    Clark  lost  one  killed  and  one  wounded.* 

This  was  the  final  important  engagement  before  peace  was  declared 
with  Great  Britain.  It  had  a  wholesome  effect  on  the  Indians  which  was 
not  lost  for  many  months ;  it  taught  them  that  the  British  were  unable 
to  protect  them,  and  did  much  to  wean  them  away  from  the  British  alli- 
ance for  a  time.  However,  Clark  did  not  slacken  his  preparations  for 
any  eventuality.  Finally  when  peace  with  Great  Britain  came  he  said 
to  the  county  lieutenants  of  Jefferson  and  Lincoln  counties :  "All  the 
brittish  posts  on  the  lakes  are  to  be  given  up  to  us  &  garrisoned  by  Con- 
tinental Troops,  and  hope  that  a  spirited  exertion  of  the  Frontier  this 
summer  will  put  an  end  to  their  sufferings,  that  peace  and  tranquility  will 
take  place  in  your  little  Country  when  the  long  and  spirited  Exertions 
of  the  people  so  much  entitle  them  to  it.  I  don't  think  that  any  thing 
on  the  part  of  Government  will  be  wanting,  as  they  appear  Axceedingly 
dispos'd  to  use  the  most  salutary  measures  to  answer  the  purpose  of 
Reducing  the  Indians  to  Obttdience.  And  the  circumstances  must  be  so 
widely  different  to  what  they  formerly  were  that  they  will  be  able  to 
execute  what  they  please."  ^  But  that  peace  and  tranquillity  which  Clark 
hoped  for  did  not  come.  A  treaty  of  peace  between  Great  Britain  and 
the  American  States  meant  nothing  to  the  Indians,  and  with  the  subse- 
quent machinations  of  the  British  in  the  Northwest  least  of  all  did  it 
mean  peace  with  the  western  settlers.  In  the  words  of  a  contemporary, 
the  Indians  "could  not  comprehend  how  they  were  subdued  abroad  by 
proxy,  at  the  same  time  they  were  conquerors  at  home  in  fact."  i"  Many 
campaigns  were  yet  to  be  carried  on  against  the  Indians,  and,  in  fact, 
their  power  was  not  broken  completely  until  the  end  of  the  War  of  1812, 
when  Tecumseh  and  his  Northwest  Confederation  were  destroyed.' ^ 

'  Quoted  in  James,  "George  Rogers  Clark  and  the  Northwest"  in  Annual  Report 
of  the  American  Historical  Association,  1917,  326,  327. 

8  Butler,  History  of  Kentucky,  536,  537.  Clark  to  Governor  Harrison,  November 
27,   1782. 

6  Virginia  State  Papers,  III,  478. 

10  Words  of  William  Littell  in  1806.  See  Proceedings  of  the  Ainerican  His- 
torical Association,  V,  355. 

"  In  1786  Clark  made  a  strong  attack  on  the  Indians  up  the  Wabash,  in  which 
he  led  a  thousand  volunteers  against  the  Shawnees.  Due  to  numerous  causes 
including  the  insubordination  of  some  of  his  troops  the  expedition  was  largely  a 
failure,  and  brought  down  much  harsh  criticism  on  him.  See  McMaster,  History 
of  the  People  of  the  United  States,  I,  385-388. 


188  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

In  the  Battle  of  Blue  Licks  the  Kentuckians  suffered  the  most  severe 
defeat  sustained  by  thcni  in  all  the  warfare  made  by  the  British  and  the 
Indians.  In  concluding  this  chapter  on  the  pioneer  period  a  number  of 
accounts  of  that  battle  are  given.  This  first  tlescription  is  quoted  from 
IFestcrn  Sketches,  by  John  A.  WcClung,  who  was  a  prominent  lawyer  at 
Maysville : 

Col.  Daniel  Boone,  accompanied  by  his  youngest  son,  headed  a  strong 
party  from  Boonesborough,  Trigg  brought  up  the  force  from  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Ilarrodsburg,  John  Todd  commanded  the  militia  around 
Lexington.  Nearly  a  third  of  the  whole  number  assembled  was  composed 
of  commissioned  officers,  who  hurried  from  a  distance  to  the  scene  of 
hostilities,  and  for  the  time  took  their  station  in  the  ranks.  Of  those 
under  the  rank  of  colonel,  the  most  conspicuous  were  Majors  Harlan, 
McBride,  Mc(iary,  and  Levi  Todd,  and  Captains  Bulger  and  Gordon.  Of 
the  six  last  named  officers,  all  fell  in  the  subsequent  battle,  except  Todd 
and  McGary.  Todd  and  Trigg,  as  senior  colonels,  took  the  command, 
although  their  authority  seems  to  have  been  in  a  great  measure  nominal. 
That,  however,  was  of  less  consequence,  as  a  sense  of  common  danger 
is  often  more  binding  than  the  strictest  discipline. 

A  tumultuous  consultation,  in  which  every  one  seems  to  have  had  a 
voice,  terminated  in  an  unanimous  resolution  to  pursue  the  enemy  with- 
out delay.  It  was  well  known  that  (General  Logan  had  collected  a  strong 
force  in  Lincoln,  and  would  join  them  at  farthest  in  twenty-four  hours. 
It  was  distinctly  understood  that  the  enemy  was  at  least  double,  and, 
according  to  Girty's  .iccount,  more  than  treble  their  own  numbers.  It 
was  seen  that  their  trail  was  broad  and  obvious,  and  that  even  some  indi- 
cations of  a  tardiness  and  willingness  to  be  pursued,  had  been  observed 
by  their  scouts,  who  had  been  sent  out  to  reconnoiter,  and  from  which  it 
might  reasonably  be  inferred  that  they  would  halt  on  the  way,  at  least 
march  so  leisurely,  as  to  permit  them  to  wait  for  the  aid  of  Logan! 
Yet  so  keen  was  the  ardor  of  officer  and  soldier,  that  all  these  obvious 
reasons  were  overlooked,  and  in  the  afternoon  of  the  i8lh  of  August, 
the  line  of  march  was  taken  up,  and  the  pursuit  urged  with  that  precipi- 
tate courage  which  has  so  often  been  fatal  to  Kentuckians.  Most  of  the 
officers  and  many  of  the  privates  were  mounted. 

The  Indians  had  followed  the  bufTalo  trace,  and  as  if  to  render  their 
trail  still  more  evident,  they  had  chopped  many  of  the  trees  on  each  side 
of  the  road  with  their  hatchets.  These  strong  indications  of  tardiness, 
made  .some  impression  ujion  the  cool  and  calculating  mind  of  Boone ;  but 
it  was  too  late  to  advise  retreat.  They  encamped  that  night  in  the  woods, 
and  on  the  following  day  reached  the  fatal  boundary  of  their  pursuit.  At 
the  Lower  Blue  Licks,  for  the  first  time  since  the  pursuit  commenced, 
they  came  within  view  of  an  enemy.  As  the  miscellaneous  crowd  of 
horse  and  foot  reached  the  southern  bank  of  Licking,  they  saw  a  number 
of  Indians  ascending  the  rocky  ridge  on  the  other  side. 

They  halted  upon  the  appearance  of  the  Kentuckians,  gazed  at  them 
for  a  few  moments  in  silence,  and  then  leisurely  disappeared  over  the 
top  of  the  hill.  A  halt  immediately  ensued.  A  dozen  or  twenty  officers 
met  in  front  of  the  ranks,  and  entered  into  consultation.  The  wild  and 
lonely  aspect  of  the  country  around  them,  their  distance  from  any  point 
of  support,  with  the  certainty  of  their  being  in  the  presence  of  a  superior 
enemy,  seems  to  have  inspired  a  portion  of  seriousness,  bordering  upon 
awe.  All  eyes  were  now  turned  upon  Boone,  and  Colonel  Todd  asked 
his  opinion  as  to  what  should  be  done.  The  veteran  woodsman,  with  his 
usual  unmoved  gravity,  replied: 

"'i'hat  their  situation  was  critical  and  delicate;  that  the  force  opposed 
to  them  was  undoubtedly  numerous  and  ready  for  battle,  as  might  readily 
be  seen  from  the  leisurely  retreat  of  the  few  Indians  who  had  appeared 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  189 

upon  the  crest  of  the  hill ;  that  he  was  well  acquainted  with  the  ground 
in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Lick,  and  was  apprehensive  that  an  ambus- 
cade was  formed  at  the  distance  of  a  mile  in  advance,  where  two  ravines, 
one  upon  each  side  of  a  ridge,  ran  in  such  a  maimer  that  a  concealed 
enemy  might  assail  them  at  once  both  in  front  and  flank,  before  they  were 
apprised  of  the  danger. 

"Jt  would  be  proper,  therefore,  to  do  one  of  two  things.  Either  to 
await  the  arrival  of  Logan,  who  was  now  undoubtedly  on  his  march  to 
join  them,  or  if  it  was  determined  to  attack  without  delay,  that  one  half 
of  their  number  should  march  up  the  river,  which  there  bends  in  an 
elliptical  form,  cross  at  the  rapids  and  fall  upon  the  rear  of  the  enemy, 
while  the  other  division  attacked  in  front.  At  any  rate,  he  strongly 
urged  the  necessity  of  reconnoitering  the  ground  carefully  before  the 
main  body  crossed  the  river." 

Such  was  the  counsel  of  Boone.  And  although  no  measure  could 
have  been  much  more  disastrous  than  that  which  was  adopted,  yet  it 
may  be  doubted  if  anything  short  of  an  immediate  retreat  upon  Logan, 
could  have  saved  this  gallant  body  of  men  from  the  fate  which  they 
encountered.  If  they  divided  their  force,  the  enemy,  as  in  Estill's  case, 
might  have  overwhelmed  them  in  detail ;  if  they  remained  where  they 
were,  without  advancing,  the  enemy  would  certainly  have  attacked  them, 
probably  in  the  night,  and  with  a  certainty  of  success.  They  had  com- 
mitted a  great  error  at  first,  in  not  waiting  for  Logan,  and  nothing  short 
of  a  retreat,  which  would  have  been  considered  disgraceful,  could  now 
repair  it. 

Boone  was  heard  in  silence  and  with  deep  attention.  Some  wished  to 
adopt  the  first  plan;  others  preferred  the  second;  and  the  discussion 
threatened  to  be  drawn  out  to  some  length,  when  the  boiling  ardor  of 
McGary,  who  could  never  endure  the  presence  of  an  enemy  without  in- 
stant battle,  stimulated  him  to  an  act,  which  had  nearly  proved  destructive 
to  his  country.  He  suddenly  interrupted  the  consultation  with  a  loud 
whoop,  resembling  the  war-cry  of  the  Indians,  spurred  his  horse  into 
the  stream,  waved  his  hat  over  his  head,  and  shouted  aloud: — "Let  all 
who  are  not  cowards,  follow  me !"  The  words  and  the  action  together 
produced  an  electrical  effect.  The  mounted  men  dashed  tumultuously 
into  the  river,  each  striving  to  be  foremost.  The  footmen  were  mingled 
with  them  in  one  rolling  and  irregular  mass. 

No  order  was  given,  and  none  observed.  They  struggled  through 
a  deep  ford  as  well  as  they  could,  McGary  still  leading  the  van,  closely 
followed  by  Majors  Harlan  and  McBride.  With  the  same  rapidity  they 
ascended  the  ridge,  which,  by  tramping  of  buffalo  foragers,  had  been 
stripped  bare  of  all  vegetation,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  dwarfish 
cedars,  and  which  was  rendered  still  more  desolate  in  appearance,  by 
the  multitude  of  rocks,  blackened  by  the  sun,  which  were  spread  over 
its  surface.  Upon  reaching  the  top  of  the  ridge,  they  followed  the  buf- 
falo trace  with  the  same  precipitate  ardor ;  Todd  and  Trigg  in  the  rear ; 
^TcGary,  Harlan,  ]\IcBride,  and  Boone  in  front.  No  scouts  were  sent 
in  advance ;  none  explored  either  flank ;  officers  and  soldiers  seemed  alike 
demented  by  the  contagious  example  of  a  single  man,  and  all  struggled 
forward,  horse  and  foot,  as  if  to  outstrip  each  other  in  the  advance. 

Suddenly,  the  van  halted.  They  had  reached  the  spot  mentioned  by 
Boone,  where  the  two  ravines  head,  on  each  side  of  the  ridge.  Here 
a  body  of  Indians  presented  themselves,  and  attacked  the  van.  McGary's 
party  instantly  returned  the  fire,  but  under  great  disadvantage.  They 
were  upon  a  bare  and  open  ridge ;  the  Indians  in  a  bushy  ravine.  The 
center  and  rear,  ignorant  of  the  ground,  hurried  up  to  the  assistance  of 
the  van,  but  were  soon  stopped  by  a  terrible  fire  from  the  ravine  which 
flanked  them.     They   found  themselves  enclosed   as  if  in  the  wings  of 


190         •  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

a  net,  destitute  of  proper  shelter,  while  the  enemy  were  in  a  great  measure 
covered  from  their  fire.  Still,  however,  they  maintained  their  ground. 
The  action  became  warm  and  bloody.  The  parties  gradually  closed,  the 
Indians  emerged  from  the  ravines,  and  the  fire  became  mutually  destruc- 
tive. The  officers  sufTered  dreadfully.  Todd  and  Trigg  in  the  rear; 
Marian,  AIcBride,  and  young  Boone,  in  front,  were  already  killed. 

The  Indians  gradually  extended  their  line,  to  turn  the  right  of  the 
Kentuckiaiis,  and  cut  off  their  retreat.  This  was  quickly  perceived  by 
the  weight  of  the  fire  from  that  quarter,  and  the  rear  instantly  fell  back 
in  disorder,  and  attempted  to  rush  through  their  only  opening  to  the  river. 
The  motion  quickly  communicated  itself  to  the  van,  and  a  hurried  retreat 
became  general.  The  Indians  instantly  sprang  forward  in  i)ursuit,  and 
falling  upon  them  with  their  tomahawks,  made  a  cruel  slaughter.  From 
the  battle  ground  to  the  river,  the  spectacle  was  terrible.  The  horsemen 
generally  escaped,  but  the  foot,  particularly  the  van,  which  had  advanced 
farthest  within  the  wings  of  the  net,  were  almost  totally  destroyed. 
Colonel  Boone,  after  witnessing  the  death  of  his  son  and  many  of  his 
dearest  friends,  found  himself  almost  entirely  surrounded  at  the  very 
commencement  of  the  retreat. 

Several  hundred  Indians  were  between  him  and  the  ford,  to  which 
the  great  mass  of  the  fugitives  were  bending  their  flight,  and  to  which 
the  attention  of  the  savages  was  principally  directed.  Being  intimately 
acquainted  with  the  ground,  he,  together,  with  a  few  friends,  dashed  into 
the  ravine  which  the  Indians  had  occupied,  hut  which  most  of  them  had 
now  left  to  join  in  the  pursuit.  After  sustaining  one  or  two  heavy  fires, 
and  baffling  one  or  two  small  parties,  who  pursued  him  for  a  short  dis- 
tance, he  crossed  the  river  below  the  ford,  by  swimming,  and  entering  the 
wood  at  a  point  where  there  was  no  pursuit,  returned  by  a  circuitous 
route  to  Bryan's  Station.  In  the  meantime,  the  great  mass  of  the  victors 
and  vanquished  crowded  the  bank  of  the  ford. 

The  slaughter  was  great  in  the  river.  The  ford  was  crowded  with 
horsemen  and  footmen  and  Indians,  all  mingled  together.  Some  were  com- 
])clled  to  seek  a  passage  above  by  swimming;  some,  who  could  not  swim. 
were  overtaken  and  killed  at  the  edge  of  the  water.  A  man  by  the  name 
of  Netherland,  who  had  formerly  been  strongly  suspected  of  cowardice, 
here  displayed  a  coolness  and  presence  of  mind,  equally  noble  and  un- 
expected. Being  finely  mounted,  he  had  outstripped  the  great  mass  of 
the  fugitives,  and  crossed  the  river  in  safety.  A  dozen  or  twenty  horse- 
men accompanied  him,  and  having  placed  the  river  between  them  and  the 
enemy,  showed  a  disposition  to  continue  their  flight,  without  regard  to 
the  safety  of  their  friends,  who  were  on  foot,  and  still  struggling  with 
the  current. 

Netherland  instantly  checked  his  horse,  and  in  a  loud  voice,  called 
upon  his  companions  to  halt,  fire  ujjon  the  Indians,  and  save  those  who 
were  still  in  the  stream.  The  party  instantly  obeyed;  and  facing  about, 
))oured  a  close  and  fatal  discharge  of  rifles  upon  the  foremost  pursuers. 
The  enemy  instantly  fell  back  from  the  opposite  bank,  and  gave  time 
for  the  harassed  and  miserable  footmen  to  cross  in  safety.  The  check, 
however,  was  but  momentary.  Indians  were  seen  crossing  in  great 
numbers  above  and  below,  and  the  flight  again  became  general.  Most 
of  the  footmen  left  the  great  buffalo  track,  and  plunging  into  the  thickets, 
escaped  by  a  circuitous  route  to  I'ryan's  Station. 

But  little  loss  was  sustained  after  crossing  the  river,  although  the  pur- 
suit was  urged  keenly  for  twenty  miles.  From  the  battle  ground  to  the 
ford,  the  loss  was  very  heavy.'" 

Daniel  Boone  wrote  the  governor  of  Virginia  a  letter  which  may  be 
considered  a  report  of  the  battle  and  its  immediate  consequences: 

'-  Western  Sketches,  John  A.  McClung,  1832,  pp.  78-84. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  191 

"Boone's  Station,  Fayette  County,  August  30,  1782. 

"Sir: — Present  circumstances  of  affairs  cause  me  to  write  to  your 
Excellency  as  follows:  On  the  i6th  instant  a  large  number  of  Indians, 
with  some  white  men,  attacked  one  of  our  frontier  stations,  known  by 
the  name  of  Bryan's  station.  The  siege  continued  from  about  sunrise 
till  about  ten  o'clock  the  next  day,  when  they  marched  off. 

"Notice  being  given  to  the  neighboring  stations,  we  immediately  raised 
181  horsemen,  commanded  by  Col.  John  Todd — including  some  of  the 
Lincoln  county  militia,  commanded  by  Col.  Trigg;  and  having  pur- 
sued about  forty  miles,  on  the  19th  inst.  we  discovered  the  enemy  lying 
in  wait  for  us.  On  this  discovery  we  formed  our  columns  into  one  single 
line,  and  marched  up  in  their  front  within  about  forty  yards  before  there 
was  a  gun  fired.  Col.  Trigg  commanded  on  the  right,  myself  on  the 
left,  Maj.  McGary  in  the  center,  and  Maj.  Harlan  the  advance  party 
in  the  front.  _  ^     '  ^  '  *^  f  I  ; 

"From  the  manner  in  which  we  had  formed,  it  fell  to  my  lot  to  bring 
on  the  attack.  This  was  done  with  a  very  heavy  fire  on  both  sides,  and 
extended  back  of  the  line  to  Col.  Trigg;  where  the  enemy  was  so  strong 
that  they  rushed  up  and  broke  the  right  wing  at  the  first  fire.  Thus 
the  enemy  got  in  our  rear ;  and  we  were  compelled  to  retreat  with  the 
loss  of  seventy-seven  of  our  men  and  twelve  wounded. 

"Afterwards  we  were  reinforced  by  Col.  Logan,  which  made  our 
force  460  men.  We  marched  again  to  the  battle-ground ;  but  finding  the 
enemy  had  gone,  we  proceeded  to  bury  the  dead.  We  found  forty-three 
on  the  ground,  and  many  lay  about  which  we  could  not  stay  to  find, 
hungry  and  weary  as  we  were,  and  somewhat  dubious  that  the  enemy 
might  not  have  gone  off  quite.  By  the  sign  we  thought  the  Indians  had 
exceeded  four  hundred ;  while  the  whole  of  the  mihtia  of  this  county 
does  not  amount  to  more  than  one  hundred  and  thirty. 

"From  these  facts  your  Excellency  may  form  an  idea  of  our  situation. 
I  know  that  your  own  circumstances  are  critical,  but  are  we  to  be  wholly 
forgotten?  I  hope  not.  I  trust  about  five  hundred  men  may  be  sent 
to  our  assistance  immediately.  If  these  shall  be  stationed  as  our  county 
lieutenants  shall  deem  necessary,  it  may  be  the  means  of  saving  our  part 
of  the  country;  but  if  they  are  placed  under  the  direction  of  Gen.  George 
Rogers  Oark,  they  will  be  of  little  or  no  service  to  our  settlement.  The 
Falls  lie  one  hundred  miles  west  of  us,  and  the  Indians  northeast ;  while 
our  men  are  frequently  called  to  protect  them.  I  have  encouraged  the 
people  in  this  county  all  that  I  could;  but  I  can  no  longer  justify  them 
or  myself  to  risk  our  lives  here  under  such  extraordinary  hazards.  The 
inhabitants  of  this  county  are  very  much  alarmed  at  the  thoughts  of  the 
Indians  bringing  another  campaign  into  our  country  this  fall.  If  this 
should  be  the  case,  it  will  break  up  these  settlements.  I  hope,  therefore, 
your  Excellency  will  take  the  matter  into  your  consideration,  and  send  us 
some  relief  as  quick  as  possible. 

"These  are  my  sentiments  without  consulting  any  person.  Col.  Logan 
will,  I  expect,  immediately  send  you  an  express,  by  whom  I  humbly  re- 
quest vour  Excellency's  answer.     In  the  meanwhile  I  remain, 

"Daniel  Boone."  J  3 

May  25,  1840,  Governor  James  T.  Morehead  delivered  an  address 
at  Boonesborough  in  which  he  reviewed  the  histon,'  of  Kentucky.  Con- 
cerning the  Battle  of  Blue  Licks  he  said: 

Before  any  judgment  was  pronounced  by  the  council  upon  the  ex- 
pediency of  the  two  alternative  movements  urged  by  Colonel  Boone,  all 
further  proceedings  were  arrested  by  the  indiscreet  zeal  of  Maj.  Hugh 
McGary,  who  "raised  the  war-whoop,"  and  spurring  his  horse  into  the 

'^  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  II,  pp.  660,  661. 


192  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

river,  called  vehemently  upon  all  who  were  not  cowards  to  follow  him, 
and  he  would  show  them  the  enemy.  Presently  the  army  was  in  motion. 
The  great  part  suffered  themselves  to  be  led  by  McGary — the  remainder, 
perhaps  a  third  of  the  whole  number,  lingered  awhile  with  Todd  and 
Boone  in  council.  All  at  length  passed  over.  At  Boone's  suggestion, 
the  commanding  officer  ordered  another  halt.  The  pioneer  then  proposed, 
a  second  time,  that  the  army  should  remain  where  it  was,  tmtil  an  ojipor- 
tunity  was  afforded  to  reconnoiter  the  suspected  region.  So  reasonable  a 
proposal  was  acceded  to ;  and  two  bold  and  experienced  men  were  selected, 
to  proceed  from  the  lick  along  the  buffalo  trace  to  a  point  half  a  mile 
beyond  the  ravines,  where  the  road  branched  off  in  different  directions. 
They  were  instnicted  to  examine  the  country  with  the  utmost  care  on 
each  side  of  the  road,  especially  the  spot  where  it  passed  between  the 
ravines,  and  upon  the  first  appearance  of  the  enemy  to  repair  in  haste 
to  the  army.  The  spies  discharged  the  dangerous  and  responsible  task. 
They  crossed  over  the  ridge — proceeded  to  the  place  designated  beyond 
it,  and  returned  in  safety  without  having  made  any  discovery.  No  trace 
of  the  enemy  was  to  be  seen. 

The  little  army  of  182  men  now  marched  forward — Colonel  Trigg 
was  in  command  of  the  right  wing,  Boone  of  the  left,  McGary  in  the 
center,  and  Major  Harlan  with  the  party  in  front.  Such  is  Boone's 
account  of  the  positions  of  the  several  officers.  He  does  not  define 
Colonel  Todd's.  The  historians  have  assigned  him  to  the  right  with 
Colonel  Trigg.  The  better  opinion  seems  to  be  that  he  commanded  the 
center. 

As  they  approached  the  ravines  it  became  apparent  that  Boone's  antici- 
pation", were  well  founded,  and  that  the  vigilance  of  the  spies  had  been 
completely  eluded.  The  enemy  lay  concealed  in  both  ravines  in  great 
numbers.  The  columns  marched  up  within  forty  yards  of  the  Indian  line 
before  a  gun  was  fired.  The  battle  immediately  commenced  with  great 
fury  and  most  destructive  effect  on  both  sides.  The  advantage  of  posi- 
tion and  overwhelming  numbers  soon  determined  it  in  favor  of  the  sav- 
ages. The  fire  was  peculiarly  severe  upon  the  right.  Colonel  Trigg  fell, 
and  with  him  nearly  the  whole  of  the  ITarrodsburg  troops.  Boone  man- 
fully sustained  himself  on  the  left.  Major  Harlan  defended  the  front 
until  only  three  of  his  men  remained.  He  also  fell,  covered  with  wounds. 
The  Indians  now  rushed  upon  them  with  their  tomahawks,  spreading 
confusion  and  dismay  through  their  broken  and  disabled  ranks.  The 
whole  right,  left,  and  center  gave  way,  and  a  mingled  and  precipitate 
retreat  commenced.  Some  regained  their  horses — others  fled  on  foot. 
Colonel  Todd  was  shot  through  the  body,  and  when  he  was  last  seen,  he 
was  reelinf,'-  in  his  saddle,  while  the  blood  gushed  in  jirofusion  from  his 
w-)und.     The  Indians  were  then  in  close  pursuit. 

There  was  but  one  convenient  way  of  escape,  and  that  was  in  the 
direction  to  the  I.ick,  where  the  army  had  crossed  the  river.  To  that  point, 
the  larger  number  of  fugitives  hurried  with  tumultuous  rapidity,  down  the 
naked  slope  of  the  hill.  No  sooner  had  they  reached  it,  than  the  Indians 
were  upon  them.  The  scene  of  terror  and  of  blood  that  ensued  was 
dreadful.  Many  brave  luon  perished  on  that  fatal  day.  Of  the  182  who 
went  into  the  battle,  one-third  were  killed  and  seven  were  made  prisoners. 
The  extent  of  the  Indian  loss  is  not  certainly  known.  It  is  represented 
to  have  been  equally  severe. 

Col.  Daniel  I'ofjne,  in  his  autobiography,  is  authority  for  the  rejjort — • 
pre.served  in  other  way,  also — that  the  Indians  upon  numbering  their 
dead  found  four  more  than  they  counted  of  the  whites  killed  on  the 
field  and  in  the  retreat ;  "and,  therefore,  4  of  the  prisoners  [whose  names 
are  unknown]  were,  by  general  consent,  ordered  to  be  killed,  in  a  most 
barbarous  manner,  by  the  young  warriors  in  order  to  train  them  up  to 
cruelty;  ;ind  then  they  proceeded  to  their  towns." 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  193 

After  the  fortune  of  the  day  was  determined,  and  the  only  safety 
was  in  flight,  the  noble  old  pioneer  who  first  counseled  delay,  and  then 
a  caution  which  proved  unavailing  because  not  faithfully  followed,  de- 
voted himself  with  true  fatherly  solicitude  to  his  wounded  son  Israel. 
He  avoided  the  road  taken  by  the  mass  of  fugitives,  and  crossed  the 
Licking  at  the  mouth  of  Indian  Creek,  a  mile  or  two  below  the  Lick. 
But  the  wound  of  the  young  soldier  was  mortal ;  death  soon  claimed  him ; 
and  the  father,  noting  where  his  body  lay  that  he  might  return  and  bury 
it,  eluded  the  pursuit  of  the  savages,  and  reached  Bryan's  station. 

Of  the  seven  prisoners,  four  were  killed  by  the  Indians,  as  above,  and 
the  other  three — Jesse  Yocum,  Lewis  Rose,  and  Capt.  John  ^IcMurtry — ■ 
were  packed  to  the  extent  of  their  strength  with  the  spoils  of  the  day. 
With  their  captors,  they  were  hurried  next  day  across  the  Ohio  River, 
at  the  mouth  of  Eagle  Creek,  seven  miles  below  Limestone  Creek  (Mays- 
ville)  ;  thence  passed  Upper  and  Lower  Sandusky,  and  the  foot  of  the 
Miami  rapids  (afterwards  Fort  Meigs),  to  Detroit — where  they  arrived 
on  September  4,  and  were  delivered  into  the  hands  of  the  British.  On  the 
route,  they  were  several  times  compelled  to  run  the  gauntlet,  in  Indian 
towns  through  which  they  passed.  At  one  of  them,  Captain  McMurtry 
was  knocked  down  and  fell  senseless ;  the  Indians  jumped  upon  and 
stamped  him,  breaking  several  of  his  ribs.  Jesse  Yocum,  by  his  skill  in 
running  close  to  the  line  of  Indians,  so  avoided  their  clubs  as  to  come 
out  almost  unhurt :  and  running  up  to  a  young  Indian,  by  adroitness  and 
great  strength,  picked  him  up  and  hurled  him  to  the  ground ;  then  going 
up  to  another,  all  in  a  moment  of  time,  he  thn.:st  his  head  between  the 
Indian's  legs  and  threw  him  over  his  head — and  jumping  up,  knocked 
his  feet  rapidly  together  in  a  manner  novel  to  the  Indians,  crowed  like 
a  cock,  and  rallied  them  for  being  a  pack  of  cowards.  This  singular 
exhibition  of  dexterity  and  spirit  delighted  the  Indians,  and  an  old  chief 
promptly  claimed  Yocum  as  his  man.  But  the  gauntlet  failed  to  satisfy 
the  savage  craving  for  fiendish  cruelty,  and  the  prisoners  were  condemned 
to  be  burned.  Just  as  they  were  tied  to  the  stake,  and  the  torch  was 
'■'ready  applied  to  the  fagots  piled  around,  a  storm  of  remarkable  violence 
burst  over  their  heads.  The  flashes  of  lightning  increased  in  vividness, 
and  louder  and  deeper  rolled  the  thunder.  When  the  storm  cloud  broke, 
and  the  torrent  from  above  extinguished  the  fires,  the  savages  were 
struck  with  awe  and  reverence,  and  dared  not  re-light  them.  The  Great 
Spirit  had  interfered  to  save  them,  and  would  not  permit  them  thus  to  die. 
Thereafter  they  were  treated  with  far  more  kindness  and  consideration. 

On  September  18,  the  prisoners  were  forwarded  to  Montreal,  and  rigor- 
ously confined  for  a  month ;  thence  to  Mont  du  Luc  island,  and  imprisoned 
until  July,  1783 — when  they  were  exchanged  and  sent  to  Ticonderoga, 
reaching  their  homes  near  Harrodsburg,  Ky.,  August  28.  They  were 
received  almost  as  men  from  the  dead.  Captain  Rose  shot  two  Indians 
in  the  battle,  the  last  when  in  the  very  act  of  scalping  Capt.  Wm.  McBride ; 
he  was  in  the  expedition  with  Gen.  Ben.  Logan  against  the  Shawnees  on 
the  Miami  in  1786,  and  in  1791  with  Gen.  Chas.  Scott  against  the  towns 
of  the  Wea  Indians  on  the  Wabash— in  which  thirty-two  warriors  were 
slain  and  fifty-eight  prisoners  taken ;  he  died  February  20,  1829,  in  his  80th 
year.  Captain  McMurtry  was  in  several  engagements  afterwards,  and  fell 
in  Harmar's  defeat,  in  1790.  His  name  heads  the  list  of  the  honored 
dead  of  Kentucky,  engraved  upon  the  Battle  monument. 

Of  the  sixty  noble  men  who  fell  in  the  battle  of  Blue  Licks,  the  follow- 
ing fifteen  are  all  the  names  ascertained  by  the  author:  Col.  John  Todd, 
Lieut.  Col.  Stephen  Trigg,  Maj.  Silas  Harlan.  Maj.  Edward  Bulger,  Capt. 
Wm.  McBride,  Capt.  John  Gordon,  John  Bulger,  Joseph  Lindsay  (the 
commissary  of  Gen.  Geo.  Rogers  Clark,  in  several  expeditions,  conductoi 
of  the  expedition  which  first  took  Vincennes,  and  one  of  the  ablest  and 
Vol.  1—17 


194  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

most  remarkable  men  of  early  Kentucky),  Clough  Overton,  John  Kennedy, 
(little)  James  Graham,  Wm.  Stewart,  John  Wilson,  Israel  Boone,  An- 
drew WcConnell. 

Of  the  109  who  survived  the  battle,  in  addition  to  the  three  returned 
prisoners  above,  the  author  has  ascertained  only  the  followinc;  sixteen 
names:  Col.  Daniel  Boone,  Maj.  Hugh  McGary,  Col.  Robert  Patterson, 
Col.  John  Smith,  Maj.  Geo.  Michael  Bedinger,  Maj.  T-avi  Todd,  Maj. 
Benj.  Netherland,  Capt.  Samuel  Johnson,  Aaron  Reynolds,  Judge  Twy- 
man,  Jas.  McCiillough,  Benj.  Ilayden,  Henry  Wilson,  Peter  Harget,  Jas. 
Morgan,  Wm.  l'"ield.  Thus  thirty-four  names  out  of  176  engaged,  are 
preserved — of  which  176,  over  one-fourth  were  commissioned  officers. 

Nicholas  Hart  and  several  others  of  the  prisoners  taken  at  the  capture 
of  Ruddle's  and  Martin's  stations  in  now  Harrison  and  Bourbon  counties, 
on  June  22,  1780 — more  than  two  years  before — had  been  brought  along 
with  the  Indians  on  this  expedition;  for  what  purpose  is  not  known. 
They  were  the  unwilling  witnesses  of  the  siege  of  Bryan's  station,  and 
of  the  terrible  disaster  at  the  Blue  Licks — where  many  of  their  personal 
friends  fought  their  last  battle  and  slept  their  last  sleep. '^ 

The  foregoing  accounts  of  the  battle  of  Blue  Licks  were  based  largely 
on  what  Mar.shall  said  of  it  in  his  History  of  Kentucky.  His  description 
of  the  battle  is  given.  The  testimony  of  some  of  the  survivors  was  not 
available  to  Marshall,  and  there  accumulated  other  evidence  which  he 
did  not  have,  but  his  account  of  this  disaster  is  worthy  of  preservation 
here,  and  is,  therefore,  set  out: 

Two  years  before,  a  similar  army  had  surprised  and  taken  Ruddle's 
station — Martin's  shared  the  like  fate — and  that  of  Grant  had  been 
abandoned.  Bryan's  station  was  thence  the  frontier,  on  that  quarter 
approaching  nearest  of  the  enemy.  It  consisted  of  about  thirty,  or 
forty,  cabins ;  and  from  forty  to  fifty  men.  It  had  a  bastion  at  either  end, 
composed  of  strong  logs,  built  in  the  block  house  form,  with  necessary 
loop  holes.  The  cabins  were  ranged  in  two,  or  three  rows  parallel  to  each 
other ;  and  connected  by  strong  palisades,  where  they  did  not  otherwise 
join.  It  had  no  supply  of  water  within,  but  a  very  fine  spring  ran  from 
the  foot  of  the  point,  on  which  it  stood,  near  to  the  bank  of  I'"lkhorn  :  at 
that  place,  but  a  small  creek. 

On  the  fifteenth  of  August,  some  few  of  the  men,  being  absent,  and 
others  in  the  adjacent  corn  field;  but  the  greater  part  of  them,  about  the 
station ;  the  Indians  suddenly  appeared  before  the  place ;  and  without  any 
summons,  commenced  an  attack  with  small  arms.  Fortunately,  they 
had  no  cannon ;  and  it  was  recollected  that  no  station  had  been  taken 
without.  Their  numbers  were  not  known,  as  thev  were  dispersed  among 
the  growing  corn,  or  concealed  by  the  fences    and  the  weeds. 

The  fort  gates  were  inmiediately  manned,  and  kept,  for  the  reception 
of  those  who  were  out,  and  should  desire  to  enter:  others  of  the  garrison 
ran  to  the  bastions  and  loop  holes,  from  which  they  fired,  and  kept  off  the 
assailants.  Some  of  the  men,  belonging  to  the  fort,  entered  from  with- 
out— others,  thinking  the  attempt  too  hazardous,  or  else,  that  it  was  proper 
to  alarm  their  neighbors,  repaired  to  Lexington,  and  other  places,  with 
the  news ;  and  a  call  for  help.  To  render  tliis,  the  utmost  alacrity  was 
everywhere  shown.  Some  voUuiteers  from  Lexington,  with  great 
speed  and  gallantry,  threw  themselves  into  the  place  that  evening — the 
next  day  it  was  reinforced  by  detachments  from  Boone's  and  Strode's 
stations — ten  or  twelve  miles  distant.  These  parties  rode  through  a 
lane,  which  led  to  the  place  besieged,  and  were  fired  on  by  the  Indians, 
lying  behind  the  fences,  without  injury. 

In  the  meantime,  the  besieged  had  defended  themselves  with  all  the 
vigilance  and  intrepidity    demanded  by  the  importance  of  the  crisis    and 

>*  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  II,  pp.  661-663. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  195 

the  ferocious  nature  of  the  enemy.  The  Johnsons,  and  Craigs,  were  in 
the  number  of  the  most  reputable  of  the  inhabitants — while  Jacob  Stucker, 
Jerry  Craig,  the  Herndons,  and  Mitchells,  were  distinguished  among  its 
best  soldiers,  while  each  acted  well  his  part. 

The  Indians  had  made  their  camps  on  both  sides  of  the  creek,  then 
in  wood,  above  the  stations,  and  so  near  the  spring,  as  to  render  it  useless 
to  the  garrison,  without  incurring  the  most  imminent  danger  in  attempt- 
ing to  get  the  water,  by  day ;  or  even,  by  night ;  notwithstanding  which, 
it  was,  however,  obtained.  The  place  was  closely  infested  for  the  two 
succeeding  days — during  which  time  the  Indians  kept  up  almost  a  con- 
stant fire,  on  the  one  side,  or  the  other,  from  fences,  trees,  or  stumps — 
whereby  they  killed  four  men.  and  wounded  three  others.  They  made 
several  attempts  to  fire  the  cabins;  and  for  that  purpose,  shot  lighted 
arrows  on  the  roofs — and  even  approached  the  walls  with  torches — but 
from  these  they  were  repulsed — nor  had  th.eir  ignited  arrows  the  desired 
effect,  owing,  no  doubt,  to  their  imperfect  skill  in  fire-works.  Otherwise 
nothing  could  have  been  more  easy  than  to  have  fired  the  place ;  as  the 
height  of  their  cabin  walls  did  not  exceed  twelve  feet,  and  the  roofs  of 
boards  were  fastened  on  with  cross  poles,  which  afforded  lodgments  for 
combustible  matter,  within  hand's  throw,  of  various  parts,  to  which  they 
could  approach  without  being  seen,  or  exposed  to  danger.  They  killed 
a  great  number  of  cattle,  some  of  which  they  ate — and  after  killing  some, 
they  took  away,  other  horses.  But  having  exposed  themselves  consider- 
ably, in  their  various  attempts — some  of  which  were  bold;  and  after  suffer- 
ing, as  it  was  believed,  the  loss  of  about  thirty  warriors  killed,  and  many 
others  wounded ;  they  raised  the  siege  the  morning  of  the  fourth  day. 
This  experiment  had  proved  that  they  were  not  likely  to  take  the  place, 
in  any  short  time;  while  they  could  not  apprehend  that  if  they  continued 
before  it,  the  country  would  be  raised  in  arms,  and  brought  upon  their 
backs;  they,  therefore,  after  remaining  the  third  night,  in  their  camp, 
about  sunrise  the  next  morning,  left  their  fires  burning,  some  bits  of 
meat  on  their  roasting  sticks — and  deliberately  took  the  road,  made  by 
buffaloes,  and  hunters,  to  the  lower  Blue  Licks ;  by  the  way  of  Ruddle's 
station — which  two  years  before,  as  was  mentioned,  they  had  reduced — 
for  the  purpose,  as  it  was  surmised,  of  alleviating  their  present  mortifi- 
cation ;  by  viewing,  in  ruins,  the  scene  of  their  former  triumph.  For  it 
was  neither  the  shortest,  plainest,  nor  smoothest  way  to  the  licks. 

That  thev  could  not  expect,  and  did  not  desire  to  conceal  their  route, 
will  appear  in  the  sequel. 

In  the  meantime.  Col.  John  Todd,  who  resided  in  Lexington,  despatched 
intelligence  to  Lieutenant  Colonel  Trigg,  living  at  Harrodsburg,  of  the 
attack  on  Bryant  Station ;  leaving  it  to  the  latter  to  give  the  intelligence 
to  his  superior,  Col.  Benjamin  Logan.  Neither  Colonel  Trigg,  nor  Colonel 
Boone,  who  had  also  been  called  on,  lost  any  time  in  collecting  the  men  in 
their  respective  neighborhoods — but  with  singular  promptitude,  on  the  i8th 
of  the  month ;  but  after  the  Indians  had  left  the  ground,  repaired  to 
Bryant  Station  under  the  command  of  Todd,  as  the  superior  officer  from 
Lexington,  where  they  had  rendezvoused  their  men,  under  their  appro- 
priate officers.  The  majors  were  McGary,  and  Harland,  from  near  Har- 
rodsburg; and  Levi  Todd,  of  Lexington. 

The  enemy  having  retreated,  a  council  was  held,  in  which  it  was 
promptly  decided  to  pursue  the  Indians,  without  waiting  for  the  arrival 
of  Colonel  Logan,  who  was  known  to  be  collecting  a  strong  party — and 
to  be  expected  on  the  ground  in  a  few  days — but  when  arrived,  would, 
as  the  superior  officer,  have  the  command.  A  circumstance,  which  it  was 
suspected,  both  Todd  and  Trigg,  desired  to  avoid — thinking  themselves 
equal  to  the  command,  and  sanguine  of  success — as  they  were  emulous 
of  praise,  and  possessed  an  idea  of  mental  superiority. 


196  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

In  consequence  of  the  determination  of  the  council,  the  march  was 
immediately  ordered,  and  forthwith  commenced,  under  the  command  of 
Colonel  Todd,  and  next  to  him,  Colonel  Trigg,  on  the  route  of  the  enemy, 
whose  numbers,  as  yet,  though  considerable,  were  not  known.  They  had 
not  proceeded  very  far,  before  Boone,  and  some  others,  experienced  in 
the  manners  of  the  Indians,  discovered  signs  of  ostentation,  and  of  tardi- 
ness, on  their  trail;  indicative  of  their  willingness  to  be  pursued;  and 
calculated  to  point  out  their  route;  while  apparent  caution  had  been  taken 
to  conceal  their  numbers.  The  one  was  effected  by  chopping  the  trees  on 
the  way — the  other,  by  treading  in  single  file  a  narrow  tract ;  contracting 
their  camp,  and  using  but  few  fires,  where  they  stopped  to  eat.  No  Indian 
was  seen,  although  it  was  apparent  they  were  at  no  great  distance  in 
advance,  until  the  pursuers  reached  the  southern  bank  of  Licking,  at  the 
licks.  The  van  of  the  party  then  discovered  a  few  of  them  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  river,  traversing  the  hill  side ;  and  who,  apparently  without 
alarm,  and  leisurely,  retired  over  the  hill  from  their  sight.  A  halt  was 
called,  the  principal  officers  being  assembled — the  information  then  given 
— and  the  questions  asked:  "What  shall  be  done?  Whether,  is  it  best, 
immediately  to  cross  the  river,  and  continue  the  march,  or  stand  here, 
until  tlie  country  round  about  can  be  reconnoitered  by  proper  parties  and 
measures  ultimately  taken  according  to  circumstances — either  by  attack, 
if  the  enemy  were  near,  or  wait  the  arrival  of  Colonel  Logan?" 

Neither  of  the  superior  officers  were  much  skilled  in  the  manner,  or 
custom  of  Indian  warfare — they  were  however  willing  to  be  informed, 
and  had  actually  called  upon  Colonel  Boone  for  his  opinion  of  the  case, 
and  how  they  should  act.  This  he  was  detailing  with  his  usual  candor 
and  circumspection  by  adverting  to  his  own  observations,  on  the  dif- 
ferent appearances  on  the  road;  and  the  fact  of  the  Indians  showing 
themselves  on  the  next  hill.  As  to  the  number  of  the  enemy,  his  con- 
jectures varied,  from  three,  to  five  hundred;  owing  to  the  ambiguous 
nature  of  the  sign  they  had  made  on  the  road.  From  the  careless  manner 
in  which  the  Indians,  who  had  been  seen,  conducted  themselves,  he  was  of 
the  opinion  that  the  main  body  was  near,  and  prepared  for  action.  He 
was  particularly  well  acquainted  with  the  situation  of  the  ground  about 
the  licks ;  and  the  manner  in  which  the  river  winds  into  an  irregular 
ellipsis,  embracing  the  great  buffalo  Foad  and  ridge,  from  the  licks,  to- 
wards Limestone,  as  its  longest  line  of  bisections ;  and  which  is  terminated 
by  two  ravines  heading  near  together,  a  mile  from  the  licks ;  and  extending 
in  opposite  directions  to  the  river.  He  had  suggested  the  probability  of 
the  Indians  having  here  formed  an  ambuscade,  the  advantages  to  them, 
and  the  disadvantages  to  the  party  of  Colonels  Todd,  and  Trigg,  should 
this  conjecture  be  realized,  and  the  march  continued.  He  proposed  that 
the  party  should  divide;  the  one  half  march  up  Licking  on  the  south  side, 
to  the  mouth  of  a  small  creek,  now  called  Elk  creek,  and  there  crossing 
over,  proceed  on  the  ridge  to  the  outside  of  the  ravines — wWle  the  other 
half  should  advance  to  the  high  ground  on  the  north  of  the  licks,  and 
place  itself  in  a  situation  to  co-operate  on  the  eneipy,  in  case  of  attack. 
He  showed  that  the  whole  advantage  of  position  might  be  thus  turned 
against  the  enemy.  And  he  insisted,  as  the  very  least  that  should  be 
done,  if  his  superiors  were  determined  not  to  wait  for  Colonel  Logan,  was 
to  have  the  country  explored,  round  about,  before  they  marched  the  main 
body,  over  the  river ;  for  they  were  yet  ignorant  wliether  the  Indians  had 
crossed,  or  not — and  in  either  event,  if  they  were  near,  they  meant  to  take 
advantage  of  the  measure;  which  their  superiority  of  number  would 
render  decisive.  Already  had  Boone,  nearly  gained  the  entire  approbation 
of  his  superiors,  and  of  those  who  heard  his  counsel — for  in  fact,  they 
only  hesitated  between  his  propositions — when  Major  McGary,  ardent 
and  impatient  of  rlelay,  rushed  his  horse   forward  to  the  water's  edge, 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  197 

and  raising  the  war  whoop,  next  cried  out  with  a  loud  voice,  "Those  who 
are  not  cowards  follow  me — I  will  show  them  where  the  Indians  are" — 
spurred  his  horse  into  the  river.  One  followed,  and  then  another  in  quick 
succession;  until  a  motion  and  agitation  was  communicated  to  the  whole 
—the  council  was  broken  up — the  officers,  who  might  have  been  otherwise 
inclined,  were  forced  along  in  the  crowd  and  tumult — nothing  had  been 
concerted — no  distinct  orders  were  given;  or  if  given,  not  observed — they 
crossed  the  river,  and  pursued  the  road,  as  the  general  guide  kept  by 
McGary,  in  front.  On  either  side  of  which,  parties  flanked  off,  as  the 
unevenness  and  irregularity  of  the  ground  would  permit;  all  moving  for- 
ward, with  the  utmost  disorder,  and  precipitation  over  a  surface  covered 
with  rocks,  laid  bare  by  the  trampling  of  the  bufialo,  and  the  washing 
of  the  rains  for  ages  past.  When  the  van  approached  the  ridge  next 
within  the  ravines,  which  have  been  mentioned,  to  the  left,  an  Indian, 
or  two,  were  observed  on  it,  at  a  distance;  these  appeared  to  retreat  along 
the  ridge,  which  led  to  the  point  between  the  ravine  and  river.  One 
moment  of  cool  reflection  might  have  suggested  the  idea  of  decoy ;  and 
the  next  would  have  shown  the  propriety  of  caution.  It  appears,  however, 
that  the  determination  to  find  the  enemy  so  engrossed  the  party  that 
prudence  was,  like  fear,  completely  excluded  and  banished.  The  party, 
therefore,  pressed  on,  toward  the  end  of  the  ridge  where  it  was  covered 
by  a  forest  of  oak  trees  of  middling  size,  and  the  ravines  with  small  sap- 
lings or  brush  wood ;  while  the  whole  extent  of  the  ellipsis  had  been 
stripped  of  all  herbage,  by  the  herds  of  buffalo,  which  were  in  the  habit 
of  resorting  to  the  licks.  Some  scattering  trees  here  and  there  appeared, 
on  a  pavement  of  rock,  as  rude  as  it  was  singular,  throughout  the  whole 
extent  of  the  field.  Both  Todd  and  Trigg  had  deviated  from  the  main 
road;  and  probably  with  a  view  of  taking  their  position  on  the  right  of 
the  troops  were  far  from  the  front,  which  moved  rapidly,  and  rather 
obliquely,  headed  by  McGary,  Harland,  and  McBride;  and  followed  by 
the  rest,  without  regular  order;  the  whole,  with  a  few  exceptions,  being 
armed  with  rifles,  and  mounted  on  horses,  formed  a  broken  line  corre- 
sponding with  the  ridge,  and  nearly  parallel  to  the  ravines ;  which  were 
filled  with  Indians. 

No  sooner  had  McGary  entered  the  forest,  than  he  discovered  the 
enemy  waiting  for  him — here  the  action  immediately  began,  and  soon  be- 
came warm,  and  bloody — on  either  side  the  rifle  was  pointed — on  either 
side,  the  warrior  fell.  It  was  discovered  that  the  ravines  extending  the 
whole  length  of  the  line  of  Kentuckians  had  concealed  the  savages,  who 
fired  and  rushed  upon  their  foes,  not  half  their  equal  in  point  of  num- 
bers. Todd,  and  Trigg,  who  were  on  the  right,  when  the  line  fronted 
the  ravines,  were  thrown  into  the  rear,  when  its  flank  was  changed,  and 
it  moved  to  the  left,  where  the  battle  began :  Already  had  these  fallen — 
already  were  the  Indians  turning  the  right,  or  rear,  of  this  line — already 
had  twenty,  or  more,  of  those  brave  men  who  first  engaged  breathed  their 
last — already  was  the  line  everywhere  assailed — when  a  retreat  commenced, 
under  the  uplifted  tomahawk.  At  the  beginning  of  the  battle,  many  of 
the  men  dismounted,  while  others  did  not ;  in  the  retreat,  some  recovered 
their  horses — others  fled  on  foot — over  rocky  field,  already  described, 
which  was  environed  by  high  and  rugged  cliffs,  on  either  hand,  until  it 
declined  into  a  flat,  as  it  approached  the  salt  spring.  The  ford  was 
narrow,  and  the  water,  though  shallow  on  it,  was  deep,  both  above,  and 
below.  Some  of  the  fugitives  were  overtaken  on  the  way  to  the  river, 
and  fell  beneath  the  stroke  of  the  Indian  spear,  or  hatchet — but  at  the 
water,  was  a  greater  havoc — some  were  slain  in  the  water ;  some  on  either 
shore.  Here  it  was  that  a  singular  phenomenon  was  exhibited — a  man 
by  the  name  of  Netherland,  well  mounted,  and  among  the  foremost  in 
the  flight,  having  crossed  the  Licking  and  gained  the  farthest  bank,  think- 


1!)8  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

ing  himself  out  of  danger,  checks  his  horse,  takes  a  back  view,  sees  the 
savages  preparing  to  rush  into  the  water,  and  there,  to  extinguish  the 
remains  of  many  Hves,  almost  exhausted  by  wounds,  and  the  fatigue  of 
flight, — cries  out,  with  a  shrill,  and  commanding  voice,  to  those  who  had 
made  the  shore  next  to  him — "Halt:  fire  on  the  Indians,  and  protect  the 
men  in  the  river."  The  call  had  the  desided  effect,  on  ten.  or  a  dozen- 
who  immediately  halt,  fire  on  the  enemy,  and  check  their  pursuit — 
probably,  by  so  doing,  as  many  lives  were  saved.  This  resistance,  how- 
ever, proves  but  momentary ;  the  Indians  gather  rapidly  on  the  .shore — - 
luunbers  of  tlu-m  arc  seen  crossing  the  river — and  personal  safety  sug- 
gests a  speedy  tlight. 

The  fugitives  were  pursued  for  miles ;  nor  did  they  fuid  a  place  of 
safetv  short  of  Bryant's  .Station,  thirty-six  miles  from  the  scene  of 
action.  Here,  many  of  those  on  horseback  arrived  within  six.  and  others 
on  foot,  within  eight  hours,  after  the  battle. 

At  Bryant's,  the  survivors  of  this  tragedy  recount  the  exploits  of 
their  comrades  and  their  own  disasters.  Here  they  tell  that  Captain 
Rdberl  Patterson,  exhausted  in  the  retreat,  and  ready  to  yield  himself  tu 
the  scalping  knife  of  the  savage,  just  in  his  rear,  is  accosted  by  Reynolds, 
a  soldier  on  horseback,  who  dismounts — assists  Patterson,  into  his  seat, 
;uid  ensures  his  escape — while  himself,  now  closely  pressed,  falls  into  the 
hands  of  three  or  four  of  the  enemy — he  seems  alert,  and  they  have  not 
time  to  kill  him — but  they  take  his  arms,  and  leave  him  in  the  custody 
of  an  Indian,  who  by  this  time  had  arrived,  but  seeming  less  expert  than 
the  captors,  who  continue  the  pursuit — sure  of  the  pleasure  of  torturing 
one  white  man,  when  they  should  have  more  leisure.  But  the  Indian, 
with  the  prisoner,  continuing  to  move  him,  his  moccasin  came  loose;  and 
while  he  stooped  down  to  tie  it,  Reynolds  snatches  his  gun,  frimi  him — 
knocks  him  down  with  its  butt — and  makes  his  own  escape. 

For  this  singular  instance  of  real  magnanimity,  and  essential  service, 
Patterson,  who  had  no  prior  claims  on  Reynolds,  afterwards  made  him  a 
])resent  of  200  acres  of  land. 

Never  had  Kentucky  experienced  so  fatal  a  blow  as  that  at  the  Blue 
Licks;  of  the  166  brave  men,  who  repaired  to  the  assistance  of  Bryant 
Station,  one  half,  or  more,  were  from  Harrodsburg  and  its  vicinity. 
These,  fired  by  the  generous  spirit  of  their  officers,  turned  out  upon  the 
first  call,  ready,  not  only  to  risk,  but  to  sacrifice  their  lives,  if  necessary 
in  the  defence  of  their  country;  these  were  led  directly  into  the  front 
of  the  battle — of  these,  the  greater  number  fell,  before  it  was  ended. 
Those  from  other  places,  equally  brave,  were  little  less  unfortunte.  The 
whole  loss  on  the  side  of  Kentucky  was  sixty  killed  and  seven  made 
prisoners.  Of  the  wounded,  but  few  escaped.  The  Indians,  it  was  said, 
lost  sixty-four,  killed — besides  a  number  wounded.  Such  were  the  re- 
ports from  their  towns,  afterwards;  and  that  they  massacred  four  of  their 
prisoners,  to  make  the  loss  equal.    The  equal  loss  is  doubted. 

Greatly  did  the  country  feel  and  deplore  the  loss  of  Colonels  Todd 
and  Trigg ;  who,  although  they  had  not  acquired  the  reputation  of  great 
Indi;in  warriors,  were  men  of  intelligence,  of  personal  worth,  and  of  public 
usefulness.  They  were  particularly  qualified  to  counsel,  enlighten  and 
guide  the  people  in  their  private  and  civil  concerns,  while  the  suavity  of 
their  manners  and  the  urbanity  of  their  minds  rendered  them  easy  of 
access;  and  always  ready  to  assist  those  who  wanted  their  information  or 
advice.  Their  deaths  were  a  real  public  calamity  of  more  than  conunon 
measure. 

In  this  action  the  gallant  ITarland  fell,  nor  was  there  an  officer  more 
brave  or  one  more  beloved  in  the  field. 

Colonel  Boone  here  lost  his  second  son  and  very  narrowly  escaped 
with  his  own  life.    To  him  the  incidents  of  the  day  must  have  been  ex- 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  l'J9 

tremely  distressing  and  more  than  commonly  vexatious.  On  the  point, 
in  the  morning,  of  persuading  his  superiors  and  others  to  a  course  of 
proceeding  which,  if  it  had  been  adopted,  would  in  all  human  probability 
have  averted  the  fate  of  the  day;  or  might  have  turned  its  disasters  on 
the  enemy,  in  the  evening,  he  is  exhausted  with  fatigue  and  anxiety, 
lamenting  the  death  of  a  favorite  son — looking  on  his  country  humbled 
by  defeat,  and  knowing  not  the  extent  of  its  consequences.  He  was  con- 
vinced the  enemy  was  numerous — he  apprehended  they  had  taken  no 
prisoners,  and  if  so  there  was  reason  to  expect  they  would  return  upon  the 
settlements,  in  some  quarter — and  he  knew  they  were  crafty  as  enter- 
prising— and  brave  as  they  were  savage.  Great  indeed  was  the  consterna- 
tion on  the  north  side  of  the  Kentucky  River. 

In  the  midst  of  these  disastrous  events  and  gloomy  reflections,  there 
was  yet  one  consolation :  the  party  with  Colonel  Logan  was  considerable — 
in  full  march — and  unbroken  as  undismayed.  The  van  of  Logan's  com- 
mand had  passed  Bryant  Station  on  its  way  to  the  Blue  Licks,  when 
it  was  met  by  the  fugitives  from  the  field  of  recent  battle,  it  then  re- 
turned to  Bryant — where  the  colonel  halted  on  receipt  of  the  intelli- 
gence, until  the  rear  came  up — which  was  one  day — and  then  late  in  the 
evening  resumed  his  march  which  was  continued  the  greater  part  of  the 
night — and  again,  at  sunrise  next  morning,  for  the  Licks — to  engage  the 
enemy  if  there  and  if  not,  to  bury  the  dead.  About  noon,  the  battle  ground 
was  approached  and  the  dead  bodies  seen  strewed  along  the  field.  Some 
were  mangled  by  savages — some  by  vultures — some  by  wild  beasts;  they 
were  swollen  and  rendered  quite  yellow  by  the  scorching  rays  of  the  sun, 
upon  their  naked  skins.  Each  man  who  had  lost  a  particular  friend  or 
relative  sought  for  him,  that  if  found  he  might  receive  the  solemn  rites 
of  burial;  if  not  found,  that  the  hope  of  his  being  a  prisoner  and  that  he 
would  return  at  some  future  day,  might  be  indulged,  to  cheer  the  melan- 
choly impression  of  the  scene.  But  even  this  imperfect  consolation  was 
denied,  for  none  knew  the  remains  of  his  friend  when  found — so  much 
were  the  visages  of  the  dead  disfigured.  No  Indian  carcass  was  seen, 
nor  was  it  known  how  the  enemy  had  disposed  of  their  killed — for  no 
grave  appeared  nor  many  trails  of  blood. 

The  party  with  Logan,  having  performed  the  last  solemn  duties  of  the 
field  and  no  frcsli  sign  of  the  Indians  being  seen,  it  was  marched  back 
to  Bryant  and  dismissed  to  the  number  of  450  men.  A  force  which  it  is 
believed  under  the  direction  of  Logan  had  it  come  up  before  the  battle 
or  been  waited  for  by  Colonel  Todd  and  his  party  would  have  certainly 
been  successful. 

Such  on  the  one  hand  is  the  effect  of  inconsiderate  rashness,  such 
on  the  other  the  ascendency  of  prudence,  over  the  afl'airs  of  men.  In 
nothing  is  this  observation  so  often  in  substance  made  more  frequently 
illustrated  than  in  war  and  battle.  What  indeed  is  fate  but  the  work  of 
men's  own  hands  hanging  on  means  of  their  own  choosing?  i^ 

1=^  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  I,  pp.  134-143. 


CHAPTER  XIV 
STATIONS  AND  EARLY  SETTLEMENTS  IN  KENTUCKY 

Adams'  (Geo.)  Station,  in  Garrard  County. 

Armstrong's  Station,  on  the  Indiana  shore,  in  Clark  County,  Indiana, 
at  the  mouth  of  I'ull  Creek,  opposite  Grassy  Flats,  and  i8-niile  Island 
bar,  in  the  Ohio  River,  i8  mil'es  above  Louisville.  A  blockhouse  was 
built  here  by  Col.  John  Armstrong,  in  1795  °r  179^.  to  prevent  the 
Indians  from  crossing  the  river  here,  where  it  was  fordable,  to  steal 
horses  from  Kentucky. ^ 

Arnold's  (John)  Station,  on  Little  Benson  Creek,  7  miles  above 
Frankfort;  1783. 

Arlington's  Station,  in  Southern  Kentucky;   1788. 

Asiiton's  Station;  mentioned  in  Boone's  Autobiography,  May,  1782; 
same  as  Estill's. 

A  'Sturgus'  Station  (1783),  on  llarrod's  trace,  in  Jefferson  County. 

Bailey's  Station,  in  Mason  County,  2^/2  miles  south  of  Maysville,  and 
I  mile  from  Washington;  settled  in  1791. 

Ballard's  (Bland)  Station,  in  Shelby  County;  usually  called  Tyler's. 

Bardstown,  in  Nelson  County,  established  1788;  called  Bairdstown. 

Barnett's  Station,  2  miles  from  Hartford,  Ohio  County;  settled  by  Col. 
Joseph  Barnett,  before  1790. 

Bell's  St.xtion,  in  Madison  County.     (See  p.  521,  \'ol.  II,  Collins.) 

Black's  Station,  before  December,  1794;  in  Fayette  County,  on  waters  of 
Clear  Creek. 

Blockhouse  on  Big  Sandy  River,  in  Johnson  Comity,  at  mouth  of  John's 
Creek.    This  was  Harman's  Station. 

Blue  Licks,  Lower.     (Sec  Lower  Blue  Licks.) 

Blue  Licks.  Upper.  In  Nicholas  County,  on  the  Licking  River.  The 
Upper  Lick  is  on  the  south  side  of  the  river  and  the  Lower  Lick  on 
the  north  bank,  or  the  east  bank,  as  the  river  there  flows  north  for 
some  distance.  In  a  direct  line  it  is  some  eight  miles  from  one  lick 
to  the  other,  and  by  the  course  of  the  river  some  fifteen  miles  or  more. 
They  were  discovered  in  July,  1773,  by  Major  John  Finley,  and  others 
from  the  Monongahela,  in  Pennsylvania.  The  land  on  which  is  the 
Upper  Lick  was  surveyed  July  26,  1773.  The  Lower  Lick  was  dis- 
covered some  days  later  by  some  surveyors  of  the  party,  when  the 
terms  "u])per"  and  "lower"  were  applied  to  distinguish  them. 

These  licks  were  not  fortified.  Stations  were  not  estal)lished  there. 
But  the  ])ioncers  went  to  these  springs  to  make  salt.  Daniel  Boone 
went  with  a  party  of  thirty  men  to  the  Lower  Blue  Lick  to  make  salt, 
January  i,  1778.  On  I'"ebruary  7,  while  out  hunting  he  was  captured  by 
the  Indians.  lie  induced  all  but  three  of  his  party  to  surrender — the 
three  having  been  sent  home  with  salt. 

On  the  19th  of  August,  1782,  the  battle  of  the  Lower  Blue  Lick 
was  fought.  The  Kentuckians  sustained  their  most  severe  defeat  in 
that  battle. 

Boii.i.vi;  Si'RiNG,  in  Mercer  County,  near  or  in  I  larrodsburg ;  in  1775; 
one  of  the  four  "settlements"  which  were  represented  in  tlie  Transyl- 
vania legislative  body  at  Boonesboro. 

1  Dillon's  History  of  Indiana  says  this  was  a  small  settlement  made  in  1795. 
History  of  Indiana  by  Goodrich  and  Tiittle  says  the  settlement  was  made  in  1796. 
Collins  had  the  date  between  1785  and  1790.  These  dates  were  changed  to  "1795  or 
1796"  to  conform  to  the  facts. 

200 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 


201 


Boone's  Cave.  On  Shawnee  Creek,  in  Mercer  County.  Daniel  Boone 
spent  the  winter  of  1769-70  in  this  cave.  In  1876  an  elm  tree  standing 
near  this  cave  still  bore  his  name. 

Boone's  (George)  Station,  2>^  miles  northwest  of  Richmond.  (See  p. 
521,  Vol.  II,  ColHns.) 

Boone's  Station;  same  as  Boonesboro. 

Boone's  Station,  on  Boone's  Creek,  in  Fayette  County,  about  10  miles 
southeast  of  Lexington  and  5  miles  northwest  from  Boonesboro; 
settled  by  and  named  after  Daniel  Boone  about  1783  or  '84.  Boone 
lived  there  until  he  removed  to  Maysville,  before  February  3,  1786. 

Boone's  (Squire)  Station;  called  Squire  Boone's  Station,  which  see. 

Boonesborough.  1775.  Was  in  what  is  now  Madison  County.  Its  site 
is  on  the  south  bank  of  the  Kentucky  River,  which  there  flows  be- 
tween Madison  and  Clark  counties.  It  is  some  two  miles  from  the 
Town  of  Ford,  in  Clark  County,  and  a  mile  and  a  quarter  below  the 
mouth  of  Otter  Creek,  which  runs  north  through  Madison  County. 
It  is  twelve  miles  from  Richmond,  and  nine  miles  from  Winchester. 


Block  House  of  Bryant's  Station 

Drawn  by  Miss  Jean  H.  McHenry  from  a  ground  plan  found  among  the 

papers  of  Gen.  George  Rogers  Clark  and  now  owned  by  R.  I.  Durrett 

It  is  about  twenty  miles  from  Lexington.  It  was  an  extensive  fort, 
and  was  erected  by  Col.  Richard  Henderson,  of  North  Carolina.  He 
began  its  construction  Aprfl'^22,  1775,  and  completed  it  about  the  middle 
of  June.  Daniel  Boone  had  erected  a  small  fort  near-by,  having  com- 
menced it  April  I,  but  it  never  was  completed.  Colonel  Henderson 
named  his  fort  Boonesborough  for  Daniel  Boone,  then  in  his  service, 
and  who  had  opened  a  road  through  Cumberland  Gap  and  by  Cumber- 
land Ford  to  the  site  of  Boonesborough,  the  seat  of  the  government  of 
Transylvania,  set  up  by  Henderson  and  his  associates.  It  did  not  be- 
come a  permanent  settlement. 

Bosley's  Station,  %  of  a  mile  above  the  main  fork  of  Wells'  Creek 
near  Washington,  Mason  County;  before  1793. 

Bowman's  Station,  6  miles  east  of  Harrodsburg;  settled  in  1779  by  30 
families  under  Col.  Abram  Bowman.  Colonel  Bowman  soon  after  re- 
moved to  Fayette  County. 

Brashears'  Station,  at  mouth  of  Floyd's  Fork,  in  Bullitt  County,  1779. 

Bryant  Station,  in  Fayette  County,  about  5  miles  northeast  of  Lexing- 
ton, on  the  southern  bank  of  the  north  fork  of  Elkhorn ;  settled  by 
the  Bryans  in  1779,  but  a  cabin  had  been  built  by  Joseph  Bryan,  a 
son-in-law  of  Col.  Daniel  Boone,  in  1776. 

Buchanan's  Station,  i  mile  west  of  Germantown,  Bracken  County, 
where  Geo.  Humlong  recently  lived  (1874). 


202 


HISTORY  UF  KENTUCKY 


Bullitt's  Lick,  on  north  side  S.ilt  River,  3  miles  from  Salt  River  and 
same  distance  from  Shepherdsville,  in  Bullitt  County ;  discovered  by 
Capt.  Thos.  Bullitt  in  1773;  the  only  place  where  salt  was  made  about 
the  Falls  in  1 780-1,  according  to  Bland  Ballard's  deposition. 

Burnt  Station,  on  or  near  Simpson's  Creek,  in  Nelson  County. 

Bush's  (\Vm.)  Station  or  Settlement,  in  Clark  County,  near  Boones- 
borough. 

Byne's  Station,  settled  by  Edmund  Bync,  on  North  Fork,  in  Mason 
County. 

Camp  Knox,  in  east  part  of  Green  County,  where,  in  June,  1770,  Col. 
Jas.  Knox,  with  22  men  (called  the  "I^nig  Hunters")  with  4  pack- 
horses,  encamped. 

Campbell's  Station,  on  the  Dry  Ridge,  in  now  Grant  County,  3  miles 
north  of  Williamslown,  and  33  miles  from  tlie  mouth  of  Licking; 
settled  some  time  before  1792. 

Cane  Run,  a  Presbyterian  meeting-house  in  1784,  in  (tiien)  Lincoln 
County. 


Settlement  on  Corn  Island,  Opposite  Louisville 

(From  an  Original    I'lan  in  Gen.  Clark's  Book  of   Surveys,  Dated 

May  27,  1778) 


Carpenter's  Station,  in  the  knobs  of  Green  River,  about  2  miles  west 
of  llustonville  in  Lincoln  County;  about  1780. 

Cartwright's  Station  ;  settled  in  1779. 

Casey's  (Col.  Wm.)  Station,  in  Lincoln  County,  3  miles  west  of  Stan- 
ford, and  7  miles  east  of  Danville,  on  ILinging  Fork  of  Dick's  River. 

Cassidy's  Station,  in  Mason  County;  settled  by  Michael  Cassidy. 

Clark's  Station,  on  Clark's  Run,  a  branch  of  Dick's  River;  settled  by 
Geo.  Clark  before  November,  1779. 

Clark's  Station,  in  Mason  County;  settled  in  1785. 

Clarksvili.e,  in  Indiana,  opposite  Louisville,  laid  out  bv  Gen.  Geo.  Rogers 
Clark. 

Clear's  Station,  in  Bullitt  County. 

Collins'  Station,  on  Rockcastle  River. 

Cooper's  Station,  on  Cooper's  Run,  in  Bourbon  County,  j  miles  from 
Kiser's. 

Corn  Island,  in  Ohio  River,  opposite  Louisville — where  Gen.  Geo. 
Rogers  Clark  built  a  fort  in  June,  1778,  and  raised  several  crops  of 
corn;  had  several  acres  of  rich  land;  now  (1874)  all  washed  away. 

Cox's  Station,  in  Nelson  County,  near  Kincheloe's  Station. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  203 

Crab  Orchard,  in  Lincoln  County,  12  miles  from  Lancaster,  and  10  miles 
from  Stanford,  on  the  old  pioneer  road  to  Cumberland  Gap. 

Craig's  Station,  on  Gilbert's  Creek,  a  few  miles  east  of  Lancaster,  Gar- 
rard County;  settled  by  Rev.  Lewis  Craig,  in  1780. 

Craig's  Station  (another)  in  Lincoln  County,  2  miles  east  of  Danville. 

Crew's  (David)  Station-,  in  Madisnn  County,  1781.  (See  p.  521,  \'ol.  U, 
Collins.) 

Crow's  Station,  in  then  Lincoln  County,  near  Danville;  settled  by  John 
Crow,  before  May,  1782. 

Curtis'  Station,  in  Mason  County.     (See  p.  555,  Vol.  II,  Collins.) 

Danville,  in  Boyle  County;  laid  off  as  a  town  by  Walker  Daniel,  1781. 

Daviess'  (James)  Station,  about  5  miles  west  of  Whitley's. 

Davis'  Station,  in  southern  Kentucky,  probably  in  Logan  or  Warren 
County. 

Dougherty's  Station,  in  Boyle  County,  on  Clark's  Run,  i}^  miles  be- 
low Danville. 

Dover  Station,  in  Garrard  County,  on  waters  of  Dick's  River. 

Dowdall's  Station,  on  Salt  River;  before  1784. 

Downing's  Station,  east  of  and  near  Dick's  River,  not  far  from  Dan- 
ville. 

Drennon's  Lick,  in  Henry  County,  near  Kentucky  River. 
^DuTCH   Station,  in  Jefferson   County,  on   Middle   Fork  of   Beargrass 
Creek;  1779  or  1780. 

Elk  Fork  of  Red  River,  in  Logan  County;  several  settlements  on,  1785. 

Elijah  Craig's  Station,  5  miles  from  Versailles;  1783. 

Ellis'  Station,  at  Ellisville,  Nicholas  County. 

English's  Station,  on  south  bank  of  Dick's  River,  in  Lincoln  County, 
3  miles  east  of  Crab  Orchard. 

Estill's  Station,  on  Muddy  Creek,  3  miles  south  of  Richmond,  in  Madi- 
son County;  settled  by  Capt.  James  Estill,  before  1781. 

Estill's  New  Station,  5  miles  southeast  of  Richmond.  (See  p.  521, 
Vol.  II,  Collins.) 

Falls  of  the  Ohio.  The  first  fort  was  built  on  Corn  Island,  opposite 
Louisville,  in  June,  1778;  in  the  fall  of  1778,  or  spring  of  1779,  a 
rude  stockade  was  raised  near  a  ravine  where,  in  1838,  Twelfth  Street 
in  Louisville  terminated  at  the  Ohio  River. 

Fe.-\gans'  Stations,  in  Mason  County,  13^  or  2  miles  east  of  German- 
town.  '■ 

Fif.lds'  (\\'m.)   Station,  i^/j  miles    west  of  Danville. 

Finn's  Station,  in  Jefferson  or  Spencer  County;  settled  before  1780. 

Finney,  Fort — original  name  of  Fort  where  lower  end  of  Jeffersonville, 
Indiana,  now  stands,  at  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio. 

Fisher's  (Stephen)  Garrison,  not  far  from  Danville. 

Fleming's  (Col.  John)  Station,  in  Fleming  County;  1790. 

Florer's  Station,  on  the  "middle  trace"  from  Maysville  to  Lexington, 
1792. 

Floyd's  Station,  first  at  the  mouth  of  Beargrass,  in  Louisville,  corner 
Third  Street  and  Murrell  Court,  near  Ohio  River,  1779. 

Floyd's  Station,  on  the  Middle  Fork  of  Beargrass  Creek,  6  miles  from 
the  Falls  of  the  Ohio;  settled  by  Col.  John  Floyd,  in  1779. 

Floyd's  Fork  Station,  in  Oldham  County,  near  Pewee  Valley,  18  miles 
east  of  Louisville. 

Forks  of  Dick's  River,  a  Presbyterian  preaching  place  in  1784,  in  now 
Lincoln  County. 

Forks  of  Elkhorn  Settlement,  in  Scott  County. 

FoNTAiNBLEAu,  about  3  miles  below  Harrodsburg,  on  the  bank  of  Salt 
River;  a  mill  was  built  here  at  a  very  early  day. 

Fox's  (Arthuer)  Station;  same  as  Washington. 

Garrard's  Station,  in  Hamilton  County,  Ohio,  on  Little  Miami ;  April, 
1796. 


204  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

Georgetown,  in  Scott  County,  formerly  McClelland's  Fort  (which  see). 

Gilmer's  Lick,  7  miles  from  Whitcly's  Station,  in  Lincoln  County. 

Gilmore's  Station,  12  miles  east  of  Mount  Sterling,  Montgomery 
County. 

GiVENs'  (Samuel)  St.mion,  i^  miles  southwest  of  Danville,  on  a  branch 
of  Clark's  Run;  settled  before  February,  1780;  afterwards  called  Jcilm 
Reed's  Station. 

Glover's  Station,  on  Green  River,  where  Grecnsburg  now  stands;  1780. 

Goar's  Station,  in  Franklin  County,  on  north  side  of  Elkhorn  Creek, 

Goodwin's  Station,  on  the  Rolling  Fork;  1780. 

Gordon's  Station;  1779;  in  Mercer  County. 

Grant's  Lick,  in  Campbell  County,  5  miles  from  Alexandria,  on  road 
to  Falmouth;  salt  made  there  before  1800. 

Grant's  Station,  settled  by  Col.  John  Grant,  in  1779,  who  abandoned 
it  in  1780,  and  moved  back  to  N.  Carolina,  returned  and  re-.settled  it 
in  1784 — within  5  miles  northeast  of  Bryant  Station,  near  where 
Lowe's  is,  on  Kentucky  Central  Railroad,  near  Fayette  a»d  Bourbon 
Line. 

Great  Crossings  Station,  in  Scott  County,  about  2  miles  west  of 
Georgetown ;  same  as  Colonel  Johnston's. 

Gkubb's  Station,  settled  by  Capt.  Iliggason  Grubbs,  on  Muddy  Creek, 
Madison  County,  before  October,  1792. 

Haggin's  Station.     See  Trigg's  Station. 

IIari'.eson's  Station,  probably  in  east  part  of  Washington  County,  on 
road  from  HarrodsI)urg  to  Bardstown. 

Hardinsburg,  County  seat  of  Breckinridge  County,  originally  a  station 
erected  by  Captain  Hardin;  laid  out  as  a  town  in  1782. 

Hardin's  Station,  same  as  Hardinsburg  above. 

Harlan's  Station,  on  Salt  River,  in  Mercer  County,  7  miles  southeast 
from  Harrodsbnrg  and  3  miles  southwest  Of  Danville;  built  by  Major 
Silas  Harlan,  in  1778. 

Harman's  Station,  founded  by  Matthias  Harman,  in  1787,  at  the  mouth 
of  John's  Creek  on  the  Big  Sandy  River  in  what  is  now  JohiKon 
County. 

Harrison's  Station,  2  miles  from  Higgins'  Fort,  about  3  miles  from 
Cynthiana,  in  Harrison  County;  before  1786. 

Harrod's  Station,  6  miles  east  of  Harrodsburg,  in  Mercer  County,  on 
the  present  road  to  Danville,  settled  by  Col.  James  Ilarrod. 

Harrod's  Town,  or  Harrodsburg  Station,  where  Harrodsburg  now 
stands  in  Mercer  County;  settled  by  James  Harrod,  in  1774.  The 
F'ort — located  on  the  hill  which,  in  1834,  was  occupied  by  the  Seminary 
Building,  and  which  included  a  considerable  spring  of  water  at  its 
foot — was  begun  during  the  winter  of  1775-6,  but  not  finished  until 
the  ensuing  season.  Lands  in  this  region  surveyed  by  tlie  McAfee 
Company  from  Botetourt  County,  Va.,  in  1773.  James  Harrod,  with 
thirty-one  men  came  down  the  Ohio  from  the  Monongahela  Country 
of  I'ennsylvania  in  May,  1774.  Landed  at  Limestone  (now  Mays- 
ville)  and  went  into  the  interior.  His  ])rincipal  camp  was  made  some 
three  hundred  feet  below  the  great  s])ring,  afterwards  known  as  the 
Town  Spring,  under  an  elm  tree  which  was  standing  in  1876.  He 
laid  out  the  town.  Each  settler  was  to  have  a  lot  containing  half  an 
acre,  and  an  out-lot  of  five  acres.  Town  named  Harrodstown.  Later 
it  was  called  Oldtown,  from  having  been  the  first  in  the  State.  When 
it  became  a  growing  settlement,  it  was  named  Harrodsburg. 

Hart's,  or  White  Oak  Spring  Station,  i  mile  above  Boonesboro,  in 
same  Kentucky  River  bottom,  in  Madison  County;  settled  in  1779, 
by  Nathaniel  Hart,  and  some  families  from  I'ennsylvania. 

Harti'okd  .Station,  where  Hartford,  Ohio  County,  is;  before  1790. 

Hazel  Patch,  on  the  Cumberland  Gap  Road,  in  Laurel  County. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  205 

Helm's,  Haycraft's  and  Hynes'  Stations.  Settled  by  Capt.  Thos. 
Helm,  in  1780,  on  the  spot  now  occupied  by  the  late  Gov.  John  L. 
Helm's  residence;  the  2d,  named  after  Samuel  Haycraft,  was  on  the 
hill  above  the  cave  spring;  while  Hynes',  settled  by  Col.  Andrew 
Hynes,  occupied  the  other  angle  of  a  triangle  where  Elizabethtown 
now  stands ;  they  were  one  mile  apart. 

HiGGiNs'  Blockhouse,  on  bank  of  Licking,  ij4  miles  above  Cynthiana, 
Harrison  County,  opposite  mouth  of  Sellers'  Run;  before  1786. 

Hinkston's  Station,  in  Harrison  County,  on  South  Licking,  i]^  miles 
above  Higgins'  Blockhouse,  and  a  short  distance  below  Hinkston 
Creek;  was  first  settled  by  Isaac  Ruddle  and  others,  and  called  Rud- 
dle's Station  until  "taken  by  the  Indian"  in  1780;  when  re-settled, 
afterwards,  it  was  oftenest  called  Hinkston's  after  John  Hinkston,  the 
most  prominent  of  the  re-settlers. 

Hobson's  Choice,  the  camping  ground  of  General  Wayne,  in  1793,  on 
the  Ohio  River,  below  (now  in)  the  City  of  Cincinnati — the  very 
spot  now  occupied  by  the  gas  works,  but  reaching  above  and  below 
that. 

Hogaland's  Station,  in  JelTerson  County,  on  Beargrass;  1780,  prob- 
ably ;  but  exact  date  unknown. 

Holder's  (John)  Station,  on  Kentucky  River,  2  miles  below  Boones- 
borough. 

Hood's  Station,  in  Clark  County;  before  1792. 

Hoy's  Station,  in  Madison  County. 

Huston's  Station,  1776,  the  present  site  of  Paris,  Bourbon  County. 

Irish  Station,  in  Nicholas  County,  5  or  6  miles  south  of  Lower  Blue 
Lick,  on  road  to  Millersburg. 

Irvine's  Station,  near  where  Richmond  now  stands,  in  Madison  County ; 
established  by  Col.  Wm.  Irvine  and  his  brother,  Capt.  Christopher 
Irvine,  In  1778  or  1779. 

Jefferson  Fort,  in  Ballard  County,  on  the  Mississippi  River,  about  5 
miles  below  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio ;  established  by  Gen.  George  Rogers 
Clark,  within  the  Chickasaw  country  in  1780 ;  abandoned  or  evacuated 
in  the  spring  of  1781,  because  it  afiforded  no  security  to  the  Western 
settlements. 

Johnson's  (Col.  Robert)  St.\tion,  at  the  Great  Buffalo  Crossings  on 
North  Elkhorn,  in  Scott  County;  settled  in  winter  of  1783-84. 

Kellar's  Station,  in  Jefferson  County;  on  Beargrass  Creek;  before 
1780,  probably,  but  exact  date  not  known. 

Kenton's  Station,  3  miles  south  of  Limestone,  now  Maysville,  and  i 
mile  north  of  W'ashington,  in  Mason  County;  settled  by  Simon  Ken- 
ton, in  1784. 

Kenton's  (John)  Station,  half  mile  southeast  of  Washington,  Mason 
County. 

Kenton's  (Simon)  Station;  several  blockhouses  built  by  Simon  Ken- 
ton, who  brought  to  them  from  Pennsylvania  his  father's  family,  and 
remained  with  them  until  July,  1784. 

Kennedy's  Station,  in  Garrard  County,  between  Paint  Lick  Creek  and 
Dick's  River. 

Kilgore's  St.ation,  in  1782,  north  of  Cumberland  River,  on  south  side 
of  Red  River ;  attacked  by  Indians,  same  year,  and  broken  up.  Prob- 
ably in  southern  part  of  Logan  County  near  state  line  or  may  be  in 
Tennessee. 

Kincheloe's  Station,  on  Simpson's  Creek,  in  Spencer  County. 

Knob  Lick,  in  Lincoln  County,  5  miles  south  of  Danville;  settled  in  1776, 
by  Isaac  Shelby. 

Kuykendahl's  (Moses)  Station  (1782),  in  Jefferson  County,  on 
waters  of  Harrod's  Creek. 

Leach's  Station,  in  Bracken  County. 


206  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

Lee's  Station,  in  Mason  County,  between  Maysville  and  Washington; 

settled  by  Gen.  Henry  Lee,  in  1785,  and  still  (1874)  the  home  of  his 

descendants. 
Leestown,  on  east  bank  of  Kentucky  River,  i  mile  below  Frankfort — 

settled  in  1776,  by  Hancock  Lee,  Cyrus  McCracken  (father  of  Capt. 

Virgil  McCracken,  after  whom  McCracken  County  was  named)  and 

others^who  raised  cabins  there. 
Leitch's  St.ation,  about  6  miles  above  the  mouth  of   Licking,  on  the 

east  bank,  in  now  Campbell  County;  settled  in   1790  by  Maj.  David 

Leitch    (after  whom  Leitchfield,  Grayson  County,  was  named). 
Lewis'  Station,  re-settled  by  Geo.  Lewis  in  1789,  formerly  called  Geo. 

Clark's  Station — where  Lewisburg  now  is,  in  Lewis  County,  9  miles 

from  Maysville. 
Lexington,  on  the  Town  Fork  of  Elkliorn,  in  Fayette  County;  settled 

by  Col.  Robert  Patterson,  April  i,  1779. 
Liberty  Fort,  on  Salt  River  in  Mercer  County,  ^4  '"''e  below  McAfee's 

Station. 
Licking  Station,  in  Harrison  County,  probably  near  Lair's  or  may  be 

nearer  to  Cynthiana. 
Licking  Station,  on  the  Licking  River,  one  mile  below  the  town  of 

Salyersville,    in    what    is    now    Magoffin    County.      Now    known    as 

Gardner's   Hill.      Built   about    1796   by   Archibald    Prather,    Ebenzer 

Hanna  and  others,  from  South  Carolina. 
Limestone.     (See  Maysville.) 
Linn's   Station,  on   Middle   Fork  of   Beargrass,   in   Jefferson   County, 

about  10  miles  from  I^ouisville ;  before  1780. 
Littell's  Station,  in  Pendleton  County,  on  Fork  Lick,  a  west  branch 

of  South  Licking,  into  which  it  empties  just  below  Callensville    (or 

Morgan's,  on  Kentucky  Central  Railroad). 
Littell's  Station,  now  the  site  of  Williamstown,  Grant  County;  settled 

before  1792. 
The  Little  Fort;  same  as  Twetty's;  1775. 
Lindsay's  Station,  in  Scott  County,  near  Lecompt's  Run. 
Locust  Thicket  Fort,  in  Madison  County;  before  1780. 
Logan's  Fort,  same  as  St.  Asaph ;  i  mile  west  of  Stanford,  in  Lincoln 

Coimty;  settled  by  Col.  Benj.  Logan,  in  1775. 
Louisville,   at  the   Falls  of   the   Ohio,   in  Jefferson   County ;   laid  off 

as  a  town  by  Capt.  Thos.  Bullitt,  in  August,  1773;  the  first  settlement 

was  on  Corn  Island,  near  the  Kentucky  shore,  in  the  spring  of  1778; 

in  the  fall  of  that  year,  a  blockhouse  was  built  on  the  main  shore,  and 

in  1782  a  larger  fort  called  Fort  Nelson. 
Loudon's  Station,  30  miles  from  mouth  of  Kentucky  River,  probably 

in  Henry  County. 
Lynch's  Station,  near  Shelbyville ;  same  as  Squire  Boone's. 
Lower  Blue  Licks,  in  Nicholas  County,  in  sight  of  where  the  Mays- 
ville and   Lexington   turnpike   crosses   Licking   River;   discovered    in 

1773-     (See  Blue  Licks.) 
James  McFee's  Station,  on  the  bank  of  Salt  River,  6  or  7  miles  below 

Harrodsburg,  and  northwest   from  it;   first  cabin  built   in    1774,  and 

more  settlers  came  in  1775. 
McAfee's  Station,  in  Mercer  County,  6  or  7  miles  from  Harrodsburg. 

on  Salt  River,  and  about  ^4  of  a  mile  above  Providence  Church ;  set- 
tled by  the  McAfee  brothers,  in  1779. 
William  McAfee's  Station,  on  Shawnee  Run,  about  i  mile  west  from 

Harrodsburg,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Town  Branch. 
Manchester,  or  Massie's  Station,   12  miles  above  Maysville,  on  the 

north  bank  of  tlie  Ohio  River. 
.Mann's  Lick,  a  salt  station  before  1786,  on  south  side  of  and  close  to 

Salt  River,  in  Bullitt  Coimty,  a  few  miles  from  Shepherdsville. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  207 

Marble  Creek  Station,  7  miles  from  Boonesborough. 

Martin's  Station,  established  by  John  Martin  (who  built  a  cabin  in 
I775)>  5  niiles  from  Ruddle's  Station,  on  Stoner,  about  3  miles  below 
Paris  in  Bourbon  County,  settled  in  1779. 

Masterson's  (James)  Station,  5  miles  northwest  of  Lexington.  The 
first  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  building  in  Kentucky  was  erected 
here — a  plain  log  structure — in  1790,  or  earlier;  and  in  1871  was  still 
standing. 

Maulding's  St.^tion,  established  in  1780,  on  Red  River,  in  Logan 
County. 

May's  Lick  Settlement,  at  Mayslick,  Mason  County,  east  of  Washing- 
ton. 

Maysville,  on  the  Ohio  River  at  the  mouth  of  Limestone  Creek,  in 
Mason  County;  settled  in  17S4;  blockhouse  built  by  Edward  Waller, 
John  Waller  and  George  Lewis,  of  Virginia. 

McClelland's  Fort  or  Station,  where  Georgetown  now  stands,  in  Scott 
County,  settled,  in  1776,  by  John,  Alex,  and  Wm.  McClelland,  and 
their  (families)  and  other  families  from  Hinckston's  Station  and 
Drennon's  Lick. 

McCoN Nell's  Station,  settled  by  Wm.  McConnell  in  1783  or  earlier,  at 
the  royal  spring  near  (now  in)  Lexington;  was  not  so  fortified  as 
to  be  regarded  as  a  regular  station,  and  was  soon  merged  in  Lex- 
ington. 

McCormick's  Station,  on  top  of  first  ridge  north  or  northwest  of 
Knobb  Lick  Fork  of  Hanging  Fork  of  Dick's  River. 

McFadden's  Station,  4  miles  above  Bowling  Green,  on  Big  Barren 
River,  in  Warren  County;   settled   by  Andrew   McFadden,   in    1785. 

McGary^s  (Maj.  Hugh)  Station,  in  Mercer  County,  at  the  head  spring 
on  Shawnee  Run,  5  miles  northeast  from  Harrodsburg. 

McGee's  Station,  or  Cove  Spring,  on  Cooper's  Run,  in  southeast  part 
of  Fayette  County,  on  or  near  Tate's  Creek,  road  from  Lexington 
to  Richmond;  sometimes  called  "Old  Station;"  settled  before  1780. 

McGuire's  Station,  same  as  McGee's ;  so  called,  sometimes,  because 
James  McGuire  was  prominent  there  in  1780. 

McKinley's  Block  House,  on  the  old  buflfalo  trace  south  of  ^^'ashing- 
ton.  Mason  County,  where  David  Hunter  lived  in  1873;  built  by  Jas. 
McKinJey  in  1785. 

McKixxey's  Station,  settled  by  .Archibald  McKinney  before  1792;  in 
Lincoln  County,  on  McKinney's  Branch,  of  Hanging  Fork,  about  2 
miles  from  Green  River,  9  miles  southwest  from  Stanford  and  about 
4  miles  northeast  of  Hustonville. 

McMillin's  Fort,  in  Bourbon  or  Harrison  County;  1779. 

Meaux's  Station,  probably  in  Boyle  or  Mercer  County;  1789. 

Meek's  Station,  on  the  waters  of  Drennon's  Lick,  20  miles  from  the 
Ohio  Rivtt-  at  the  mouth  of  18  Miles  Creek. 

Mefford's  (Geo.)  Station,  2>^  miles  south  of  Maysville,  Mason 
County;  1787. 

Middle  Station,  in  Jefferson  County;  before  1787.  Doubt  as  to  exact 
date  and  location. 

Miller's  St.^tion,  settled  in  1784  by  John  Miller,  about  i  mile  from 
Hinkston  Creek  towards  Blue  Licks,  and  i  mile  northeast  of  Millers- 
burg. 

Mills'  Station,  supposed  to  be  in  Greenup,  or  Lewis  County;  Wm. 
Thompson,  of  White  Oak,  Greenup  County,  who  died  May  7,  1868, 
aged  "j-j,  settled  there  in  1790,  with  his  father. 

Montgomer\'^s  Station,  in  Lincoln  County,  on  the  headwaters  of  Green 
River,  12  miles  southwest  from  Logan's  Fort,  25^  miles  from  Pettit's 
Station;  settled  by  Wm.  Montgomery  (the  father-in-law  of  General 
Logan)  and  sons,  in  1780. 


208 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 


Morgan's  Station,  on  Slate  Creek,  7  miles  east  of  Mount  Sterling,  in 
what  is  now  Bath  County;  settled  before  1793. 

Mud  Garrison,  where  Shepherdsville  now  stands,  in  Bullitt  County,  mid- 
way between  Bullitt's  Lick  and  the  I-'alls  of  Salt  River ;  settled  in, 
or  before,  1778. 

Muddy  River  Licks,  north  of  Russellville,  in  Logan  and  Butler  counties; 
settlements  between  1780  and  1784. 

Nelson,  Fort,  in  Louisville,  corner  Seventh  Street  and  Ohio  River. 

New  Holland,  in  Jefferson  County;  before  1784.  Some  doubt  as  to 
both  date  and  location. 

Nonsensk,  Fort,  in  Bullitt  County. 

Old  Town,  a  name  by  which  Harrodsburg  was  known  at  an  early  day. 

Old  Town,  in  Greenup  County,  the  scene  of  a  great  battle  of  Indians. 

Owen's  (Bracket)  Station,  near  Shelbyville;  1782. 

OwiNGs'  Station,  on  road  from  I^xington  to  Paris. 

Paint  Lick  Station,  in  Garrard  County,  near  Madison  County  Line. 


View  Fort  Nelson,  1782 

Painted  Stone,  some  doubt  as  to  its  locality,  but  believed  to  be  another 
name  for  Squire  Boone's  Station  on  Clear  Creek,  near  Shelbyville, 
Shelby  County ;  certainly  Squire  Boone's  military  headquarters  in 
June,  1780. 

Paris,  formerly  Houston's  Station,  in  Bourbon  County ;  established  in 
1780  under  the  name  of  Hopewell,  afterwards  called  Bourbonton,  and 
finally  Paris. 

Pettit's  Station,  in  Lincoln  County,  zYi  miles  from  Montgomery's 
Station,  on  the  headwaters  of  Green  River,  and  16  miles  southeast 
from  Logan's  Fort. 

Phillips'  Fort,  in  I.-arue  County,  on  north  side  of  Nolin  Creek,  V/i 
miles  from  Hodgenville;  settled  by  Phillip  Phillips,  1780-1. 

Pitt.man's  Station,  in  Green  County,  on  the  right  bank  of  Green  River, 
near  the  mouth  of  Pittman's  Creek,  5  miles  west  of  Grecnsburg;  set- 
tled in  fall  of  1779  or  spring  of  1780. 

Pond  Station,  in  McLean  County,  4  miles  southwest  of  Calhoun;  1790. 

Poplar  Level,  in  Jefferson  County;  l)efore  17S4. 

Port  William,  now  Carrollton,  in  Carroll  County,  at  the  mouth  of  Ken- 
tucky River;  laid  out  in  1792;  a  blockhouse  built  in  1786-1787  by 
Captain  Elliston. 

Reed's  (John)  Station,  near  Danville;  same  as  Givens'. 

Redstone  Fort,  now  Brownsville,  in  Southwest  Pennsylvania,  on  the 
Monongahela  River;  the  most  frequent  point  where  emigrants  from 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  209 

Pennsylvania  and  the  east,  and  many  from  Virginia  and  Maryland, 

took  navigation  for  Kentucky. 
Rogers'  Station,  in  Nelson  County,  near  the  Beech  Fork;  1780. 
Rogers'  Stations  (another),  towards  Strode's  Station,  in  Clark  County. 
Ruddle's  Station,  on  east  bank  of  South  Fork  of  Licking  River,  3  miles 

below  the  junction  of  Hinkston  and  Stoner's  branches  about  7  miles 

from  Paris,  in  Bourbon  County;  settled  in  1777  by  Isaac  Ruddle;  cap- 
tured by  the  Indians  and  destroyed  in  1780;  rebuilt  by  John  Hinkston 

and  others,  and  called  Hinkston's  Station. 
RussELLViLLE,  in  Logan  County;  settled  in  1780. 

St.  Asaph,  or  Logan's  Fort,  in  Lincoln  County,  i  mile  west  of  Stan- 
ford ;  in  1775. 
Salt  River  Garrison;  before  1780. 
Sandusky's  Station,  on  Pleasant  Run,  in  Washington  County ;  settled 

by  James  Sandusky  or  Sodowsky  in  1776;  in  1786  or  '87  he  removed 

to  Cane  Ridge,  in  Bourbon  County  and  settled  another  station,  which 

was  probably  known  by  the  name  of  Cane  Ridge. 
Scott's   (John)    Station,  sV^   miles  northeast  of   Cynthiana,  Harrison 

County. 
Scrivner's  Station,  in  Madison  County. 
Shallow-Ford  Station,  in  Madison  County. 
Skaggs'  Station,  on  Brush  Creek,  in  Green  County;  about  1781. 
Slate  Blockhouse,  at  the  old  Slate  Furnace ;  in  Bath  County ;  about 

1788. 
Smith's  Station,  on  road  from  Danville  to  mouth  of  Dick's  River. 
Spring    Station,   in   Jefferson    County;   between    Floyd's    Station   and 

Louisville;  in  1784. 
Station  Camp  Creek,  in  Jackson  and  Estill  counties. 
Squire  Boone's  Station,  in  Shelby  County,  near  where  Shelby ville  now 

stands,  on  Clear  Creek,  a  branch  of  Brashears'  Creek;  settled  in  1780, 

or  before. 
Stations  on  Beargrass  Creek;  Six  in   1780;  with  a  population  of  600 

men. 
Steuben,  Fort,  at  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio  in  1790;  originally  called  Fort 

Finney,  now  Jeffersonville,  Indiana. 
Stevenson's  Station,  on  Paint  Lick  Creek,  probably  in  Garrard  County. 
Stockton's  (Geo.)  Station,  in  siglit  of  Flemingsburg,  Fleming  County; 

in  1787. 
Strode's  Station,  2  miles  from  Winchester,  in  Clark  County;  in  1779. 
Stroud's  Station,  in  Mason  County ;  on  the  North  Fork  of  Licking, 

at   the   mouth   of    Stroud's    Run,   in    1785.      More   correctly    written 

Strode. 
Sturgus'  Station,  in  Jefferson  County;  in  or  before  1784.    Now  spoken 

of  as  A'Sturgus  Station. 
Sullivan's  Station,  in  Jefferson  County,  on  Beargrass;  1780. 
Sullivan's  Old  Station,  before   1780,  in  Jefferson  County;   5  miles 

southeast  of  Louisville,  on  the  Bardstown  Road.     Elisha  Applegate, 

still  living  in  November,  1872,  was  born  there  in  1781. 
Sullivan's  New  Station,  in  Jefferson  County;  before  1784. 
Sullivan's  (Daniel)  Station,  in  Jefferson  County;  before  1784. 
Summit  Station,  in  Nicholas  County,  12  miles  from  Lower  Blue  Licks. 
Tanner's  Station,  where  Petersburg  now  is,  in  Boone  County;  1785. 
Tanner's  (John)  Station,  6  miles  northwest  of  Richmond. 
Tanner's  Station,  at  Lower  Blue  Licks;  November,  1784. 
Taylor's  Creek  Station,  was  probably  in  Campbell  County,  on  Taylor's 

Creek.     The  Cincinnati  Sentinel  of  the  North-West,  March  12,  1796, 

says  John  Campbell  lived  there. 
Thompson's   Station,  settled  by   Robert   Thompson   in    1790;   on   the 

Middle  Fork  of  Elkhorn,  3  miles  below  Lexington,  in  Fayette  County. 
Todd's  Station,  in  Jessamine  County,  not  far  from  Keene,  and  about 

Vol.  1—18 


210  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

lo  miles  southwest  from  [.exington ;  settled  by  Levi  Todd  in  1779, 
wiio  afterwards  removed  to  Lexington  as  a  place  of  greater  safety. 

Trig(;'s  Station,  4  miles  northeast  of  Harrodsburg,  in  Mercer  County, 
on  Cane  Run,  4  miles  from  its  mouth  at  Dick's  River;  settled  in  1780 
by  Col.  Stephen  Trigg,  and  called  \'iney  Grove,  because  of  the  num- 
ber of  large  grapevines.  John  Haggin  lived  there,  and  it  was  some- 
times called  Haggin's  Station. 

Tvvetty's  Fort,  the  first  fort  in  Kentucky,  5  miles  south  ui  Richmond; 

1775- 

Tyler's  Station,  named  after  Capt.  Robert  lyler;  on  Tick  Creek,  4 
miles  east  of  Shelbyville. 

Uppicr  Bluk  Licks,  on  Licking  River,  in  Nicholas  County,  12  miles  from 
Flemingsburg  and  18  miles  from  Carlisle. 

Vance's  Station,  on  Green  River,  15  miles  from  its  mouth;  before 
April,  1780. 

Vancouver's  (Charles)  Fort,  in  forks  of  Big  Sandy  River;  settled  in 
1789,  but  abandoned  in  1790. 

VaNiMeter's  (Jacob)  Fort,  in  Hardin  County;  before  1790. 

Vienna  Station,  in  McLean  County,  at  the  falls  of  Green  River;  now 
Calhoun. 

\'iNEv  Grove.    (See  Trigg's  Station.) 

Waddington's,  a  mistake  for  Worthington's  Station,  which  see. 

Waring's  Station,  in  Mason  County,  nearly  2  miles  from  Maysville, 
a  short  distance  west  of  Lexington  turn])ike ;  settled,  February,  1785, 
by  Col.  Thos.  Waring. 

Warner's  Station,  on  Otter  Creek,  in  Madison  County. 

Warren's  (Thos.)  Station,  in  Madison  County. 

Washington,  in  Mason  County,  3^.  miles  southwest  of  Maysville;  set- 
tled by  Simon  Kenton  in  1784;  laid  out  as  a  town  in  1786,  by  Rev. 
Wm.  Wood  and  Arthur  Fox,  sen. 

Wells'  Station,  in  west  part  of  Mason  County. 

Wells'  (Samuel)  Station,  33/'  miles  northwest  of  Shelbyville. 

Whaley's  Station,  in  Mason  County. 

Wiiippoorwii.l  Creek,  Logan  Comity;  settlement  in  1784,  by  the 
Mauldings. 

Wiiitaker's  Station,  in  Bullitt  County;  settled  by  Capt.  Aquilla  Whit- 
aker,  the  hero  of  the  fight  at  the  foot  of  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio,  on 
March  i,  1781. 

White  Oak  Spring  (or  Hart's)  Station.     (See  Hart's  Station.) 

Whitley's  Station,  in  Lincoln  County,  2  miles  southwest  of  Crab 
Orchard.  "In  1779,  they  found  Col.  W^m.  Whitley's  Station  at  Dick's 
River,  on  the  Kentucky  trace  from  Cumberland  Gap."  On  the  spot 
still  stands  a  two-sfory  brick  house — claimed  to  be  the  first  brick 
house  huill  in  Kentucky ;  the  windows  are  set  over  six  feet  above  the 
floor,  to  prevent  the  Indians  seeing  or  shooting  into  the  room. 
The  following  letter  was  written  to  Col.  H.  C.  Whitley,  Emporia, 
Kansas,  from  whom  Mr.  Connelley  obtained  it.  It  is  of  interest  and 
historical  value.]  "I  will  write  you  the  verses  that  are  on  the  Powder 
Horn.    They  were  his  sentiments.    He  was  always  making  rhymes. 

Wm.  Whitley  I  am  your  Horn, 
The  truth  I  love,  a  I.ie  I  scorn, 
Fill  me  with  best  of  powder 
I'll  make  your  Rifle  crack  the  louder. 
See  how  the  dread  terrific  Ball 
Make  Indians  bleed  and  Tories   fall 
You  with  Powder  I'll  supi)ly 
For  to  defend  your  Liberty. 
Cfil.  William  A\'hitley's  Horn  it  holds  two  pounds  of  Powder. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  211 

Crab  Orchard  Nov. 
Mr.  H.  C.  Whitley 
My  dear  Sir: 

Mr.  H.  Bright  give  me  your  address.  I  have  been  for  sometime 
hunting  up  the  Whitleys  and  Shanks  families.  My  Father's  name  was 
William  Whitley.  i\Iy  Mother's  Polly  Shanks.  I  want  to  find  out  if 
you  are  related  to  Col.  Wm.  Whitley,  my  grandpa.  His  Father,  Solomon 
Whitley,  came  from  Ireland.  He  married  Elizabeth  Barnet  in  Ireland. 
Went  to  Virginia.  My  Grandpa  was  born  in  Va.,  in  Augusta  County, 
Aug.  14th  1749.  He  married  Esther  Fuller.  They  were  ones  of  the 
first  settlers  in  Ky.  They  come  here  in  1773;  had  two  children  then. 
Grandma  lived  in  Fort  Nine  years.  Grandpa  [was]  an  Indian  fighter. 
As  soon  as  the  Indians  got  friendly  he  took  up  land  &  built  [a  house] 
near  Crab  Orchard.  He  built  the  first  brick  house  in  Kentucky.  It  is  in 
good  preservation ;  had  an  earthquake  that  cracked  one  end.  A  great 
many  persons  go  to  see  it,  13  States  there  has  the  Eagles  head  with 
the  Olive  branch  in  its  mouth  to  represent  the  States,  on  each  step  in  the 
Hall  stairway.  Grandpa  was  in  nineteen  Battles  and  killed,  the  day 
Tecumseh  was  killed.  He  killed  Tecumseh.  He  always  loaded  his  gun 
with  two  Bullets  he  was  Shot  with  a  gun  that  was  loaded  with  two 
bullets,  5th  day  [of]  October,  1814.  I  expect  he  was  a  kin  to  your 
Father,  a  brother  or  cousin.  I  would  like  to  know  what  kin  he  is  to  you, 
or  if  he  has  other  relatives,  and  where  they  are.  I  have  neglected  to 
ask  all  of  my  Whitley  kin  if  he  had  brothers  &  where  they  lived  & 
brothers  sons  and  daughters.  I  want  you  to  write  me  all  about  them. 
There  is  a  Mr.  Whitley  in  Va.,  a  Preacher.  A  Mrs.  Langstafif  of  Memphis 
has  been  writing  to  me.  She  says  her  Mother  was  Polly  Whitley.  Her 
Mother's  Father's  name  was  Raiford  Whitley.  I  don't  know  anything 
about  him.  He  may  [be]  a  nephew  of  my  Grandpa's.  I  want  to  know 
all  about  them.  My  Grandpa  had  eleven  Children ;  three  sons,  William, 
Solomon,  and  Andrew.  They  are  all  dead.  I  have  my  Grandpa's  Gun 
&  Powder  Horn  &  Indian  Belt.  It  is  beaded;  the  one  that  killed  Tecumseh 
— the  gun.  Please  write  me  all  about  the  Whitley's.  They  were  honest 
upright  people.  I  loved  them  all  devotedly.  I  am  the  only  one  of  my  Pa's 
family  living.  I  expect  you  and  I  are  related.  Hope  to  hear  from  you 
soon.  Trusting  God  will  bless  you  and  your  family  in  all  of  your  busi- 
ness and  that  you  may  do  all  you  can  to  further  the  blessed  word  of  God 
and  that  you  are  of  the  blessed  ones  on  earth.  Accept  my  kindest  regards 
for  yourself  &  family 

Sallie  Ann  Higgin  :. 

My  address  is  Sallie  Ann  Higgins 

Lincoln  County  Crab  Orchard  Kentucky." 

Wildernes.s,  the  great  traveled  road  from  Virginia  to  Kentucky,  through 
Cumberland  Gap.  Hazel  Patch,  Crab  Orchard,  and  Stanford,  to  Dan- 
ville and  Central  Kentucky. 

Williams'  (David)  Station,  6  miles  northeast  from  Harrodsburg. 

Wilson's  Station,  in  Mercer  County,  on  a  branch  of  Salt  River,  2  miles 
northwest  of  Harrodsburg. 

Wilson's  Station  (another),  in  Lincoln  County,  at  the  fork  of  Clark's 
Run;  1785. 

Woods'  (John)  Station,  in  Madison  County. 

Worthington's  Station  or  Fort,  in  Lincoln  County,  4  miles  southeast  of 
Danville ;_ settled  in  1779,  by  Capt.  Edward  Worthington.  (Compiled 
from  various  sources,  but  principally  from  the  History  of  Kentucky 
by  Richard  H.  Collins.) 


CHAPTER  XV 

INSTITUTIONAL  DEVELOPMENT :  LAND  SYSTEM, 
COUNTIES.  TOWNS 

The  early  pioneers  who  came  to  Kentucky  to  settle  were  not 
characterized  by  a  conspicuous  regard  or  concern  for  land  laws.  It  was 
enough  to  know  that  good  land  could  be  reached ;  and  it  was  regarded 
as  sufficient  to  be  able  to  hold  what  had  been  taken.  The  first  surveys, 
which  were  made  during  the  summer  of  1773,  bore  no  relation  to  the 
great  majority  of  the  settlers  who  were  soon  to  follow,  as  these  early 
surveyors  were  carrying  out  the  promise  made  in  the  proclamation  formerly 
issued  by  the  governor  of  \'irginia  to  stimulate  recruiting  for  the  French 
and  Indian  \\'ar.'  The  first  pioneers  who  came  in  to  take  possession  of 
the  rich  lands,  which  Boone  and  other  pioneer  hunters  had  visited  and 
described  to  the  people  east  of  the  mountains,  were  not  coming  primarily 
to  satisfy  promises  made  by  early  governors.  Fertile  and  unoccupied 
lands  existed,  which  they  would  have.  Harrod  and  his  company  entered 
Kentucky  in  1774,  soon  followed  by  a  smaller  group  under  Hite.  The 
next  year  Henderson  began  the  evolution  of  his  ambitious  scheme  of  a 
new  colony.  Surveys  were  made  regardless  of  the  existence  of  V'irginia 
laws  or  the  absence  of  them.  Henderson's  plan  contemplated  a  ruling 
power  which  would  assume  among  its  duties  the  sale  of  lands  to  in- 
dividuals. But  this  authority  was  not  heeded  by  all  who  were  hungering 
for  land  in  Kentucky.  Many  began  to  settle  down  on  good  tracts  of 
land  on  no  authority  but  their  own. 

Within  a  year  after  these  first  settlements  had  begun,  there  were  in 
existence  three  classes  of  land  claims.  The  surveyors,  who  had  been 
laying  out  lands  due  the  veterans  of  the  French  and  Indian  War,  had 
set  up  regular  valid  claims  according  to  Virginia  law.  The  Transylvania 
Company  had  been  carrying  on  surveys  for  its  adherents  and  prospective 
settlers.  And  there  was  a  third  class  of  claims,  nondescript  and  irregular, 
but  nevertheless  the  holdings  of  pioneers  who  had  braved  many  dangers 
to  settle  upon  them.  In  June,  1776,  Virginia  announced  by  resolution  a 
policy  of  leniency  and  preference  for  those  who  were  actually  in  possession 
of  lands.  This  policy  was  enacted  into  a  law  in  the  following  year, 
providing  that  all  who  were  in  possession  of  land  before  June  24,  1776 
(the  date  of  the  resolution),  should  be  entitled  to  400  acres.2  This  gave 
a  valid  basis  for  all  claimants  to  stand  on  whether  they  had  received 
surveys  of  the  disputed  Transylvania  Company  lands,  or  whether  thev 
had  squatted  on  the  land  without  authority  from  any  source. 

In  1779  a  general  land  law  was  passed  which  sought  to  bring  together 
all  rulings  and  understandings  regarding  land  claims  and  the  methods  of 
securing  lands.  It  marked  an  epoch  in  more  than  one  way  in  Kentuckv 
history.  Virginia  throughout  her  control  of  the  large  areas  west  of  the 
Alleghanies,  never  adopted  a  systematic  means  of  parcelling  them  out  to 
the  settlers.  Not  an  acre  was  surveyed  and  records  made  of  its  location 
before  its  sale.     Instead  of  following  the  example  of  the  United  States 

'See  Breckinridge  MSS.   (1752-1783)   and   Yearbook,  The  Kentucky  Society  of 
Cnliininl  U'ors.  1017. 

-  R.  S.  CoUcrill,  History  nf  Pioneer  Kentucky  (Cincinnati,  1917),  231,  232. 

212 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  213 

eovernment  in  using  sections,  townships  and  ranges  and  requiring  that 
all  land  must  be  surveyed  before  sold,  Virginia  drifted  along  in  the 
current  of  least  resistance — the  settler  located  his  land  and  then  had  it 
surveyed.  The  only  excuses  for  this  neghgence  that  might  be  argued 
for  Virginia  were  the  cost  of  such  an  undertaking,  the  constant  dangers 
incident  thereto  from  Indian  hostilities,  and  her  own  pre-occupation  in 
fighting  the  Revolution.  Had  the  settlement  of  Kentucky  begun  ten 
years  later,  in  a  time  of  peace,  with  the  example  of  the  United  States 
before  her,  Virginia  might  have  left  a  more  workable  land  system  to  her 
offspring. 

The  act  of  1779,  while  not  a  scientific  law  providing  for  systematic 
land  surveys,  still  had  features,  progressive  and  just,  designed  for  the 
benefit  of  those  who  had  borne  the  brunt  of  occupation  up  to  that  time. 
By  the  terras  of  this  law,  every  person  who  had  entered  a  claim  and 
raised  a  crop  prior  to  January  i,  1778,  was  entitled  to  400  acres  at  the 
rate  of  $2.25  per  hundred  acres ;  and  was  also  given  the  right  to  pre-empt 
1,000  acres  in  addition  to  be  paid  for  at  the  higher  rate  of  $40.00  per 
hundred  acres. ^  This  was  an  honest  effort  to  take  care  of  the  actual 
settler  as  against  the  absentee  claimant  and  speculator,  the  pioneer  who 
refusing  to  run  from  dangers,  had  fought  to  preserve  Virginia's  western 
lands.  The  operations  of  this  law  did  not  extend  to  the  Virginia  Military 
Lands,  lying  between  the  Green  and  Cumberland  rivers,  nor  to  the  Hender- 
son grant,  lying  on  the  Ohio  below  the  Falls.  The  possession  of  a  free- 
hold estate  was  made  a  qualification  for  a  seat  in  the  general  assembly; 
and  the  further  provision  was  made  that  this  estate  could  not  be  sold 
for  debt. 

Hereafter  all  land  purchases  must  be  made  through  land  warrants, 
which  were  issued  in  any  numbers  to  any  amounts.  The  person  desiring 
land  could  go  out  and  choose  it  wherever  he  wanted  it,  marking  off  its 
bounds  with  blazes  on  the  trees.  These  bounds  were  entered  and  later 
surveyed.  There  was  no  inhibition  against  entering  the  same  lands  that 
had  been  previously  laid  claim  to,  only  it  must  be  understood  that  the 
valid  claim  alone  should  stand  good.  To  guard  against  the  same  land 
being  entered  more  than  once,  the  law  required  the  marks  to  be  so  plain 
and  precise  as  to  show  others  who  might  want  to  enter  it  that  the  claim 
had  already,  been  made.  But  the  methods  of  marking  were  crude  and 
within  a  few  years  great  confusion  from  overlapping  claims  prevailed. 
Although  not  mandatory,  the  law  requested  that  surveys  be  made  as 
uniform  as  possible,  suggesting  that  the  tract  be  one-third  as  wide  as 
long  where  practicable.  But  with  every  person  master  of  his  own  location, 
with  the  uneven  fertility  of  the  soil,  and  with  entries  made  at  different 
times,  it  was  impossible  to  have  an  orderly  progression  of  claims.  Just 
as  some  especially  desirable  lands  were  covered  with  as  high  as  half 
dozen  claims,  so  there  were  other  tracts  on  account  of  being  less  desirable 
or  through  inaccuracies  or  accidents  that  were  covered  by  no  valid  entry.* 

The  loose  provisions  of  this  law  started  a  train  of  evils  that  touched 
large  numbers  of  individuals  and  involved  the  state  government  in  con- 
troversies of  great  bitterness.  Butler,  who  saw  much  of  what  he 
described,  wrote:  "Here  commences  the  scramble  for  land,  which  has 
distressed  and  desolated  society  in  Kentucky  almost  as  calamitously,  as 
pestilence  or  famine.  *  *  *  The  breaking  up  of  favorite  homes,  im- 
proved at  the  hazard  of  the  owner's  life,  and  fondly  looked  to  as  a 
support  for  declining  age;  and  a  reward  for  affectionate  children,  swept 

2  Wm.  Ayers,  "Land  Titles  in  Kentucky,"  in  Proceedings  of  the  Kentucky  State 
Bar  Association,  1909,  170-175;  Winterbothan,  An  Historical  Viciv,  III,  156,  157; 
Smith,  History  of  Kentucky,  147-148. 

*  George  Rogers  Clark  Papers,  CXV ;  Robertson,  "New  Light  on  Early  Ken- 
tucky" in  Proceedings  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  Historical  Association,  1915,  1916, 
90-08. 


214  niSlORV  Ul'   KENTUCKY 

away  by  refinements  above  popular  comprebension,  produced  most  wide- 
spread discontent  and  distress ;  promoted  a  Htigious  spirit,  and  in  some 
instances,  a  disregard  of  legal  right  in  general,  which  has  presented  itself 
in  such  odious  and  afllicting  aspects."  ^  In  the  confusion  of  titles,  the 
older  settlers  who  had  conquered  and  defended  the  country  which  now 
the  post-Revolutionary  immigrants  were  laying  possession  of,  suffered  in 
many  instances  a  complete  loss  of  all  their  holdings.  The  astute,  designing, 
and  the  scheming,  aided  by  the  early  pioneers  who  were  too  busy  fighting 
to  mark  well  their  claims,  soon  came  to  possess  much  land  unjustly,  lint 
technicalities  in  the  law,  carelessness  of  entries,  and  ignorance  of  require- 
ments, conspired  to  bring  on  these  calamities.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
great  migration  to  Kentucky,  the  county  court,  took  occasion  to  give 
advice  to  the  new  arrivals  regarding  their  relationships  with  and  treatment 
of  the  older  settlers.  It  suggested  that  "they  be  cautious  of  encroaching 
upon  the  rights  and  property  of  the  old  Settlers,  who  have  in  an  ex- 
emplary manner  defended  that  property  during  a  bloody  and  inveterate 
war.  The  claims  of  numbers  who  have  long  ago  deserted  their  claims, 
and  in  an  unfriendly  manner,  left  but  a  few  to  bear  the  burden  of  the 
war  will  be  more  than  sufficient  for  all  the  new  adventurers."  •* 

This  confusion  of  land  titles  naturally  led  to  an  inordinate  amount 
of  litigation,  which  produced  a  strong  inducement  to  young  lawyers  to 
migrate  to  Kentucky.  And  in  this  one  aspect  of  the  land  evils  may  be 
seen  a  disguised  blessing;  it  led  many  men  of  talent,  who  later  became 
prominent  in  state  and  nation,  to  cast  their  lot  in  the  new  region.  Among 
them  were  such  outstanding  figures  as  Henry  Clay  and  John  Breckin- 
ridge.'^  Francois  Michau.x  in  his  travels  through  the  state  in  1802  noted 
that  "This  incertitude  in  the  right  of  property  is  an  inexhaustible  source 
of  tedious  and  expensive  law-suits,  which  serve  to  enrich  the  professional 
gentlemen  of  the  country."  * 

As  there  was  no  limit  to  the  number  of  land  warrants  that  could  be 
sold  to  any  person,  a  field  was  opened  for  large  landed  estates  as  well 
as  for  absentee  land-holders  and  speculators.  The  early  settlers  sufTered 
as  much  frotn  the  grasping  speculators  as  from  the  more  legitimate  avidity 
of  the  later  immigrants.  Chief  Justice  George  Robertson  believed  that 
"Many,  perhaps  most,  of  the  advanced  guard  who  rescued  the  country, 
were  supplanted  by  voracious  speculators."  lie  cited  Daniel  Boone  as 
a  conspicuous  exanij)le  of  this  unfortunate  condition:  "Of  the  many 
tracts  of  rich  land  for  which  he  had  obtained  titles,  it  is  not  certainly 
known  that  he  was  permitted  to  hold  one  foot.  Like  Moses,  he  led  the 
pilgrim  army — and,  like  him,  he  saw  but  never  enjoyed  the  promised 
land."  "  Not  only  the  older  settlers  suffered ;  but  many  of  the  later  ones 
less  fit  to  survive  failed  in  this  scramble  for  land,  which  was  "the  engross- 
ing subject  of  all  men's  thoughts ;"  and  sought  as  eagerly  and  with  as 
much  avidity,  amidst  these  hostile  forests,  as  gain  in  any  stock  market  of 
any  commercial  city."'  A  group  of  Low  Dutch  Reformed  believers,  who 
had  come  to  Kentucky  hoping  there  to  establish  a  community  where  they 
could  carry  out  their  religious  aspirations,  in  1782  sent  a  petition  "To 
the  Honorable  President  and  Delegates  of  the  Free  United  States  of 
America  in  Congress  assembled"  complaining  of  their  hard  lot.  They 
declared  that  on  arriving  they  found  that  "the  most  or  all  the  Tillable 

'•  Butler,  History  nf  Kentucky,  137,  1.3S. 

"MS.  rccomniciulatioii  of  tlic  Court  for  llic  County  of  Kentucky,  April  7, 
1779,  in  Durrctt  MS.  Collcctinit. 

'  Friends  and  relatives  of  John  Breckinridge  flootk'd  liim  with  ktters.  begging 
him  to  come  to  Kentucky  to  take  advantage  of  tlie  excellent  opportunity  that 
existed  for  the  lawyer.  Brccli'mridgc  MSS.  (1784,  1785).  .Soon  after  coming,  he 
had  built  up  a  large  practice  in  land  suits.     Ibid.   (1785-1795). 

"  F.  A.  Michaux,  Travels  to  the  West.  228. 

'George  Kobcrtson's  Scrap  Booh  (Lexington,  1855),  273. 

"Butler,  History  of  Kentucky,  116,  117. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  215 

Land  has  been  Located  and  monopolized  by  persons  who  had  the  ad- 
vantage of  your  MemoraHsts  by  being  acquainted  with  the  country."  '^ 

Others  complained  of  the  land  being  held  by  people  who  were  in 
Virginia  east  of  the  mountains  enjoying  the  protection  there  afforded  them, 
while  settlers  in  Kentucky  exposed  to  constant  dangers  were  being  de- 
prived of  land  to  settle  on.  A  group  of  people  who  had  lately  arrived  in 
Kentucky  complained  in  a  petition  to  Congress  in  1780  that,  having 
fought  in  the  Revolution  and  thinking  they  would  be  recompensed  with 
land  in  the  West,  they  were  unable  to  get  it  because  Virginia  was 
monopolizing  it  for  her  own  gain  and  for  absentee  holders,  "By  which 
means  almost  the  whole  of  the  lands  in  the  Country  aforesaid  are  engrossed 
into  the  hands  of  a  few  Interested  men,  the  greater  part  of  which  live  at 
ease  in  the  internal  parts  of  Virginia,  while  your  Petitioners  are  here 
with  their  wives  and  children  daily  exposed  to  the  murders  of  the  Savages 
to  whom  sundry  of  the  Acquaintances  has  fell  a  sacrifice  since  their 
arrival  though  as  yet  but  a  short  time."  '^ 

Speculators  were  honest  and  dishonest ;  but  in  either  case  they  inter- 
fered with  the  proper  settlement  and  development  of  the  new  country,  and 
were  therefore  alike  detested  by  the  people  who  wished  to  settle  the  land. 
To  those  who  would  be  captains  of  industry  and  finance  in  those  days, 
the  opportunities  in  dealing  in  land  awaited  them.  Large  land  holdings 
may  not  be  argued  as  proof  of  dishonesty  or  sharp  business  practices. 
The  manner  of  acquiring  them  and  the  use  they  were  put  to  thereafter, 
were  the  factors  that  should  be  condemned.  The  history  of  the  times 
was  full  of  large  land  companies  as  well  as  large  individual  land  pro- 
prietors. Washington  amassed  a  fortune  in  land  holdings.  So  judged 
from  the  business  opportunities  and  practices  of  the  times,  the  simple  fact 
of  large  land  possessions  .should  not  in  itself  convict.  But  under  any  cir- 
cumstances, when  people  clamoring  for  land  were  denied  it  because  some 
large  proprietor  did  not  see  fit  to  part  with  his  holdings,  to  say  the  least 
social  justice  was  not  being  served.  It  was  difficult  for  the  person  who 
was  too  busy  conquering  the  country  to  possess  himself  of  its  lands  to 
understand  the  actions  of  others  in  securing  what  they  had  won.  George 
Meriwether  wrote  George  Rogers  Clark  of  his  surprise  at  what  certain 
men  had  been  doing  in  securing  large  land  holdings :  "When  I  was  with 
you  I  thought  my  acquaintance,  Mr.  Randolph,  was  likewise  attached  to 
the  Interest  of  the  Kentucky  settlements  but  I  am  sorry  to  inform  you 
that  I  have  reason  to  believe  the  contrary  for  on  looking  over  the  Books  ■ 
in  the  Land  ofifice  I  found  a  Certain  Mr.  Bealls  had  taken  out  warrants 
to  the  amount  of  140,000  Acres  of  Land  at  least,  part  of  which  was 
entered  assigned  to  Mr.  N.  Randolph  now  is  this  consonant  with  the 
doctrine  he  held  when  I  was  with  you,  and  is  it  consistent  with  the  Interest 
of  that  Country  to  assist  a  man  (and  a  speculator  too)  in  locating"  such 
a  body  of  Land  (&  I  suppose  to  of  the  Richest  part)  when  he  will  never 
see  the  Country  or  if  he  did,  the  portion  is  too  large — no  man  can 
hesitate  a  moment  to  pronounce  that  it  is  not  the  Interest  of  the  back 
Country.  The  evil  tendency  will  so  fully  appear  to  you  that  I  will  quit 
the  subject  &  say  nothing  more  about  it."  ^^ 

For  the  purpose  of  bringing  order  out  of  the  chaos  that  had  risen  up 
to  that  time,  the  Virginia  land  act  of  1779  also  set  up  a  court  of  four 
commissioners  to  examine  the  land  claims  and  to  award  valid  titles  to 
those  who  could  fulfill  the  requirements.  These  commissioners  not  only 
adjusted  conflicting  claims,  but   determined   the   validity  of   uncontested 

11  Chenoweth  Massacre,  Etc.      (Kentucky   State   Historical   Society    Pamphlet.) 

^^  Chcnowelh  Massacre,  Etc.     (Pamphlet.) 

13  George  Rogers  Clark  Papers.  384.  Letter  dated  Jan.  2,),  1780.  Alexander 
Breckinridge  went  to  Kentucky  with  land  warrants  for  200,000  acres.  Breckinridge 
MSS.   (1784,  1785).     Alexander  Breckinridge  to  John  Breckinridge,  Nov.  6,   1784. 


216  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

holdings,  by  inquiring  into  the  date  of  settling,  and  establishing  whether 
the  required  crop  had  been  raised.  This  court  began  its  sitting  in  1779 
at  Harrodstown,  with  William  Fleming,  Edmund  Lyne,  James  Barbour, 
and  Stephen  Trigg,  all  from  Eastern  Virginia,  as  the  commissioners. i'' 
After  adjudicating  the  claims  presented  at  Harrodstown,  the  commissioners 
moved  successively  to  Louisville,  Booncsborough  and  Bryant's  Station.*'' 
The  following  certificate  of  land-ownership  gives  an  exam])le  of  the 
work  of  the  conmiissioners:  "Samuel  Johnson  this  day  claimed  a 
preemption  of  400  Acres  of  land  at  the  State  price  within  the  District 
of  Kentucky  lying  in  the  Big  f«rks  of  the  Elkhorn  Creek  on  the  North 
side  of  Edmund  Taylors  survey  to  include  an  improvement  made  on  the 
same  by  making  an  actual  Settlement  in  the  month  of  January  1779. 
Satisfactory  proof  being  made  to  the  Court  they  are  of  the  opinion  that 
the  said  Johnson  has  a  right  to  a  preemption  to  400  acres  of  land  to 
include  the  said  improvement  and  that  a  Cer.  issue  accordingly."  i"  More 
than  three  thousand  two  hundred  claims  were  adjusted  during  the  life- 
time of  this  court. *^ 

Although  much  valuable  work  was  done  by  the  commissioners  in 
straightening  out  land  titles  and  confirming  them,  still  the  evils  persisted 
and  increased  with  time.  A  few  years  after  the  commissioners  had  ceased 
their  labors,  it  was  estimated  that  not  one  tenth  of  the  land  titles  in  the 
District  were  unquestioned.'*  This  of  course  brought  discontent  to  many 
settlers  and  thereby  retarded  the  development  of  the  country,  and  began 
early  to  cause  many  prospective  settlers  to  turn  elsewhere. 

The  county  organization  was  the  unit  of  local  government  and  political 
institutions  in  Kentucky.  Being  the  undefined  western  part  of  \'irginia, 
it  was  necessarily  the  western  extension  of  some  county  whose  political 
organization  lay  east  of  the  mountains.  The  expansion  of  the  state  west- 
ward clearly  shows  itself  in  the  county  divisions  that  took  place.  The 
budding  \'irginia  frontier  produced  five  new  counties  from  1734  to  the 
establishment  of  Kentucky  County  in  1776.  In  the  former  year  Orange 
County  was  erected  with  a  boundary  to  "the  utmost  limits  of  Virginia." 
Four  years  later,  Augusta  County  was  cut  off  to  include  the  frontier 
regions.  By  1769,  the  clamoring  frontiersman  had  .secured  a  new  county, 
called  Botetourt;  and  in  1772  Fincastle  County  arose,  which  was  to  serve 
in  theory  as  the  governmental  unit  for  the  pioneers  that  had  straggled 
across  the  mountains  before  1776.'*  As  previously  noted  Kentucky 
County  was  wrested  from  Virginia  in  this  year.  As  a  separate  county, 
Kentucky  was  now  given  home  rule.  She  was  given  two  rejiresentatives 
in  the  general  Assembly,  and  the  regular  county  governmental  organiza- 
tion. A  county  court,  known  as  the  "Court  of  Quarter  Sessions"  had 
authority  to  try  petty  offences.  Appeals  could  be  carried  to  the  higher 
courts  east  of  the  mountains  while  cai)ital  crimes  were  tried  there  in  first 
instance.  The  county  court  also  had  the  power  to  order  taxation  for  local 
purposes,  and  later  was  given  the  right  to  authorize  ferries  and  grist  mills. 
In  1788,  the  peculiar  position  of  the  District  of  Kentucky  was  recognized 
by  Virginia  in  the  representative  she  allowed  in  the  Confederation  Con- 

^*  George  Rogers  Clark  Papers,  CXV;  Brown,  Political  Beginnings  of  Kentucky, 
42,  43;  Henry  Howe,  Historical  Collection  of  the  Great  IVcst   (Cincinnati,   1851), 

42. 

'^  Isaac  Shelby's  claim  was  taken  up  first.  He  was  awarded  400  acres  on  the 
claim  of  having  settled  it,  and  1,000  acres  on  liis  right  of  pre-emption, 

^<^  Breckinridge  MSS.   (1752-1783).     Dated  Jan.   14,   1780. 

"  ArchibakI  Henderson,  "Isaac  Shelby  Revohitionary  Patriot  and  Border  Hero," 
in  The  North  Carolina  Booklet,  XVI,  No.  3,  Jannary,  1917,  Part  I.  134,  135.  Ac- 
cording to  this  anthority,  the  commissioners  adjonrned  sine  die,  Feb.  26,  1780. 

"*J.  .\.  James,  "Some  Phases  of  the  History  of  tlie  Northwest,"  in  Proceedings 
»f  the  Mississippi  Valley  Historical  Association,  1913,  1914,  189. 

'"John  Mason  Brown,  The  Political  Beginnings  of  Kentucky  (Lonisville,  1889), 
23- 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 


217 


gress.    Other  county  officials  were  a  sheriff,  surveyor,  and  county  Heuten- 
ant.    The  latter  had  control  of  the  county  militia.^o 

The  development  of  this  region  toward  greater  self  government  and 
ultimate  statehood  had  thus  far  progressed  from  the  position  of  being  the 
frontier  reaches  of  Fincastle  County  into  a  separate  county,  with  a  greater 
recognition  of  local  self-government  in  1780  by  the  erection  of  the  region 
into  three  new  counties.^^  Before  the  unusual  step  was  taken,  giving 
it  separate  representation  in  Congress,  another  advance  was  made  in  the 
erection  of  it  into  a  judicial  district.  This  came  in  1783.  A  supreme 
court  was  provided,  with  three  justices  and  the  other  necessary  officers. 
The  justices  who  composed  the  first  Supreme  Court  of  the  District  were 
John  Floyd,  Samuel  McDowell,  and  George  Muter.  Benjamin  Sebastian 
later  succeeded  to  the  chief  justiceship  on  the  death  of  Floyd.-^  The  first 
attorney  general  was  Walker  Daniel;  and  upon  his  death  at  the  hands 
of  the  Indians,  he  was  succeeded  by  Harry  Innes.  As  the  judicial  District 
of  Kentucky  was  set  up  to  meet  the  demands  of  the  Kentuckians  for 


First  Log  Cabin  in  Louisville 


relief  from  the  difficulties  of  carrying  cases  to  the  higher  courts  of  Vir- 
ginia, this  district  court  was  given  a  much  wider  and  higher  extension  of 
power  than  the  county  courts  possessed.  It  was  given  the  right  to  try 
cases  involving  treason,  felonies,  and  misdemeanors,  with  certain  ex- 
ceptions.    Its  powers  also  extended  to  common  law  and  equity.*  ^ 

At  the  same  time  the  county  organizations  were  being  built  up  towns 
began  to  arise.  This  was  the  political  division  nearest  to  the  people. 
The  first  pioneers  who  entered  Kentucky  were  close  observers  of  town 
sites.  In  fact  towns  were  planned  and  actually  laid  out  by  the  early  sur- 
veyors of  military  lands  before  a  single  settler  had  appeared.  The  Falls 
of  the  Ohio  were  hit  upon  as  the  seat  of  a  future  great  city.    Here  Thomas 

20  Brown,  Political  Beginnings  of  Kentucky,  41 ;  Monette,  History  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi Valley,  II,  169. 

21  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  475.  The  statement  made  here  that  the 
"First  Court  ever  held  in  Kentucky  was  for  Lincoln  County,  and  organized  at 
Harrodsburg,  Jan.  16,  1781,"  is  incorrect.  The  court  for  Kentucky  County  had 
been  organized  and  was  functioning  in  1779.  A  MS.  record  of  a  court  held  on 
April  7,  1779,  is  preserved  in  the  Durrett  MS.  Collection. 

/•^Cotterill,  History  of  Pioneer  Kentucky,  206,  241;  Monette,  History  of  the 
Mississippi  Valley,  II,  144. 

"  Robertson,  Petitions  of  the  Early  Inhabitants  of  Kentucky,  66. 


21H  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

liullitt  made  surveys  for  a  town  in  August,  1773.^*  During  the  following 
year  in  May  and  June  patents  for  tracts  of  land  at  the  Falls  were  being 
completed  for  from  1,000  to  6,000  acres  by  John  Connolly,  John  Campbell, 
William  Byrd,  William  Preston,  and  others.^°  Even  in  April  of  1774, 
before  all  of  their  patents  had  been  completed,  these  men  had  a  town 
projected  and  were  busily  engaged  in  trv'ing  to  induce  settlers.  An 
announcement  in  the  Virginia  Gazette,  signed  by  John  Campbell  and 
John  Connolly,  set  forth  the  advantages  of  this  location :  "The  advanta- 
geous Situation  of  this  Place,  formed  by  Nature  as  a  temporary  Magazine, 
or  Repository,  to  receive  the  produce  of  the  very  extensive  and  fertile 
Country  on  the  Ohio  and  its  Branches,  as  well  as  the  necessary  Merchan- 
dise, suitable  for  the  Inhabitants  that  shall  emmigrate  into  that  Country 
(as  Boats  of  fifty  Tuns  Burthen  may  be  navigated  from  New  Orleans  up 
to  the  Town)  is  sufficient  to  recommend  it;  but  when  it  is  considered 
how  liberal,  nay  profuse,  Nature  has  been  to  it  otherwise,  in  stocking  it 
so  abundantly  that  the  slightest  Industry  may  support  the  most  numerous 
Family  with  the  greatest  Plenty  and  amazing  \'ariety  of  Fish,  Fowls, 
and  Flesh,  the  Fertility  of  the  Soil,  and  F'acility  of  Cultivation,  that  fit 
it  for  producing  Commodities  of  great  Value  with  little  Labour;  the 
Wholesomeness  of  the  Waters,  and  Serenity  of  the  Air,  which  render  it 
healthy ;  and  when  Property  may  be  so  easily  acquired,  we  may,  with 
Certainty,  affirm  that  it  will  in  a  short  Time  be  equalled  by  few  inland 
Places  on  the  American  Continent."  -^  Lots  eighty  by  two  hundred  and 
forty  feet  were  offered  for  sale  for  "Four  Spanish  Dollars,  and  one  Dollar 
per  Annum  Ouitrent  for  over."  All  purchasers  were  required  to  erect 
within  two  years  a  log  house  not  less  than  sixteen  feet  square  with  a 
stone  or  brick  chimney.^' 

The  Falls  of  the  Ohio  were  soon  to  attract  other  eyes,  and  other  plans 
for  laying  out  a  town  here  were  soon  to  be  contemplated.  The  proprietors 
of  the  Transylvania  Company  seized  upon  these  lands  to  lay  out  private 
claims.  Some  of  the  Transylvania  settlers  becoming  dissatisfied  at  this 
course  set  up  demands  for  lots  for  themselves.  One  of  the  agents  of  the 
company  wrote  in  January,  1776:  "The  Falls  of  the  Ohio  is  a  place  of 
all  others,  within  this  Colony,  will  admit  of  a  town,  which,  from  its 
peculiar  situation,  will  immediately  become  populous  and  flourishing;  the 
land  contiguous  thereto  rich  and  fertile,  and  where  a  great  number  of 
gentlemen  will  most  certainly  settle,  and  be  the  support  and  protection 
of  a  town  at  that  place."  -•*  A  real  beginning  of  a  settlement  at  this  place 
was  not  made  until  George  Rogers  Clark's  preparations  for  his  North- 
western expedition  attracted  settlers  to  Cornstalk  Island.-® 

The  dangers  of  the  war  period  had  the  direct  effect  of  causing  the 
population  to  grou])  itself  in  stockades  and  .stations.  But  this  sort  of 
life  was  very  irksome  to  the  settlers,  who  wanted  to  take  possession  of  the 
inviting  and  fertile  lands.  They  could  not  be  a  town-loving  people  under 
such  circumstances.  As  the  stations  were  based  on  ideas  of  easy  defence 
and  not  on  the  principles  of  commerce  and  ecDUoinical  welfare,  most  of 
the  towns  that  grew  up  bore  no  relation  to  the  forts  and  stations.  When 
the  need  that  produced  them  had  ceased,  the  station  melted  away,  and 

2<  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  360. 

"■■  Brccl.iurid</c  MSS.   (  I7.i^-I7*<3). 

''■  yirfjinia  Gazette.  .\\)r\\  7,  1774,  copied  in  J.  R.  Commons,  U.  B.  Phillips  and 
Others,  .'/  Docuntenlary  History  of  .iiiterieau  Industrial  Society  (Cleveland,  1910), 
II  (Plantation  and  Frontier,  1640-1863),  261,  262;  also  in  R.  T.  Durrett,  Centenary 
of  Louisville  (Lonisvillc,  1893),  134,  135;  also  in  .hnerican  Archives,  Scries  IV, 
Vol.   I,  278. 

2'  Virginia  Gazette,  April  7,  1774. 

=8  Hall,  Sketches  of  the  West,  II,  244,  246. 

2»  R.  T.  Durrett,  "Settlement  of  Louisville"  in  Courier-Journal,  Aug.  2,  1883; 
Durrett,  Centenary  of  Louisville;  McMaster,  History  of  the  People  of  the  United 
States,  I,  148,  149,  for  further  information  on  the  early  settlements  o-f  Louisville. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  219 

today  the  exact  sites  of  many  of  them  are  unknown.  Boonesborough  is 
only  a  memory.  To  stimulating  the  establishing  of  towns  as  well  as  to 
delay  a  too  rapid  scattering  of  the  population  in  the  face  of  dangers  that 
were  still  present,  the  county  court  in  1779  recommended  "to  the  In- 
habitants that  they  keep  themselves  as  united  and  compact  as  possible 
one  other  year,  settling  themselves  in  towns  and  Forts,  and  that  they  may 
for  their  greater  encouragement  procure  therein  a  permanent  property 
to  the  Soil  and  Improvements,  they  recommend  that  the  intended  Citizens, 
choose  three  or  more  of  the  most  Judicious  of  their  Body,  as  Trustees. 
*  *  *'•  These  trustees  were  to  have  power  to  lay  off  such  towns  and 
regulate  the  residential  requirements  for  the  ownership  of  property  as 
well  as  the  character  of  buildings  that  should  be  erected.  The  court  also 
delegated  authority  to  them  to  "adjudge  adequate  and  just  compensation 
to  any  persons  who  may  necessarily  be  grieved"  on  account  of  any  regula- 
tions and  also  "to  determine  all  disputes  among  the  citizens  in  consequence 
thereof."  The  records  of  these  town  trustees  were  to  be  sent  to  the 
county  court. 3"  This  was  an  unusual  authority  exercised  by  the  county 
court  to  set  up  necessary  local  self  governments;  but  the  characteristics 
of  these  sturdy  Anglo-Saxons  were  such  as  to  meet  the  situation  despite 
legal  technicalities. 

There  was,  however,  a  general  Virginia  law  permitting  any  group  of 
settlers  desirous  of  setting  up  a  town  to  set  aside  six  hundred  and  forty 
acres  for  such  a  purpose.  Lots  were  distributed  among  the  actual  settlers, 
who  were  required  to  erect  a  dwelling  house  within  three  years,  which 
must  be  at  least  sixteen  feet  square  and  have  a  chimney  made  of  brick, 
stone,  or  dirt.  Boonesborough  was  the  first  to  take  advantage  of  this 
law,  when  in  October  of  1779  it  was  incorporated  by  an  act  of  Virginia.^! 
The  following  year  the  settlers  around  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio  petitioned 
the  Virginia  House  of  Delegates  to  incorporate  them  as  a  town.  They 
recited  that  they  had  laid  out  the  town  according  to  the  recommendations 
of  the  county  court,  and  now  asked  that  the  uncertainty  concerning  the 
Connolly  lands  be  finally  cleared  aw'ay.  This  petition  was  granted  and 
Louisville  became  in  incorporated  town  in  the  same  year.  The  incorpora- 
tion of  other  towns  soon  followed,  among  which  were  Harrodsburg,  Wash- 
ington, and  Maysville. 

The  plan  for  the  town  of  Lexington  was  adopted  in  the  latter  part  of 
1781,  when  lots  were  sold  to  more  than  sixty  people.  Two  years  later 
another  step  was  taken  by  the  disposition  of  lots  to  thirty-four  more 
settlers  and  the  reservation  of  three  lots  for  public  use.  The  site  of 
Lexington  had  been  visited  as  early  as  1775  and  soon  thereafter  numerous 
land  surveys  were  made  in  the  vicinity.  According  to  tradition  and  a 
general  understanding  that  arose  in  the  lifetime  of  tha-  actors,  Lexington 
was  named  by  a  party  of  hunters  in  June,  1775,  upon  hearing  of  the  battle 
of  Lexington.  Timothy  Flint  in  1826,  declared  that  it  "received  its  name 
from  some  hunters,  who  were  encamped  under  the  shade  of  the  original 
forest,  where  it  is  built,  and  who,  receiving  the  first  intelligence  of 
Lexington  battle  in  Massachusetts,  named  the  town  after  that,  where  com- 
menced  the  great   struggle  of   American   independence."  ^^      No   efforts 

at  establishing  a  town  here  were  made  until  1779  when  Robert  Patterson 

« 

""MS.  Record  iu  Durrcit  MS.  Collcrlioii.  This  is  reproduced  in  Diirrett, 
Centenary  of  Louisirille.   137. 

■'•'  Ro])crtson,  "New  Light  on  Early  Kentucky,"  in  Proceedings  of  the  Mississippi 
\'iillc\  Historical  Association,  1915,  1916,  90-98;  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  II, 

32  Timothy  Flint,  Recollections  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  (Boston,  1826),  353. 
This  version  of  the  naming  of  Lexington  was  given  in  a  celebration  at  Maxwell's 
Spring  (Lexington),  in  1809,  while  John  Maxwell,  who  was  in  Colonel  Patterson's 
party  of  settlers  in  1779,  was  still  alive  and  present  at  the  meeting.  It  was  accepted 
without  question  at  this  time  as  the  true  version.  Reporter,  July  29,  1809.  See  also 
Mrs.  W.  T.  Lafferty,  The  Tozvn  Branch  MS.,  in  Lexington  Public  Library. 


220  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

with  Uventy-five  men  began  a  settlement.^*  Although  getting  a  later 
start  than  other  Kentucky  towns,  Lexington  was  advantageously  situated 
in  an  exceedingly  fertile  region  and  before  the  end  of  the  century  was 
the  largest  town  in  Kentucky,  with  strong  prospects  for  the  social,  in- 
tellectual, and  industrial  center  of  the  west. 

The  institutional  developnient  of  Kentucky  had  thus  far  been  a  perfect 
reflection  of  the  economic  situation.  The  growth  of  separatism  was  the 
keynote. 

^^  Historical  Address  by  George  IV.  Ranck  at  the  Centennial  Celebration  of  the 
Sctllcntciil  of  Lexinqlon,  Kentucky  (April  2,  1879),  Pamplilct,  II  pp.  .A.lso  see 
Collins.  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  179,  180. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

BEGINNINGS  IN  THE  MOVEMENT  FOR  SEPARATION  FROM 

VIRGINIA 

The  experience  of  the  settlers  in  Kentucky  from  the  very  beginning 
had  been  such  as  to  develop  self-reliance  and  strong  initiative.  All 
through  the  Revolution  they  had  been  the  vanguard  of  American  oppo- 
sition in  the  West.  The  war  had  scarcely  begun  before  the  few  pioneers 
then  west  of  the  Alleghanies  cast  about  to  take  up  their  part  in  the 
struggle.  Through  the  dark  days  when  the  whole  region  was  all  but 
deserted  those  who  remained  struggled  on  with  whatever  resources  they 
could  command,  separated  from  the  little  aid  Virginia  had  to  ofifer  by 
hundreds  of  miles  of  almost  impassable  mountains.  They  presented  much 
the  appearance  of  a  part  of  an  army  separated  from  the  main  body  sur- 
rounded by  the  foe  on  every  side,  but  fighting  on  regardless  of  help. 
These  pioneers  had  thus  been  subject  to  the  worst  possible  conditions; 
but  they  had  lived  through  it,  and  that  largely  through  no  power  but 
their  own.  It  is  little  wonder  then  that  ideas  should  early  arise  among 
these  people,  that  they  could  easily  take  care  of  themselves  in  peace,  if 
they  could  survive  so  far  in  a  war  as  trying  as  they  had  recently  ex- 
perienced, and,  indeed,  which  was  not  yet  ended. 

But  the  movement  that  sprang  up  for  separation  from  Virginia  was 
by  no  means  based  wholly  on  the  mere  feeling  of  an  ability  to  take  care 
of  themselves.  The  tangled  web  that  began  to  be  woven  as  early  as  1780 
was  no  simple  fabric.  They  entered  into  it  a  thousand  strands  colored 
by  as  many  shades  and  hues.  The  history  of  Kentucky  from  1780  for 
a  full  dozen  years,  until  separation  was  finally  secured,  revolved  around 
good  motives  and  bad,  patriotism,  pelf,  and  complicated  intrigue.  The 
leaders  and  the  masses  were  never  able  to  settle  any  one  of  their  pressing 
problems  on  its  merits  alone,  so  tangled  and  mixed  were  public  affairs 
in  the  West. 

During  this  period  the  problem  of  separation  from  Virginia  was  of 
continuing  interest,  the  securement  of  which  in  most  minds,  would  largely 
solve  all  the  other  difiiculties.  This  movement  was  not  well  developed 
until  about  1785 ;  but  before  the  Revolution  had  ended,  there  began  to 
appear  unmistakable  signs  that  the  hardy  pioneer  warriors  of  the  Ken- 
tucky country  would  not  long  rest  contented  imder  the  government  of 
rulers  huntlreds  of  miles  away.  Neither  would  the  tens  of  thousands  of 
immigrants  who  were  beginning  to  enter  Kentucky  rest  until  their  dreams 
of  the  West  should  be  realized  in  the  control  of  their  own  government. 
A  petition  dated  .'\ugust  23,  1780,  and  signed  by  more  than  350  persons 
was  sent  to  the  Continental  Congress.  They  recited  the  difficulties  and 
troubles  they  were  having  in  securing  and  holding  their  land,  with  other 
attendant  circumstances  that  made  their  lives  disagreeable.  They  had 
taken  into  consideration  solutions  and  would  now  suggest  three.  In  the 
first  place,  they  could  stay  in  Kentucky  and  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to 
Virginia  which  she  was  then  demanding.  Again,  they  might  leave  Ken- 
tucky and  even  the  United  St«tes  and  take  land  "on  some  part  of 
Mexico"  and  become  citizens  of  the  king  of  Spain.  The  third  solution 
they  offered  was  to  move  across  the  Ohio  River  and  settle  in  the  savage 

221 


222  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

country.  This  they  declared  would  suit  tiicni  better  tlian  either  of  the 
first  two  means  suggested.  They  then  appealed  to  "'the  Honorable 
Congress  to  allow  them  Liberty  of  making  such  Regulations  amongst 
themselves  as  they  shall  find  necessary  to  govern  themselves  by,  being 
subject  to  the  United  Slates  at  large  and  no  other  States  or  power  what- 
soever." '  Thus,  these  early  petitioners  would  separate  from  Virginia, 
but  not  in  order  to  esca])e  government.  The  pioneers  throughout  the 
whole  settlement  of  the  West  developed  and  exhibited  no  stronger  trait 
than  that  for  a  government.  They  might  disregard  laws  which  they 
did  not  approve,  hut  they  never  desired  the  absence  of  laws.  These 
petitioners  were  undoubtedly  early  arrivals  in  the  western  country  and 
had  not  yet  settled  down  sufficiently  to  identify  themselves  with  their 
surroundings. 

Certain  conditions  which  George  Rogers  Clark  describes  in  a  letter 
to  his  father  may  not  be  wholly  unconnected  with  the  above  petition.  On 
the  very  day  the  j)etilion  was  signed  Clark  wrote:  "The  partizans  in 
these  Counties  are  again  Soliciting  me  to  head  them  as  [thejir  Governor 
General  as  all  those  from  foreign  States  are  for  a  new  Government  but 
my  duty  obliges  me  to  sujjpress  all  such  jjroceedings  I  consequently  shall 
loose  the  Interest  of  that  party.-  This  is  an  early  indication  of  the 
position  on  the  separation  question  that  became  general  with  those 
settlers  who  had  not  migrated  from  Virginia. 

Three  months  earlier  a  petition  for  separation  from  Virginia  had 
been  sent  to  the  Continental  Congress.  This  was  signed  by  672  persons. 
Instead  of  being  from  Kenluckians  only,  it  included  many  settlers  in 
the  County  of  Illinois.  They  desired  Congress  to  create  them  into  a 
separate  state. ^  As  they  placed  no  restrictions  on  the  limits  of  the  new 
state,  it,  therefore,  seems  to  have  been  the  intent  of  tlie  petitioners  to 
form  a  state  lying  on  both  sides  of  the  Ohio  River. 

Congress  was  not  the  only  povi'er  appealed  to  by  the  Kentuckians. 
Virginia  naturally  came  in  for  a  constant  stream  of  petitions  when  once 
opinions  began  to  form  and  crystallize  on  the  wants  and  needs  of  her 
western  settlers.  This  was  an  old  and  accepted  method  east  of  the  moun- 
tains, and  so  the  great  number  of  petitions  that  went  up  from  the  Ken- 
tuckians is  not  extraordinary.  These  petitions  dealt  with  all  the  public 
needs  of  the  times.  They  show  how  completely  dependent  for  authority 
in  government  the  Kentuckians  were  on  their  Virginia  rulers.  They 
are  also  an  ever  reminder  of  that  close  connection  with  Virginia  which 
must  have  been  instilled  into  the  Kentuckians,  w^hether  they  had  been 
born  in  the  Old  Dominion  or  in  some  other  slate.  As  before  suggested, 
these  petitions  covered  the  whole  field  of  governmental  activity  and  bear 
no  far-fetched  general  relationship  to  the  modern  method  known  as 
the  initiative.  The  laws  of  Virginia  passed  for  the  Kentucky  country 
bear  a  very  close  relationship  to  the  petitions.  In  many  of  the  laws  a 
])art  of  the  ])etition  ai)])eared  in  the  preamble.  Not  all  petitions  were 
answered  in  laws,  but  most  of  the  laws  found  iheir  incejition  in  jietitions. 
Virginia  was.  thus,  very  considerate  and  attentive  to  her  western  citizens.'' 
liut  desi)ite  this  sympathy  and  consideration  of  the  mother  state  for  her 
offspring,  there  were  many  problems  of  the  Kentuckians  that  could  be 


'  Chenorveth  Massacre,  Etc.  [n.  p.,  n.  d.]  A  publication  of  tlic  Kentucky  Stnte 
Historical   Society. 

2  Geortje  Rniicrs  Clark  Papers,  1771-1781,  p.  453.  Edited  by  J.  A.  James. 
flllinois  Historical  Collections,  Vol.  VHI,  SprinRficld,  1912.I 

■'' J.  M.  Brown,  The  PolUical  liei/iiiniiujs  of  Koilucky   f  I.ouisville,   1889],  59. 

■'  .'\  large  number  of  tbe  petitions  bavc  been  publisbed  in  James  K.  Robertson, 
Petitions  of  the  luirly  Inhabitants  of  Kentucky  [Louisville,  1914].  This  is  Filson 
Club  Publication,  Number  27.  Also  see  by  tbe  same  author  "New  Light  on  Early 
Kentucky"  in  Proceedings  of  the  Mississipfi  paltry  Historical  Association,  1915- 
1916,  Vol.  9,  pp.  90-98. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  223 

solved  only  through  the  organization  of  a  new  state,  and  so  the  movement 
for  separation  was  not  appreciably  stayed  in  Virginia's  answer  to  petitions. 

One  of  the  most  fruitful  causes  of  complaint  was  the  uncertainty  and 
confusion  in  obtaining  and  holding  land  as  well  as  the  operations  of 
speculators  who  had  begun  to  get  control  of  large  tracts.  In  1782  a 
petition  was  sent  to  the  \'irginia  General  Assembly  making  such  com- 
plaints as  noted  above.  It  was  alleged  that  the  real  settlers  were  greatly 
handicapped  by  the  flock  of  speculators.  A  change  in  the  land  laws  was 
sought.  If  this  could  not  be  had,  a  separation  ought  to  be  granted.  If 
Virginia  should  agree  to  a  separation,  the  petitioners  would  have  her  in- 
tercede with  Congress  to  admit  the  new  state  into  the  union. ^ 

But  all  the  elements  of  discontent  were  not  to  be  found  in  Kentucky 
alone.  The  situation  in  the  nation  at  this  time  on  the  question  of  the 
ownership  of  all  the  western  lands  was  anything  but  reassuring  to  the 
Kentuckians.  This  had  been  one  of  the  most  difficult  problems  the 
struggling  young  nation  had  to  deal  with.  The  Articles  of  Confederation 
had  been  held  from  going  into  effect  for  two  or  three  years  by  this  very 
question.  Not  until  1786  were  all  the  Northwestern  lands  ceded  to 
Congress.  \'irginia  had  the  most  extensive  claims  of  any  of  the  states. 
They  not  only  included  Kentucky  but  virtually  all  of  the  Northwest.  The 
numerous  arguments  put  forth  to  ])rove  that  the  states  had  no  valid  claim 
to  these  lands  had  the  direct  efifect  of  creating  a  slate  of  uncertainty  in 
the  minds  of  the  Kentucky  settlers.  In  1780  Thomas  Paine  enlisted  his 
trenchant  pen  in  the  cause,  arguing  with  considerable  force  in  Public 
Good  that  Virginia  had  no  just  and  valid  claim  to  any  of  the  western 
territory.  This  was  a  forty-one  page  pamphlet  widely  circulated  and 
having  the  sub-title  "being  an  Examination  into  the  Claim  of  Virginia 
to  the  vacant  Western  Territory,  and  of  the  Right  of  the  United  States 
to  the  same  to  which  is  added  projjosals  for  laying  off  a  New  State,  to 
be  apjjlied  as  a  fund  for  carrying  on  the  war.  or  redeeming  the  National 
Debt.""  I'aine  argued  the  uncertainty  and  confusion  in  the  very  charter 
through  which  \'irginia  claimed  the  land,  that  the  IVoclamation  of  1763 
limited  her  western  boundary  by  the  .Mleghany  Mountains,  and  that 
even  if  the  land  did  belong  to  her  it  would  be  bad  policy  to  hold  it.  He 
declared  Virginia  would  lose  more  in  ta.xes  from  her  citizens  migrating 
to  the  westward  then  she  could  gain  in  land  sales  in  that  region.  He 
would  carve  out  and  erect  a  new  state  running  from  the  western  boundary 
of  Pennsylvania  down  the  Ohio  River  to  the  Falls,  thence  to  the  North 
Carolina  boundary  [Tennessee  now]  and  thence  eastward  to  the  moun- 
tains. His  argtuuent  for  a  new  state  for  these  settlers,  who  themselves 
at  this  early  time  had  scarcely  thought  of  it,  had  the  effect  of  increasing 
and  crystallizing  this  sentiment.  The  following  argument  and  prophecy 
was  largely  borne  out  by  subsequent  events :  "The  present  settlers  being 
beyond  her  reach,  and  her  supposed  authority  remaining  in  herself,  they 
will  appear  to  her  as  revolters,  and  she  to  theni  as  oppressors ;  and  this 
will  produce  such  a  spirit  of  mutual  dislike,  that  in  a  little  time  a  total 
disagreement   will  take  place,  to  the  disad\antage  of   both."  " 

Two  years  after  Paine  h;id  written  his  Public  Good  its  doctrines  had 
reached  the  wilderness  of  Kentucky  and  was  producing  confusion  and 
discontent.  Virginia  was  notified  in  a  petition  this  year  that  "an  In- 
flammatory Pamphlet  intitled  public  Good"  had  made  its  appearance  and 
was  greatly  augmenting  the  unrest  so  prevalent  among  the  people.*  These 
doubts  as  to  the  ownership  of  the  western  country  furthered  the  move- 
ment for  separation  from  \'irginia  and  the  erection  of  a  new  state  into 


'•  Robertson,  Petitions  of  the  Early  Iiihahiluiits  of  Kentucky,  62-5. 

fi  Writing  of  Thomas  Paine  [.Mbany,  1792],  contains  the  text  of  this  pamphlet. 

'  Paine,  ^Public  Goods.  38. 

*  Robertson,   Petitions  of   the   parly   Inhabitants   of   Kentucky,  64. 


L'24  HISTORY  ()1'  KEXTUCKV 

the  union.  If  X'irginia's  claims  were  invalid,  ihen,  the  grants  of  land 
made  by  her  were  void  and  no  one  could  be  sure  that  his  proiK'rty  was  his 
own.  A  iJetition,  dated  Aujfust  27,  1782,  prayed  Congress  to  admit  the 
Kentucky  country  as  a  state  in  the  union,  since  the  charter  under  which 
X'irginia  claimed  the  western  country  had  been  dissolved  and  the  land 
had  re\crte(l  to  the  Crown  and  that  the  Rev(jlution  had  diverted  all  Crown 
pro])crty  to  the  national  go\ernnicnt." 

The  silent  appeal  of  I'aine's  Public  Uood  was  soon  supplemented  by 
certain  radical  agitators  who  appeared  in  Lexington  and  Louisville  in 
1784.  One  Galloway  entered  the  former  town  in  May  and  began  to 
spread  the  doctrine  that  Virginia  did  not  own  Kentucky  and  therefore 
all  she  had  done  there  was  void.  Congress,  he  declared,  owned  the  land 
and  would  make  a  new  distribution  soon.  He  advised  the  people,  in  the 
meantime,  to  seize  u]ion  the  land  wherever  they  wanted  it.  The  results 
of  such  inllammatory  arguments  and  appeals  can  readily  be  imagined. 
In  a  newly  settled  country,  as  this  was,  there  could  always  be  found  a 
certain  class  of  floating  ne'er-do-wells  who  were  willing  to  follow  any 
agitator  especially  when  he  should  jironiise  them  gain ;  but,  of  course, 
the  great  mass  of  the  citizens  and  the  leaders  of  the  community  whose  all 
depended  on  the  maintenance  of  the  existing  order,  were  greatly  wrought 
up.  Galloway  was  imniediat*ly  arrested  and  held  for  trial.  But  the 
question  sjieedily  came  up  as  to  what  crime  he  had  conmiitted  and  how 
he  could  be  punished.  After  a  considerable  search  of  the  old  Virginia 
laws,  it  was  decided  that  he  was  guilty  of  the  "prop;igation  of  false  news, 
to  the  disturbance  of  the  good  ])eo])le  of  the  colony."  He  was,  thus,  tried 
under  this  old  law,  they  had  resurrected,  and  was  fined  one  thousand 
pounds  of  tobacco.  As  he  was  unable  to  procure  the  tobacco,  he  was  given 
his  freedom  with  the  understanding  that  he  immediately  leave  the  coun- 
try.io 

At  about  the  same  time  (lalloway  was  spreading  his  doctrine  in  Lex- 
ington, one  Pomeroy,  doubtless  his  companion,  was  busily  engaged  in 
the  same  occu]iation  in  Louisville.  He  was  soon  arrested  and  tried  under 
the  same  old  Virginia  law  which  had  been  made  use  of  in  the  Lexington 
trial.  But  Pomeroy  did  not  escajie  with  so  light  a  sentence  as  Galloway. 
He  was  fined  2000  pounds  of  tobacco  and  forced  to  "give  security  for 
his  good  behavior,  himself  in  £1000,  with  two  securities  in  £500,  and 
pay  costs,  &c."  But  as  the  very  nature  of  his  occupation  ])recluded  the 
possibility  of  him  having  so  extensive  a  stock  of  worldly  goods,  he,  like 
Gallow;iy,  was  let  loose  provided  he  should  leave  the  country  im- 
mediately.' ' 

There  was  always  a  class  of  po])ulation  whose  fears  and  cupidity 
could  always  be  jjlayed  upon  by  agitation  and  rumors.  They  were  never 
a  majority,  but  their  existence  had  its  effect  on  the  general  situation, 
hastening  on  and  augmenting  the  general  feeling  of  discontent  that  was 
arising  among  all  classes.  About  tliis  time  a  grouj)  of  petitioners  informed 
X'irginia  that  they  had  recently  heard  that  a  committee  of  Congress  had 
declared  that  the  lands  northwest  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains  did  not 
beking  to  Virginia,  and  that  a  pamphlet  circulating  through  the  country 
stated  the  same.  They  suggested  to  X'irginia  th.at  if  the  country  did 
not  belong  to  her,  then,  they  believed  it  belonged  to  themselves.  They 
added,  however,  that  they  were  willing  for  X'irginia  to  rule  them.'- 

The  unrest  and  discontent  up  to  17<S5  was  most  esident  in  that  class 
of  people  who  had  not   become  prominent   in   the  coiumunity  and   who 

"Proceedings  of  the  Amcriaut   Historical  .■issociolioii.   III,  419-422:   IV,  ,1,=;4. 

>"  James  Hall,  Sketches  of  History,  Life,  ond  Manners  of  the  U'Mt  fl'liiladelplna, 
1835],  II,  22;  G.  W.  Ranck,  History  of  Lexington,  Kentucky  [Cincinnati.  1872],  106. 

"Ben  Casscday.  The  History  of  Louisville  [Louisville,  1852];  e'ollins.  History 
of  Kentucky,  II.  37.I. 

"  Robertson,  Petitions  of  the  Early  Inhabitants  of  Kentucky,  78,  79. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  225 

had  not  had  the  success  in  securing  land  and  other  property  which  they 
had  anticipated.  Many  of  them  represented  the  most  recent  migrations. 
Those  who  had  come  from  other  states  than  Virginia  tended  to  be  less 
respectful  toward  ,that  State's  authority  and  traditions.  During  this 
period  they  were  looked  upon  by  many  of  the  native  Virginians  as  the 
chief  agitators  for  separation.  But  this  movement  was  becoming 
grounded  in  more  fundamental  causes  than  mere  dislike  for  Virginia. 
James  Speed  wrote  Governor  Harrison  in  May,  1784,  from  Danville: 
"Many  of  the  inhabitants  of  this  place  are  not  natives  of  Virginia,  nor 
well  affected  to  its  government,  and  are  sowing  sedition  among  its  in- 
habitants as  fast  as  they  can,  which  I  fear  will  have  too  great  an  effect  1 
so  long  as  they  are  pent  up  in  forts  and  stations,  notwithstanding  the 
attorney-general  has  taken  every  step  in  his  power  to  suppress  them. 
*  *  *  I  fear  the  faction  will  increase,  and  ere  long  we  shall  revolt  from 
government  in  order  to  try  if  we  can  govern  ourselves,  which,  in  my 
opinion,  will  be  jumping  out  of  the  frying  pan  into  the  fire."  ^^  In  this  is 
indicated  the  two  groups  that  were  now  fast  evolving  themselves  out  of 
the  situation  in  Kentucky.  Those  who  regardless  of  cost  and  conse- 
quences would  set  up  a  new  state  in  the  American  union,  and  those  con- 
servatives mostly  Virginia  born  who  could  see  no  good  in  a  new  state 
that  would  not  be  outweighed  by  the  evils  consequent  to  such  a  move. 
The  latter  group  fast  lost  support  when  the  series  of  conventions  began, 
which  after  a  most  tangled  and  complicated  course,  finally  changed  the 
District  of  Kentucky  into  the  Commonwealth  of  Kentucky. 

1' T.  M.  Green,  The  Spanish  Conspiracy   [Cincinnati,   1891],  56.     Copied    from 
the  Calendar  of  Virginia  State  Papers  [Richmond,  187S-1883]. 


Vol.  1—19 


CHAPTER  XVII 
THE  FIRST  THREE  CONVENTIONS 

As  Kentucky  contimicd  U>  increase  in  population  and  wealth  she 
gradually  developed  a  self-consciousness  which  chafed  under  the  control 
of  a  power  himdreds  of  miles  away.  The  idea  of  being  a  colony 
was  not  pleasing  to  the  mass  of  the  people,  and  especially  did  many  of 
the  leaders  feel  their  ojjportunities  for  development  circumscribed  by 
such  a  condition.  So  large  a  community  of  peojjle  as  Kentucky  presented 
to  view,  and  in  so  detached  a  situation  from  the  mother  state,  was  a  chal- 
lenge to  those  who  would  become  statemakers  and  statesmen.  Besides  any 
lautlable  ambitions  that  might  thus  have  been  aroused,  there  were  prob- 
lems of  moment  ])ressing  for  an  immediate  solution.  From  the  very 
nature  of  the  case  X'irginia  was  unable  to  rule  effectively  and  wisely  so 
large  a  mmiber  of  people  so  far  away.  And  as  the  District  of  Kentucky 
was  only  so  many  counties  of  Virginia  she  must  necessarily  be  ruled  on 
the  same  basis  as  the  Virginia  counties  east  of  the  mountains.  As  a  re- 
sult, permission  from  the  central  authority  must  be  had  to  do  the  most 
minute  things.  In  such  important  and  highly  necessary  fields  of  activity 
as  defense  against  the  Indians,  complete  authority  rested  in  the  Vir- 
ginia capitol.  Indian  U])risings  and  invasions  might  be  preparing 
under  their  very  eyes,  with  the  Kentuckians  unable  to  act.  Invasions 
might  be  carried  out  and  great  destruction  wrought  before  authoritv 
could  be  obtained  from  X'irgina  to  deal  with  the  situation.  Not  even  a 
ferry  or  a  grist  mill  could  be  set  up  nor  a  town  incorporated  without 
first  obtaining  the  permission  of  Virginia.  The  distance  from  the  scat 
of  power  and  authority  operated  on  every  hand  to  the  great  detriment 
of  these  pioneers.  The  fmal  authority  in  all  suits  at  law  rested  east  of  the 
mountains.  Only  the  rich  could  afford  to  carry  a  case  to  its  final  adjurli- 
cation,  if  occasion  should  arise  to  contest  it  to  the  end.  However  fair 
and  sympathetic  the  Virginia  government  might  try  to  be  in  dealing  with 
Kentucky,  it  mu.st  ever  fall  short  of  complete  justice;  for  again  distance 
operated  against  the  Virginia  government  ever  completely  understanding 
the  problems  of  the  Kentuckians  in  their  Indian  troubles  and  along  many 
other  lines.  Virginia,  east  of  the  mountains,  had  commercial  problems 
and  interests  that  pointed  for  solution  eastward  toward  the  Atlantic; 
whereas  \'irginia.  west  of  the  mountains,  had  commercial  problems  and 
aspirations  that  pointed  for  solution  southward  down  the  AJississippi.  .As 
long  as  the  Alleghanies  reared  their  massjs  as  an  impenetrable  barrier  to 
conmicrcial  intercourse  between  these  two  parts  of  a  single  state,  so  long 
must  commercial  interests  suitable  to  the  one  be  incompatible  with  those 
of  the  other.' 

These  problems  became  more  pressing  as  time  went  on  and  Kentucky 
teecame  more  powerful.  For  years  efforts  to  obtain  and  adapt  laws  made 
in  Richmond  to  conditions  in  Kentucky  had  availed  little.  Opinion  was 
becoming  widespread  that  a  concerted  move  must  be  made  through  the 
united  action  of  all  Kentucky.     The  occasion   for  the  first  proceeding 

>  E.  D.  Warfield,  "The  Constitutional  Aspect  of  Kentucky's  StniRgIc  for  .-Xu- 
tonomy,  1784-92,"  in  Proceed  in  gs  of  Ihc  American  Historical  Associatiim,  IV,  354; 
Brown,  Political  Bcgim\in(]S  of  Kentucky,  59. 

226 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  227 

grew  out  of  an  effort  to  deal  with  one  of  the  most  important  and  im- 
mediately pressing  difficulties  that  the  Kentuckians  had  long  been  labor- 
ing under.     This  was  an  adequate  means  of  defense  against  the  Indians.  - 
In  1784  Col.  Benjamin  Logan  learned  that  the  Cherokees  were  making 
extensive   preparations   to  invade   Kentucky    from   the   south,   and   that 
there  was  unusual  Indian  activity  on  the  northern  frontiers.     It  seemed 
crim.inal  to  him  to  sit  down  and  wait  for  the  storm  to  burst  upon  them, 
or  what  would  practically  amount  to  the  same  thing,  await  for  authority 
from  Virginia  to  deal  with  the  menace.     In  this  dilemma,  Logan  called 
a  meeting  of  representative  citizens  to  convene  in  Danville  to  consider 
what  was  best  to  be  done.    At  the  meeting  the  consensus  of  opinion  was 
that  measures  should  be  undertaken  at  once  to  repel  the  invasion.     But 
on  further  investigation  it  was  found  that  there  was  no  law  which  would 
permit  the  militia  to  be  called  out  for  offensive  operations  without  war 
being  declared.     It  was  their  good  fortune  that  the  expected  Indian  up- 
rising did  not  take  place ;  but  it  set  them  to  thinking.    Here  was  a  poten- 
tial state  willing  and  able  to  take  care  of  itself,  but  unable  to  act.     This 
meeting,  therefore,  went  on  record  as  favoring  a  separation   from  Vir-'^ 
ginia  and   admission  to  the  Union  of    states.     As  the  best  means   for      L 
carrying  out   this  movement,  they  decided  to  call  a   convention  of  the      1  J 
District  to  meet  in  Danville  on  December  27   [1784]    to  take  into  con-    _X 
sideration  means  of  preserving  the  country  from  impending  danger. - 
This  convention  was  to  be  composed  of  delegates  chosen  by  the  militia 
companies.    Thus  was  Kentucky  set  going  in  her  quest  for  that  illusive 
will-o'-the-wisp,  statehood,  and  as  has  been  aptly  said  "Nor  can  there  in 
the  whole  history  of  American  government  be   found  a  career  of  such  I 
multiplied  disappointments  and  abortive  assemblies,  as  in  the  labors  of  ' 
Kentucky,  to  be  admitted  into  the  L'nion."''     The  military  nature  of  this 
beginning   is   very  evident.      The   preliminary    meeting   was   virtually   a 
council  of  war;  it  was  thus  a  military  necessity  that  precipitated  the  move- 
ment; and  it  was  advanced  its  first  step  not  through  the  civil  powers 
but  through  the  militia  companies.    This  in  itself  is  a  striking  comment  on 
the  early  society  of  the  District,  where  the  able  bodied  men  were  largely 
kept  on  a  war  footing.     Thus  were  they  a  people  cradled  in  the  Revolu- 
tion which  for  them  was  not  yet  ended. 

The  time  was  ripe  for  such  a  move.  The  people  responded  with 
great  interest  in  sending  their  representatives  to  the  Danville  meeting. 
The  convention  was  organized  with  Samuel  McDowell,  president,  and 
Thomas  Todd,  secretary — a  combination  that  was  followed  in  the  nine 
succeeding  conventions.  Many  visitors  came  to  listen  to  the  debates  on 
the  various  questions  discussed.  There  was  nothing  radical  proposed  or 
taken  into  consideration.  The  men  who  composed  the  membership  were 
largely  of  Virginia  nativity  or  sympathies ;  and  although  there  were 
necessarily  difcrences  of  opinion,  it  was  unanimous  in  the  sentiment  that 
whatever  was  done  should  proceed  along  lines  strictly  according  to  law. 
There  was  a  large  majority  in  favor  of  petitioning  Virginia  for  separa- 
tion and  through  her  for  application  for  admission  to  the  Confedera- 
tion. But  the  call  on  which  they  were  elected  did  not  specifically  direct 
them  to  formulate  plans  for  statehood.  So  here  began  that  extreme  cau- 
tion and  nicety  to  the  exactness  of  law  which  chapacterized  the  ever  re- 
curring conventions  to  the  number  of  ten,  before  they  succeeded  in 
accomplishing  what  was  expected  to  be  done  in  one. 

They  adopted  seven  resolutions  in  which  they  recounted  the  long  dis- 
tance and  inconvenience  attendant  upon  the  transaction  of  business  with 

2  J.  B.  McMaster,  History  of  the  People  of  the  United  States,  I,  163,  4;  Pro- 
ceedings of  the  American  Historical  Association,  V,  357. 

8  Mann  Butler,  A  History  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Kentucky  [Cincinnati,  1836], 
16& 


^ 


Q 


•-'28  HISTORY  UV  KENTUCKY 

a  government  so  far  away.  They,  therefore,  called  another  convention 
to  meet  in  the  following  May  to  take  into  consideration  the  propriety 
of  forming  a  new  state.  Shrinking  from  what  they  might  well  have  done 
themselves,  they  passed  the  task  on  to  a  secc)nd  convention.  Instead  of 
using  the  method  of  election  under  which  they  themselves  had  been 
chosen,  they  resolved  that  a  civil  vote  should  be  taken  in  April  and  that 
representation  should  be  based  on  the  freehold  iiojnilation.  They  fixed 
the  inimber  of  representatives  from  Lincoln  County  at  twelve,  and  from 
Fayette  and  Jefferson  at  eight  each.  Here  began  a  departure  from  the 
\'irginia  system  of  rejircsentation  based  on  counties  regardless  of  ])opula- 
tion,  which  was  a  harbinger  of  many  other  more  democratic  usages  to  be 
adopted  by  the  Kentuckians.  The  last  resolution  admonished  the  jjeople 
to  select  their  best  nicn.^ 

I-'our  months  elajtsed  from  the  adinurnnicnt  of  this  meeting  until  the 
election  for  the  second  convention.  During  this  period  the  people  were 
given  an  opportunity  to  discuss  the  specific  (juestion  of  statehood  and  to 
determine  on  representatives  who  would  carry  out  their  views.  Accord- 
ing to  call,  the  second  convention  convened  in  Danville  on  May  23  [17S5I. 
The  representatives  were  very  decorous  and  deliberative,  debating  their 
problems  a  week  before  drawing  up  the  sense  of  the  body.  Five  resolu- 
tions were  adopted  containing  the  results  of  their  deliberations  on  the 
action  that  shoukl  be  taken.  First,  they  resolved  unanimousl}-  '"That  a 
petition  be  presented  to  the  Assembly,  praying  this  District  may  be 
established  into  a  State,  separate  from  X'irginia."  It  was  also  their 
imanimous  opinion  that  the  District  should  be  received  into  the  American 
Union  "and  enjoy  equal  privileges  in  common  with  the  said  States."  They 
^  issued  a  call  for  a  third  convention  to  meet  in  Danville  in  August  to  be 
elected  on  the  principle  of  equal  rejiresentation  "and  to  continue  Ijy 
adjournment  till  the  first  day  of  April  next,  to  take  further  under  their 
consideration  the  state  of  the  District."  It  w^as  a  rather  unusual  pro- 
cedure to  prolong  the  life  of  the  coming  convention  for  eight  months. 
(But  the  ])eople  had  found  in  these  conventions  a  sort  of  semi-authority 
which  they  could  exercise;  the  organized  will  of  the  District  could  thus 
act  through  a  continuing  body  which  could  watch  over  the  interests  of 
Kentucky  and  act  in  an  emergency. 

Besides  the  resolutions  adopted,  two  addresses  were  drawn  up:  The 
one  "To  the  Honorable  General  Assembly  of  \'irginia,"  the  other  "To 
the  Inhabitants  of  the  District  of  Kentucky."  lUit  after  considering  all 
the  problems  of  statehood  and  embodying  its  deliberations  in  resolutions 
and  addresses,  it  had  not  the  temerity  to  act  on  them.  Their  fifth  reso- 
lution provided  "That  the  petition  to  the  Assembly  for  establishing  this 
District  into  a  State,  and  the  several  resolves  of  the  former  and  present 
Conventions,  upon  which  the  petition  is  founded,  together  with  all  other 
matters  relative  to  the  interests  of  the  District,  that  have  been  under 
their  consideration,  be  referred  to  the  future  convention,  that  such 
further  measures  may  be  taken  thereon  as  they  shall  judge  proper."  ■' 
This  action  shows  the  utmost  caution  which  the  convention  was  using  in 
e\ery  movement.  It  was  in  effect  a  species  of  referendum,  whereby  the 
people  W'ould  be  gi\en,  presumably,  a  final  opportunity  to  pass  on  sej^ara 
tion.  But  since  the  convention  had  voted  unanimously  for  separation  and 
must,  as  a  popular  body,  have  represented  reasonably  well  the  sentiment 
of  the  people,  it  seems  to  have  been  prolonging  unduly  the  period  of 
uncertaintv.  However,  it  seems  that  no  other  motive  may  be  imputed  to 
them  than  their  desire  to  represent  the  will  of  the  people  absolutely,  and 
to  be  assured  that  public  opinion  was  reasonably  unanimous.     This  movc- 


♦  Brown,  Political  Itcninnitins  of  Kentucky.  60-62. 
'•  Hrown,  Political  Pcffiniiinijs  of  Kentucky,  63,  64. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  229 

ment  for  statehood  was  considered  too  serious  a  procedure  to  allow  a 
powerful  minority  to  remain  in  opposition. 

This  desire  for  unanimity  is  strikingly  shown  in  the  method  that  was 
now  used  to  secure  it.  Efforts  were  made  by  this  convention  to  set  up  a 
newspaper  in  the  state,  which  resulted  two  years  later  in  the  establishment 
of  the  Kentucky  Gazette,  the  second  newspaper  west  of  the  AUeghanies. 
The  convention  resolved  "That  to  assure  unanimity  in  the  opinion  of  the 
people  respecting  the  propriety  of  separating  the  district  of  Kentucky  from 
\'irginia  and  forming  a  separate  state  government,  and  to  give  publicity 
to  the  proceedings  of  the  convention,  it  is  deemed  essential  to  the  interests 
of  the  country  to  have  a  printing-press."" 

The  address  to  \'irginia,  which  the  coinention  left  over  for  the  action 
of  the  following  convention  ;!nd  Vvhich  was  never  presented  to  the  author- 
ities at  Richmond,  showed  great  consideration  and  good  will  toward  the 
mother  state.  It  recited  the  perplexing  difficulties  the  District  was  labor- 
ing under  due  to  no  fault  of  Virginia,  and  expressed  the  belief  that 
separation  would  be  gladly  granted  when  it  was  understood  that  only  in 
such  course  could  the  happiness  and  best  interests  of  the  District  be 
secured.  The  Kentuckians  wanted  authority  to  call  a  convention  to  frame 
a  constitution ;  they  promised  to  continue  the  laws  of  Virginia  in  force 
until  superseded  by  Kentucky  laws ;  the  English  common  law  should 
ijrevail ;  and  they  would  assume  their  rightful  share  of  the  V'irginia  public 
debt,  the  amoiuit  to  be  determined  by  commissioners  which  thej-  would 
appoint.  "Finjilly,  we  hope  and  expect  that  our  representatives  will 
cheerfully  grant  a  request  justified  by  the  principles  of  our  government 
as  well  as  by  the  necessities  of  our  condition,  and  that  by  an  act  of 
separation  we  shall  be  placed  in  tiie  situation  best  adopted  for  attaining 
the  advantages  of  a  free  and  well  regulated  government ;  and  that  we 
shall  likewise  be  recommended  to  Congress  to  be  taken  into  union  with 
the  United  States  of  America,  to  enjoy  equal  privileges  in  common  with 
them."  " 

The  address  to  the  people  represented  the  most  effective  part  of  the 
convention's  work.  It  was  fully  in  line  with  that  body's  attitude  toward 
educating  the  people  as  far  toward  the  pcjint  of  unanimity  as  possible. 
With  its  Declaration  of  Independence  ring,  it  was  an  exceptionally  clever 
piece  of  propaganda,  reminding  the  thoughtless  and  the  forgetful  and 
intensifying  the  alert  on  their  ever-present  perplexities.  As  it  also  gives 
an  interesting  insight  into  general  conditions  in  the  District,  it  is  presented 
here  in  full : 

"Friends  and  I-^ellow  Citizens:  We,  your  representatives,  met  in  cor- 
\ention  in  consequence  of  your  ap])uintment,  beg  leave  to  address  you 
on  a  subject  which  we  consider  of  the  last  importance  to  you,  to  our- 
selves, and  to  unborn  posterity. 

"In  every  case  when  it  becomes  necessary  for  one  part  of  the  com- 
munity to  separate  from  the  other ;  duty  to  Almighty  God  and  a  decent 
respect  for  the  opinion  of  mankind  require  that  the  causes  which  \m\->c\ 
them  thereto  should  be  clearly  and  imimrtiallv  set  forth. 

"\\'e  hold  it  as  a  self  evident  truth  that  the  government  is  ordered 
for  the  ease  and  protection  of  the  governed:  and  whatever  ends  are  not 
attained,  by  one  form  of  government,  it  is  the  right,  it  is  the  duty,  of  the 
people  to  seek  such  other  mode,  as  will  be  likely  to  insure  to  themselves 
and  to  their  posterity  those  blessings  to  which,  by  nature,  they  are  entitled. 

"In  the  course  of  our  enquiries,  we  find  that  several  laws  have  passed 
the  Legislature  of  \'irginia,  which,  although  of  a  general  nature,  yet  in 

8  W.  H.  Perrin,  "The  First  Newspaper  West  of  the  AUeghanies,"  in  Maga- 
zine of  American  History,  1887,  pp.  121-127. 

'  Brown,  Political  Beginnings  of  Kentucky,  66,  67. 


230  lUSTURY  OF  KENTUCKY 

their  operation  are  particularly  oppressive  to  the  people  of  this  district; 
and  we  also  find  that,  from  our  local  situation,  we  arc  deprived  of  many 
benefits  of  {government  which  every  citizen  therein  has  a  right  to  expect ; 
as  a  few  facts  will  sufTiciently  demonstrate. 

■'i.  We  have  no  power  to  call  out  the  militia,  our  sure  and  only 
defence,  to  oppose  the  wicked  machinations  of  the  savages,  unless  in 
case  of  actual  invasion. 

'"2.  We  have  no  executive  power  in  the  District,  either  to  enforce 
the  execution  of  laws,  or  to  grant  pardons  to  objects  of  mercy;  because 
such  a  power  would  be  inconsistent  with  the  jwlicy  of  the  government, 
and  contrary  to  the  jiresent  constitution. 

"3.  We  are  ignorant  of  the  laws  that  are  passed  until  a  long  time 
after  they  are  enacted,  and  in  many  instances  until  they  lKi\e  expired: 
by  means  whereof  jienalties  may  be  intlicted  for  oliences  never  designed, 
and  delin(|uents  escape  the  punishment  due  to  their  crimes. 

"4.  We  are  subjected  to  prosecute  suits  in  the  High  Courts  of  Ap- 
peals at  Richmond,  under  every  disadvantage  for  the  want  of  evidence, 
want  of  friends,  and  want  of  money. 

"5.  Our  money  must  necessarily  be  drawn  from  us,  not  only  for  the 
sujjport  of  the  civil  government,  but  by  individuals  who  are  frequently 
under  the  necessity  of  attending  on  the  same. 

"6.  Nor  is  it  possible  for  the  inhabitants  of  this  District,  at  so  re- 
mote a  distance  from  the  seat  of  government,  ever  to  derive  ec]ual  benefits 
with  citizens  in  the  Eastern  parts  of  the  State,  and  this  inconvenience 
must  increase  as  our  country  becomes  more  populous. 

"7.  Our  commercial  interest  can  never  correspond  with  or  be  regu- 
lated by  theirs,  and  in  case  of  any  invasion,  the  State  of  Virginia  can 
afford  us  no  adeepiate  protection,  in  comparison  with  the  advantages  we 
might  (if  a  separate  State)  derive  from  the  Federal  Union. 

"On  maturely  considering  truths  of  such  great  importance  to  every 
inhabitant  of  the  District,  with  a  firm  persuasion  that  we  are  consulting 
the  general  good  of  our  infant  country,  we  have  unanimously  resolved, 
That  it  is  expedient  and  necessary  for  this  District  to  be  separated  from 
\'irginia  and  established  into  a  sovereign,  independent  State,  to  be  known 
by  the  name  of  'Commonwealth  of  Kentucky.'  and  taken  into  union  with 
the  United  States  of  America. 

"In  order  to  effect  this  purpose  we  have  agreed  on  a  petition  to  be 
presented  to  the  Legislature  of  \'irginia  at  their  next  session,  praying 
that  a  sejiaration  may  take  ])lace  ;  in  which  petition  are  fully  set  forth 
such  terms  as  we  thought  beneficial  to  our  infant  country,  and  not  in- 
consistent for  Virginia  to  grant. 

"It  is  generally  admitted  that  this  District  ought,  at  some  period  not 
far  distant,  to  be  separated  from  the  government  of  Virginia. 

"The  only  question  then,  is,  whether  we  are  now,  of  sufficient  ability, 
either  to  fill  the  diiferent  oftices  of  government,  or  provide  for  its  sup- 
port. In  answer  to  the  iirst  part  of  this  objection,  examples  have  taught 
us,  that  sound  princii)les  and  plain  sense  suffice  for  every  laudable  ]iur- 
pose  of  government ;  and  we  generally  find  that  the  liberty  of  the  subject 
and  the  laws  of  the  land,  are  in  the  highest  reverence,  at  the  foundation 
and  rise  of  States,  before  the  morals  of  the  peojjle  have  been  vitiated  by 
wealth  and  licentiousness  and  their  understandings  entangled  in  visionary 
refinements  and  chimerical  distinctions:  and  as  to  the  latter  part,  we  have 
now  in  our  power  several  valuable  funds,  which,  if  by  procrastination 
we  suffer  to  be  exausted,  we  shall  be  stripped  of  every  resource  but 
internal  taxation,  and  that  under  every  disadvantage:  and  therefore  we 
do  not  hesitate  to  ])ronounce  it  as  our  o])inion,  that  the  present  is  prefer- 
able to  any  future  ])eriod. 

"Hy  an  act  of  the  last  session  of  the  .Assembly,  we  find  that  the  rev- 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  231 

enue  law  is  fully  and  immediately  tu  be  enforced  within  the  District,  so 
that  we  shall  not  only  pay  a  very  considerable  part  of  the  tax  for  sup- 
porting the  civil  government  of  the  State,  but  also  be  obliged  to  support 
our  supreme  court,  and  every  other  office  we  need  in  the  District,  at  our 
own  charge ;  and  we  are  of  the  opinion,  that  the  additional  expense  of  the 
salaries  to  a  governor,  council,  treasurer,  and  delegates  to  Congress,  will, 
for  a  nimiber  of  years,  be  more  than  saved  out  of  the  funds  before  alluded 
to,  without  any  additional  tax  to  the  people."  ^ 

There  was  no  printing  press  within  reach  to  publish  this  address,  but 
many  pens  busily  copied  it  for  distribution  among  the  leaders  of  the 
different  communities  and  for  posting  at  the  county  courthouses.  For 
the  third  time  the  people  were  now  engaged  in  registering  their  will  for 
separation  in  the  election  of  the  thirty  delegates  who  were  to  compose 
the  next  convention.  This  process  was  becoming  monotonous  and  weari- 
some, and  the  voters  now  held  out  the  reasonable  hope  that  this  would 
be  the  final  assembly  in  the  movement  for  statehood. 

On  August  8,  1785,  the  third  convention  met  in  Danville  and  imme-      C^) 

diately  took  into  consideration  the  business  transmitted  to  them  by  the      ^^ 

former  convention.  Among  the  new  members  who  appeared  was  James 
Wilkinson,  a  man  who  had  established  well-known  reputation  during  the 
Revolution  and  who  the  year  before  had  come  to  Kentucky  to  recoup  his 
finances  and  to  fish  in  the  troubled  waters.  He  was  a  man  "of  fine  address, 
of  great  talent,  and  of  untiring  industry"  who  could  wield  a  pen  with 
a  florid  and  picturesque  style." 
^^C  He  was  now  in  a  fruitful  field  for  his  talents  and  temperament,  and 
"""^  soon  began  to  exert  an  increasing  influence.  After  a  thorough  discussion 
of  its  problems  the  convention  embodied  its  conclusions  in  a  series  of 
resolutions  embracing  in  general  the  same  comjilaints  that  had  appeared 
in  the  famous  address  to  the  people  issued  by  the  preceding  convention.") 
But  there  was  a  strain  of  growing  impatience  clearly  indicated,  which 
could  not  have  been  produced  through  any  fault  of  Virginia's,  as  no 
appeal  for  separation  had  yet  been  sent  to  her  by  any  of  the  conventions. 
This  increasing  exasperation  expressed  here  was  effective  propaganda 
for  intensifying  the  people's  desire  for  separation.  The  Virginia  laws 
were  declared  to  operate  unequally  in  the  two  parts  of  the  state  on 
each  side  of  the  mountains,  tending  to  the  subversion  of  justice  in  Ken- 
tucky. With  a  ring  of  tke  early  Colonial  wrath  against  Great  Britain, 
the  resolutions  attack  a  Virginia  law  imposing  a  tax  on  land  as  "equally 
subversive  of  justice  as  any  of  the  statutes  of  the  British  Parliament 
that  impelled  the  good  peoijle  of  America  to  arms."     It  continued: 

"Whereas  all  men  are  born  equally  free  and  independent,  and  have 
certain  natural,  inherent   and   inalienable   rights;   among   which   are   the 
enjoying  and  defending  life  and  liberty,  actjuiring,  possessing  and  pro- 
tecting   property,    and    pursuing   and    obtaining    happiness    and    safety: 
•   Therefore, 


8  Brown,  Political  Beginnings  of  Kentucky,  236-238 ;  the  full  text  is  also  found 
in  William  Littell,  Political  Transactions  in  and  Concerning  Kentucky,  from  the 
first  Settlement  thereof  Until  it  Became  an  Independent  State  in  June,  1792 
IFrankfort,  1806],  appendix,  p,  2;  Humphrey  Marshall,  The  History  of  Kentucky 
[Edition  1824],  I,  206;  and  in  R.  M.  NIcElroy,  Kentucky  in  the  Nation's  History 
[New  York,  1909],  122-12;. 

0  J.  D.  Monette,  History  of  the  Discoz'cry  and  Settlement  of  the  Valley  of  the 
Mississif'pi  [New  York,  1848],  II,  173;  Proceedings  of  the  American  Historical  As- 
sociation. V,  357.  Humphrey  Mar.shall  Rave  the  following  description  of  Wilkinson: 
"A  person  not  quite  tall  enough  to  be  p^jifectly  elegant,  compensated  by  its  symmetry 
and  appearance  of  health  and  strength.  A  countenance  open,  mild,  capacious,  and 
beaming  with  intelligence ;  a  gait  firm,  manly,  and  facile ;  manner  bland,  accommodat- 
ing, and  popular,  and  address  easy,  polite,  and  gracious,  invited  approach,  gave  access, 
assured  attention,  cordiality  and  ease."  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky  [1824  Edi- 
tion, I,  165.] 


1  o 

llv 

I  il 


232  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

"Resolved,  Tliat  it  is  the  indispensable  duty  of  this  convention,  as 
they  regard  the  prosperity  and  ha])piness  of  their  constituents,  them- 
selves and  posterity,  to  make  a])plication  to  the  General  Assembly,  at  the 
ensuing  session,  for  an  act  to  separate  this  District  from  the  present 
government  forever,  on  terms  honorable  to  both  and  injurious  to 
neither;  in  order  that  it  may  enjoy  all  the  advantages,  privileges  and 
immunities  of  a  free,  sovereign  and  independent  republic."  '"  These 
resolutions  were  unanimously  adopted. 
^  ^Having  resolved  for  separation,  the  convention  now  turned  its  atten- 
tion toward  methods  for  carrying  it  oui.  The  result  was  two  new 
addresses:  one  for  the  lu-ojile  and  one  for  \  irginia.  The  latter  set  forth 
an  exact  mode  of  procedure,  while  the  former  was  de^igned  to  keep 
the  people  lined  up  in  supjiort  of  this  course  by  reminding  them  again 
of  their  many  ills.  These  addresses  were  undoubtedly  the  v.ork  of 
^Wilkinson;  as  indeed  were  tho.se  of  the  preceding  convention,  if  a  sim- 
ilarity of  style  should  be  deemecl  conclusive.  The  danger  of  Indian 
invasions  was  now  particularly  agitating  the  popular  mind  and  so  the 
address  to  the  people  deals  largely  with  the  defenceless  conditions  of  the 
country.)  A  call  to  arms  was  sounded :  "Let  us  rouse  from  our  lethargy ; 
let  us  arm,  associate,  and  embody.  Let  us  call  upon  our  officers  to  do 
their  duty,  and  determine  to  hoUl  in  detestation  and  abhorrence,  and  to 
treat  as  enemies  to  the  community,  every  per.son  who  shall  withhold 
his  countenance  and  support  of  such  measures  as  may  be  recommended 
^  for  our  common  defence."  (A  call  was  made  on  the  militia  officers  to 
meet  and  determine  on  j)lans  of  defence.^  The  convention  assumes  in 
this  address  certain  [jowers  that  ap])roach  full  governmental  res])on- 
sibility.i' 

The  address  to  Virginia  was  not  the  .same  one  which  the  second 
convention  had  drawn  up  and  left  over  for  the  action  of  this  assembly. 
This  address  was  less  conciliatory  in  language  and  more  demanding  in 
its  im])licalions.  On  this  jxjint  it  ran:  "In  this  Address  we  have  ilis- 
carded  the  complimentary  style  of  adulation  &  insincerity — it  becomes 
Freemen  when  speaking  to  Freemen  to  imploy  the  plain,  manly  unadorned 
I.;uiguage  of  Independence  *  *  *"  i-  It  cleverly  left  the  implication 
of  the  possibility  of  certain  eventualities  as  disagreeable  to  Kentuckians 
as  any  other  Americans,  if  action  were  not  speedily  obtained : 

"The  settlers  of  this  distant  region,  taught  by  the  arrangements  of 
Providence  and  encouraged  by  the  conditions  of  that  sttlenni  compact 
for  which  they  paid  the  price  of  blood,  to  look  forward  to  a  separation 
from  the  ICastern  i)art  of  the  Commonwealth;  have  viewed  the  subject 
leisurely  at  a  distance  and  examined  it  with  caution  on  its  near  ajiproach 
— irreconcilable  as  has  been  their  situation  to  a  connection  with  any 
community  beyond  the  ^Appalachian  Mountains,  other  than  the  Federal 
Union;  manifold  as  have  been  their  grievances  flowing  therefrom,  which 
ha\'e  grown  with  their  gr<jwth  and  increased  with  their  j)opulation;  they 
have  patiently  waited  the  hour  of  redress,  nor  e\en  ventured  to  raise 
their  voices  in  tln'ir  own  cause  until  youth  quickening  into  manhood 
hath  given  them  \  igor  and  s'.ability. 

"To  recite  minutely  the  causes  and  reasoning  which  have  directed 
and  will  justify  this  address,  wtiuld.  we  conceive,  be  a  matter  of  im- 
])ro])riety  at  this  juncture.  It  would  be  preposterous  for  us  to  enter 
upon  the  support  of  facts  and  consequences  which,  we  presume,  are 
incontrovertible;  our  sequestered  situation  from  the  seat  of  government, 
with  the  intervention  of  a  mountainous  desert  of  200  miles,  always 
dangerous,  and  passable  only  at  particular  seasons,  precludes  every  idea 

'"Brown,   Political   Pcgiit'imps   nf   Kentucky,  69-73,   239,  240. 

"  Brown,  Political  licgiiinimjs  of  Kentucky,  242. 

'■'^  Robertson,  Petitions  of  the  Early  Inhabitants  of  Kentucky,  82. 


Robert  Patterson,  i 753-1827 
(Courtesy  of  The  Filson  Club) 


2:54  lUSTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

of  a  connection  on  republican  principles.  'I'lie  patriots  who  formed  our 
constitution,  sensible  of  the  impracticability  of  connecting  pernianeiitly  in 
a  free  government  the  extensive  limits  of  the  commonwealth,  most  wisely 
made  provision  for  the  act  which  we  now  solicit." 

It  \enturcd  to  praise  the  anticipated  action  of  N'irginia  thus: 
"Our  application  may  exhibit  a  new  spectacle,  in  the  History  and  Pol- 
itics of  Mankind — A  Sovereign  Power;  solely  intent  to  bless  its  People 
agreeing  to  dismemberment  of  its  parts,  in  order  to  secure  Happiness 
of  the  whole — and  we  fondly  flatter  ourselves  from  motives  not  purely 
Local,  it  is  to  give  Birth,  to  that  catalogue  of  great  events,  which  we 
persuade  ourselves,  is  to  diffuse  throughout  the  World  the  inestimable 
blessings,  which  mankind  may  derive  from  the  American  Revolution."  '•' 
^This  convention,  unlike  the  preceding  one,  was  bent  on  speedy  action. 
It  entrusted  the  address  for  delivery  to  the  two  most  imi)ortani  officials 
of  the  District,  who  were  also  members  of  the  convention.  They  were 
George  Muter,  chief  justice  of  the  District,  and  Harry  Innes,  the  dis- 
trict attorney.  As  this  action  was  supposed  to  secure  final  results,  there 
was  no  call  issued  for  a  new  convention,  and  thus  this  continuing  author- 
ity, which  had  its  inception  in  Logan's  council  of  war  and  which  had 
been  passing  from  convention  to  convention,  ceased.  It  was  now  believed 
that  the  ne.xt  assembly  would  be  a  sovereign  convention,  called  by  the 
authority  of  \'irginia,  whose  duty  it  should  be  to  provide  a  constitution 
for  the  new  state.")  In  fact,  the  Kentucky  leaders  had  begun  to  contem- 
plate the  provisions  that  should  go  into  their  new  constitution,  as  soon 
as  the  movement  for  separation  began.  Caleb  Wallace  wrote  James 
Madison  on  August  23,  1785,  for  his  view  on  a  constitution  for  Ken- 
tucky. Wallace  also  invited  Madison  to  move  to  Kentucky  as  a  field 
for  future  power  and  preferment.  Madison  hesitated  to  entertain 
seriously  "the  idea  of  transplanting  myself  into  your  wilderness" ;  but 
he  gave  a  long  exposition  on  the  importance  and  powers  of  legislative, 
executive,  and  judicial  departments  of  government."  No  one  could 
know  at  that  time  that  these  thoughts  and  contemplations  on  constitu- 
tion-making which  were  engaging  certain  Kentuckians  should  long  be 
forgotten  before  they  should  be  needed. ^^ 

13  The  full  te.xt  of  this  address  may  be  found  in  Brown,  Political  Beginnings  of 
Kentucky,  340  et  seq.,  and  in  Itebertson,  Petitions  of  the  Early  Inhabitants  of  Ken- 
tucky, 79-82. 

"  The   Writings  of  James  Madison   [New   York,   1900-1910],   II,    166-177. 

i'"  The  names  of  the  members  of  the  convention  which  met  Decemljer  27, 
1784,  have  not  been  found.  Tlie  names  of  the  members  of  tlie  conventions  of 
May  23,  1785,  and  August  8,  1785,  are  to  be  found,  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky, 
Vol.  I,  p.  354,  and  arc  given  here: 

Members  of  the  convention  held  in  Danville,  on  the  23d  day  of  May,  1785 — 
Samuel  McDowell,  president,  George  Muter,  Christopher  Greenup,  James  Speed, 
Robert  Todd,  James  Ilaird,  Mattlievv  Walton,  James  Trotter,  Ebenczcr  Brooks, 
Caleb  Wallace,  I-(icliard  Terrell,  Robert  Clarke,  Roljcrt  Johnson,  John  Martin,  Ben- 
jamin Logan,  Willis  Green,  Harry  Innes,  Levi  Todd,  Isaac  Cox,  Richard  Taylor, 
Richard  Steele,  Isaac  Morrison,  James  Garrard,  John  Edwards,  George  Wilson, 
Iward   Payne,  James   Rogers,  .    .    .  Kincheloc. 

Members  of  theiconvention  which  assembled  at  Danville,  August  8,  1785 — Sam- 
uel McDowell,  president,  George  Muter,  Christopher  Irvine,  William  Kennedy, 
Benjamin  Logan,  Caleb  Wallace,  John  Coburn,  James  Carter,  Richard  Terrell, 
George  Wilson,  Isaac  Cox,  Andrew  H.\(nes,  James  Rogers,  Harry  Innes,  John 
Edwards,  James  Speed,  James  Wilkinson,  James  Garrard,  Levi  Todd,  John  Craig, 
Robert  Patterson,  Benjamin  Sebastian,  Phillip  Barbour,  Isaac  Morrison,  Matthew 
Walton,  James  Trotter. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

THE  FOURTH  CONVENTION ;  THE  FIRST  AND  SECOND 
ENABLING  ACTS 

Now,  for  the  first  time,  the  question  of  separating  the  District  of  Ken- 
tucky from  the  commonwealth  was  officially  before  the  Virginia  Legis- 
lature. The  leaders  in  state  affairs  had  not  been  oblivious  of  the  agita- 
tion, interspersed  with  three  conventions,  that  had  been  going  on  in 
Kentucky  for  the  past  year.  Opinions  varied  as  to  the  advisability  of 
separation  and  as  to  the  methods  of  bringing  it  about.  The  Virginia 
constitution  which  had  been  framed  in  1776  contemplated  the  erection 
at  some  future  time  of  states  out  of  its  vast  domains,  which  not  only 
included  the  Kentucky  regions  south  of  the  Ohio  River,  but  also  em- 
braced practically  all  of  what  cahie  to  be  known  as  the  Old  Northwest. 
The  constitution  specifically  provided  that  the  boundaries  of  the  com- 
monwealth should  be  the  same  as  they  had  been  under  James  I,  unless 
"one  or  more  governments  be  established  v.-estward  of  the  Alleghany 
Mountains."  ^  The  wisdom  and  foresight  of  this  provision  can  hardly 
be  overestimated,  for  without  this  constitutional  permission,  it  would  be 
difficult  to  predict  what  should  have  been  the  attitude  of  the  Virginia 
Legislature  toward  Kentucky  statehood. 

James  Monroe,  while  not  entertaining  a  pronounced  antagonism  to 
Kentucky  statehood,  believed  that  the  admission  of  western  states  should 
be  restricted  as  much  as  possible.  He  was  not  actuated  by  any  hostility 
to  the  West ;  but,  rather,  he  feared  the  diminishing  importance  of  Vir- 
ginia as  western  states  were  admitted.  Speaking  of  the  Kentucky  situa- 
tion, he  said :  "My  opinion  is  we  cod  so  model  our  regulations  as  to 
accommodate  our  government  to  their  convenience,  and  unquestionably 
the  more  we  diminish  the  State,  the  less  consequence  we  will  have  in  the 
Union."  -  This  opinion  was  expressed  in  August  of  1785.  Shortly 
thereafter  Monroe  made  a  visit  to  Kentucky,  passing  down  the  Ohio 
River  to  Limestone  fMaysville]  and  thence  to  Lexington  and  back  to 
Virginia  over  the  Wilderness  Road.-*  He  later  changed  his  views,  and 
contemplated  for  a  time  casting  his  lot  with  the  Kentuckians.  Instead 
of  believing  that  the  separation  of  Kentucky  from  Virginia  would  lessen 
the  latter's  importance,  he  now  thought  that  Kentucky  should  become  a 
state,  among  other  reasons  because  as  a  state  she  would  add  her  power 
to  Virginia's  influence  in  the  Union.* 

The  many-sided  Jefiferson  had  long  been  interested  in  Kentucky  and 
the  West  in  general.  He  was  not  directly  opposed  to  a  separation,  but 
would  proceed  with  due  caution.  Washington  was  at  least  as  sympa- 
thetic, if  not  more  so.  He  wrote  Jefferson  in  September,  1785:  "The 
inhabitants  of  Kentucky  have  held  several  conventions,  and  have  resolved 
to  apply  for  separation;  but  what  may  be  the  final  issue  of  it,  is  not  for 
me  to  inform  you."    He  said  opinions  varied  on  this  point ;  but  "I  have 

1  See  Proceedings  of  the  American  Historical  Association,-i^,  358. 

2  The  Writings  of  James  Monroe,  edited  by  S.  M.  Hamilton  [New  York,  1898- 
1903],  I,  107. 

3  Lewis  and  Richard  H.  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky   [Covington,   1874],   I,  21. 
*  F.    J.    Turner,    "Western    State-Making    in    the    Revolutionary    Era"    in    the 

American  Historical  Review,  I,  262,  263. 

235 


236  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

imifomiily  given  it  as  mine,  to  meet  them  upon  their  own  ground,  draw 
the  best  Hne  and  make  the  best  terms  we  can,  and  part  good  friends."  ' 
It  was  only  natural  for  most  Virginians  to  want  to  hold  onto  the  rich 
domains  of  Kentucky,  if  the  whole  could  be  knit  together  into  one  har- 
monious commonwealth.  In  pursuance  of  this  idea  the  Legislature  in 
1779  had  passed  an  act  for  opening  a  road  across  the  Cimiberlands  to 
Kentucky.  In  the  words  of  the  preamble,  "To  afford  mutual  aid  and 
support  to  one  another  and  cement  in  one  common  interest  all  the  citizens 
of  the  state  a  g(X)d  wagon  road  tiirough  the  great  mountains  into  tiie 
settlements  will  great iv  contribute."''^' 

In  due  time  Muter  and  Innes  a])i)eared  in  the  \  irginia  General  .\ssem- 
bly  with  the  Kentucky  petiticjn.  '1  hey  were  received  with  courtesy  and 
consideration.  With  almo.st  the  appearance  of  haste,  \'irginia,  on  Jan- 
uary 10,  1786,  granted  permission  for  separation,  embraced  in  a  law 
which  came  to  be  known  as  the  First  Enabling  Act.'''  lint  there  were 
laid  down  certain  conditions  incident  ujjon  a  .separation,  and  others  neces- 
.sary  as  a  precaution  against  the  uncertainties  of  political  attachments  in 
the  West.  Some  time  before  this,  Aladison  had  sounded  a  warning: 
"No  interval  whatever  should  be  suffered  between  the  release  of  our 
hold  on  that  Country  and  its  taking  on  itself  the  obligations  of  a  mem- 
ber of  the  federal  body.  Should  it  be  made  a  separate  State  without 
this  precaution,  it  might  possibly  be  tem])ted  to  remain  so,  as  well  with 
regard  to  the  U.  S.  as  to  Virginia.  *  *  *"  **  .Madison  was  here  not 
thinking  of  possible  foreign  intrigues  so  much  as  the  allurement  of  an 
escape  from  the  general  debt  and  national  taxation.  Jefi'erson  also  had 
fears  as  to  Kentucky's  ultimate  attachments.  In  January,  1786,  he 
wrote:  ''I  fear  *  *  *  that  the  jjeople  of  Kentucky  think  of  sep- 
arating, not  only  from  \'irginia  (in  which  they  are  right),  but  also  fn-m 
the  confedcrac).  1  own,  1  should  th'nk  this  a  most  calamitous  event, 
and  such  a  one  as  every  good  citizen  should  set  himself  against."  '* 

This  Enabling  Act  began  by  agreeing  with  ;he  Kentuckians  on  the 
propriety  of  a  seijaration  on  account  of  the  great  distance  with  the  con- 
comitant disadvantages.  But  instead  of  ca.ling  a  constitutional  conven- 
tion for  the  Kentuckians,  v>'hich  doiib.less  most  of  them  thought  would 
be  the  next  step,  the  (ieneral  Assembly  called  another  convention  to 
be  made  up  of  representatives  elected  by  the  free  male  inhabitants  in 
the  August  following  [1786]  and  to  meet  in  Danville  the  fourth  Mon- 
day in  Septemljcr.  In  this  convention  the  jjcc^ple  were  given  an  oppor- 
tunity to  determine  whether  they  wanted  statehood  on  the  conditions 
laid  down.  Thus,  it  did  not  represent  a  feeling  on  the  part  of  Virginia 
that  the  masses  had  been  heretofore  hoodwinked  into  se])aration  by  the 
convention  leaders  and  that  now  they  should  be  given  a  rcierendum  under 
the  authority  of  X'irginia  to  register  their  true  will.  Tliese  were  the 
conditions  laid  down  on  v.diich  Virginia  was  willing  to  let  Kentucky 
separate:  The  boundary  of  the  new  state  !o  remain  the  same  as  the 
District;  that  Kentucky  assume  her  ]M-o]X)rtion  of  the  Virginia  public 
debt;  that  private  rights  and  land  holdings  based  on  Virginia  laws  prior 
to  separation  be  tiot  disturbed ;  that  residents  and  non-residents  be  treated 
alike  in  taxation  and  security  of  properly;  that  all  land  titles  made  under 
the  authority  of  Virginia  and  surveyed  before  1788  be  held  valid;  that 
the  lands  that  \'irgina  had  reserved  for  different  kinds  of  services  be 
held   f(jr  her  until   September,   1788;  that  the  Ohio   River  be  open  and 

^  IVritiiigs    of    George    IVashini/lon    [Boston,    1840],    Edited    by    Jared    Sparks, 

IX,  134. 

"Robertson,  Petitions  of  the  Early  Inhabitants  of  Kenltuky,   18,    19 

'  Brown,  Political  Beginninfis  of  Kentucky,  72,  73. 

"The  Writings  of  James  Madison,  II,   149. 

"  The  Writings  of  Thomas  Jefferson   [Washington,   1904!.     Library  Edition,  'V, 
259.     This  letter  was  written  to  A.  Stuart  from  Paris,  January  25,   1786. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  237 

free  to  all  citizens  of  the  United  States ;  and,  that  in  case  of  disputes 
arising  over  these  conditions,  they  be  settled  by  arbitration  by  com- 
missioners. 

Finally,  there  was  the  provision  that  if  the  convention  called  to  meet 
in  the  coming  September  should  decide  on  separation,  then  it  must  fix 
a  date  prior  to  September  i,  1787,  when  Virginia's  authority  should 
cease;  provided,  however,  that  previous  to  June  i,  1787,  Congress  should 
agree  to  this  partition  and  agree  to  receive  Kentucky  into  the  Union.'" 
This  was  one  of  the  most  important  conditions  in  the  compact.  It  was 
this  provision  which  set  going  that  train  of  events  that  kept  the  would-be 
state  wandering  through  a  labyrinth  of  six  more  conventions  for  as  many 
years ;  but  it  was  this  same  provision  that  saved  her  the  unnecessary 
temptations  which  were  beginning  to  dangle  before  her  eyes  in  the  shape 
of  foreign  intrigues.  It  could  not  have  been  wholly  accidental  that  not 
the  slightest  mention  of  a  desire  to  enter  the  American  Union  was  made 
throughout  the  address  to  Virginia,  which  Wilkinson  wrote  and  which 
Muter  and  Innes  carried  to  Richmond.  Instead  of  following  the  com- 
mon practice  in  the  former  petitions  of  private  citizens  and  addresses  of 
conventions  praying  Virginia  to  intercede  with  Congress  for  their  admis- 
sion into  the  Union  as  a  state,  this  address  asked  "That  an  act  may 
pass  at  the  ensuing  session  of  the.  Assembly,  declaring  and  acknowledg- 
ing the  Sovereignty  &  Independence  of  this  district."  "  The  precaution 
that  \'irginia  took  was  not  wholly  uncalled  for. 

As  the  time  grew  near  for  the  August  election,  which  was  to  provide 
for  the  fourth  convention  to  meet  in  the  following  month,  interest  in 
the  general  movement  for  separation  was  intensified.  There  was  growing 
up  a  feeling  of  exasperation  at  the  interminable  delay  that  seemed  to  be 
pursuing  the  quest  for  statehood.  The  former  convention  had  been 
largely  controlled  by  this  element,  which  was  becoming  bolder  and  more 
outspoken  for  immediate  action,  regardless  of  the  Enabling  Act.  In  this 
movement  Wilkinson  first  began  to  develop  a  popular  leadership.  He 
entered  the  campaign  in  Fayette  County  as  one  of  the  candidates  to 
represent  that  county  in  the  forthcoming  convention.  Here  the  cam- 
paign waxed  especially  hot.  Wilkinson  came  out  boldly  for  immediate 
independence,  and  so  vehement  was  he  in  his  denunciation  of  delay 
that  he  overreached  his  mark.  A  strong  opposition  grew  up  against 
him.  so  widespread  that  he  all  but  failed  of  election,  despite"  the  fact 
that  he  modified  his  statements :  and  his  enemies  declared  that  it  was 
only  through  fraud  that  he  succeeded. '- 

But  in  the  meantime,  Indian  depredations  had  become  so  unbearable 
that  two  important  expeditions  were  fitted  out  to  carry  the  war  across 
the  Ohio  River  into  the  Indian  country.  Logan  went  against  the  Shaw- 
nees  on  the  headwaters  of  Mad  River,  while  Clark  led  1,000  volunteers 
up  the  Wabash  against  the  Indian  towns  on  the  Vermilion. i^  This  was 
the  situation  in  the  District  when  the  Fourth  Convention  met  in  Dan- 
ville in  September,  1786.  As  a  result,  when  the  meeting  was  called  to 
order,  no  quorum  was  present — a  large  number  of  the  members-elect 
having  gone  on  the  Indian  expeditions.  The  minority  thus  unable  to 
organize,  adjourned  from  day  to  day.  awaiting  the  return  of  the  absent 


1"  McElroy,  Kentticky  m  the  Nation's  History,  129-130. 

"  Robertson,  Petitions  of  the  Early  Inhalnlants  of  Kentucky,  82.  Madison 
wrote  Washington  concerning  the  Kentucky  attitude  on  these  conditions :  "The 
apparent  coolness  of  the  representative  of  Kentucky,  as  to  a  separation,  since 
these  terms  were  defined,  indicates  that  they  had  some  views  that  will  not  be 
favored  by  them.  They  dislike  much  to  be  hung  on  the  will  of  Congress."  Green, 
Spanish  Conspiracy.  62,  quoted  from   Writings  of  George  Washington,  IX,  510. 

12  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  I,  262;  McElroy,  Kentucky  in  the  Nation's 
History,  130. 

'3  A  more  extended  account  of  these  expeditions  will  be  found  on  pages  — . 


& 


238  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

members.  Altliough  not  competent  to  transact  business  in  the  name  of 
the  convention,  this  minority  prepared  a  memorial  to  the  X'irginia  Legis- 
lature, reciting  the  circumstances  in  Kentucky  that  made  it  impossible 
to  proceed  with  the  convention,  but  at  the  same  time  they  asked  that 
certain  changes  be  made  in  the  provisions  of  the  Enabling  Act.  They 
appointed  John  Marshall,  afterwards  to  become  the  great  chief  justice, 
as  their  agent  in  Richmond  to  present  the  memorial.'*  Among  the 
amendments  asked  for  was  an  extension  of  the  time  limit  required  for 
the  sanction  of  Congress.  Virginia,  willing  to  please  her  western  settlers 
and  to  solve  this  im])ortant  internal  difficulty  as  soon  as  i>ossil)le.  revised 
the  old  Enabling  Act  on  January  lO,  1787.  Regardless  of  the  request  of 
this  rump  convention,  Virginia  would  have  been  under  the  necessity  of 
revising  her  enabling  act,  as  the  Kentucky  convention  had  been  delayed 
so  long  it  could  not  have  fulfilled  its  time  requirements.  Some  argued 
that  so  unimportant  an  item  as  merely  the  time  limit  should  not  be 
made  to  bring  about  delay,  which  could  not  be  less  than  at  least  a  year. 
But  even  John  Marshall,  who  was  here  intrusted  with  Kentucky's  inter- 
ests, favored  a  new  law.  He  believed  with  the  General  Assembly  that 
to  proceed  under  the  old  act  of  separation  would  augment  ]iartv  differ- 
ences in  Kentucky,  "that,  as  you  are  very  much  divided  among  yourselves, 
and  there  does  not  appear  to  be  in  the  minority  a  disposition  to  submit 
with  temper  to  the  decision  of  the  majority,"  there  ought  to  be  a  new 
act  passed.'-"' 

He  agreed  with  the  Legislature  that  everything  should  be  done  strictly 
according  to  the  letter  of  the  law,  for  when  once  the  law  was  set  aside 
in  the  slightest  degree,  a  breech  was  opened  for  more  serious  departures. 

The  terms  of  this  new  act  were  virtually  the  same  as  the  First  En- 
abling Act,  except  as  to  the  time  limits.  yVn  election  was  called  for  in 
August  following  [17S7]  for  a  fifth  convention  to  meet  on  the  third 
Monday  in  September  in  Danville  to  again  vote  wdiether  it  would  have 
separation  or  not.  A  longer  period  than  in  the  first  act  was  set  for  the 
termination  of  Virginia's  authority,  should  the  convention  vote  for  sep- 
aration. Her  authority  was  now  not  to  cease  until  January  i,  1789,  and 
Congress  must  agree  by  July  4,  1788,  to  "release  this  Commonwealth 
from  all  its  federal  obligations  arising  from  said  District,  as  being  part 
thereof,  and  shall  agree  that  the  proposed  state  shall  immediately  after 
the  day  fi.xed  as  aforesaid,  or  at  some  convenient  time  future  thereto, 
be  admitted  into  the  Federal  Union. i" 

In  the  meantime  the  members  of  the  convention  who  had  been 
away  on  the  military  expeditions  returned,  and  in  January  [1787]  a 
quorum  was  found  present.  The  convention  immediately  voted  with 
great  unaniniity  to  agree  to  the  Virginia  terms  of  separation.  But  shortly 
thereafter  the  intelligence  of  the  new  enabling  act  reached  Kentucky. 
The  convonti:;n,  thus  deprived  of  any  further  authority,  adjourned,  with 
the  erstwhile  members  departing  to  their  various  homes  throughout  the 
District  in  aa  ugly  temper.''^ 

'*  Brown,  Political  Peginnings  of  Kentucky,  73-78. 
•°  Brown,  Political  Beginnings  of  Kentucky,  78. 
'"  Brown,  Political  Beginnings  ef  Kentucky,  73-78. 

"Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  I,  264;  J.  D.   Monetae,  History  of  the  Discov- 
ery and  Settlement  of  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi  [New  York,  1848],  II,  172-192. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

TRADE  RIGHTS  DOWN  THE  MISSISSIPPI— THE  FIFTH 

CONVENTION 

Kentucky  had  now  gone  through  with  four  conventions,  and  was 
apparently  no  closer  to  statehood  than  when  she  began.  The  flames  of 
reckless  discontent  that  had  been  growing  for  some  time  now  finding 
much  to  feed  on  burst  out  anew  and  with  great  intensity.  Many  people 
began  to  think  less  on  statehood  and  more  on  absolute  independence. 
Before  another  convention  should  assemble  the  people  were  destined  to 
pass  through  such  provocations  and  excitement  as  to  almost  destroy  their 
faith  in  the  American  Union  or  desire  to  become  a  part  of  it. 

Clark's  expedition  against  the  Indians  up  the  Wabash  carried  with 
it  a  train  of  evil  consequences.  In  the  first  place  it  aroused  the  anger  of 
Governor  Edmund  Randolph,  who  had  succeeded  Patrick  Henry  in 
December  of  1786,  and  who  had  none  of  that  popularity  that  Henry  had 
enjoyed  with  the  Kentuckians.  One  of  his  first  official  acts  was  to  offer 
strong  provocations  to  the  Kentuckians  in  the  attitude  he  took  toward 
Clark's  expedition.  He  declared  that  he  had  information  from  Ken- 
tucky that  Clark  "had  undertaken  without  authority  to  raise  recruits, 
nominate  officers,  and  impress  provisions  in  the  District  of  Kentucky  for 
the  defence  of  the  Post  of  Vincennes,  and  had  for  that  purpose  also 
seized  the  property  of  Spanish  subjects  contrary  to  the  laws  of  nations."  ' 
Randolph  demanded  that  Harry  Innes,  the  attorney  general  of  the  Dis- 
trict, institute  prosecutions.  It  seemed  to  the  Kentuckians  bad  enough 
to  be  left  defenceless  by  Virginia  and  the  Confederation  as  they  believed. 
but  to  be  prosecuted  for  defending  themselves  was  filling  their  cup  to 
overflowing.  Innes  replied  to  Randolph  that  Virginia  and  the  national 
government  had  grossly  neglected  their  defence  and  that  it  would  be 
wise  not  to  drive  a  people  to  desperation.  He  refused  to  make  any 
prosecutions,  taking  advantage  of  a  technicality  he  was  able  to  discover. 

Clark's  expedition  had  been  a  failure,  largely  to  his  mismanagement. 
The  lustre  of  his  name  was  rapidly  tarnishing,  and  this  expedition  almost 
eflFaced  it.  Mutiny,  disobedience,  and  disorder  marked  its  course.  While 
in  Vincennes  he  had  forcibly  taken  merchandise  and  provisions  from 
some  Spanish  merchants  there  for  the  use  of  his  army.  Reports  were 
scattered  and  gained  credence  that  Clark  would  not  stop  with  robbing 
Spanish  merchants  in  Vincennes,  but  would  march  his  army  to  Natchez 
and  seize  the  city.  This  was  an  echo  of  the  land  speculations  in  the 
western  domain  of  Georgia  around  that  city  that  were  agitating  certain 
minds  in  the  West.  Thomas  Green  wrote  the  Georgia  Governor  in 
December,  1786  from  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio  [Louisville]  that  Clark  was 
ready  "to  raise  troops  suufficient,  and  go  with  me  to  the  Natchez  to 
take  possession,  and  settle  the  lands.  *  *  *"  -  He  asked  Georgia's 
permission,  claiming  there  were  hundreds  of  families  ready  to  go  and 
wrest  the  country  from  Spain.  Another  letter  written  at  the  Falls  of  the 
Ohio  earlier  in  the  same  month  found  wide  circualtion.  It  told  of  the 
stagnant  conditions  of  commerce  in  the  West  due  to  Spain's  control  of 

1  Brown,  Political  Beginnings  of  Kentucky,  82,  83. 

-T.   M.   Green,   The  Spanish   Conspiracy    [Cincinnati,    1891],   385,   386. 

239 


240  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

the  Mississippi  and  hinted  that  Clark's  actions  against  the  Spanish  mer- 
chants was  only  tlic  hcginniiifj  of  the  movement;  that  if  the  Spaniards 
I  would  not  let  the  Americans  trade  down  the  river,  thi-n.  the  Americans 
would  not  permit  the  Spaniards  to  trade  up ;  and  that  the  [)eople  were 
getting  ready  to  drive  out  the  Spaniards  and  side  with  England.' 

These  rumors  connected  with  Clark's  \'incennes  troubles  created  con- 
siderable excitement  among  a  certain  class.  They  were  anxious  for  an 
investigation  of  Clark's  conduct.  In  1787  the  Secretary  of  War  ordered 
such  an  in\estigation.  A  rejiort  was  made  to  Clark's  discredit;  but 
nothing  further  was  done  more  than  disown  his  treatment  of  the  mer- 
chants.'' 

Added  to  this  excitement  was  a  report  of  certain  transactions  of 
vastly  more  importance  to  the  Kenluckians.  This  was  the  intelligence 
that  John  Jay  was  on  the  point  of  bartering  away  to  the  Spaniards  the 
claim  of  the  United  States  to  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  River  for 
certain  commercial  concessions  which  would  benefit  the  East  only.  In 
order  to  get  the  proper  setting  of  this  (luestiim  at  this  time,  it  is  necessary 
to  give  a  short  account  of  its  status. 

By  the  Treaty  of  Paris  in  i/f^^.  ending  the  French  and  Indian  War, 
England  was  given  the  right  to  navigate  the  Mississippi  throughout  its 
whole  length.  The  treaty  of  independence  in  1783  conveyed  that  right 
to  the  United  States.  But  during  the  peace  negotiations,  both  France 
and  Spain  looked  with  little  sympathy  on  the  Americans  extending  their 
boundaries  west  of  the  Alleghanies,  much  less  to  be  willing  to  guarantee 
to  them  the  right  to  navigate  the  Mississippi  from  its  source  to  its  mouth. 
Due  principally  to  the  tenacity  of  Jay  and  John  Adams,  the  freedom  of 
this  great  river  was  secured.  Spain  never  became  reconciled  to  this 
grant  of  so  important  a  right  to  strengthen  a  rising  young  republic,  in 
whom  some  of  her  di])lomats  saw  the  future  menace  to  the  whole  fabric 
of  .Si)anish  possessions  in  the  New  World.  The  jealousy  of  Spain  was 
intensified  by  the  dispute  that  soon  arose  over  the  southern  boundary  of 
the  United  States.^ 

During  the  Revolutionary  war  Spain  had  thrown  the  river  open  to 
the  struggling  colonies,  as  a  blow  against  her  great  ri\al.  In  1779  she 
entered  the  war  against  England.  Considerable  use  was  made  of  the 
river  during  the  struggle.  As  early  as  1776  a  trip  was  made  by  the 
western  settlers  to  New  Orleans  for  powder;  and  they  succeeded  in 
bringing  back  up  the  river  136  kegs  which  were  used  on  the  Wheeling 
and  Pittsburg  frontier."  In  1779  a  party  of  seventy-two  men  conveying 
munitions  of  war  up  the  Ohio  from  New  Orleans  were  attacked  by 
Indians  and  all  but  twenty  slain.''  George  Rodgers  Clark's  famous 
expedition  against  the  Northwest  was  supplied  to  a  considerable  extent 
by  munitions  and  provisions  brought  up  the  Mississippi.  The  Ken- 
lurkinns  were  thus  taught  the  necessity  and  value  of  this  great  highway; 
and  when  peace  came  they  doubly  expected  to  continue  its  use,  since  it 
was  guaranteed  to  them  by  treaty. 

But  this  was  not  to  be.  For  the  first  few  years  after  peace,  the 
Kentuckians  had  no  great  use  for  the  river,  as  they  had  not  yet  begun 
to  produce  much  more  than  they  consumed.  But  as  these  regions  south 
of  the  Ohio  immediately  became  the  destination  of  extraordinary  numbers 

'  Gr»en,  The  Spanish  Conspiracy,  387 ;  McMaster,  History  of  the  People  of 
the  United  States.  I,  .■?8i-383. 

*  Ezra  Mattingly,  "George  Rodgers  Clark — A  soldier  of  the  Early  West"  in 
Magazine    of    Western    History,    Vol.    14,    561,    572. 

<•  Carl    Russell    Fish,   American   Diplomacy    [New   York,    1915],   70,   71,   passim. 

8  Collins,    History    of    Kentucky,    I,    518;    Butler,    History    of    Kentucky,    156. 

''Ibid.,  102;  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky.  I,  20;  W.  R.  Shepherd,"  "Wil- 
kinson and  the  Beginnings  of  the  Spanish  Conspiracy"  in  American  Historical  Re- 
view,  IX,  491,  492. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  241 

of  settlers,  they  soon  began  to  produce  an  abundance  of  tobacco,  beef, 
pork,  lard  and  like  products.  The  whole  economic  fabric  soon  came  to 
depend  absolutely  on  a  market.  Now  the  river  became  the  very  life 
blood  of  the  people,  since  it  was  the  only  highway  on  which  they  could 
reach  a  market.  Soon  after  the  war,  Thomas  Amis,  a  North  Carolinian, 
tested  out  the  freedom  of  navigation  by  loading  flat  boats  on  the  Ohio 
and  attempting  to  iloat  down  to  the  markets  in  New  Orleans.  When  he 
reached  Natchez  his  goods  were  seized  by  the  Spaniards  and  it  was  with 
great  difficulty  that  he  was  able  to  get  back  to  Kentucky.*  Other  attempts 
to  use  the  river  met  with  like  difficulties.  However,  no  one  thought  of 
giving  up  the  claim  to  that  right  or  to  cease  making  efforts  to  use  it. 

Congress  had  pursued  a  vacillating  course.  In  1779,  it  had  made  the 
freedom  of  the  Mississippi  a  Sine  qua  noii  to  any  treaty  with  Spain; 
while  in  1781  in  the  tortuous  course  of  the  negotiations  it  had  given  its 
representatives  permission  to  waive  this  right;  but  by  1784  it  had  returned 
to  its  former  position.  In  1786  John  Jay,  the  secretary  for  foreign  affairs, 
as  the  secretary  of  state  was  called  under  the  Confederation,  suggested 
to  Gardoqui,  the  Spanish  minister,  the  possibility  of  giving  up  the  right 
for  twenty-five  years  of  navigating  the  Spanish  end  of  the  Mississippi 
in  return  for  certain  commercial  rights,  which  from  their  very  nature 
could  have  no  value  for  the  western  settlers."  A  sectional  aspect  was 
immediately  given  to  these  proceedings ;  and  an  acrimonious  debate 
ushered  it  into  Congress.  It  was  the  commercial  North  against  the  agri- 
cultural South.  The  Virginia  legislature  by  a  unanimous  vote  instructed 
her  representatives  in  Congress  to  oppose  the  Jay  proposals ;  and  also 
took  occasion  to  re-affirm  that  the  free  use  of  the  western  waters  belonged 
to  the  people  living  thereon  "by  the  laws  of  God  and  nature  as  well  as 
compact"  and  strongly  deprecated  Congress  or  any  other  power  bartering 
such  rights  away.'"  The  Southern  states  lined  up  solidly  against  the 
North.  The  vote  resulted  in  seven  states  out  of  the  thirteen  standing  in 
favor  of  the  Jay  proposals ;  but  as  a  vote  of  nine  was  required  by  the 
Articles  of  Confederation  for  the  passage  of  important  legislation,  it 
ended  in  failure.  But  the  mischief  was  done,  the  proposals  had  been 
seriously  considered  by  Congress,  and  this  was  almost  as  strong  a  provo- 
cation to  the  West  as  if  the  proposals  had  passed. 

The  Kentuckians.  agitated  as  they  were  through  the  course  of  their 
many  conventions,  were  in  no  mood  to  receive  intelligence  of  the  Jay 
proposals.  In  July,  1786,  Washington  had  written  Henry  Lee  of  the 
unrest  in  the  West :  "At  this  moment  it  is  formidable,  and  the  popula- 
tion is  rapidly  increasing.  There  are  many  ambitious  and  turbulent 
spirits  among  its  inhabitants,  who,  from  the  present  difficulties  in  their 
intercourse  with  the  Atlantic  States,  have  turned  their  eyes  to  New 
Orleans,  and  may  become  riotous  and  ungovernable,  if  the  hope  of  traffic 
with  it  is  cut  of?  by  treaty."''  In  the  early  part  of  1787  rumors  of 
Jay's  doings  had  begun  to  filter  across  the  mountains  into  Kentucky. 
Marshall,  Kentucky's  agent  in  Richmond,  was  doubtless  the  first  to  .send 
an  exact  account  of  the  affair. '-  About  the  same  time  a  number  of 
citizens  in  and  around  Pittsburg,  signing  themselves  as  a  "Committee  of 
Corresjjondence."  addressed  a  comiuunication  to  the  people  of  Kentucky, 
informing  them  "that  John  Jay,  the  .American  secretary  for  foreign 
affairs,  had  made  a  proposition  to  Don  Gardoqui,  the  Spanish  minister, 
near  the  United  States,  to  cede  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  to  Spain 
for  twenty  years,  in  consideration  of  commercial  advantages  to  be  enjoyed 

'  McMastcr,  History  of  the  People  of  the  United  States,  I,  372-383. 
'Fish,  American  Diplomacy,  71,  72;  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  I,  265. 
'"Brown,  Political  Beginnings  of  Kentucky,  78-81;    McMaster,   History   of   the 
People  of  the  United  States,  I,  389. 
"  Writings  of  Washington,  IX,  180. 
12  Brown,  Political  Beginnings  of  Kentucky,  80,  81. 

Vol.  1—20 


'D 


242  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

by  the  eastern  States  alone."  ^^  It  came  to  be  a  current  report  in  Ken- 
tucky that  Jay  had  said  "that  the  Western  people  had  nothing  to  export, 
&  therefore  the  cession  of  the  Mississippi  would  be  no  injury  to  them."''' 
Needless  to  say  that  in  the  West,  Jay  became  the  most  unpopular  man 
in  the  whole  country,  a  reputation  he  confirmed  with  Kentuckians  when 
eight  years  later  he  negotiated  with  England  the  Famous  Jay  Treaty. 

The  extreme  party  gained  much  through  these  reports.  They  could 
now  point  to  Congress  as  unwilling  to  help  the  W'est.  even  if  she  were 
able.  It  was  also  now  evident  that  the  East  cared  nothing-  for  the  welfare 
of  the  \\'est,  and  was  willing  to  sell  them  in  bondage  to  a  foreign  power, 
in  order  to  enhance  its  own  greedy  interests.  Not  only  would  it  do  this, 
but  also  through  a  designed  neglect  of  defense  against  the  Indians,  it 
would  allow  the  savages  to  exterminate  the  Kentuckians.  Should  they 
,'ittcmpt  to  defend  themselves,  the  result  was  chidings  and  investigations 
by  the  national  authorities.  Events  were  thus  playing  directly  into  the 
hands  of  the  extremists,  who  were  being  led  and  urged  on  by  Wilkinson. 
The  iron  was  now  hot;  they  would  strike.  On  March  29  [1787]  a 
circular  letter  signed  by  Harry  Innes,  George  Muter,  Benjamin  Sebastian, 
and  John  Brown  and  addressed  to  the  people  of  Kentucky  called  on 
the  people  to  elect  delegates  to  a  meeting  to  be  held  in  Danville  in  the 
following  May  to  take  into  consideration  the  action  of  Congress  with 
regard  to  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi.  The  peo])le  readily  complied 
in  an  inflamed  state  of  mind.  For  a  time  there  was  danger  of  rash 
acts  being  taken,  which  might  land  Kentucky  out  of  the  Union.  The 
convention  met  according  to  call,  but  ended  in  a  fiasco.  The  reasons 
were  these:  When  the  call  went  out,  there  was  no  exact  knowledge  of  the 
status  of  the  Jay  proposals  in  Congress  and  the  attitude  of  Mrginia  was 
not  yet  known.  \\'hen  the  \'irginia  resolutions  of  opposition  became 
known,  and  when  it  was  learned  that  Congress  had  not  agreed  with  Jay, 
a  better  feeling  was  shown,  and  the  convention  adjourned  without 
action.'^ 

About  the  time  the  call  went  out  for  the  Danville  convention,  which 
was  a  move  of  the  extremists,  a  memorial  was  sent  up  to  the  Virginia 
General  Asseinbly  by  the  more  moderate  element,  begging  the  authorities 
to  intercede  with  Congress  not  to  sell  out  the  West  for  the  benefit  of  the 
East.  The  niemorialists  declared  they  had  as  much  right  to  the 
Mississippi  as  to  the  James  or  the  Potomac.  The  memorial  continued : 
"Rom  and  educated  under  our  common  gov't  and  attached  to  it  bv  the 
strongest  Ties  of  Interest  &  aftection,  having  ecinally  participated  in  the 
hardships  &-  dangers  of  the  Revolution  and  being  ec|ually  entitled  to 
its  benefits,  they  cannot  but  receive  with  horror  the  Idea  of  their  being 
thus  sacrificed,  and  their  interests  sold  by  those  whom  they  have  con- 
sidered as  their  brethren,  friends  &  Fellow-citizens."  i"  This  memorial 
was  dignified  and  tcmjjeratc  throughout.  It  was  signed  1)v  many  who 
had  been  soldiers  in  the  Revolution.  It  bore  the  names  of  John  Brecken- 
I  ridee.  Francis  I'reston,  and  John  Campbell ;  but  not  those  of  James 
Wilkinson,  George  Muter,  ITarry  limes,  George  Nicholas,  or  Caleb 
Wallace.!" 

It  was  thus  with  mingled  feelings  that  the  people  approached  the 
subject  of  the  election  and  meeting  of  the  fifth  convention.  According 
to  the  Second  Enabling  Act,  the  election  was  to  take  place  in  August  and 
in  .September  the  convention  should  convene.    On  August  11,  1787,  there 

13  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  I,  264;  McElroy,  Kentucky  in  the  Nation's  His- 
tory,  132. 

'■*  Harry  Inncs  to  Jolin  Rrown,  December  7,  1787,  in  tlic  Inncs  MS,  Vol.  28. 
This  MS  collection  i.s  in  tlie  Library  of  Congress. 

"  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  I,  264. 

'"Green,  Spanish  Conspiracy,  .'iSg-.TO'- 

"  Tbe  absence  of  these  names  is  not  held  cnndeninatory,  tnit  rather  as  interesting. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  248 

appeared  in  Lexington  a  force  which  was  destined  to  play  an  important 
part  in  the  future  discussions  of  the  District  and  the  state.  This  was 
the  printing  press  with  its  product,  the  Kentucke  Gazette,  edited  by  John 
Bradford.  Efforts  of  the  second  convention  to  have  a  newspaper  started 
were  thus  rewarded  two  years  later,  in  lime  for  it  to  play  a  part  in  shaping 
affairs  for  the  fifth  convention.  The  people  seized  with  avidity  this 
opportunity  to  give  expression  to  their  pent-up  feelings.^*  The  question 
of  separation  naturally  came  in  for  much  discussion.  Here  the  persistent 
few  who  strove  against  the  inundation  of  separation-feeling  could  seem 
as  big  and  shine  as  bright  as  their  opponents.  In  the  third  issue  appeared 
a  long  poem,  a  paraphrase  of  Hamlet's  Soliloquy,  beginning  "To  sever 
or  not  to  sever,  that  is  the  question."  ^^  This  was  followed  in  the  next 
issue  by  thoughtful  observation  on  both  sides  of  the  question.  If  separa- 
tion is  voted,  it  was  asked  how  the  new  state  expected  to  pay  the  expenses 
of  running  the  new  government,  while  the  Mississippi  remained  closed. 
It  was  clearly  inferred  that  the  Kentuckians  must  expect  to  pay  for  the 
privilege  of  having  their  own  state  government,  and  that  taxes  must 
necessarily  be  higher  than  they  were  at  that  time.  Also  "Will  not 
separation  lessen  our  importance  in  the  opinion  of  the  savages  and  cause 
them  to  fall  on  us  with  greater  vigour?"  But  on  the  other  hand,  if 
separation  were  not  obtained,  how  could  they  defend  themselves  against 
the  Indians,  how  could  they  pay  the  taxes  demanded  by  Virginia,  how 
as  a  remnant  of  Virginia  could  they  establish  and  maintain  a  policy  that 
would  promote  manufactures,  and  how  could  they  properly  encourage 
learning?  Also  a  state  government  could  more  easily  restrain  the  lawless 
and  the  licentious  as  well  as  put  a  stop  to  "the  abuses  of  power  practiced 
of  late  by  some  of  those  in  Authority."  -"  These  observations  were  highly 
stimulating,  attracting  considerable  discussion  on  both  sidesi  of  the 
question.  Furthermore,  if  they  should  become  a  state  they  would  auto- 
matically be  vested  with  valuable  commercial  power,  which  they  believed 
might  be  used  against  Spain  with  telling  effect.  Under  the  Articles  of 
Confederation  the  states  possessed  the  power  to  pass  tariff  laws  against 
foreign  countries  as  well  as  against  each  other.  Armed  with  this  club 
the  Kentuckians  could  threaten  to  exclude  absolutely  every  species  of 
Spanish  commerce  from  the  state  and  otherwise  threaten  Spanish  trade. 
Virginia  had  erected  a  port  of  entry  on  the  Ohio,  whose  policy  Ken- 
tuckians had  no  control  over.  From  every  angle  the  advantages  of  state- 
hood seemed  to  protrude. 

Ten  days  before  the  fifth  convention  met,  an  article  appeared  in  the 
Kentucke  Gazette  -^  strongly  urging  opposition  to  the  erection  of  a  new 
state.  Besides  giving  the  stock  arguments  against  separation,  it  argued 
that  taxes  would  be  greatly  increased  and  that  a  part  of  the  national 
debt  would  be  saddled  on  Kentucky.  All  talk  about  the  new  state 
officials  being  willing  to  accept  small  salaries,  it  declared,  was  designed 
to  lull  the  people ;  "Ambition  would  always  carve  out  offices,  and  avarice 
would  require  larger  salaries."  Defence  against  the  savages  would  be 
much  more   difficult,   as   A'irginia's   supply   of   munitions  of   war  would 

i^The  people  with  this  new-found  means  of  expression  did  not  confine  their  dis- 
cussions to  matters  of  public  interest.  Private  quarrels  and  grudges  were  aired  out 
in  some  issues  of  the  Gazette  to  the  almost  exclusion  of  matters  of  a  general  interest. 
This  led  "Monitor"  to  write  the  editor :  "Your  paper  is  a  scene  of  war,  a  vehicle 
of  scandal,  in  Consequence  of  every  private  quarrel.  *  *  *  it  ^yju  bg  your  duty 
to  advise  those  wrathful  Gentlemen  to  determine  disputes  some  other  way,  and  not 
as  all  other  earthly  blessings  to  men,  pervert  the  important  usefulness  of  your  press, 
by  the  imperfections  of  human  nature."  Humphrey  Marshall  and  others  had  by 
this  time  entered  into  their  heated  personal  quarrels.  Kentucky  Gazette,  April  12, 
1788. 

'^^  Kentucke  Gazette,  August  25,   1787. 

20  Kentucke  Gazette,  August   18,   1787. 

2'  The  spelling  of  the  name  Kentucke  was  soon  changed  to  Kentucky. 


1'44 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 


automatically  cease  with  statehood.  And,  furthermore,  the  aid  and 
support  of  Virginia  wrmld  be  sorely  needed  in  the  contest  with  Spain  that 
was  sure  to  conie.-- 

Thus  the  questions  that  were  soon  to  come  l)efore  the  convention  had 
been  more  widely  discussed,  reaching  a  greater  number  of  people,  than 
ever  before.  On  .^ejitember  17  [ij^'^j]  ihe  fifth  assembly  met  and 
speedily  decided  unanimously  to  separate  from  the  rest  of  the  state 
according  to  the  X'irginia  terms.  It,  however,  asked  that  \'irginia's 
authority  cease  on  December  31,  1788;  and  that  in  the  meantime  a  Ken- 
tuckian  he  designated  as  one  of  the  Virginia  delegation  in  Congress,  it 
also  adopted  a  menacing  ])etition  to  Congress  demanding  admission  into 
the  Cnion.  hinally,  it  made  provision  for  the  election  of  what  was  hoped 
would  be  the  final  convi-nticm  which  would  make  a  constitution  for  the 
new  state.-'' 

In  view  of  the  many  dis.ip])<)intments  and  the  excitement  caused  by 
the  Jay  episode,  the  fifth  con\ention  was  very  moderate  and  temperate 
in  its  discussions  and  proceedings.  The  radicals  and  extremists  who  had 
seemed  in  the  earlier  i)art  of  the  year  to  have  had  the  complete  ascen- 
dancy, did  not  carry  out  the  program  that  would  have  been  expected  in 
those  days.  The  same  causes  that  had  ])revented  any  hasty  action  by  the 
Dan\ille  meeting  in  Ma\-  operated  to  the  same  effect  in  the  fifth  con- 
vention, which  had  now  adjourned.  fJut,  jjerhaps,  one  of  the  most  potent 
reasons  was  the  fact  that  Wilkinson  was  not  present.  His  absence  was 
not  due  to  defeat  for  membership.  He  had  so  ingratiated  himself  with 
the  people  by  his  engaging  personality  and  talents,  and  with  a  liberal 
useof_hisjTioney,  that  he  was  elected  to  the  convention.  l!ut  when  the 
assembly  convened,  he  was  far  from  the  turmoils  of  Kentucky.  He  was 
in  New  Orleans.  Here  began  actively  that  series  of  foreign  intrigues 
ramifying  at  one  time  or  another  into  three  nations,  which  was  to  com- 
[jromise  the  patriotism  and  good  name  of  the  West  for  more  than  a 
decade,  blast  the  reputations 
suspicion  on  a  host  of  others. 

=2  Kentucke  Gazette,  September  8,  1787. 

-2  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  I,  266.  The  address  to  Congress  was  by  no  means 
"perfectly  respectful  in  its  character"  as  stated  in  Collins,  Ibid.  See  Kentucky  Ga- 
zette, February  23,  1788;  also  letter  from  Innes  to  Brown,  December  7,  1787,  in 
Innes  MSS.,  28. 


)f  at  least  two  jirominent  leaders,  and  cast 


/r^ 


v^ 


CHAPTER  XX 

WILKINSON  AND  THE  SPANISH  TRADE 

During  these  troublous  times  the  economic  conditions  in  Kentucky 
were  ahnost  as  serious  as  was  the  pohtical  situation.  In  fact  they  were 
unusually  closely  connected.  Many  people  thought  that  manufactures 
and  commerce  waited  upon  statehood  and  that  everything  waited  on  a 
free  and  open  Mississippi.  As  the  people  passed  out  of  frontier  con- 
ditions, the  economic  fabric  came  to  depend  absolutely  on  securing  and 
maintaining  a  market.  The  wonderfully  fertile  Blue  Grass  Region  was 
producing  an  ever  growing  surplus  of  all  kinds  of  farm  products.  As 
barns  and  granaries  were  piled  higher  and  higher  with  wheat,  rye,  and 
tobacco  the  prices  of  these  products  became  lower  and  lower ;  and  the 
discontent  of  the  people  increased.  In  1786,  it  was  reported  from  the 
Falls  of  the  Ohio,  that  "the  quantities  of  produce  they  have  on  hand  is 
immense.  Flour  and  pork  are  now  selling  at  twelve  shillings  the  hundred  ; 
beef  in  proportion ;  any  quantity  of  Indian  corn  can  be  had  at  nine  pence 
f)er  bushel.  Three  times  the  quantity  of  tobacco  and  corn  can  be  raised 
on  an  acre  here  than  can  be  within  the  settlements  on  the  east  side  of  the 
mountains,  and  with  less  cultivation."  ^  Under  such  conditions  the  Ken- 
tuckians  came  to  develop  a  mania  for  markets,  concerning  which  it  has 
been  said,  "No  Arabs  or  Tartars  travel  farther  or  wider  in  pursuit  of 
the  unfortunate  caravans,  which  break  the  silence  of  their  frightful 
deserts,  than  Kentuckians  used  to  proceed  after  a  market."  2 

The  international  situation  in  the  West  gave  a  highly  political  com- 
plexion to  the  KenUickian's  quest  for  a  market,  in  which  dishonesty  and 
secret  intrigue  were  the  entering  wedges.  \\'ashington  had  early  seen  the 
dangers  in  this  situation.  'Tf  the  Spaniards  on  their  right,  and  Great 
Britain  on  their  left,  instead  of  throwing  impediments  in  their  way  as 
they  now  do,  should  hold  out  lures  for  their  trade  and  alliance,"  he 
greatly  feared  the  result.  He  continued,  "The  western  settlers  (I  speak 
now  from  my  own  observations)  stand  as  it  were,  upon  a  pivot.  The 
touch  of  a  feather  would  turn  them  any  way."  * 

But  \\ilkinson  early  saw  the  possibilities  of  personal  profit  and 
intrigue  in  such  a  situation,  and  was  not  long  in  taking  advantage  of  it. 
His  principal  reason  for  coming  to  Kentucky  was  to  provide,  by  the 
devious  means  he  could  command,  a  competency  for  himself  and  family. 
He  immediately  entered  into  important  commercial  schemes  and  am- 
bitions. Within  a  year  or  two  after  his  arrival  he  had  established  agents 
and  traders  in  many  parts  of  the  countrj',  and  had  almost  monopolized 
the  salt  trade.'*  An  idea  of  the  nature  and  extent  of  this  trade  is  con- 
tained in  these  instructions  to  an  agent: 

"I  beg  you  to  proceed  with  all  possible  dispatch  to  the  falls.  You 
will  call  by  the  lick,  and  urge  the  provision  of  the  salt;  and  prepare 
some  way  of  conveying  it  to  the  river  &  &.     You  will  make  the  best  of 


1  Green,  Spanish  Conspiracy,  387. 

2  Butler,  History  of  Kentucky,  435. 

3  John  Marshall,  Life  of  George  Washington  [Philadelphia,  1805-7]  quoted  in  A. 
J.  Beveridge.  The  Life  of  John  Marshall  [Boston,  1916-19],  III,  282. 

*  Brown,  Political  Beginnings  of  Kentucky,  91-93. 

245 


246 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 


your  way  to  Nash\ille,  niul  tliere  dispose  of  it  for  cottDti,  heaver  furs, 
raccoon  skins,  otter,  &.  You  must  always  observe  to  get  as  much  cash 
as  you  can.  When  you  have  completed  your  sales,  you  will  yourself, 
move  with  the  horses,  &.,  by  land,  and  commit  the  other  articles,  with 
the  barge  to  Capt.  Alexander,  with  directions  to  him  to  proceed  up  to 
the  falls;  there  secure  the  boat  and  property,  and  give  me  the  earliest 
advice  of  his  arrival,  by  express  or  otherwise. 

"The  goods  which  Capt.  Alexander  carries  down  to  the  falls,  I  wish 
you  to  exchange  for  horses,  or  elegant  high  blooded  mares,  if  you  can 
get  great  bargains;  otherwise,  sell  them  for  cash,  i)cltry,  or  cotton.  When 
you  receive  the  salt,  take  care  to  base  it  measured  in  a  proper  honest  way. 


James  Wilkinso.n,  1757-1^^5 
(Courtesy  of  The  Filson  Club) 


with  a  spade  or  shovel,  and  no  sifting,  i!i:c.  One  Smith  is  preparing  to  go 
down  with  two  or  three  hundred  bushels  from  the  lower  lick.  Endeavor 
to  get  ofif  before  him,  and  if  you  can  not,  persuade  him  to  stay  for  you; 
but  you  must  not  wait  for  him  a  moment,  as  it  will  be  your  interest  to 
arrive  before  him.  You  will  remember  you  are  going  amongst  a  set 
of  sharpers,  and  therefore  must  take  care  of  yourself.  \Vrile  to  by  every 
opportunity,  letting  me  know  how  you  come  on.  Don't  fail  in  this.  God 
bless  you  and  give  you  good  luck."  ^ 

This  trade,  though  extensive  as  it  was  in  Kentucky  and  down  into 
the  Tennessee  regions,  could  not  satisfy  Wilkinson,  when  there  aj^ijeared 
before  him  the  pleasing  prospect  of  feeding  the  hungry  markets  of  the 
Spaniards  in  New  Orleans  with  the  cheapening  and  accumulating  supplies 

«  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  370. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  247 

in  Kentucky.  Other  transactions  besides  establishing  commercial  rela- 
tions with  the  Spaniards  were  eminently  possible,  and  in  fact  these  former 
considerations  might  necessarily  have  to  precede  the  latter.  Wilkinson 
was  equal  to  any  eventuality.  He  began  to  break  the  way  as  early  as  1786, 
when  he  made  a  trip  to  Natchez  and  made  the  acquaintance  of  Gayoso, 
the  Spanish  commandant.'^  The  next  year,  in  April,  he  had  so  far  ma- 
tured his  plans,  that  he  set  out  down  the  Mississippi  with  a  number  of  flat- 
boats  laden  with  fiour,  bacon,  and  tobacco.  The  first  obstacle  to  his  jour- 
ney was  Natchez,  where  many  pioneer  traders  so  bold  as  to  attempt  to  navi- 
gate the  lower  Mississippi  had  been  seized  and  their  property  confiscated. 
But  Wilkinson  had  previously  paved  the  way.  After  a  short  perfunctory 
delay,  he  was  allowed  to  proceed  to  New  Orleans.'''  On  reaching  his 
destination,  he  with  his  cargo  was  seized  and  held  for  investigation.  He 
was  soon  able  to  secure  a  conference  with  Miro,  the  Spanish  governor. 
All  that  took  place  at  this  conference  and  subsequent  ones  is  not  known, 
but  Wilkinson  was  allowed  to  dispose  of  his  cargo,  and  it  has  been 
established  that  he  entered  into  a  commercial  and  political  arrangement 
with  the  Spaniards. 

In  these  conferences,  Wilkinson  laid  before  the  Spanish  governor  the 
whole  Kentucky  situation.  A  past  master  at  dissimulation  and  double- 
dealing,  he  told  of  the  growing  impatience  of  the  Kentuckians  on  the 
opening  of  the  Mississippi,  how  if  there  were  not  some  relaxation  made, 
they  might  swarm  down  on  the  Spanish  domains  and  take  possession  of 
them.  Having  established  this  fear  in  the  mind  of  Miro,  he  next  sug- 
gested the  possibility  of  winning  over  the  Kentuckians  to  a  Spanish 
connection,  as  perhaps  after  all  the  best  way  to  solve  this  menace  to 
Spanish  possessions.  This  would,  of  course,  mean  giving  extraordinary 
powers  to  Wilkinson  and  making  him  a  Spanish  agent  to  bring  about  the 
desired  results.  In  order  to  enhance  his  importance  among  the  Ken- 
tuckians, as  well  as  to  allay  any  i)reniature  suspicions  of  his  real  purpose, 
he  should  be  given  important  trading  privileges.  But  Wilkinson  explicitly 
advised  the  Spaniards  against  relenting  the  slightest  to  the  demands  of 
the  United  States,  for  in  so  doing,  they  would  make  the  Kentuckians 
contented,  who  would  then  seek  admission  into  the  Union  as  a  state,  and 
his  power  and  influence  would  be  destroyed.  Wilkinson  declared  that 
if  Spain  made  a  treaty  opening  the  Mississippi  it  "will  destroy  the  power 
which  Spain  now  enjoys  over  the  American  settlements,  and  entirely 
defeat  our  principal  view."  As  a  reward  for  suggesting  this  course  of 
action  and  as  compensation  for  future  services,  a  pension  was  settled 
upon  him,  as  well  as  the  trading  privileges.* 

The  commercial  arrangements  were  developed  by  degrees.  Miro's 
first  agreement  was  to  allow  Wilkinson  to  send  to  New  Orleans  $30,000 
worth  of  negroes,  butter,  cheese,  tallow,  apples,  live  stock,  tobacco,  flour, 
bacon  and  lard, — the  proceeds  to  remain  on  deposit  there  until  plans  were 
better  matured."  To  enter  into  all  of  these  agreements  and  projects  with 
a  stranger  and  a  foreigner  on  so  short  notice,  seemed  perhaps  rather  fast 
action  to  the  Spaniards,  and  was  doubtless  an  agreeable  surprise  to  Wi'- 
kinson.  To  show  the  Spaniards  that  his  soul  and  interests  were  with 
them,  on  August  22,  1787,  in  a  rather  lengthy  document,  he  took  the 
oath  of  allegiance  to  the  king  of  Spain.  He  set  forth  how  his  personal 
fortune  demanded  the  change  of  allegiance.     He  had  rendered  valuable 


^  Fish,  American  Diplomacy,  76. 

'  W.  R.  Shepherd,  "Wilkinson  and  the  Beginnings  of  the  Spanish  Conspiracy"  in 
American  Historical  Reznetv,  IX,  490-500;  McMaster,  History  of  the  People  of  the 
United  States,  I,  520,  521. 

8  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  Wilkinson  made  the  trip  to  New  Orleans  before 
the  Spaniards  had  ever  sent  agents  to  Kentucky,  or  had  matured  plans  concerning  it. 

8  Shepherd,  "Wilkinson  and  the  Beginnings  of  the  Spanish  Conspiracy,"  502-506. 
Wilkinson  had  asked  to  be  allowed  to  import  $60,000  worth. 


248  HISTORY  OF  KILXTUCKY 

services  to  the  struggling  colonies  in  the  Revolution  and  had  seen  the 
successful  issue  of  that  contest.  "This  event,"  he  continued,  "having 
rendered  my  services  no  longer  needful,  released  nic  from  my  engage- 
ments, (lissohed  all  the  obligations,  even  those  of  nature,  and  left  me 
at  liberty,  after  having  fought  for  her  welfare,  to  seek  my  own.  Since 
the  circumstances  and  policy  of  the  I'niied  States  have  rendered  it  im- 
possible for  me  to  attain  this  desired  object  under  her  government,  1  am 
re.solved,  without  wishing  them  any  harm,  to  seek  it  in  .'^jjain.    *    *    *''  '" 

Having  disposed  of  his  cargo  and  entered  into  these  secret  intrigues, 
Wilkinson  returned  to  Kentucky  by  sea,  by  the  way  of  the  .Atlantic  sea- 
board, stcjpjiing  at  Charleston  and  l'hiladel])hia.  He  saw  the  possibilities 
of  the  tirst  impressions  he  should  make  on  his  return.  He  entered  Lex- 
ington as  a  conquering  hero,  in  a  coach-aud-four  attended  by  a  retinue  of 
slaves."  He  had  unsealed  the  great  outlet  of  the  west,  a  task  that  the 
national  government  could  not  perform.  True  enough  the  privileges 
extended  to  himself  only;  but  was  this  not  another  indication  of  his 
power  and  importance.  Opponents  were  not  slow  in  imputing  other 
motives  than  merely  his  desire  to  aid  the  Kcntuckians  in  their  commerce; 
but  he  had  brought  back  results  anil  for  the  time  he  carried  the  day. 

He  now  set  about  greatly  increasing  and  extending  his  organization 
of  agents  and  traders  in  Kentucky.  As  the  trade  had  to  be  carried  on 
with  New  Orleans  under  his  name,  he  began  the  systematic  collection 
of  large  stores  of  goods  preparatory  to  shipment.  .An  advertisement  for 
hams,  tobacco,  and  other  farm  products  had  been  inserted  in  the  Keiittick\ 
Gazette,  even  before  he  returned.     It  read  as  follows : 

"The  subscribers  are  authorized  by  Cjeneral  Wilkinson,  to  purchase 
tobacco,  tallow,  butter,  well  cured  bacon,  hams,  lard,  and  smoked  briskets 
of  beef,  to  be  delivered  on  the  Kenlucke  at  the  mouth  of  Hickman,  the 
mouth  of  Dick's  River  and  General  Scott's  on  or  before  the  twentieth  of 
January  next.  The  butter  and  lard  to  be  in  kegs  not  to  exceed  forty- 
five  pounds  net.  These  articles  being  intended  for  a  foreign  market  it 
is  necessary  that  they  be  handled  in  the  manner  not  only  to  do  the  seller 
credit  but  to  recommend  our  commodities  to  foreign  merchants  and  make 
them  desirous  of  engaging  in  a  commercial  intercourse  with  the  Western 
Country.  *  *  *  Those  who  have  any  of  the  above  articles  to  dispose 
of  may  know  the  terms  by  applying  to  Harry  Inncs  ;  Horatio  Turpin."'- 

Also,  he  still  ke])t  up  his  salt  trade,  carrying  this  on  as  a  means  of 
barter  for  tobacco  and  other  products  that  could  be  sold  to  the  Span- 
iards.^* 

Wilkinson  tried  to  make  himself  a  factor  through  whom  Kentucky's 
commercial  life  should  function.  He  had  a  special  .system  by  which  he 
collected  the  farmer's  tobacco.  Assisted  in  the  work  by  Peyton  Short, 
he  sent  out  circular  letters  setting  forth  his  method  of  conducting  the 
business  and  the  terms  on  which  he  would  receive  the  tobacco.  A  con- 
siderable blank  space  was  provided  with  each  letter  for  the  names  of  the 
farmers  and  the  amounts  they  promised  to  deliver.  He  sent  Isaac  Slielbv 
one  with  the  recpiest  that  he  start  it  going  and  in  that  way  lend  his  good 
name  and  influence  to  the  movement  in  his  community.  The  circular 
stated  that  the  purpose  was  to  collect  the  tobacco  at  the  different  towns 
for  shipment  to  New  Orleans  or  Euro])e.  He  argued  advantage  of 
large  shipments  which  he  was  provifjing:  "looo  Hdds:  of  Tobo  in  the 
hands  of  one  man,  will  stand  a  much  better  chance  for  a  good  market, 
than  the  same  quantity  in  20  hands  at  any  market,  and  we  know  that 
the  privileges  and  connections  of  our  J.  Wilkinson  will  give  us  a  decided 


'0  Ibid,  496,  497. 

"Marshall,    History    of    KfMtucky,    I,    270-283. 
'2  Kentucky  Gazette,  Deccmlicr  15,  1787. 
"Ibid.,  September  13,  1788. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTLCKY  249 

advantage  over  any  man  who  will  present  himseh  at  that  City."  He 
would  receive  tobacco  at  fifteen  shillings  per  lOO  pounds  "to  be  shipped 
under  the  sanction  of  J.  Wilkinson's  privileges  and  engagements,"  but  at 
the  shippers  risk.'* 

Of  course,  the  deeper  meaning  of  Wilkinson's  trading  "privileges  and 
engagements"  were  not  publicly  known.  The  political  connection  was 
divorced  in  these  dealinj^js  cxce])!  as  to  the  general  effect  on  the  minds 
of  the  people.  'I'he  fullnw  in;/  is  a  copy  of  a  public  pcriiiit.  i^^u^•<l  to 
\\'ilkinson  in  1788: 

"I,  Don  Stephen  Miro.  Colonel  of  the  Royal  .\rmies,  Political  and 
Military  Governor  and  Intendent  Cieneral  of  the  Provinces  of  Louisiana 
and  West  Florida,  and  Inspector  of  the  Troops,  &&.,  Grant  free  and  full 
permission  to  the  American  Brigadier  Don  James  Wilkinson,  settled  in 
Kentucky,  to  direct  or  cause  to  be  brought  into  this  country,  by  inhabitants 
of  Kentucky,  one  or  more  launches  belonging  to  him,  with  cargoes  of  the 
productions  of  that  country.  Therefore,  I  command  all  officers  belonging 
to  the  government  not  to  offer  any  hindrance  to  his  voyage ;  on  the  con- 
trary they  are  to  render  him  every  assistance  tliat  may  be  necessary."'* 

The  extent  of  the  trade,  Wilkinson  was  able  to  carry  on  was  con- 
siderable. Daniel  Clark  testified  that  "for  some  time  all  the  trade  from 
the  Ohio  was  carried  on  in  his  name,  a  line  from  him  being  sufficient  to 
insure  the  owner  of  the  boat  every  privilege  and  protection  he  could  de- 
sire."'"  A  fairly  regular  commerce  was  kept  up  through  Wilkinson's 
connections  until  1791,  when  he  re-entered  the  United  Slates  army.  A 
picturesque  account  of  one  of  Wilkinson's  flotillas,  with  an  idea  of  how 
he  was  regarded  in  his  trading  ventures  was  published  in  an  eastern  paper 
in  1789.     It  follows: 

"Our  friend  General  W-k-s-n  has  fitted  out  a  small  fleet,  for  a  second 
expedition  to  New  Orleans;  it  consists  of  25  large  boats,  some  of  which 
carry  three  pounders,  and  all  of  them  swivels,  manned  by  150  hands, 
brave  and  well  armed,  to  fight  their  way  down  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi 
into  the  gulph  of  Mexico. 

"This  is  the  first  Armada  that  ever  floated  on  the  Western  waters, 
and  I  assure  you,  the  sight  of  this  little  squadron,  under  the  Kentucke 
colours  opens  a  field  of  contemplation,  what  this  country  may  expect 
from  commerce  at  a  future  day. 

"The  cargoes  consist  chiefly  of  tobacco,  flour,  and  provisions  of  all 
kinds,  some  of  which  has  been  packed  up  in  ware  houses,  this  three  or 
four  years  past;  and  where  it  certainly  would  have  remained,  had  not 
the  General,  through  his  indefatigable  enterprise  and  genius,  opened  the 
too  long  barracaded  gates. 

"He  has  been  very  unjustly  censured,  by  the  inconsiderate  part  of 
mankind,  for  having  monopolized  the  Spanish  trade,  but  the  more  ex- 
panded mind  acknowledges,  that  to  his  penetrating  genius,  Kentucke 
stands  indebted  for  having  proclaimed  its  citizens  a  market,  from  which 
the  jealousy  of  our  neighbors  excluded  us  this  many  years  past. 

"Mr.  B n,  our  late  negociator,  and  a  Spanish  gentleman,  son-in- 
law  to  the  Governor  of  Louisiana,  are  to  accompany  the  General  on  this 
conmiercial  (or  as  some  will  have  it  political  expedition.)  Our  politicians 
seem  silently  contemplating  on  the  conduct  of  the  Atlantic  States,  and 
wait  to  hear  the  fate  of  Kentucky  pronounced  by  our  new  Congress."  " 


1*  One  of  these  circular  letters,  addressed  to  Isaac  Shelby,  December  19,  1789,  is 
preserved  in  the  Draper  MSS.  Collection  in  the  University  of  Chicago  Library. 

'*  Brown,  Political  Beginnings  of  Kentucky,  loi. 

18  Mary  Verhoeff,  The  Kentucky  River  Navigation  [Louisville,   1917],  57. 

1^  A  letter  from  Louisville,  January  16,  1789,  to  the  editor  of  the  New  York  Jour- 
nal and  Weekly  Register,  March  15,  1789,  quoted  in  Verhoeff,  Kentucky  River  Navi- 
gation, 57,  58.  Also  see  McMaster,  History  of  the  People  of  the  United  States,  I, 
523,  524- 


II 


250  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

This  was  one  of  the  most  pretentious  shows  Wilkinson  ever  made  in 
his  commercial  dealings  in  the  West.  The  flags  and  guns  were  for  a 
studied  effect  on  the  jwpular  mind,  unless  perchance,  the  guns  might  be 
used  to  frighten  off  Indian  marauders.  Certainly  he  had  no  fear  of  the 
Spaniards.  Most  of  the  trade  was  carried  by  groups  of  two  or  three 
flatboats.i* 

The  commerce  down  the  river  was  only  a  j)art  of  the  coiiiniercial 
venture  as  well  as  the  political  maneuver.  Wilkinson,  also,  imported  up 
the  river  fruni  the  Sjwnish  domains  a  considerable  quantity  of  commodi- 
ties. The  Spanish  governor  hojied  to  rea])  much  from  the  possibilities 
of  this  up-river  trade.  He  suggested  to  U'ilkinson  that  he  atlemjjt  no 
great  profits  from  this  trade,  as  to  do  so  would  mullify  the  main  eft'ects 
in  view.  "I  have  good  reason  to  e.xpect,"  he  continued,  "that  the  arrival 
of  the  boats  will  produce  the  most  agreeable  sensation  among  those  people 
and  make  them  feel  more  keenly  that  their  felicity  depends  on  the  con- 
cession of  such  commercial  facilities  by  his  majesty  and  for  the  aqucsi- 
tion  of  which  I  conceive  there  are  few  sacrifices  which  they  would  not 
make."  >9 

It  has  been  stated  by  some  that  Wilkinson  made  a  fortune  out  of 
this  trade.  Another  estimate  is  that  his  whole  sales  amounted,  perhaps 
to  $100,000.-"  It  is  certainly  true  that  if  he  grew  rich  out  of  this  busi- 
ness, he  had  lost  his  wealth  by  1791  ;  for  in  that  year  he  entered  the 
United  States  army  mainly  for  the  money  he  would  receive.  In  1790  he 
was  writing  humiliating  letters  to  his  creditors,  trying  to  stave  off 
threatened  law  suits,  until  he  could  get  money  to  meet  their  claims. -" 
The  two  mules  that  were  brought  into  Frankfort  in  1789,  said  to  have 
been  loaded  with  money  for  Wilkinson,  were  most  likely  part  of  a  scheme 
to  impress  the  Lincoln  County  farmers,  who  were  there  to  receive  money 
due  them  for  tobacco  they  had  advanced  him.--  But  regardless  of  how 
much  ])rofit  Wilkinson  was  able  to  make,  there  can  be  no  question  that 
the  economic  situation  was  relieved  appreciably  by  this  trade  ;-^  and  to 
that  extent  Wilkinson  gained  influence  with  the  population  generally, 
which  he  hoped  to  make  ample  use  of  at  the  proper  time. 

Wilkinson  had  no  exclusive  agreement  with  the  Spanish  governor  for 
conducting  all  the  trade  in  the  West  with  the  Spaniards.  Even  if  he 
should  have  had  such  an  understanding,  it  could  never  have  been  carried 
out ;  for  the  dishonesty  of  Spanish  oflicials  was  notorious.  Some  j)rivate 
traders  were  bribing  their  way  through  to  New  Orleans ;  others  were  less 
successful   and   were   seized   at   the   first   Spanish   port.-'      Often   those 

18  As  an  example,  in  1791,  Wilkinson  shipped  one  hundred  and  twenty  hogsheads 
of  tobacco  to  New  Orleans  on  three  flat  boats  in  charge  of  Hugh  Mcllvain.  The 
invoice  for  this  cargo  may  be  found  in  the  Iniics  MSS.,  Vol.  2,  23. 

i»  For  instance  in  1788,  a  boat  with  a  cargo  valued  at  $8,000  was  brought  up  from 
New  Orleans.     Vcrhoeflt,  Kentucky  River  Navigation,  56. 

20  Ibid,  60,  61. 

21  The  impression  seemed  to  have  prevailed  at  that  time  among  some,  at  least,  that 
Wilkinson  was  reaping  a  harvest.  John  Breckinridge  wrote  in  1790,  "We  have  some 
speculating  Geniuses  that  are  frequently  floating  to  New  Orleans  and  always  bringing 
back  bad  returns;  I  leave  you  to  judge  of  their  Success."  Letter  to  Nathaniel 
Richardson,  February  11,  1790,  in  the  Breckinridge  MSS.  [1790]  in  Library  of 
Congress. 

22  In  the  money  sent  Wilkinson  on  his  tobacco  transactions  in  New  Orleans  was  a 
safe  place  to  include  his  pension. 

23  A  copy  of  a  letter  written  in  Louisville,  December  20,  1789,  in  Draper  MSS. 
Collections,  says,  "Our  trade  witli  Spain  has  been  very  brisk,  for  some  time  past, 
and  promises  fair  to  be  more  so  in  the  spring  of  the  year.  Permits  have  been  granted 
by  the  Spanish  government  at  New  Orleans,  to  a  number  of  persons  to  import  flour, 
wheat,  tobacco,  and  all  kinds  of  provisions."  It  states  that  the  prices  of  tliese  com- 
modities have  increased  considerably  since  the  trade  was  opened.  For  further  mate- 
rial on  Wilkinson's  trade  see,  James  Wilkinson,  Memoirs  of  My  Own  Times 
[Philadelphia,  1816],  3  vols;  Daniel  Clarke,  Proofs  of  the  Corruption  of  James 
IVitkinson,  passim. 

2'  Andrew  Bayard  in  a  letter  to  Harry  Innes,  November  14,   1790,  describes  his 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  251 

who  were  able  to  get  through  and  dispose  of  their  cargoes  were  prohibited 
from  taking  out  gold  or  silver  coins.^^  There  were  other  regions  in  the 
West  than  Kentucky  for  Spain  to  intrigue  with.  She  had  her  agents 
in  the  different  communities  in  the  Tennessee  country  and  further  south ; 
and  she  played  fast  and  loose  with  the  Mississippi  as  the  whim  or  occa- 
sion demanded. 

But  Wilkinson  was  the  most  able  and  important  of  all  those  affected 
with  this  western  malady.  In  Kentucky,  he  found  men  in  the  highest  ^ 
official  position  in  the  District  who  condoned,  sympathized  with,  or  active- 
ly aided  him  in  his  politico-economic  connections  with  Spain.  Innes  was 
comiected  with  much  of  what  Wilkinson  was  doing  and  scheming,  and 
was  at  one  time  actively  engaged  with  him  in  his  commercial  transac- 
tions.2**  The  full  meaning  of  Wilkinson's  scheme,  and  the  other  Ken- 
tucky leaders  in  the  movement  will  appear,  when  the  grand  eft'ort  was 
made  in  the  summer  and  fall  of  1788  to  sever  Kentucky's  connection 
with  the  Union. 

difficulties  with  some  boats  bound  for  New  Orleans.  He  says  they  stuck  on  the 
rocks  at  Louisville  where  they  remained  for  two  weeks,  and  that  he  had  to  pay 
laborers  twenty  English  pounds  to  aid  in  removing  them.  Innes  MSS.,  19,  No.  38. 
During  1789  and  1790  the  rates  charged  by  Spain  on  goods  from  United  States 
[including  Kentucky]  were  20  per  cent  ad  valorem;  and  for  continuing  on  with 
them  out  of  Spanish  territory  again,  an  export  duty  of  6  per  cent  was  e.xacted. 
Innes  MSS..  19,  No.  63. 

25  Ibid,  19,  No.  61. 

2'  In  the  famous  Street-Innes  trial,  the  connection  Innes  had  with  Wilkinson 
and  the  Spaniards  was  gone  into.  Much  of  the  evidence  as  to  the  actual  guilt  was 
fragmentary  and  circumstantial.  Richard  Thomas  in  an  affidavit  admitted  going  to 
New  Orleans  some  time  in  1787  or  1788  on  business  for  Wilkinson  and  Innes,  but 
never  heard  the  latter  say  any  thing  about  a  Spanish  connection.  Innes  MSS.,  18, 
No.  38.  Scattered  through  the  Innes  MSS.  are  fugitive  letters  and  other  documents, 
showing  that  Innes  had  a  close  connection  with  Wilkinson  during  this  period. 


R 


CHAPTER  XXI 
THE  SPANISH  PLOT— THE  SIXTH  CONVENTION 

The  next  step  in  the  ino\enicnt  for  statehood  was  the  election  and 
meeting  of  the  convention  called  for  July  [17H8].  As  has  been  noted, 
throughout  the  year  1787  and  following,  Wilkinson  had  been  insidiously 
gaining  an  influence  over  the  Kentuckians  through  that  method  that 
touched  the  people  closest,  their  economic  welfare.  During  this  same 
period  other  events  of  great  interest  to  Kentuckians  were  happening  in 
Philadel])hia.  After  four  months  of  deliberations,  the  Constitutional 
Convention  finished  its  labors  in  September  [1787]  and  submitted  to  the 
states  of  the  old  Confederation  a  new  constitution.  The  people  west  of 
the  mountains  had  not  been  unmindful  of  what  was  going  on  in  the  East. 
A  new  national  go\ernment  might  be  stronger  and  more  considerate  of 
the  needs  of  the  West,  or  it  might  prove  otherwise.  In  the  summer  of 
1788  the  Kentuckians  were  given  a  chance  to  register  their  decision  on 
the  question. 

As  a  part  of  Virginia,  the  District  of  Kentuck}'  was  given  fourteen 
delegates  to  the  convention  called  to  determine  \'irginia's  attitude  on  the 
new  framework  of  government.  Before  the  time  for  the  Kentucky  elec- 
tions, the  jieople  had  been  played  up(}n  by  their  leaders  and  their  very 
circumstances  to  such  an  extent  that  \ery  few  were  in  favor  of  the  new 
document.  Harry  Innes  wrote  John  lirown  in  February,  1788,  that  he 
was  certain  that  "if  the  Constitution  is  adopted  by  us  that  w-e  shall  be  the 
mere  vas.sals  of  the  Congress  and  the  consequences  to  me  are  horrible 
and  dreadful." '  As  a  result  of  these  feelings,  Kentucky  sent  to  the 
Richmond  convention  what  was  supposed  to  be  a  solid  delegation  of 
opjmsition.  iMadison  had  early  seen  the  dangers  to  Virginia's  ratification 
lurking  in  the  Virginia  counties  west  of  the  mountains.  lie  wrote  Wash- 
ington, "Kentucky  has  been  extremely  tainted  and  is  supposed  to  be 
generally  adverse,  and  every  possible  piece  of  address  is  going  on  privately 
to  work  on  the  local  interests  &  ])rejudices  of  that  and  other  quarters."  - 

The  convention  met  and  the  light  was  soon  on.  Madison  v^'as  among 
the  leaders  for  ratification;  Patrick  Henry  ably  led  the  opposition.  Both 
factions  seemed  to  believe  that'  the  Kentucky  delegation  held  the  balance 
of  power.  Madison  declared  that  "The  only  danger  I  apprehend  is  from 
the  Kentucky  members ;  and  one  consideration  only  has  any  weight  with 
them:  a  fear  that  if  the  new  government  should  take  place,  that  their 
iia\ig;ition  would  be  given  up."  ^  The  Kentucky  delegation  immediately 
became  the  object  of  every  species  of  argument  and  intrigue.  Patrick 
Henry  ])layed  elTectively  on  their  fears  that  the  navigation  of  the  Missis- 
sippi might  be  sacrificed  by  the  new  government.  He  played  this  argu- 
ment in  season  and  out.  With  all  of  his  power  of  oratory  he  pictured  the 
West  teeming  with  industry  and  wealth.  Pie  then  turned  to  the  other 
side  of  the  jjicUire,  and  showed  a  region  deserted  and  in  desolation  and 
ruin.  Skillfully  playing  on  the  desires  and  hopes  of  the  Kentucky  dele- 
gates, he  bent  his  argument  so  as  to  leave  in  their  minds  the  impression 

1  Inncs  MSS.,  28.    Letter  dated  February  20,  1788,  written  from  Danville. 
=  Beveridgc,  Life  of  John  Marshall,  I,  384. 
3  Writings  of  James  Madison,  V,  115. 

252 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  253 

that  the  former  picture  wuuld  come  true  if  ratification  were  defeated; 
but  if  this  new  government  should  be  estabhshed,  then  the  Mississippi 
would  never  be  opened,  and  the  worst  must  come.^  Henry  was  here 
using  a  dangerous  weapon  on  the  Kentuckians,  and  he  can  not  be  wholly 
freed  from  blame  for  much  of  what  was  afterwards  said  and  done  in 
Kentucky. 

The  friends  of  ratification  argtied  the  strength  the  new  government 
nnist  have  and  the  certainty  that  it  would  immediately  set  about  securing 
the  right  to  the  Mississippi  as  well  as  redressing  other  Kentucky  griev- 
ances. They  showed  how  Kentucky  had  received  nothing  from  the  old 
Confederation  government,  and  that  the  new  government  could  scarcely 
do  less  for  the  West  than  the  old  had  done.  George  Nichols,  who  was 
soon  afterwards  to  become  a  resident  of  Kentucky,  said,  "I  think  that 
Kentucky  has  nothing  to  expect  from  any  one  state  alone  in  America. 
She  can  expect  support  and  succor  alone  from  a  strong,  efficient  govern- 
ment, which  can  command  the  resources  of  the  Union  when  necessary. 
She  can  receive  no  support  from  the  old  Confederation.  Consider  the 
present  state  of  that  country.  Declared  independent  of  Virginia,  to  whom 
is  she  to  look  for  succor?  No  sister  state  can  help  her.  She  may  call 
upon  the  present  general  government;  but  whatever  may  be  the  wish  of 
Congress,  they  can  give  them  no  relief.  That  country  contains  all  my 
wishes  and  prospects.  There  is  my  property  and  there  I  intend  to  reside. 
I  shall  be  averse  to  the  establishment  of  any  system  which  would  be 
injurious  to  it.  I  flatter  myself  that  this  government  will  secure  their 
happiness  and  liberty."  ° 

But  little  headway  could  be  made  against  the  effects  of  Patrick 
Henry's  fervid  oratory  on  the  open  Mississippi.  On  the  eve  of  the  final 
vote  Aladison  became  apprehensive  that  ratification  might  fail.  He  wrote 
Hamilton,  "If  we  have  a  majority  at  all,  it  does  not  exceed  three  or  four. 
If  we  lose  it  Kentucky  will  be  the  cause;  they  are  generally  if  not  unan- 
imously against  us."  '^  On  the  final  vote,  only  three  of  the  Kentucky 
delegates  stood  for  ratification.  They  were  Robert  Breckenridge,  Rice 
Bullock,  and  Humphrey  Marshall ;  and  these  undoubtedly  voted  against 
the  wishes  of  their  constituents.'  Thus  was  the  discontent  of  the  Ken- 
tuckians increased.  They  had  not  only  not  yet  been  able  to  obtain 
separation  from  Virginia;  but  now  they  were  to  be  tied,  as  the  tail  of  the 
\'irginia  kite,  to  a  new  governmental  arrangement,  which  they  had  almost 
unanimously  tried  to  defeat. 

But  in  the  meantime,  other  concerns  of  more  vital  interest  to  Ken- 
tuckians than  ratification  of  the  new  constitution  were  agitating  them. 
As  has  already  been  stated,  one  of  the  acts  of  the  fifth  convention  was 
to  request  \'irginia  to  appoint  a  Kentuckian  on  the  Virginia  delegation 
in  the  Congress  of  the  Confederation.  Anxious  to  please  and  to  pacify, 
she  designated  John  Brown,  one  of  the  Kentucky  members  of  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly.  On  the  convening  of  Congress,  which  proved  to  be  the 
last  under  the  old  Confederation,  Brown  appeared  to  press  the  fifth 
convention's  petition  for  admission  into  the  union.  But  the  old  Con- 
federation government  in  all  its  parts  had  by  this  time  fallen  so  com- 
l)letcly  into  disrepute,  that  for  months  no  quorum  could  be  obtained. 
I'ut  delay  was  fatal  to  Kentucky's  petition,  since  Congress  must  give 
its  permission,  according  to  the  Virginia  comjjact.  before  July  4  [1788]. 
Finally  when  a  quorum  arrived,  most  of  the  representatives   felt   that 

^  Beveridge,  Life  of  John  Marshall,  I,  430-432. 

"  Debates  of  the  Several  State  Conventions  on  the  Adoption  of  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution *  *  *  imth  the  Journal  of  the  Federal  Convention  *  *  *  [Washing- 
ton, 1836],  Edited  by  J.  Elliott,  III,  360,  361. 

*  Beveridge,  Life  of  John  Marshall,  I,  434. 

'Brown,  Folitieal  Beginnings  of  Kentucky,  io6;  Proceedings  of  the  American 
Historical  Association,  V,  360.     Two  of  the  Kentucky  delegation  did  not  vote. 


254  HISTURY  OF  KENTUCKY 

the  old  Confederation  in  a  dying  gasp,  should  not  enter  into  any  business 
that  might  well  be  taken  care  of  by  the  new  government.  On' February 
29,  Brown  started  his  proceedings  by  presenting  the  whole  situation  in 
Kentucky,  to  Congress  in  a  long  speech.  The  question  thus  set  going 
was  in  March  stifled  in  a  committee,  and  for  over  two  months  Brown 
was  unable  to  get  definite  action.  On  July  2,  the  committee  of  the  whole 
recommended  the  passage  of  an  act  assenting  to  Kentucky's  separation 
from  \''irginia  and  the  admission  of  the  new  state  into  the  Union.  One 
month  later  sucli  an  act  was  on  the  verge  of  passing,  when  a  report 
reached  Phi]ade!i)hia  that  New  Hanipsliirc  had  ratified  the  federal  con- 
stitution, making  the  ninth  state,  and,  tlius,  putting  an  end  to  the  old 
Confederation.  I'urther  action  was  dropped.  On  the  following  day,  the 
whole  question  was  ended  in  the  adoption  of  a  recommendation  to  the 
new  government  that  it  admit  Kentucky  into  the  new  Union.** 

The  decadence  of  Congress  and  the  near  approach  of  the  new  federal 
government  cannot  be  held  wholly  responsible  for  the  failure  of  Ken- 
tucky to  get  permission  for  statehood.  Brown  in  his  unfailing  efforts 
to  advance  the  statehood  question  was  balked  by  that  Eastern  hostility  to 
the  West  and  its  growini,'  influence,  that  had  so  effectively  played  into 
the  hands  of  certain  leaders  in  Kentucky  who  had  been  urging  that  there 
should  be  an  end  to  forbearance  and  that  some  decided  action  should  be 
taken.  A  sectionalism  between  North  and  South  was  also  rearing  itself 
in  this  question.  Brown  said  he  was  baffled  by  the  group  of  Northern 
representatives  who  argued  that  to  admit  Kentucky  would  be  to  give  the 
South  a  greater  influence,  and  that  either  Vermont  or  Maine  should  enter 
the  Union  to  offset  Kentucky.''  This  idea  of  balancing  the  sections  was 
contained  in  a  verse  that  went  the  rounds  of  the  day: 

"Kentucky  to  the  Union  given, 
Vermont  will  make  the  balance  even, 
Still  Pennsylvania  holds  the  scales. 
And  neither  South  nor  North  prevails."  ^° 

P>alked  as  it  seemed  at  every  turn,  the  Kentuckians  in  the  summer  of 
1788  began  to  make  ]M'eparations  for  the  assemblying  of  their  sixth  con- 
vention, which  was  widely  believed  would  be  the  last.  Thoughts  on  the 
contents  of  a  constitution  were  beginning  to  be  exchanged,  greatly  aided 
by  the  contributions  appearing  in  the  Keiilucky  Caccttc.  An  organiza- 
tion that  was  playing  an  important  part  in  formulating  ideas  into  con- 
stitutional provisions  was  a  group  of  men  who  were  organized  during 
the  latter  part  of  December  of  1786  and  came  to  be  known  as  the  Dan- 
ville Political  Club.  This  club  was  so  closely  identified  in  its  membership 
with  the  successive  conventions,  that  it  can  almost  be  called  a  secret 
caucus  of" those  assemblies.  Men  who  became  its  members  formed  more 
than  one- fourth  of  the  representatives  to  the  first  convcnion  [1785]  ; 
seven  out  of  twenty-six  in  the  second  convention  [1785]  ;  and  ten  out  of 
thirty-eight  in  the  fifth  con\'enti()n  fi"'*^/!-  Among  its  members  were 
Harry  Innes,  Christopher  Greenup,  John  lirown,  Thomas  Todd,  George 
Muter,  Samuel  McDowell  and  Benjamin  Sebastian.  Its  membership  was 
exclusive;  not  all  who  asked  admittance  were  received." 

It  was  a  training  school  for  the  future  statesmen  of  Kentucky.  Its 
method  of  debate  was  for  two  members  to  open  the  discussion  on  each 
side,  and  then  the  floor  was  free  to  all  who  cared  to  speak.'-     Its  mem- 

8  Brown,  Political  Beginnings  of  Kcntiuky,  112-120,  139-144. 

°  Green,  Spanish  Conspiracy,  170. 

"J.  Sclioulcr,  History  of  the  United  States  of  America  [New  York],  1908,  Re- 
vised Edition,   I,   164. 

1' Thomas  Speed,  The  Political  Club,  Danville,  Kentucky,  1786-1790  [Louisville, 
1894!,   100,   10!.     All  the  minutes  ext.int  are   found   here. 

"  Ibid,  105. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY-  255 

bers  were  required  to  be  above  reproach.  According  to  its  constitution, 
"The  club  shall  have  power  to  enquire  into  any  irregularity  of  its  mem- 
bers, and  if  it  shall  appear  on  inquiry  that  any  member  has  behaved 
himself  beneath  the  character  of  a  gentleman,  or  shall  misbehave  at  any 
meeting,"  he  should  be  expelled  or  punished  otherwise  as  the  club  should 
direct. ^^  Besides  its  discussions  on  constitutional  questions,  it  frequently 
entered  into  other  considerations.  It  discussed  the  culture  of  Tobacco 
in  the  district  and  decided  that  such  agriculture  would  not  be  beneficial 
to  the  citizens.  It  decided  that  intermarriage  with  Indians  would  not  be 
desirable,  and  seriously  discussed  the  question  of  polygamy  in  a  free 
country. 

The  club  followed  closely  the  problems  that  were  besetting  the  dis- 
trict. The  first  question  it  debated  was  "Whether  the  immediate  navi- 
gation of  the  Mississippi  River  will  contribute  to  the  interest  of  this 
District  or  not."  Its  decision  was  in  the  negative.^*  This  decision  is 
rather  remarkable,  unless  the  word  innncdiate  is  given  particular  sig- 
nificance, and  then  the  club's  action  shows  dignity  and  conservatism. 
However,  under  this  interpretation,  its  decision  was  radical  in  a  later 
discussion,  for  in  1787  it  discussed  and  decided  in  the  affirmative  the 
question  "Whether  it  will  be  to  the  advantage  of  this  District  immediately 
to  separate  from  the  government  of  Virginia  and  become  an  independent 
State  or  not?"^''  It  also  debated  the  terms  of  the  First  Enabling  Act 
and  voted  that  they  should  be  accepted.^"  The  members  of  the  club 
reached  out  in  their  vision  of  the  West  and  its  political  arrangements. 
They  discussed  and  decided  affirmatively  the  query,  "Would  it  be  to  the 
interest  and  future  policy  of  this  District,  should  a  separation  from  the 
State  of  Virginia  take  place,  to  admit  the  inhabitants  of  Cumberland  to 
unite  with  them  in  government  ?"  " 

But  the  sustaining  interest  of  the  club  was  its  frequent  considerations 
of  the  fundamental  principles  of  government.  ]Major  Beatty  passed 
through  Danville  in  1787  and  made  the  following  note  on  the  club  in 
his  diary :  "Very  much  disturbed  by  a  Political  Club  which  met  in  the 
next  house  where  we  slept  and  kept  us  awake  until  12  or  i  o'clock.  This 
club  is  very  commendable  in  a  new  country.  It  is  composed  of  members 
of  the  most  respectable  people  in  and  about  Danville,  who  meet  every 
Saturday  night  to  discuss  politics.  Some  pretty  good  speeches  and  some 
tolerably  good  arguments  made  use  of  last  night.  The  dispute  was : 
One  side  insisted  that  an  Act  of  Assembly  was  not  law  when  it  did  not 
perfectly  agree  with  the  Constitution  of  the  State.  It  v/as  opposed  by 
the  other  party  and  a  very  long  debate  took  place."  '*  At  various  times 
it  discussed,  whether  annual  elections  were  better  than  less  frequent  ones, 
whether  there  should  be  one  or  two  branches  to  a  legislature,  what  ought 
to  be  the  powers  of  a  second  branch,  and  whether  the  emission  of  a  paper 
currency  would  be  injurious  to  the  District.  This  last  question  was  de- 
cided in  the  affirmative.  Besides  devoting  thought  and  discussion  to  iso- 
lated provisions  of  a  constitution,  the  club  at  one  time  appointed  a  com- 
mittee to  draw  up  a  constitution  and  a  bill  of  rights  which  would  be 
suitable  for  Kentucky.^"  When  the  Federal  Constitution  was  given  out 
by  the  Philadelphia  Convention,  the  Danville  Political  Club  secured  a 
copy  and  proceeded  to  discuss  it  in  its  meetings  for  four  months.  It 
literally  tore  it  to  pieces,  and  patched  it  up  with  numerous  amendments 
and  suggestions.     It  recommended  a  bill  of  rights. 

13  Speed,  Political  Club,  103. 

"  Ibid.,  102. 

i'^  Ibid.,  106,  107,  III. 

^^  Ibid.,  Ill,  112. 

"  Speed,  Political  Club,  134,  136,  137. 

•'  Speed,  Political  Club,  33,  34. 

^oibid.,  118. 


^ 


256  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

Thus  the  leaders  of  atTairs  had  lieeii  iiaiiiing  themselves  for  constitu- 
tion-iiiaking  on  dummies  and  other  peojjle's  productions ;  while  the  great 
body  of  the  peopel  read  in  the  Kentucky  Gazette  or  heard  discussed  what 
the  others  wrote.  The  convention,  called  for  July  [1788],  it  was  thought, 
would  produce  a  constitution.  But  the  campaign  preceding  this  con- 
vention was  not  concerned  wholly  with  the  considerations  as  to  what 
ought  to  go  iiit(j  the  new  constitution.  The  advisability  of  separating 
from  \'irginia  had  never  yet  been  unanimously  established.  There  was 
always  enough  oiiinion  short  of  unanimity  to  keep  a  lively  discussion 
going.  A  corres])ondent  to  the  Kentucky  Gaccltc,  signing  himself  "A 
Virginian"'  stood  out  against  separation,  re-aftirming  all  the  old  arguments 
and  advancing  new  ones.  He  soon  found  himself  in  a  minority  in  the 
battle  of  words  that  raged  for  some  time.  He  was  beset  on  all  sides,  some 
using  arguments  to  meet  him,  while  others  dispensing  with  reason  heaped 
on  viilitication.  In  fact,  this  method  of  meeting  an  argument  became  all 
too  i)rominent  among  most  of  the  public  men  of  the  District.-"  This 
condition  led  "A  Farmer"  to  write  the  editor  of  the  Kentucky  Gazette 
to  suggest  that  the  paper  was  established  to  give  the  politicians  a  chance 
to  enlighten  the  people  on  the  question  of  separation,  "but  I  fear  what 
we  farmers  suspect  is  too  tnie,  namely,  that  our  greatest  politicians  are 
not  true  patriots — when  we  wish  them  to  answer  our  doubts  respecting 
matters  of  the  greatest  moment  to  us  they  set  to  quarrelling  S-  abusing 
one  another  like  a  parcel  of  old  women: — we  must  now  submit  to  the 
separation  right  or  wrong;  but  many  of  us  would  have  been  better  satis- 
fied, had  they  but  told  us  the  reasons  why  such  measure  was  necessary — 
as  we  plow  the  groiuid  from  whence  they  get  their  bread,  I  think  it  is 
as  little  as  they  can  do  to  give  us  all  the  information  their  i)ens  and  your 
press  can  aiTord,  if  it  was  merely  to  keep  us  in  good  humour."-'  He 
then  ])roceeded  to  ask  information  on  the  probable  contents  of  the  new 
constitution. 

The  political  atmosphere  in  Kentucky  was  highly  charged  on  the 
meeting  of  the  si.xth  convention  in  Danville  on  July  28,  1788.  Wilkinson's 
secret  machinations  and  public  influence  had  been  having  their  effect; 
while  the  ado])tion  of  the  Federal  Constitution  against  almost  the  solid 
opposition  of  Kentuckians  had  not  increased  their  love  for  their  present 
])olitical  connections.  But  in  the  face  of  all  these  influences,  came  the 
intelligence  on  the  eve  of  the  meeting  that  Congress  had  refused  to  grant 
Kentucky  admission  into  the  Union.  This  intelligence  was  contained  in 
a  letter  from  Brown  to  Samuel  McDowell,  the  president  of  the  con- 
vention.22  BafBed  for  three  years  through  five  conventions.  Kentucky 
received  this  news  with  despair.  The  convention  now  found  that  the 
only  i)uri)ose  for  which  it  had  assembled  had  been  thwarted  by  Congress, 
anel  that  legally  it  was  now  powerless.  With  the  mood  they  were  in, 
they  had  no  thoughts  of  using  the  sim]jlest  remedy  of  adjourning  sine  die, 
.-md  leaving  the  ne.xt  step  for  statelutod  to  be  born  of  the  future. 

At  the  same  time  Brown  wrote  concerning  the  action  of  Congress,  he 
also  wrote  George  Muter  concerning  certain  advances  Gardoqui,  the 
Spanish  minister,  had  made  to  him.  He  said  "that  if  Kentucky  will  de- 
clare her  in(le])endence  and  empower  some  proj)er  person  to  negotiate 
with  him.  that  he  has  authority  and  will  engage  to  open  the  navigation 
of  the  Mississippi.  '''  '''  *"  He  added,  however,  that  Gardoqui  had 
stated  "that  this  privilege  can  never  be  extended  to  them  while  jiart  of 
the  United  .States"  on  nccotmt  of  certain  trade  obligations.  Brown  said 
he  had  the  permission  of  Gardoqui  to  mention  these  proceedings  to  a  few 
friends  in   Kentucky.-''     Here  was  a  clever  move  made  by  the  .Spanish 

^0  Kentucky  Gaccllc,  October   13,   1787,  passim. 

21  Kentucky  Gaaclte.  February  2,    1788. 

=-  Collins,  Hislnrv  of  Kcntuclcy,  I,  267. 

^T  Green,  Sfanish  Conspiracy,  170.     Letter  dated  July  in,  1788. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  257 

representative  in  the  most  opportune  time  he  could  have  hoped  for.  With 
the  convention  powerless  legally  to  turn  in  any  direction,  the  possibilities 
of  the  Gardoqui  proposition,  struck  with  great  force.  If  Congress  would 
not  have  Kentucky  as  a  state  in  the  Union,  then  she  must  be  thrown 
largely  on  her  own  resources,  and  she  would  not  turn  aside  without  some 
investigation  and  consideration  of  so  tempting  an  offer. 

This  was  also  a  propitious  day  for  James  Wilkinson.  Events  were 
steadily  playing  into  his  hands.  Although  the  Gardoqui  conversations 
with  Brown  were  separate  and  apart  from  his  intrigues  with  the  author- 
ities in  Louisiana,  they  all  led  to  the  same  conclusion.  Kentucky  was 
now  at  the  parting  of  the  ways;  and  Wilkinson  was  intent  on  seeing  that 
she  took  the  road  that  led  to  absolute  independence  from  the  American 
Union  and  to  some  kind  of  a  connection  with  the  Spaniards.  Wilkinson 
had  been  preparing  for  just  this  day  throughout  the  past  year.  On  May 
13   [1788]   he  wrote  Miro  concerning  his  preparations: 

"I  will  in  the  meantime,  inquire  into  the  prevailing  opinions,  and 
shall  be  able  to  ascertain  the  extent  of  the  influence  of  the  members 
elected.  When  this  is  done,  after  having  previously  come  to  an  under- 
standing with  two  or  three  individuals  capable  of  assisting  me,  I  shall  dis- 
close so  much  of  our  great  scheme  as  may  appear  opportune,  according  to 
circumstances,  and  I  have  no  doubt  but  that  it  will  meet  with  a  favorable 
reception ;  because  although  I  have  been  communicative  with  no  more 
than  two  individuals,  I  have  sounded  many,  and  whenever  it  has  seemed 
expedient  to  me  to  make  known  your  answer  to  my  memorial  it  has 
caused  the  keenest  satisfactions." 

The  two  men  referred  to  as  having  been  taken  into  his  counsels  were 
Harry  Innes  and  Alexander  S.  Rullitt.-'  In  this  same  letter  Wilkinson 
outlined  the  mode  of  procedure  he  would  follow : 

"Thus,  as  soon  as  the  new  government  should  be  organized  and 
adopted  by  the  people,  they  will  proceed  to  elect  a  governor,  the  members 
of  the  legislative  body  and  other  officers,  and  I  doubt  not  but  they  will 
name  a  political  agent  to  treat  of  the  affair  in  which  we  are  engaged,  and 
I  think  that  all  this  will  be  done  by  the  month  of  March  next.  In  the 
meantime,  I  hope  to  receive  your  orders,  which  I  will  do  my  utmost  to 
execute.  I  do  not  anticipate  any  obstacle  from  Congress,  because,  under 
the  present  federal  compact,  that  body  can  neither  dispose  of  men  nor 
money,  and  the  new  government,  should  it  establish  itself,  will  have  to 
encounter  difficulties  which  will  keep  it  weak  for  three  or  four  years,  be- 
fore the  expiration  of  which,  I  have  good  grounds  to  hope,  that  we  shall 
have  completed  our  negotiations,  and  shall  have  become  too  strong  to 
be  subjected  to  any  force  which  may  be  sent  against  us." 

All  the  different  forces  of  intrigue  and  discontent  were  now  bent  in 
the  same  direction  regardless  of  motives.  What  power  was  there  to  pre- 
vent the  convention  from  going  ahead  and  performing  the  work  it  had 
been  elected  to  do,  viz:  to  form  a  constitution?  Congress  had  been  given 
notice  by  the  previous  convention  of  the  dangers  that  lurked,  if  statehood 
were  not  granted,  when  in  its  address  it  declared  that  "so  great  are  our 
present  sufferings  which  must  grow  with  our  growth  and  increase  with 
our  population  that  should  we  be  unsuccessful  in  this  application,  we  shall 
not  consider  ourselves  in  any  manner  answerable  for  the  future  conduct 
of  our  constituents."  -^  Soon  after  this  address  was  issued,  Innes  had 
written  Brown  that  he  would  "discover  a  sentiment  in  the  Address  which 
plainly  leads  to  this  point  that  if  our  application  is  rejected  we  shall 
scarcely  trouble  Congress  with  a  second  deliberation  on  the  subject. 
*     *     *     Congress  could   not  then  plead  her  ignorance  of  our  inten- 

"■i  Green,  Spanish  Conspiracy  129,   130.     Wilkinson  makes  this  statement  in  his 
letter. 

="  Kciilurky  Gosette,  February  23,  1788. 

Vol.  1—21 


258  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

tions."  -"  Brown,  who  was  supposed  to  have  the  best  understanding  of 
affairs  of  the  nation  in  the  East,  left  the  distinct  impression  with  the  con- 
vention that  it  was  the  implacable  hostility  of  Congress  and  the  East  that 
had  thwarled  Kentucky's  efforts.  lie  unduly  magnified  this  side  of  the 
question,  to  the  virtual  exclusion  of  a  proper  cxijlanation  of  extenuating 
circumstances.  He  had  a  purpose  in  this.  His  desire  was  to  create  a 
frame  of  mind  in  the  convention  which  would  make  it  easy  for  him  to 
have  it  proceed  to  the  consideration  and  adoption  of  a  constitution  and 
a  declaration  of  independence  regardless  of  acts  and  compacts  of  Con- 
gress and  \'irginia.  With  Kentucky  standing  alone,  she  would  be  in  a 
position  of  vantage,  to  demand  speedy  admission  into  the  Union  or  to 
sever  all  tics  with  the  national  government  and  treat  with  Spain.-" 

The  main  question  before  the  convention  was  whether  it  would  go 
ahead  and  frame  a  constitution  and  declare  its  independence,  or  provide 
for  some  future  action  and  adjourn.-**  Wilkinson's  plan  fitted  in  distinct- 
ly with  the  formation  of  a  constitution  as  the  first  step.  This  would  be 
the  first  move  in  the  direction  of  his  Spanish  connection.  The  debate 
centered  on  this  question  through  long  and  stormy  sessions.  Wilkinson, 
Wallace,  Innes,  and  Sebastian  in  varying  degrees  of  the  same  purpose, 
wanted  to  jiroceed  with  the  constitution  for  it  meant  the  end  of  delay 
and  the  beginm'ng  of  a  bold  and  decisive  course.  All  were  not  equally 
agreed  as  to  where  it  would  lead.  The  fight  was  opened  by  the  intro- 
duction of  "A  resolution,  declaring  that  the  powers  of  this  convention  so 
far  as  depends  on  the  acts  of  the  Legislature  of  Virginia  were  annulled 
by  the  Resolutions  of  Congress,  and  resolving  that  it  was  the  duty  of 
this  convention  as  the  representatives  of  the  people  to  proceed  to  frame 
a  constitution  of  government  for  this  district,  and  to  submit  the  same  to 
their  consideration  with  such  advice  relative  thereto  as  emergency  sug- 
gests.    *     *     *  "29 

All  the  forces  of  regularity  and  conservatism  in  the  convention  rallied 
under  the  leadership  of  John  Allen,  Ebenezer  Brooks  and  others  to  defeat 
this  resolution.  They  too  clearly  saw  the  significance  of  this  move. 
When  the  vote  was  taken  the  motion  was  lost.  This  was  the  first  distinct 
setback  to  Wilkinson's  plot  to  take  Kentucky  out  of  the  Union.  Hut 
Wilkinson's  party  was  not  yet  willing  to  give  up  the  fight  for  quick 
action.  A  motion  was,  then,  introduced  providing  for  each  militia  cap- 
tain to  take  a  poll  of  his  company  as  to  the  best  course  to  be  pursued. 
The  forces  of  opposition  were  also  able  to  defeat  this  move.'"' 

Although  these  two  motions  had  been  defeated  by  the  "law  and  order" 
part}',  it  did  not  indicate  that  all  of  those  voting  for  the  defeat  of  these 
measures  were  equally  opposed  to  some  action  that  pointed  to  quick  and 
definite  results.  The  final  action  of  the  con\-cntion  was  almost  as  radical 
and  decisive  as  any  course  its  previous  efforts  had  been  directed  toward. 
The  only  degree  of  difference  was  not  in  the  ultimate  goal  that  might  be 
reached,  but  only  in  the  time  when  the  Start  should  be  made  and  the 

-^  Innes  MSS.,  letter  dated  December  7.  1787.  The  Fourth  of  July,  the  day  fol- 
lowing the  dashing  of  Kentucky's  hopes  by  Congress,  was  celebrated  "with  the 
greatest  festivity"  in  Lexington.  One  of  the  toasts  offered  was:  "May  the  Atlantic 
.States  be  just,  the  Western  States  be  free  and  both  be  happy."  Kentucky  Gazette, 
July  5.  1788. 

-'  Green,  Spanish  Conspiracy,  180-182.  For  a  detailed  discussion  of  Brown's 
dealings  with  Gardoriui,  see  Ibid,  149-179.  A  short  sketch  of  the  life  of  Brown 
may  be  found  in  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  253. 

-"  In  his  letter  to  Muter,  July  10,  1788,  Brown  said  the  main  question  was 
"Whether  or  not  it  will  be  more  expedient  to  continue  the  connection  with  the  State 
of  Virginia  or  to  declare  their  independence  and  proceed  to  frame  a  constitution 
of  government."  He  believed  the  latter  solution  was  generally  expected.  Green, 
Spanish  Conspiracy,  170. 

="  Brown,  Political  Beginnings  of  Kentuckv,  175-182;  Green,  Spa)iisli  Conspiracy, 
182,  183. 

'"Green,  Spanish  Conspiracy,  197. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  259 

manner  in  which  it  should  commence.  The  party  of  precipitate  action  was 
defeated  to  the  extent  that  the  people  were  given  another  chance  to 
register  their  will  in  the  election  of  a  new  convention.  Wilkinson  was 
not  finally  defeated,  but  merely  delayed. 

The  new  convention  was  called  to  meet  in  the  following  November 
[1788]  and  to  continue  in  power  until  January  i,  1790.  The  people 
in  electing  their  representatives  were  to  be  understood  as  delegating  "full 
powers  to  take  such  measures  for  the  admission  of  the  district,  as  a 
separate  and  independent  member  of  the  United  States  of  America ;  and 
the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  as  may  appear  most  conducive  to  those 
purposes ;  and  also  to  form  a  constitution  of  government  for  the  district 
and  to  organize  the  same,  when  they  shall  deem  necessary ;  or  to  do  and 
accomplish  whatsoever,  on  a  consideration  of  the  district,  may,  in  their 
judgment,  promote  its  interests."  ^' 

It  would  be  difficult  to  formulate  a  resolution  giving  a  body  wider 
or  more  absolute  powers.  The  clever  admixture  of  certain  phrases  like 
the  admission  of  the  new  state  into  the  American  Union  was  used  as  a 
cloak  for  such  absolute  powers,  without  even  the  necessity  of  referring 
action  back  to  the  people,  as  "to  do  and  accomplish  whatsoever  *  *  * 
may  *  *  *  promote  its  interests."  The  reference  to  the  navigation 
of  the  Mississippi  could  not  possibly  have  had  any  other  meaning  than 
a  fore-runner  to  a  Spanish  deal.  The  lease  of  power  provided  for  the 
coming  convention  was  extraordinary,  eminently  fitting  with  the  powers 
it  was  to  possess.  In  the  light  of  the  p)0wers  asked  for,  it  would  be  the 
supreme  ruler  of  Kentucky  for  the  next  fourteen  months.  Within  that 
time,  if  ever,  it  was  believed  Kentucky  could  be  landed  into  a  Spanish 
alliance.  Indeed,  as  one  member  exclaimed,  "Our  Political  era  is  at 
hand!"  32 


'1  MSS.  Journal  of  the  Convention.  The  original  journals  of  the  last  five  conven- 
tions [6th,  7th,  8th,  gth  and  loth]  are  preserved  in  the  Durrett  MSS.  Collection. 

5- F.  J.  Turner,  "Western  State-Making  in  the  Revolutionary  Era"  in  American 
Historical  Review,  I,  76-81. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

THE  DEFEAT  OF  THE  SPANISH  CONSPIRACY— THE 
SEVENTH  CONVENTION 

Kentucky  was  only  an  important  link  in  the  chain  of  Spanish  intrigue 
that  was  forged  to  bind  all  the  West  to  Spain.  Sympathies,  purposes 
and  outlooks  were  as  varied  as  the  complicated  western  conditions  could 
afford.  Men  plotted  along  different  lines  in  the  interest  of  the  same 
foreign  power  at  different  times  and  at  the  same  time.  Different  foreign 
powers  moved  and  countermoved  and  checkmated  one  another  in  the 
tangled  web,  where  confusion  was  worse  confounded  not  only  by  the 
different  nations  concerned,  but  by  the  varying  and  sometimes  contradic- 
tory purposes  of  the  same  nation  simultaneously.  There  could,  therefore, 
be  no  solidarity  of  sentiment  or  opinion  throughout  the  West  under  such 
conditions.  Instead,  there  grew  up  varying  shades  of  opinion  expressed 
in  more  or  less  well-defined  party  followings.  Just  as  conditions  that 
produced  the  parties  were  highly  unstable,  so  were  the  parties.  They 
were  born  with  some  particular  plot,  flourished  for  a  time,  and  passed 
out  of  existence  with  the  petulant  whims  of  a  people  groping  for  their 
just  rights. 

At  one  time  or  another  during  this  general  period  there  were  a  half 
dozen  shades  of  opinion  that  were  stable  long  enough  and  of  wide  enough 
extent  to  command  a  small  party  following  a  strong  and  persistent  group, 
headed  principally  by  Wilkinson  in  Kentucky,  would  cut  loose  from  the 
American  Union,  form  a  new  government,  and  make  an  alliance  with 
Spain.  Another  group  of  virile  men  would  solve  their  chief  difficulty 
on  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  by  boldly  marching  down  and  seizing 
the  lower  end  of  the  Valley  and  dispossess  Spain  altogether.  A  third 
group,  which  bad  very  little  popular  following,  stood  out  for  the  com- 
plete annexation  of  the  country  to  Spain.  A  fourth  party,  widely  dif- 
fering from  the  preceding  ones,  received  its  inspiration  from  French 
sources ;  it  hoped  that  France  would  be  able  to  acquire  Louisiana  again 
and  extend  its  authority  over  the  remainder  of  the  Mississippi  Valley. 
A  fifth  shade  of  opinion  of  no  great  importance  stood  out  for  inde- 
pendence and  alliance  with  Great  Britain.  The  last  group  was  the  largest. 
It  had  the  latent  power  that  was  later  to  develop  into  a  full  fruition  of 
patriotism  toward  the  National  Government.  This  party  stood  for  an 
unaltered  connection  with  the  National  Government  and  an  untiring  fieht 
to  force  Congress  to  secure  the  free  navigation  of  the  Mississippi.^  This 
last  party  opinion  represented  the  great  backbone  of  the  population,  the 
important  residue  that  always  remained  after,  the  fringes  had  been  car- 
ried away  for  so  long  a  time  as  men,  conditions  and  an  uncontrollable 
impatience  conspired  together. 

In  Kentucky  there  was  never  at  a  given  time  opinions  wide  enough 
and  strong  enough  to  be  moulded  into  all  of  these  party  groups.  At  one 
time  or  another,  however,  all  of  these  opinions  and  sympathies  found 
expression  in  varying  degrees.  During  the  interval  between  the  adjourn- 
ment of  the  sixth  convention  in  September,  1788,  and  the  meeting  of  the 

'  McMastcr,  Uislnry  of  the  People:  of  the  Thuted  States.  I,  .S19;  Fish,  American 
nif<loiiwc\,  73. 

260 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  261 

seventh  in  November  following,  the  climax  of  party  animosity  induced 
by  foreign  intrigue  was  reached  in  Kentucky.  This  was  the  campaign 
for  the  election  of  delegates  to  the  forthcoming  convention.  At  this 
time  the  party  designations  were  Court  Party  and  Country  Party.  The 
former  was  made  up  of  varying  sentiments  and  opinions,  all  of  which, 
however,  represented  an  impatience  with  the  course  of  seemingly  inter- 
minable delay.  It  stood  for  immediate  action.  Its  most  radical  leader 
was  Wilkinson,  whose  purposes  and  opinions  must  not  be  imputed  to 
the  party  at  large.  Other  leaders  with  varying  attitudes  toward  Wilkin- 
son were  Sebastian,  Innes,  Brown  and  Wallace.  The  Country  Party 
represented  conservative  opinion.  The  opponents  of  separation,  as  well 
as  those  in  favor  of  separation  but  opposed  to  illegal  or  precipitate  action, 
were  grouped  under  this  name.  The  Federalist  Party  had  its  inception 
in  this  group.  Some  of  the  leaders  of  this  party  were  Ebenezer  Brooks, 
Joseph  Crockett,  George  Muter  and  Thomas  Marshall. 

The  campaign  and  election  for  the  seventh  convention  (to  meet  in 
November,  1788),  was  hard  fought  and  bitter.  Wilkinson  was  anxious 
to  force  a  decision  in  this  campaign  and  in  the  convention  following 
which  would  determine  the  success  of  his  Spanish  plot.  He  had  for 
some  time  been  working  assiduously  among  the  people,  and  professed 
to  the  Spaniards  a  belief  that  he  was  on  the  verge  of  success.  Miro,  in 
a  letter  to  his  government  in  Madrid,  said  of  Wilkinson  that  "he  further! 
declared  that  he  has  come  to  this  conclusion  from  having  heard  it  ex-  '■■ 
pressed  in  various  conversations  among  the  most  distinguished  citizens 
of  that  State :  that  the  direction  of  the  current  of  the  rivers  which 
run  in  front  of  their  dwellings  points  clearly  to  the  power  to  which 
they  ought  to  ally  themselves.  *  *  *"  ^  There  was  always  the  danger 
to  Wilkinson's  cause  that  he,  himself,  would  prove  its  greatest  enemy. 
He  at  times  became  so  open  in  his  plans  as  to  frighten  the  substantial 
element  that  professed  to  follow  the  Court  Party  leaders. 

The  old  issue  of  the  advisability  of  separation  arose  again  during 
this  campaign,  and  was  discussed  at  as  great  a  length  and  bitterness  as 
ever  before.^  Ebenezer  Brooks,  writing  under  the  name  of  "Corn- 
planter,"  brought  out  again  in  the  Kentucky  Gazette  the  usual  arguments 
against  separation.  He  especially  stressed  the  point  that  statehood  could 
not  possibly  give  the  people  better  protection  against  the  Indians,  for 
the  country  north  of  the  Ohio  River,  from  whence  the  Indian  raids 
came,  belonged  to  the  United  States  Government  and,  therefore,  could 
not  be  invaded  by  Kentucky  troops  without  permission.  He  also  used 
the  effective  argument  that  a  new  state  government  would  greatly  increase 
taxes.  One  opponent  of  statehood  declared  that  the  people  ought  to  be 
allowed  to  decide  on  the  question  of  separation.  The  answer  was  returned 
to  this  argument  that  the  convention  was  elected  for  the  very  purpose  of 
determining  that  question.-*  The  usual  arguments  for  separation  were 
run  in  a  series  of  articles  by  "Poplicola."  ^ 

The  friends  of  the  new  Federal  Constitution  believed  there  was  also 
being  made  an  attempt  to  discredit  that  document  by  the  contemplated 
action  of  the  Court  Party.  A  long  poem  of  eleven  stanzas  appeared  in 
the  Gazette  representing  a  plot  as  being  hatched  in  Hades  under  the  lead- 
ership of  Satan  to  destroy  this  new  instrument  of  government.  Satan 
is  represented  as  saying : 

2  Charles  Gayarre,  History  of  Louisiana  [New  Orleans,  1903],  III,  212.     Dated 
June  15,  1788,  referring  to  Wilkinson's  letter  of  May  15,  1788. 
^Kentucky   Gazette,   September,   October,  passim,   1788. 
*  Ibid.,  September  13,  1788. 
^Kentucky  Gazette,  October  11,  passim,  1788. 


262  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

"Then  attend  ev'ry  fiend, 

To  my  sov'reign  command ; 

Wing  away  to  the  earth, 

And  destroy  in  their  birth, 

The  effects  of  the  federal  convention. 

Cast  a  mist  o'er  the  eyes 

Of  the  virtuous  and  wise, 

And  depend  on  a  sure  retribution; 

For  all  hell  will  exert 

Its  whole  force  to  subvert 

This   grand   failure,   the   new   constitution."* 

The  extraordinary  powers  that  had  been  recommended  for  the  com- 
ing convention  by  the  Assembly  in  September  began  to  cause  peojjle  to 
take  fright.  It  was  often  asked  just  what  those  powers  included,  and 
if  the  convention  were  elected  on  those  recommended  powers,  what  it 
might  do.  Some  would  have  their  representatives  instructed  as  to  what 
they  should  do  and  what  they  should  not  do.  These  fears  were  brushed 
aside  by  the  Court  Party  leaders  with  the  answer  that  the  November 
convention  would  have  no  more  power  than  preceding  ones,  and 
that,  furthermore,  the  convention  must  of  necessity  have  a  better  grasp 
of  affairs  than  the  ordinary  voter  and  must,  therefore,  be  better  able 
to  make  these  decisions.  This  reasoning  did  not  quiet  tiie  disturbed 
feelings  of  "An  Inhabitant  of  Kentucky,"  who  maintained  that  "not- 
withstanding the  Convention  may  have  the  matter  more  fully  investigated 
than  the  people  at  large,  and  possibly  might  form  a  better  opinion ;  yet 
the  decision  may  not  be  agreeable  to  the  will  of  the  people."  "  There 
was  the  distinct  feeling  among  many  in  this  campaign  that  something 
unusual  was  being  asked  for  in  these  powers,  and  that  the  uncertainty 
of  what  might  be  done  by  the  convention  so  empowered  should  be  check- 
mated as  far  as  jjossible.  The  reticence  maintained  by  the  Court  Party 
leaders  on  this  asjject  of  the  camjjaign,  or  their  attempts  to  brush  it 
aside  as  insjjired  by  groundless  fears,  was  far  from  reassuring  to  those 
conservatively  inclined. 

A  sensation  was  created  throughout  the  District,  and  a  new  turn 
was  given  to  the  camjjaign  by  the  appearance  of  a  long  letter  in  the  Ken- 
tucky Gazette  on  October  15,  over  the  name  of  George  Muter.  Muter, 
having  some  time  pre\iously  moved  away  from  the  influence  of  his  Dan- 
ville surroundings,  had  now  come  to  side  with  the  conservative  i)arty. 
Thomas  Marshall,  a  staunch  conservative  and  member  of  the  Country 
Part}',  undoubtedly  played  a  part  in  Muter's  conversion.**  This  letter 
boldly  repeated  the  fears  that  had  been  fugitively  expressed  during  the 
campaign.  It  roused  the  people  to  the  great  dangers  that  threatened 
them,  if  they  elected  an  untrammeled  convention.  There  were  sinister 
influences  at  work  that  might  commit  Kentucky  to  a  course  that  the 
great  majority  of  the  people  could  not  approve.  He  declared  that  if 
tiiey  intended  to  vote  separation  from  Virginia,  they  would  he  doing 
an  illegal  act,  as  Virginia  had  tiiat  very  year  passed  a  law  which  ])ro- 
hibited  any  group  of  jiersons  from  setting  up  a  new  state  within  her 
boundaries  without  her  consent.  It  would  be  in  direct  and  flagrant  viola- 
tion of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  Stales,  which  specifically  says: 
"No  new  state  shall  be  formed  or  erected  within  the  jurisdiction  of  any 
other  state;  nor  any  state  be  formed  out  of  the  juncture  of  two  or  more 
states  without  the  consent  of  the  legislature  of  the  states  concerned,  as 
weir  as  of  Congress."    The  Federal  Constitution  also  prohibits  tlie  states 


"  Kcntuckv  Gazette,  October  4,  1788. 

'  Unci  .  October  25,  1788. 

"W.  H.  Whitsitt,  Life  iind  Times  of  Judi/c  Caleb  M''alkce  [Louisville,  1888],  115. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  263 

from  entering  into  any  treaties  or  alliances  with  each  other  or  foreign 
powers.  There  is,  therefore,  no  possibility  of  the  convention  legally 
taking  the  slightest  action  toward  securing  the  navigation  of  the  Missis- 
sippi ;  but  there  is  strong  implications  that  illegal  action  of  some  kind 
is  contemplated  by  means  of  an  attempt  to  treat  with  Spain.  Muter 
showed  in  this  argument  the  impossibility  of  the  convention  legally  tak- 
ing any  action  other  than  by  the  method  heretofore  pursued,  of  seeking 
an  enabling  act  from  \'irginia  and  permission  from  Congress  to  enter 
the  Union.     He  closed  his  letter  with  the   following  advice : 

"It  is  therefore  submitted  to  the  consideration  of  the  inhabitants 
of  Fayette,  whether  it  may  not  be  necessary  in  their  instructions  to  their 
delegates,  to  direct  them  not  to  agree  to  forming  a  constitution  and  form 
a  government  and  organizing  the  same,  till  the  consent  of  the  legislature 
of  Virginia,  for  that  purpose,  is  first  obtained,  not  to  agree  to  make  any 
application  whatever  to  obtain  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  other 
than  to  the  legislature  of  \'irginia  and  the  Congress  of  the  United  States, 
to  draw  up  and  forward  to  the  assembly  of  Virginia,  a  memorial  request- 
ing them  to  alter  their  acts  for  the  separation  of  this  district  from  Vir- 
ginia, that  the  same  be  brought  before  the  Congress  of  the  United  States 
in  the  manner  directed  by  the  federal  constitution,  and  to  request  them 
to  organize  the  convention  by  law,  to  form  a  constitution  of  government 
and  to  organize  the  same ;  or  direct  a  new  convention  to  be  chosen,  to 
continue  in  office  a  reasonable  time,  and  to  be  vested  with  those  powers. 

"To  forward  to  the  assembly  of  Virginia,  and  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States  (if  they  judge  proper  and  necessary)  a  decent  and  manly 
memorial  requesting  that  such  measures  may  be  pursued  by  Congress, 
or  that  Virginia  will  use  her  influence  with  Congress  to  take  such  mea- 
sures as  shall  be  most  likely  to  procure  for  the  people  of  the  western 
country  the  navigation  of  the   Mississippi."  ■' 

This  letter  had  the  effect  of  a  bombshell  exploding  in  the  camps  of 
the  opposition.  It  was  a  forceful  reminder  to  \\'ilkinson  that  he  had 
exposed  too  much  of  his  plans  for  the  safety  of  his  election.  It  also 
gave  the  people  a  program  for  concerted  action.  In  many  cases  the  dele- 
gates were  made  to  give  the  explicit  promise  to  obey  certain  instructions 
given.  The  greatest  eft'ect  of  Muter's  letter  was  to  put  the  people  on 
their  guard,  crystallize  their  thoughts  and  ideas  on  the  methods  that 
should  be  pursued,  and  with  the.se  exert  a  vital  influence  over  the  con- 
vention. The  fact  that  the  assembly  followed  very  closely  Muter's  sug-  '"^ 
gestions  in  his  letter  to  the  people  is,  to  say  the  least,  significant.'"                     ._^ 

In  the  election  Wilkinson  came  very  near  defeat.  Running  on  the  \ 
ticket  in  Fayette  County  with  four  associates,  he  alone  was  able  to  ' 
nose  through.  This  was  largely  due  to  his  engaging  personality  and 
to  the  great  influence  he  had  been  able  to  build  up  for  the  past  four 
years.  But  even  with  these  assets  he  would  likely  have  been  defeated 
had  he  not  made  promises  during  the  last  days  of  the  election  (elections 
extended  over  a  period  of  five  days)  that  he  would  act  according  to  the 
instructions  of  the  people.  There  was  undoubtedly  a  considerable  ele- 
ment of  people  who,  because  of  their  opposition  to  separation,  became 
disgusted  with  the  idea  of  holding  a  convention,  and,  in  order  to  show 
their  opposition  refused  to  vote  at  all.  The  charge  was  made  that  not 
over  500  votes  were  cast  in  Fayette,  when  the  whole  number  of  voters 
was  3,500.  It  was  therefore  argued  that  the  convention  did  not  repre- 
sent the  people  and  whatever  it  did  would  be  tyrannical  and  ■  un- 
American. ^^ 


^Kentucky  Gazette,  October  IS,  1788.     A  copy  of  this  letter  is  given  in  Green, 
Spanish  Conspiracy,  211,  212. 

10  Green,  Spanish  Conspiracy,  214,  215. 
^^  Kentucky  Gazette,  November  15,  1788. 


264  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

In  November  the  convention  met;  it  was  a  notable  gathering  of  Ken- 
tuckians.  It  had  been  looked  forward  to  by  plotters,  intriguers  and 
patriots — conservatives  and  radicals  alike — and  by  the  great  mass  of 
the  people  as  the  climax  in  their  struggle.  Now  they  exjiected  to  have 
an  end  put  to  the  conditions  that  had  kept  them  in  turmoil  for  the  past 
four  years.  It  was  therefore  fitting  that  iier  best  patriots,  as  well  as  her 
best  plotters,  be  present  if  the  (juestion  was  t(j  be  finally  settled.  Among 
those  present  were  Samuel  .McDowell.  John  lirown,  Sebastian,  Innes, 
Thomas  Marshall,  Muter,  Crockett,  (irecmip  and  John  Logan.'-  The 
bitter  struggle  that  was  to  characterize  this  convention  began  at  the  very 
outset.  The  powers  of  the  convention  came  up  for  discussion  among 
the  very  first  points.  The  conservative  men,  consisting  of  such  repre- 
sentatives as  Muter,  Marshall,  Edwards,  Allen,  and  Crockett,  maintained 
that  the  only  power  the  convention  possessed  was  to  proceed  to  apply  to 
\'irginia  for  statehood  with  whatever  addresses  the\-  cared  to  make.  The 
party  of  immediate  action — among  those  leaders  were  Wilkinson,  Brown, 
Innes  and  Sebastian — claimed  that  this  convention  was  the  body  called 
into  existence  through  the  action  of  the  last  convention,  and  that  it  must 
of  necessity  have  the  powers  contained  in  the  general  resolution  of  final 
action.  They  therefore  had  whatever  powers  were  necessary  for  the 
well-being  of  the  district.'^  The  convention,  however,  did  not  tarry  long 
on  a  discussion  of  what  it  could  do ;  certain  leaders  in  it  would  prove 
what  could  be  done.  The  resolution  of  Congress  concerning  Kentucky's 
admission  was  referred  to  the  committee  of  the  whole  without  opposition. 
The  next  move  was  to  bring  before  the  body  the  previous  convention's 
recommendation  concerning  the  navigation  of  the  Mississipj)!.  This  was 
done  by  a  motion  to  refer  it  to  the  committee  of  the  whole.  Here  a 
sharp  debate  ensued,  as  the  conservative  members  feared  to  set  the 
convention  going  on  business  that  they  believed  had  no  i)lace  in  its 
deliberations.  Llut  the  motion  to  refer  carried  by  a  considerable  majority, 
thus  indicating  the  relative  strength  of  the  two  groups  of  opinion.  Wil- 
kinson became  bold  enough  in  this  debate  to  intimate  the  feasibility  as 
well  as  desirability  of  taking  the  whole  Mississippi  question  in  their 
own  hands  and  going  to  Spain  for  a  conference.  He  declared  that  '"Spain 
had  objections  to  granting  the  navigation  in  (|uestion  to  the  I'nited  States; 
it  was  not  to  be  ])resumed  that  Congress  would  obtain  it  f(jr  Kentucky, 
or  even  the  western  countr)- — her  treaties  must  be  general.  There  was 
one  way,  and  but  one,  that  he  knew  of  obviating  these  difficulties,  and 
that  was  .so  fortified  with  constitutions  and  guarded  with  laws,  that  it 
was  dangerous  of  access  and  hopeless  of  attainment  under  present  cir- 
cumstances. It  was  the  certain  but  jirescribed  course  which  had  been 
indicated  in  the  former  con\ention,  which  he  would  not  now  repeat,  but 
which  every  gentleman  ])resent  wou'd  connect  with  the  formation  of  a 
constitution,  a  declaration  of  inde])endence  and  the  organization  of  a  new 
state,  which,  he  added,  might  safely  be  left  to  find  its  way  into  tiic  Union 
on  terms  advantageous  to  its  interests  and  jirospcrity." '■'  ']"his  was  a 
bold  and  clear  statement  of  the  first  ste])  in  Wilkinson's  plot.  It  looked 
innocent  enoU!.;h  to  merely  frame  a  constitution  and  adopt  it,  but  this 
w.is  to  he  followed  by  independence  and  a  new  state,  which  would  be 
competent  to  look  in  any  direction.  With  the  District  once  in  such  a 
positif)n.  he  hojied  to  be  able  to  direct  it  into  the  proper  channel.  I'.efore 
taking  his  seat  he  said  there  was  a  gentleman  present  who  had  informa- 
tion of  the  highest  imjiortance  to  the  convention  on  this  subject  of  the 
navigation  of  the  Mississippi.  He  glanced  toward  lirown  and  resumed 
his  seat. 


1^  Brown,  Political  Beginnings,   194. 
'^Grcon,  Spanish  Conspiracy,  222,  223. 

'*  Green,  Spanish  Conspiracy,  223.     A  paraphrase  by  Humphrey  Marshall — from 
notes  kept  t)y  Thomas  Marshall,  according'  to  Mann  Riitler's  opinion. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  265 

Brown  had  been  closely  observing  the  shades  of  opinion  he  was  able 
to  catch  in  speeches  and  by  studying  their  effect  on  the  countenances  ot 
the  members.  Above  all,  Brown  was  a  prudent  man  who  would  not 
rush  into  a  project  because  it  seemed  tempting  as  offering  a  solution  to 
a  perplexing  difficulty.  Gardoqui's  propositions  had  made  a  deep  impres- 
sion on  him ;  they  should  not  be  passed  aside  lightly  when  Kentucky's 
economic  existence  might  be  solved  through  them.  He  had  told  Madison 
of  certain  conversations  with  the  Spanish  minister  and  sought  his  advice. 
Madison  counseled  against  having  further  dealings  with  Gardoqui,  as  to 
do  so  might  create  false  hopes  in  the  Kentuckians  and  bring  about  a 
serious  condition  in  the  District.'^ 

In  the  past  campaign  Brown's  influence  had  been  on  the  side  of  the 
Court  Party,  with  its  various  shades  of  opinion  pointing  toward  quick 
action.  He  had  argued  Congress'  hostility  and  the  jealousy  of  the  East. 
Now  had  arrived  the  critical  moment,  when  he  could  put  the  capstone 
on  the  edifice  Wilkinson  had  built  up.  The  latter  believed  this  was  the 
psychological  time  for  Brown  to  tell  openly  to  the  convention  what  he 
had  written  ]\Iuter  in  the  previous  July,  viz :  that  Spain  was  willing  to 
open  the  Mississippi  to  Kentucky,  but  never  as  long  as  she  was  a  part 
of  the  American  Union.  In  the  face  of  what  he  had  seen  and  heard 
in  the  convention,  remembering  what  Madison  had  told  him  and  relying 
on  his  better  judgment,  he  had  not  the  temerity  to  divulge  the  secret. 
According  to  Thomas  Marshall,  "He  told  us  that  he  did  not  think  him- 
self at  liberty  to  mention  what  had  passed  in  private  conversation  be- 
tween himself  and  Don  Gardoqui  respecting  us;  but  this  much  he  would 
venture  to  inform  us,  that,  provided  we  were  united  in  our  councils, 
everything  we  could  wish  for  was  within  our  reach."  '"  This  was  a 
severe  defeat  to  Wilkinson's  maneuvers  in  the  convention.  After  thus, 
working  up  to  a  climax.  Brown  had  failed  him.  Up  to  this  time  they 
had  worked  together  to  a  considerable  extent.  Each  had  told  the  other 
of  his  Spanish  dealings.  Three  months  later  Wilkinson  wrote  Miro  con- 
cerning Brown,  that  he  had  returned  to  Kentucky  in  the  previous  Sep- 
tember "and  finding  that  there  had  been  some  opposition  to  our  project, 
he  almost  abandoned  the  cause  in  despair  and  positivelv  refused  to  advo- 
cate in  public  the  propositions  of  Don  Diego  Gardoqui,  as  he  deemed 
them  fatal  to  our  cause."  ^" 

Brown  had  not  abandoned  the  idea  of  having  the  convention  go  ahead 
and  frame  a  constitution,  and  to  this  extent  he  still  cooperated  with 
Wilkinson.  Brown  had  been  devoting  considerable  thought  for  the  past 
summer  to  such  a  document  for  Kentucky.  He  had  consulted  Madison 
and  Jefferson  on  certain  principles  of  government,  and  had  prepared  a 
constitution  which  he  was  anxious  to  have  the  convention  adopt.  After 
refusing  to  divulge  the  Spanish  propositions,  he  seems  to  have  had  no 
direct  plan  he  was  willing  to  openly  advocate,  beyond  the  first  step  of 
forming  a  constitution.  He  was  doubtless  willing  to  let  subsequent  steps 
be  taken  in  the  light  of  future  opportunities  as  they  presented  themselves. 
But  in  the  parryings  of  the  two  parties  and  their  parliamentary  maneu- 
vers, the  question  of  the  adoption  of  a  constitution  never  came  up  for 
definite  action. 

Baffled  by  this  defection  of  Brown,  Wilkinson  took  the  floor  to  up- 
hold his  waning  fortunes.  After  obtaining  permission  to  present  an  essay 
on  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  he  began  to  read  a  manuscript  of 
twenty  or  more  pages.  He  detailed  the  great  fertility  of  the  land  and 
the  vast  resources  that  lay  ready  for  development  upon  the  establish- 


1^  Butler,  History  of  Kentucky,  517,  518. 
•'  Green,  Spanish  Conspiracy,  228. 

"  Wilkinson  to  Gardoqui,  February  14,  1789,  in  Guayarre,  History  of  Louisiana, 
III,  241.    Copied  in  Green,  Spanish  Conspiracy,  217. 


266  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

ment  of  a  market.  He  recited  tlie  great  difiiciiltics  the  people  had  ex- 
perienced in  their  efforts  to  obtain  the  navigation  of  the  ilississippi  and 
the  inability  of  the  National  Government  to  get  it  for  them.  He  declared 
tiiat  the  people  must  have  this  great  outlet,  and  that  if  Spain  should 
refuse  to  give  it,  England  stood  ready  to  aid.'^  This  essay  was  ad- 
dressed to  the  governor  and  intendant  of  Louisiana.  No  copy  of  it 
came  into  the  hands  of  the  convention  for  preservation  among  its  minutes  ; 
on  the  contrary,  as  each  sheet  was  read  it  was  handed  to  Sebastian.  The 
only  notice  taken  of  the  address  in  the  ])roceedings  of  the  convention  was 
the  resolutif)!!  "That  this  Convention  highly  ai)j)ro\e  the  Address  pre- 
sented by  (ien'l  Wilkinson  to  the  Governor  and  Intendant  of  Louisiana, 
and  that  the  President  be  requested  to  present  him  the  thanks  of  the 
Convention  for  the  regard  which  he  therein  manifested  for  the  Interest 
of  the  Western  Country."  '"  That  the  memorial  from  Wilkinson  which 
reached  Miro  was  exactly  the  same  that  he  had  read  before  the  con- 
vention, there  must  be  some  doubt.  In  substance  and  general  outline 
they  may  have  been  similar,  but  that  Wilkinson  could  read  an  essay 
calling  for  the  separation  of  Kentucky  from  the  American  Union  and 
for  its  entry  under  Sjianish  authority,  and  receive  the  thanks  of  the 
convention  for  thus  uj^holding  the  interests  of  Kentucky,  does  not  com- 

Iport  with  the  expressed  attitude  of  the  convention  in  other  instances. 

[That  Wilkinson  put  no  copy  of  his  essay  in  the  hands  of  the  clerk  shows, 
however,    how   dangerously   close    he,    himself,    considered    he    had   ap- 

'  proached  treason.  But  Wilkinson's  interest  in  detaching  Kentucky  from 
the  United  States  most  likely  extended  little  beyond  his  desire  to  seem 
in  the  eyes  of  Spain  to  earn  the  pension  they  were  giving  him  and  to 
maintain  his  position  of  vantage  in  the  web  of  Spanish  intrigue  extend- 
ing over  the  West.  Miro  was  led  to  believe  from  the  memorial  Wilkin- 
son sent  him  that  an  exceedingly  bold  course  had  been  pursued  in  llie 
convention.  In  his  report  to  the  Spanish  govermiient  in  ^ladrid  he  said 
of  Wilkinson's  work  in  the  convention:  "He  has  so  completely  bound 
himself  that,  should  he  not  be  able  to  obtain  the  separation  of  Kentucky 
from  the  United  States  it  has  become  impossible  for  him  to  live  in  it, 
unless  he  has  suppressed,  which  is  possible,  certain  passages  which  might 
injure  him."  -" 

Early  in  the  convention,  petitions  were  received  from  Mercer  and 
Madison  counties  "praying  that  a  manly  and  spirited  address  be  sent 
to  Congress  to  obtain  the  navigation  of  the  river  Mississippi."-'  This 
represented  conservative  opinion  bent  on  influencing  the  convention  to 
proceed  along  constitutional  lines  in  its  efforts  to  open  the  Mississippi. 
The  convention  made  immediate  preparations  in  a  very  positive  manner 
to  carry  out  the  wishes  of  the  jjctitioners.  It  determined  that  an  ad- 
dress should  be  framed,  requesting  "immediate  and  effective  measures 
for  procuring  the  navigation  of  the  said  river."  Wilkinson,  Brown,  Innes, 
Sebastian  and  Muter  were  appointed  on  the  committee  to  draw  up  the 
address.--  The  personnel  of  the  committee  was  com])lete  assurance  that 
the  address  would  be  spirited;  Muter  was  the  only  conservative  member. 
As  was  expected,  Wilkinson  ])rcpared  the  address;  and  never  did  he 
show  his  mastery  of  intrigue  and  double-dealing  better  than  in  the  affair 
connected  with  this  address.  To  a  less  able  conspirator  the  turning  to 
Congress  on  the  Mississippi  question  might  have  .spelled  defeat;  to 
Wilkinson  it  was  an  unusual  opportunity  to  bring  about  the  ultimate 
success  of  his  plot.     In  this  address  Wilkinson  used  his  customary  florid 

18  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  I,  320. 

"•.1/5.?.  Minutes  of  the   Convention   in  Durrett   Collection.     These   minutes  are 
reproduced  in  Brown,  Political  Beyinnings  of  Kentucky,  263. 
2"  Green,   Spanish    Conspiracy,   128. 
21  Brown,  Political  Bee/innings  of  Kentucky,  192-203. 
« Ibid. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  267 

style.  He  recalled  to  Congress  how,  when  the  Revolution  ended,  people 
in  the  East  returned  to  peaceful  and  happy  homes ;  it  was  not  so  in 
Kentucky.  The  savages  knew  no  peace  and  recognized  no  treaties.  He 
recounted  the  hardships  and  dangers  the  settlers  had  experienced  from 
their  first  entry  into  the  District  until  the  present.  But  he  added :  "We 
derive  strength  from  our  misfortunes  and  numbers  from  our  losses." 
He  told  of  the  woeful  conditions  brought  about  by  the  closure  of  the 
Mississippi.  It  was  unthinkable  that  so  mighty  a  highway  should  remain 
closed  against  so  large  a  number  of  people.  "Then,  we  ask,  can  the 
God  of  wisdom  and  nature  have  created  that  vast  country  in  vain?  Was 
it  for  nothing  that  he  blessed  it  with  fertility  almost  incredible?"  Not 
only  had  God  and  nature  given  this  mighty  river  to  the  Kentuckians, 
but  it  was  theirs  by  treaty.  He  then  for  some  length  presented  the  treaty 
rights.     He  closed  with  this  appeal : 

"If  you  will  be  really  our  fathers,  stretch  forth  your  hands  to  save 
us.  If  you  will  be  worthy  guardians,  defend  our  rights.  We  are  a 
member  that  would  exert  any  muscle  for  your  service.  Do  not  cut  us 
ofif  from  your  body.  By  every  tie  of  consanguinity  and  affection,  by  the 
remembrance  of  the  blood  we  have  mingled  in  the  common  cause,  by  a 
regard  to  justice  and  policy,  we  conjure  you  to  procure  our  rights. 

"Let  not  your  beneficence  be  circumscribed  by  the  mountains  which 
divide  us,  but  let  us  feel  that  you  really  are  the  guardians  and  asserters 
of  our  rights ;  then  you  will  secure  the  prayers  of  a  people  whose  grati- 
tude would  be  as  warm  as  the  vindication  of  their  rights  will  be  eternal ; 
then  our  connection  will  be  perpetuated  to  the  latest  times,  a  monument 
of  your  justice  and  a  terror  to  your  enemies. "^^ 

Wilkinson  thus  found  a  welcomed  opportunity  to  arouse  the  hopes 
of  the  people  in  order  that  he  might  later  dash  them ;  and  then  he  could 
hold  out  his  Spanish  alliance  as  the  only  solution.  He  intended  this 
address  for  the  people,  caring  little  whether  it  ever  reached  Congress 
or  not.  He  believed  that  Congress,  even  if  it  made  immediate  efforts, 
could  not  secure  the  Mississippi,  for  he  had  warned  the  Spaniards  not 
to  budge  an  inch  on  opening  the  river  to  the  United  States.  But  Wilkin- 
son tells  it  all  in  a  most  remarkable  manner,  in  his  letter  to  Miro  three 
months  later: 

"You  will  observe  that  the  memorial  to  Congress  was  presented  by 
me,  and  perhaps  your  first  impression  will  be  that  of  surprise  at  such 
a  document  having  issued  from  the  pen  of  a  good  Spaniard.  But,  on 
further  reflection,  you  will  discover  that  my  policy  is  to  justify  in  the 
eye  of  the  world  our  meditated  separation  from  the  rest  of  the  Union 
and  quiet  the  apprehensions  of  some  friends  in  the  Atlantic  States,  the 
better  to  divide  them,  because,  knowing  how  impossible  it  is  for  the 
United  States  to  obtain  what  we  aspire  to,  not  only  did  I  gratify  my 
sentiments  and  inclinations,  but  I  also  framed  my  memorial  in  such  a 
style  as  was  best  calculated  to  excite  the  passions  of  our  people ;  and 
convince  them  that  Congress  has  neither  the  power  nor  the  will  to  en- 
force their  claims  and  pretentions.  Then,  having  energetically  and  pub- 
licly established  our  pretentions,  if  Congress  does  not  support  them  with 
efficiency  (which  you  know  it  can  not  do,  even  if  it  had  the  inclination), 
not  only  will  all  the  people  of  Kentucky,  but  also  the  whole  world,  ap- 
prove of  our  seeking  protection  from  another  quarter."  -•* 

As  another  step  in  his  effort  to  lead  Kentucky  out  of  the  Union  and 
into  a  Spanish  connection,  Wilkinson  introduced  a  resolution  providing 
for  an  address  to  be  issued  to  the  people,  as  they  were  much  divided. 
This,  he  believed,  would  have  the  effect  of  producing  that  unanimity  in 

23  Z.  F.  Smith,  The  History  of  Kcitlucky   [Louisville,   1886],  287. 
2*  Green,   Spanish    Conspiracy,   235.      Letter   quoted    from   Guayarre,   History    of 
Louisiana,  111,  246. 


268  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

their  councils  which  Brown  had  predicted  would  place  within  their 
reach  whatever  they  could  wish.  Wilkinson  hoped  thus  to  pave  the 
way  for  the  next  session  of  this  convention  (as  its  powers  were  to  con- 
tinue until  January  i,  1790),  and  be  prepared  to  take  the  final  step  in 
that  session.  According  to  the  resolution  this  address  sliould  represent 
to  the  people  "their  true  situation,  urging  the  necessity  of  union,  concord, 
and  mutual  concession,  and  solemnly  calling  on  them  to  furnish  this 
convention,  at  its  next  session,  with  instructions  in  what  manner  to  pro- 
ceed on  the  important  subject  to  them  submitted."  -"" 

This  move  created  consternation  in  the  ranks  of  the  conservative 
party.  In  order  to  combat  this  dangerous  step,  Crockett  hurried  to 
Lexington,  where  he  secured  in  the  cit}'  and  the  surrounding  country 
about  500  names  to  a  petition  remonstrating  against  precipitate  and  illegal 
action.  All  of  these  proceedings  were  elements  in  a  more  general  maneu- 
ver of  the  conservatives  to  have  an  address  prepared  and  delivered  to 
\'irgiiiia,  asking  in  a  "decent  and  resi)cctful"  manner  for  a  new  enabling 
act.  In  the  parliamentary  battle  that  raged  around  these  propositions, 
the  address  to  \''irginia  w-as  adopted,  while  the  address  to  the  people, 
which  Wilkinson  had  prepared,  was  lost  in  the  shuffle.  The  committee 
appointed  to  draw  up  the  address  was  composed  of  conservative  men, 
with  the  single  exception  of  Wilkinson,  wlio  had  nothing  to  do  with 
its  wording.  The  result  was  a  short,  straightforward  request  that  Vir- 
ginia provide  for  Kentucky's  separation  and  that  she  use  her  influence 
with  Congress  to  the  end  that  the  new  state  be  admitted  into  the  Amer- 
ican Union  according  to  the  late  recommendation  of  the  Congress  of 
the  old  Confederation.-'' 

This,  the  seventh  of  Kentucky's  conventions,  having  begun  its  labors 
in  a  period  of  great  uncertainty,  surrounded  by  a  deep-laid  i^lot  to  detach 
the  District  from  the  National  Government,  with  some  of  the  most 
influential  men  in  the  convention  lined  up  behind  this  conspiracy,  passed 
through  the  stormiest  session  that  had  yet  characterized  any  of  the  con- 
ventions. The  two  parties  were  almost  evenly  matched  in  most  points 
of  the  struggle,  but  the  better  judgment  of  the  convention  finally  pre- 
vailed. Wilkinson  could  lead  his  party  up  to  a  certain  point,  but  that 
was  not  the  point  of  separation,  with  the  prospect  of  a  Spanish  alliance. 
The  inner  workings  of  Wilkinson's  dealings  with  Spain  were  not  known 
generally  in  the  convention ;  only  the  more  glittering  prospect  of  a  solu- 
tion to  the  vexatious  Mississij)pi  question  engaged  the  attention  of  the 
members  as  a  whole.  Wilkinson  reported  to  his  Spanish  lord,  Miro, 
that  after  laying  the  matter  before  the  convention  and  after  the  evils 
of  the  present  connection  had  been  admitted  on  all  sides,  "Nevertheless, 
sir,  when  the  question  was  finally  taken,  fear  and  folly  prevailed  against 
reason  and  judgment."  -'^  The  continuing  authority  of  this  convention 
was  not  forgotten;  it  adjourned  to  meet  again  in  the  following  July. 
But  before  that  time  arrived  other  events  happened,  the  situation  changed, 
and  the  second  session  of  the  seventh  convention  never  took  place. 

2' Smith,  History  of  Kentucky,  290;  Brown,  Political  Begiiiningi  of  Kentucky, 
259;  Green,  Spanish  Conspiracy,  235. 

2"  Brown,  Political  Beginnings  of  Kentucky,  199;  Smith,  History  of  Kentucky, 
290,   291. 

2'  Wilkinson  to  Miro,  February  12,  1789,  in  Guayarre,  History  of  Louisiana, 
III,  226,  227. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

THE  SPANISH  COLONIZATION  SCHEME— THE  EIGHTH  AND 
NINTH  CONVENTIONS 

The  action  taken  by  the  last  convention  had  not  enhanced  Wilkinson's 
reputation  and  standing  with  the  Spanish  officers.  Again  he  had  failed 
to  break  Kentucky  away  from  the  United  States.  Seeing  the  necessity 
of  checking  as  far  as  possible  his  waning  influence  with  Spain,  he  lost 
no  time  in  carrying  on  his  machinations  in  Kentucky  by  taking  advan- 
tage of  every  opportunity  and  by  creating  them  when  possible.  He  made 
long  and  elaborate  reports  and  suggestions  to  Miro,  seeking  to  show  that 
his  importance  in  Kentucky  was  as  great  as  ever,  and  that  there  re- 
mained many  opportunities  and  methods  of  yet  detaching  the  District. ^ 
In  February  (1789)  he  informed  Miro  that  he  had  not  urged  his  full 
plans  in  the  late  convention,  but  had  only  worked  for  a  separation  from 
Virginia  and  an  appeal  to  Congress  on  the  Mississippi  River  navigation, 
which  would  show  that  it  had  "neither  the  will  nor  the  power  to  satisfy 
their  hopes."  The  outcome  of  his  subtle  maneuvers  must  have  time  to 
show  itself,  he  declared.  "I  determined  therefore  to  wait  for  the  effects," 
he  told  Miro,  "which  will  result  from  the  disappointment  from  those 
hopes,  and  on  which  I  rely  to  unite  the  country  into  one  opinion."  -  He 
cautions  Miro  to  see  to  it  that  their  weapon,  the  Mississippi  River  ques- 
tion, was  not  lost  in  negotiations  with  the  United  States.  He  declared 
that  to  grant  the  navigation  of  that  river  to  the  American  Government 
would  put  an  end  forever  to  Spanish  influence  in  the  West.^ 

He  maintained  that  Kentucky  was  destined  to  separate  sooner  or 
later  and  enter  into  a  Spanish  connection.  As  to  the  precise  time  and 
the  exact  condition  that  would  precipitate  the  action,  he  did  not  inform 
Miro;  but  he  suggested  different  possibilities.  In  an  eventuality  the  Mis- 
sissippi River  question  would  be  the  fundamental  condition  producing 
the  specific  problem.  The  operation  of  the  taxation  laws  of  the  United 
States  would  force  Kentucky  out  of  the  Union,  if  it  were  not  anticipated 
by  some  other  problem.  "The  people  here,"  he  said,  "not  having  the 
means  of  paying  those  taxes,  will  resist  them,  and  the  authority  of  the 
new  government  will  be  set  at  naught,  which  will  produce  a  civil  war, 
and  result  in  the  separation  of  the  West  from  the  East."  ■* 

Although  he  had  passed  the  peak  point  in  the  possibilities  of  his  plot- 
ting in  the  last  convention,  still  he  was  not  left  without  great  influence. 
A  spectator  in  the  last  convention  told  how  he  had  gone  there,  very 
apprehensive  as  to  what  might  take  place.  "Like  a  spy  I  went  there,"  he 
declared.  "I  kept  a  jealous  eye  over  an  eminent  officer  in  particular, 
but  when  I  beheld  what  he  had  done,  even  at  the  risk  of  his  life  and 
fortune,  with  the  Spanish  Governor  in  order  to  pave  the  way  for  the 

1  Wilkinson  had  certain  confidential   messengers   who   carried  his   dispatches   to    | 
New  Orleans  in  canoes  down  the  river.     As  an  example,  Joshua  Barbee  was  such 

a  messenger  in  March,  1788.     Letter  from  Barbee  to  Innes,  January  4,  1807.     Innes 
MSS..  19,  59-     . 

2  Gayarre,  History  of  Loidsiana,  III,  228,  229.  Wilkinson  to  Miro,  February  12, 
1789. 

2  Gayarre,  History  of  Louisiana,  III,  223-240.     Letter  of  February  12,  1789. 
*Ibi(l.,  229,  230. 

269 


270  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

navigation  of  the  Mississippi  (sic),  when  I  considered  that  actions  speak 
louder  than  words,  I  then  concluded  that  he  was  not  only  an  able  friend 
but  a  hero  in  our  cause."  ^  Wilkinson  had  great  faith  in  the  power  of 
money  over  the  leaders  of  Kentucky  thought.  Judging  that  such  a  power 
must  be  as  great  over  others  as  it  was  over  himself,  he  declared  the  best 
way  to  hasten  the  separation  of  the  West  from  the  Union  was  by  "grant- 
ing every  sort  of  commercial  privileges  to  the  masses  in  the  western 
region,  and  showering  pensions  on  their  leaders."  "  His  greatest  trouble 
seemed  to  be  with  the  leaders.  He  believed  he  could  inflame  the  people 
against  the  United  States  sufficiently  well  by  a  jjropcr  handling  of  the 
Mississippi  River;  but  he  had  not  yet  been  able  to  discover  a  leader  in 
the  District  who  would  coojjerate  fully  with  him  in  the  critical  moment. 
And,  without  the  full  support  of  leaders  at  the  opportune  time,  Kentucky 
could  never  be  led  tiut  of  the  Union,  howexer  much  he  believed  the  people 
might  want  it.  The  late  convention  had  afforded  him  a  painful  illustra- 
tion. 

In  September,  1789,  assuming  that  every  man  had  his  price,  he  made 
out  a  list  of  the  leaders  in  the  Di.strict,  giving  his  idea  of  their  general 
sentiments  and  setting  down  the  jjrice  for  which  they  could  be  bought. 
It  is  impossible  to  determine  whether  he  really  believed  the  men  he  men- 
tioned could  actually  be  bribed,  or  whether  this  was  another  of  his  cunning 
moves  to  maintain  his  own  position  in  the  councils  of  the  Spaniards  and 
doubly  secure  his  own  jjcnsion.  Harry  Innes,  lienjamin  Sebastian,  John 
Brown,  Caleb  Wallace  and  Joshua  Fowler,  he  declared,  "are  my  con- 
fidential friends  and  support  my  plans."  He  believed  they  were  worth 
$1,000  each.  Benjamin  Logan,  Isaac  Shelby  and  James  Garrard  "favor 
separation  from  the  United  States  and  a  friendly  connection  with  Spain." 
Eight  hundred  dollars  apiece  would  be  sufficient  for  them.  William 
Wood,  Henry  Lee,  Robert  Johnston  and  Richard  Taylor,  being  of  less 
importance,  should  have  an  allotment  of  $500  each.  "These  favor  sep- 
aration from  Virginia,  but  do  not  carry  their  views  any  further."  Gen- 
eral Lawson  was  marked  down  for  $1,000;  and  George  Nicholas  was  con- 
sidered to  be  worth  $2,000.  As  for  the  latter.  "He  has  not  entered  into 
our  concerns.  He  is  one  of  the  wealthiest  gentlemen  in  the  country,  of 
great  ability,  and  it  will  be  a  great  point  to  win  him  over  to  our  political 
views.  I  have  been  his  friend  for  some  time  and  I  think  he  will  con- 
cur." Thomas  Marshall  should  be  given  $1,000;  but  Humphrey  Marshall 
was  "a  villain  without  principles,  very  artful,  and  could  be  very  trouble- 
some"— he  vshould  have  only  $fxx).  He  also  named  the  following,  with 
their  prices:  Alexander  Scott  Bullitt,  $1,000;  Cjeorge  Muter,  $1,200;  and 
Green  Clay,  Samuel  Taylor  and  Robert  Caldwell,  $500  each.  Speaking 
generally  of  those  who  had  not  been  specifically  classified  as  to  views, 
Wilkinson  said :  "Some  of  these  have  British  leanings ;  some  favor  the 
interests  of  Congress;  some  are  for  separation  from  Virginia;  others 
are  opposed  to  it.  All  are  working  without  union  or  concert ;  but  they 
are  our  enemies,  and  hence  it  is  necessary  to  win  them  over."  " 

But  Spain  was  not  without  competition  in  her  conspiracies  in  the 
fruitful  Western  fields.  Wilkinson  had  referred  in  his  communications 
to  Miro  to  certain  dangers  that  were  arising  against  Spanish  interests 
from  English  sources.  Master  of  intrigue  that  he  was,  he  was  able  to 
turn  this  to  his  own  advantage  in  his  dealings  with  the  Spaniards.  Dur- 
ing the  fall  of  1788,  when  the  Spanish  conspiracy  was  at  its  height  and 
when  Wilkinson  expected  to  put  it  successfully  through  the  seventh  con- 

f- Kentucky  Gmetic,  December  13.   1788. 

"Green,  Spanish  Conspiracy,  131.  Wilkinson,  himself,  had  been  receiving  a 
pension  from  Spain  since  1787.  He  continued  to  receive  it  until  at  least  1807. 
BevcridRe,   Lije   of  John   Marshall,   III,   283,   284. 

'  W.  R.  Shepherd,  "Wilkinson  and  the  Beginnings  of  the  Spanish  Conspiracy" 
in  American  Historical  Revinv,  IX,  764-766. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  271 

vention,  a  British  emissary  in  the  person  of  a  Dr.  John  Connolly  ap- 
peared in  Louisville.**  During  this  same  general  period  a  letter  consist- 
ing of  some  "Desultory  Reflections  by  a  Gentleman  of  Kentucky"  found 
its  way  to  Lord  Dorchester  in  Canada.  It  held  out  an  alluring  situation 
for  the  British  to  take  advantage  of.  The  West,  it  declared,  was  so  sit- 
uated that  it  could  never  remain  in  the  American  Union  without  great 
detriment  to  its  welfare.  It  must,  therefore,  sooner  or  later  separate 
from  the  Atlantic  States.  The  writer  then  declared  "Great  Britain  ought 
to  prepare  for  the  occasion,  and  she  should  employ  the  interval  in  form- 
ing confidential  connections  with  men  of  enterprise,  capacity  and  pop- 
ular influence  resident  of  the  Western  Waters."  *  The  author  of  this 
letter  could  easily  have  been  Wilkinson,  for  it  was  to  his  advantage  to 
have  as  many  avenues  of  approach  as  well  as  escape  as  possible  in  his 
dealings  with  the  Spaniards. 

Connolly  came  to  Louisville  ostensibly  to  look  after  some  interests 
in  land  lying  around  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio,  but  his  real  purpose  was 
to  take  advantage  of  the  unsettled  conditions  in  Kentucky  which  had 
been  described  in  the  "Desultory  Reflections."  i"  He  soon  got  into  com- 
munication with  some  of  the  leaders  in  the  District,  but  was  able  to  make 
little  or  no  headway. '^  His  proposition  was  to  secure  for  the  Ken- 
tuckians  the  free  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  through  the  use  of  troops 
in  Canada  and  the  British  fleet  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Great  Britain 
was  of  all  foreign  countries  most  bitterly  hated  in  Kentucky.  She,  it 
was  believed,  was  responsible  for  stirring  up  the  continuous  Indian  raids 
and  depredations.  It  was  thus  a  difficult  task  to  set  going  a  British  plot 
here.  Harry  Innes  wrote  Washington  in  December,  1788,  that  he  was 
informed  the  British  had  sent  agents  to  the  District.  He  added  that  he 
was  on  the  watch  for  them:  "From  the  abhorrence  &  detestation  which 
I  have  to  a  British  connection,  other  than  that  of  friends  &  allies,  I  was 
induced  to  keep  a  lookout  &  scrutinize  the  conduct  of  all  strangers." 
Connolly,  he  declared,  had  "touched  the  key  to  Fomentation  and  offered 
assistance  to  enable  the  Inhabitants  of  the  Western  Country  to  seize  on 
the  City  of  New  Orleans,  and  secure  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi." 
He  intimated  that  he  als.o  had  other  information  of  great  importance, 
but  feared  to  entrust  it  to  the  ordinary  methods  of  communication.' 2 
However,  he  would  say  that  he  would  not  object  to  using  the  British 
as  "friends  &  allies,"  but  the  connection  should  go  no  further. 

Until  Connolly  should  see  Wilkinson,  the  possibilities  of  his  plot 
would  not  be  exhausted.  It  seems  the  latter  made  special  efforts  to 
get  into  communication  with  Connolly,  as  he  no  doubt  considered  that  he 
had  pre-empted  Kentucky  for  his  own  special  plotting  ground.  But  Wil- 
kinson also  believed  there  was  no  situation  that  was  not  worth  investigat- 
ing, with  the  possibility  of  turning  it  to  his  advantage.  And,  as  has  been 
stated,  it  is  by  no  means  beyond  a  probability  that  he  was  instrumental 
in  arousing  hopes  in  the  British  of  a  Kentucky  plot.  He  had  a  confer- 
ence with  Connolly  and  pumped  him  of  everything  concerning  the  British 
desires  and  intentions.  After  gaining  all  the  information  he  desired, 
he  got  rid  of  him  through  a  ruse,  according  to  Wilkinson's  account.  He 
hired  a  hunter  to  assault  Connolly.  The  hunter  was  to  let  it  be  known 
that  he  believed  Connolly  to  be  a  British  agent  and  that  as  such  he  should 

'  Brown,  Political  Beginnings  of  Kentucky,  182-192. 

» Green,  Spanish  Conspiracy,  297.  Lord  Dorchester  sent  this  letter  to  Lord 
Sydney,  April   11,   1789. 

1"  Connolly  had  owned  a  tract  of  land  where  Louisville  now  stands ;  but  it 
was  confiscated  during  the  Revolution  because  he  joined  the  Tory  ranks. 

11  Harry  Innes  wrote  Washington  December  18,  1788,  concerning  Connolly, 
"His  conduct  has  alarmed  my  fears.  He  had  some  confidential  conferences  with 
influential  characters."     Writings  of  George  IVashlnglon,  IX,  473   474 

1=  Letter   dated  December   18,   1788.     Innes  MS'S.    26. 


272  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

fare  badly  for  the  part  the  British  harl  been  playing  in  the  Indian  war- 
fare. Connolly  became  so  frightened  that  he  begged  Wilkinson  to  afford 
him  protection  until  he  could  escape  from  the  District.'^  Wilkinson 
wrote  an  account  of  this  to  Miro,  showing  how  he  had  saved  the  inter- 
ests of  Spain  in  Kentucky  by  nipping  in  the  bud  this  British  plot.  He 
also  was  able  to  use  this  incident  as  a  reminder  to  Miro  what  miglit 
happen  if  Spain  allowed  her  interests  in  Kentucky  to  die;  there  might 
be  nothing  less  than  the  descent  of  an  irresistible  force  of  Kcntuckians 
and  British  on  New  Orleans.'^ 

For  ai)parcnt  reasons  there  could  never  be  great  danger  from  British 
machinations  in  Kentucky.  Nevertheless  hopes  and  fears  were  aroused 
from  this  source.  In  April,  1789,  Lord  Dorchester  declared  he  was 
informed  that  secret  arrangements  existed  among  Kentuckians  "to  de- 
clare independence  of  the  Federal  Union,  take  possession  of  New  Orleans 
and  look  to  Great  Britain  for  such  assistance  as  might  enable  them  to 
accomplish  these  designs."  "^ 

Thomas  Marshall  wrote  Washington  in  February,  1789,  that  "It  ap- 
pears plain  to  me  that  the  offers  of  Lord  Dorchester,  as  well  as  those 
of  Spain,  arc  founded  on  a  supposition  that  it  is  a  fact  that  we  are  about 
to  separate  from  the  Union;  else,  why  are  these  oft'ers  not  made  to 
Congress?  We  shall,  I  fear,  never  be  safe  from  the  machinations  of 
our  enemies,  as  well  internal  as  external,  until  we  have  a  separate  State, 
and  are  admitted  into  the  Union  as  a  federal  member."  ""' 

Wilkinson's  [jrominence  in  S])anish  counsels,  the  ])roccedings  of  the 
seventh  Kentucky  convention,  and  hints  as  to  British  plottings,  all  spread 
their  effects  and  influence  through  the  rest  of  the  nation.  Interest  in 
these  happenings  was  now  s])reading  beyond  the  party  strife  in  Kentucky, 
and  was  causing  considerable  concern.  General  St.  Clair,  governor  of 
the  Northwestern  Territory,  wrote  to  Isaac  Dunn,  a  partner  of  Wilkin- 
son, on  December  5,  1788,  that  he  was  much  grieved  "to  hear  that 
'  there  are  strong  dispositions  on  the  part  of  the  people  of  Kentucky  to 
break  off  their  connection  with  the  Ignited  .States,  and  that  our  friend 
Wilkinson  is  at  the  head  of  this  affair.  Such  a  consummation  would 
involve  the  United  States  in  the  greatest  difficulties,  and  would  com- 
pletely ruin  this  country.  .Should  there  be  any  foundation  for  these 
reports,  for  God's  sake,  make  use  of  your  influence  to  detach  Wilkin- 
son from  that  party."  *^  St.  Clair  also  wrote  a  few  day.s^later  to  John 
Jay  that  he  had  certain  information  that  Kentucky  in  her  last  conven- 
tion had  come  very  near  adopting  a  proposal  "that  the  district  of  Ken- 
tucky should  set  up  for  itself,  not  only  independent  of  Virginia,  but  of  the 
United  States  also."'''  Kentuckians  themselves  entered  into  this  larger 
aspect  of  the  discussion.  Both  factions  sought  to  justify  themselves  in 
the  East.  Thomas  Marshall  carried  on  a  corres])ondencc  with  Washing- 
ton in  which  he  kept  the  President  posted  on  all  that  he  believed  was 
happening  or  being  planned  in  the  District.  In  b'ebruary  he  wrote  Wash- 
ington a  long  account  of  the  proceedings  of  the  late  convention,  the 
situation  in  Kentucky,  and  the  dangers  arising  from  the  Spanish  con- 


'2  He  describes  his  dealings  with  Connolly  in  his  letter  to  Miro,  February  12, 
1789.  Gayarre,  History  of  Louisiana,  III,  223-240.  Also  see  Green,  Spanish  Con- 
spiracy, 301  ;  and  McMaster,  History  of  the  People  of  the  United  Slates,  I,  522, 
523. 

"Thomas  Marshall  to  George  Wa.shington,  February  12,  1789,  in  (ircen, 
Spanish  Conspiracy,  250. 

"■'Lord  Dorchester  to  Lord  Sydney,  April  11,  1789,  in  Green,  Spanish  Conspiracy, 

295- 

'*  Marshall  to  Washington,  Fcljrnary  12,   1789,   in   Rnllcr,  History  of  Kentucky, 
521 ;  also  in  Green,  Spanish  Conspiracy,  250. 
"  Green,   Spanish   Conspiracy,  286. 
'"  St.   Clair  to  Jay,  December   13,   1788,   in  Green,  Spanish   Conspiracy,  286. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  273 

spiracy,  and  also  a  short  account  of  the  British  activities.'''  In  January, 
1789,  the  following  account  of  the  situation  in  Kentucky  appeared  in  the 
Alexandria  (Va.)  Ga::ctte:  "By  information  received  from  Kentucky, 
we  learn  that  many  of  the  principal  i>eople  are  warmly  in  favor  of  a 
separation  from  the  Union,  and  contend  that  it  is  injurious  to  the  inter- 
est of  that  country  to  be  connected  with  the  Atlantic  States.  This  idea, 
pregnant  with  so  much  mischief  to  America,  is  said  to  be  much  cherished 
by  intelligence  carried  there  by  Brown,  member  of  Congress,  to  this  ef- 
fect :  That  he  had  the  strongest  assurance  from  the  Spanish  Ambassador 
that  on  such  a  declaration  Spain  would  cede  to  them  the  navigation  of 
the  Mississippi  and  give  them  every  support."  2" 

As  a  part  of  Virginia,  the  District  of  Kentucky  had  been  giving  the 
Richmond  authorities  considerable  concern  and  worry.  Virginia  was 
responsible  for  what  her  citizens  or  groups  of  her  citizens  might  do.  She 
was  no  less  anxious  to  solve  the  situation  than  were  the  Kentuckians. 
But  she  wanted  no  Spanish  intriguing  nor  violent  separation.  Her 
authority  must  be  upheld ;  her  laws  must  be  respected  throughout  the 
commonwealth.  In  1788  she  announced  in  a  law  her  determination  to 
hold  for  high  treason  any  persons  who  should  set  up  an  independent 
government  within  her  limits  or  who  should  become  officers  of  such  a 
government.-i  As  the  next  step  toward  Kentucky  statehood  rested 
on  Virginia,  she  passed  in  December,  1788,  an  act  of  agreement  for  sep- 
aration, making  the  third  enabling  act.  This  act  was  very  much  like  the 
'  preceding  two.  It  declared  the  boundaries  of  the  district  should  be  those 
of  the  state ;  that  land  rights  acquired  under  Virginia  laws  should  be 
maintained  according  to  those  laws;  that  Kentucky  assume  a  just  pro- 
portion of  the  public  and  domestic  debt  of  Virginia ;  that  residents  and 
non-residents  be  subject  to  equal  taxation,  and  that  a  period  of  six  years 
after  statehood  be  given  to  complete  land  titles  by  way  of  land  improve- 
ments; that  Kentucky  land  warrants  should  not  interfere  with  those 
issued  by  Virginia  prior  to  September  i,  1790;  that  unlocated  lands 
"which  stand  appropriated"  by  Virginia  for  military  service  be  under 
her  control  until  Kentucky  enters  the  Union,  except  that  officers  may 
have  unlimited  time  to  make  their  locations ;  and  that  the  Ohio  River 
remain  free  and  open  to  the  United  States. '2  Virginia  called  another 
convention  for  Kentucky  to  meet  in  the  following  July  (1789)  for  the 
purpose  of  determining  once  more  whether  she  would  separate  and 
whether  on  the  terms  offered.  This  call  displaced  the  second  session  of 
the  seventh  convention.  If  she  voted  for  statehood,  then.  Congress  must 
agree  before  September  i,  1790.  to  admit  her  into  the  Union.^^  The 
storm  of  the  Spanish  conspiracy  having  passed  its  greatest  fury  preced- 
ing and  during  the  former  convention,  the  campaign  for  this,  the  eighth 
assembly,  was  comparatively  quiet.  Wilkinson  found  no  occasion  to 
greatly  inflame  and  arouse  the  popular  mind ;  and  Brown,  brought  into 
closer  touch  with  the  National  forces,  was  fast  on  the  road  to  a  better 
feeling  toward  the  National  Government.  As  these  agitating  forces  be- 
came more  quiescent,  the  feeling  against  separation  began  to  grow 
stronger.  A  petition  was  sent  up  to  the  Virginia  Legislature  praying  that 
the  enabling  act  be  repealed,  as  her  humble  petitioners  desired  nothing 
more  than  to  remain  a  part  of  \''irginia.  They  wanted  no  new  state, 
"which  will  be  clothed  with  no  national  power  and  which  will  only  serve 
as  one  of  Pharaoh's  lean  kine  to  devour  our  liberty,  whilst  it  can  be  of 
no  security  to  our  property."     The  petitioners  declared  that  the  General 

1'  See  Marshall  to  Washington,  February  12,  1789,  in  Green,  Spanish  Conspiracy, 
250-253. 

20  January  22,   1789,  quoted  in  Green,  Spanish   Conspiracy,  239. 

^'^Ibid.,  379. 

22  Kentucky  Gazette,  February  14,  1789. 

-3  Brown,  Political  Beginnings  of  Kentucky,  218-220. 

Vol.  1—22 


274  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

Government  would  "secure  everything  which  the  most  sanguine  can 
desire;  and  that  a  separation  may  injure  us  until  time  shall  be  no 
more  ♦  *  *"  -■•  A  correspondent  to  the  Kentucky  Gazette,  signing 
himself  "Hezekiah  Stubblcfield,"  said  he  was  preparing  a  petition  to 
Congress  praying  that  it  put  a  stop  to  the  freedom  of  the  press  in  Ken- 
tucky, as  it  had  been  prostituted  to  evil  ends,  especially  so  in  the  "at- 
tempts of  your  Farmers,  your  Brutus's,  your  Poplicolas  &,  to  mislead  the 
poor  happy  people  into  a  belief  that  a  separation  from  Virginia  and 
(where  they  dare  whisper  it),  even  from  the  good  continental  union." -^ 

Another  person  sent  a  conmiunication  to  the  Gazette  warning  its  read- 
ers against  the  methods  used  by  unscrupulous  politicians  in  nianiinilating 
the  ignorant  voters.  He  declared  some  voters  "are  extremely  stupid,  if 
we  ask  them  are  you  going  to  Election?  their  answer  is  no,  not  I,  I  do  not 
know  the  use  of  it  I  don't  care  who  they  send  for  delegates,  those  kind 
of  men  (if  they  may  be  called  men  or  freemen)  if  they  feel  any  thing 
like  oppression  they  are  the  readiest  of  any  to  growl  and  complain,  and 
they  will  talk  as  if  all  taxation  was  unjust.  *  *  *"  He  saw  two  dan- 
gerous classes  in  the  society  of  the  District,  the  ignorant  and  the  design- 
ing. As  to  the  former,  "tho'  those  sordid  beings  will  not  for  common, 
turn  out  to  an  election,  yet  those  evil  designing  men  can  toll  them  out 
like  hogs  and  for  the  sake  of  a  drink  of  Whiskey  they  would  sell  their 
Country  not  knowing  what  they  are  doing."  -" 

In  the  discussions  preceding  the  election,  certain  features  of  the  Third 
Enabling  Act  were  declared  to  be  unacceptable.  So,  when  the  eighth  con- 
vention met  on  July  20,  1789,  its  chief  work  was  to  frame  a  memorial  to 
\'irginia  asking  that  two  changes  be  made  in  her  enabling  act.  It  wanted 
the  clause  imjjosing  a  portion  of  Virginia's  debt  on  Kentucky  stricken 
out  altogether.  This  was  a  rather  indefensible  request,  as  much  of  the 
debt  had  been  incurred  in  the  defense  of  Kentucky;  and  even  KeiUucky, 
of  her  own  volition,  had  in  her  second  convention  included  a  promise  in 
her  address  to  \'irginia  to  pay  her  just  share  of  the  public  debt.-"  The 
other  request  in  the  memorial  was  highly  jjroper.  It  concerned  the  in- 
definite time  limit  set  by  X'irginia  for  military  officers  to  make  their  loca- 
tions of  land  in  Kentucky  in  those  unlocated  lands  that  stood  appropriated 
for  that  purpose. 

In  the  meantime  the  new  Federal  Government,  having  recently  gone 
into  oi>eratinn,  was  quick  to  inform  Kentucky  of  steps  being  taken  to 
protect  it  from  Indian  dangers.  With  this  tactful  move,  it  came  into 
being  with  a  promise  for  better  things  for  Kentucky. 

\'irginia  showed  her  sincere  desire  to  end  this  long  agony  of  suspense, 
which  she  liked  no  more  than  did  Kentucky,  by  passing  in  the  following 
December  (1789)  a  Fourth  Enabling  Act,  identical  with  the  third, 
except  as  amended  according  to  Kentucky's  desires. ^^    With  a  fine-spun 

2<  Robertson,   Petitions   of   the   Early   Inhabitants   of   Kentucky,    121,    122. 

'^Kentucky  Gazette,  Nov.  29,   1788. 

-<^  Kentucky    Gazette,    December    13,    1788. 

27  This  petition  was  never  presented  to  Virginia,  due  to  tbe  fact  tliat  the 
second  convention  passed  its  proceedings  on  to  tlie  third  assembly  for  further 
action. 

28  Brovv'n,  Political  Dciiinninijs  of  Kentucky,  218-220.  This  Fourth  Enabling  Act, 
which  came  to  be  known  as  tlic  Virginia  Compact  and  which  was  made  a  part 
of  the  first  constitution  contained  tlie   following  conditions: 

(l).  Boundaries  of  the  state  to  be  the  same  as  the  district. 

(2).  Kentucky  agrees  to  assume  "a  just  proportion"  of  the  United  States  debt 
and  also  assumes  to  pay  "all  the  certificates  granted  on  accoimt  of  the  several  expedi- 
tions" carried  on  from  Kentucky  against  the  Indians  since  January   i,  1785. 

(3).  All  land  titles  derived  from  Virginia  laws  "shall  remain  valid  and  secure 
under  the  laws  of  the  proposed  State,  and  shall  be  determined  by  the  laws  now 
existing  in  this  State." 

(4).  The  lands  of  non-residents  shall  not  be  taxed  at  a  higher  rate  than  that 
of  residents  "nor  shall  neglect  of  cultivation  or  improvement  of  any  land"  within 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  275 

nicety  for  legal  precision,  Virginia  called  a  ninth  convention  for  July, 
1790,  in  which  Kentucky  was  to  signify  her  acceptance  of  the  terms  of 
separation.  Congress  must  declare  before  the  following  November  first 
its  release  of  Virginia  from  any  further  obligations  respecting  Kentucky 
and  its  intentions  to  admit  the  new  state  into  the  Union  at  a  time  set  by 
Kentucky.  If  this  ninth  convention  should  agree  to  separations  on  the 
given  terms  and  conditions,  it  should  then  call  a  tenth  assembly,  whose 
duty  it  would  be  to  form  a  constitution. 

In  the  proceedings  of  the  eighth  convention  there  was  no  reminder 
of  the  stormy  sessions  that  had  taken  place  in  the  one  preceding.     To 
a  casual  observer  it  might  have  appeared  that  the  Spanish  plot  was  dead ; 
but  to  one  better  informed  it  would  have  meant  merely  that  it  had  changed 
its  complexion.     In  the  tangled  threads  of  Spanish  intrigue  embracing 
the  whole  West  there  becomes  evident  two  main  strands.     One,  Wilkin- 
son, had  been  drawing  in  his  efforts  to  detach  Kentucky  from  the  Union ; 
the  main  threads  that  made  this  strand  stretched  toward  New  Orleans. 
The  other,  different  men  had  become  entwined  in,  whose  purpose  was 
to  start  colonies  of  Americans  in  Spanish  territory  as  bulwarks  for  New 
Spain  against  the  United  States ;  the  threads  that  composed  this  strand  | 
were  held  principally  by  the  Spanish  minister,  Gardoqui,  in  Philadelphia.  ! 
These  two  parts  of  the  main  intrigue  were  not  always  compatible ;  at  1 
times  the  effects  of  the  one  were  largely  nullified  by  the  other.    The  col-  ' 
onization  scheme  seems  to  have  started  later,  and  in  time  came  gradually  \ 
to  supplant  the  plan  to  detach  the  western  regions  in  one  direct  step. 
Navarro  clearly  stated  the  purpose  of  the  colonization  plan  in  Decem- 
ber, 1787: 

"It  is  necessary  to  keep  in  mind  that,  between  this  province  and  the 
territories  of  New  Spain,  there  is  nothing  but  the  feeble  barrier  of  the 
Mississippi,  which  it  is  as  easy  to  pass  as  it  is  impossible  to  protect,  and 
that,  if  it  be  good  policy  to  fortify  this  province  by  drawing  a  large  pop- 
ulation within  its  limits,  there  are  no  other  means  than  that  of  granting 
certain  franchises  to  commerce,  leaving  aside,  as  much  as  possible,  all 
restrictions  and  shackles,  or  at  least  postponing  them  to  a  future  time,  if 
they  must  exist.  In  addition,  the  government  must  distinguish  itself 
by  the  equity  of  its  administration,  the  suavity  of  its  relations  with  the 
people,  and  its  disinterestedness  of  its  officers  in  their  dealings  with  the 
foreigners  who  may  resort  to  the  colony.  This  is  the  only  way  to  form, 
in  a  short  time,  a  solid  rampart  for  the  protection  of  the  kingdom  of 
Mexico."  29 

Ever  since  the   failure  of  the  seventh  convention  to  adopt  Wilkin- 
son's scheme,  he  had  been  on  the  defensive   in  his  relations  with  the 
Spaniards.     He  seized  on  every  incident  that  he  thought  might  advance 
his  waning  fortunes.     When  St.  Clair  had  become  fearful  that  he  was  \ 
working  in  the  interests  of  Spain  and  had  written  Isaac  Dunn  about  it,   \ 
Wilkinson  offered  this  as  proof  to  Miro  that  "the  part  I  play  in  our 


six  years  after  Kentucky  enters  the  Union,  subject  such  land  to  forfeiture.  The 
provisions  of  this  clause  are  reciprocal. 

(5).  No  Kentucky  land  warrants  to  interfere  with  warrants  issued  by  Virginia, 
which  shall  be  located  on  or  before  September  i,  1791. 

(6).  Unlocated  lands  which  stand  appropriated  for  military  service  shall  not 
be  interfered  with  before  May  i,  1792,  after  which  the  residue  is  subject  to  the 
disposition  of  Kentucky. 

(7).  The  Ohio  River  is  to  be  free  to  the  people  of  the  United  States. 

(8).  Should  any  dispute  arise  as  to  the  above  conditions,  six  commissioners 
to  give  judgment  shall  be  appointed  in  the  following  manner,  viz:  Two  to  be 
appointed  by  each  state,  who  shall  agree  on  the  other  two.  The  text  of  the  Com- 
pact may  be  found  in  Kentucky  Statutes  [Louisville,  191S],  Vol.  i,  29-31.  [Fifth 
edition.] 

28  Fish,  American  Diplomacv,  74,  quoting  Gayarre,  History  of  Louisiana,  III, 
189. 


276  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

great  enterprise,  and  the  dangers  to  which  I  am  exposed  for  the  service 
of  his  Catholic  Majesty,  are  known."  ^o  At  first  Wilkinson  had  op- 
/  posed  the  colonization  plan  as  directly  destructive  to  his  plan  to  detach 
Kentucky,  but  since  he  had  failed  in  tliat  task,  he  now  came  to  embrace 
it.  In  September,  1789.  he  sent  a  memorial  to  the  Spanish  authorities  in 
New  Orleans  in  which  he  outlined  his  plan  to  induce  colonization  from 
Kentucky  into  Spanish  territory.  In  this  way  he  would  establish  an 
advanced  post  of  influence  and  friendship  of  Kentuckians  in  Spanish 
territory.  This  would  have  its  reaction  on  Kentucky  itself,  resulting  in 
the  region  leaving  the  American  Union  and  allying  itself  with  Spain. 
To  hel])  this  plan  along  he  believed  it  would  be  wise  "to  distribute  jicn- 
sions  and  rewards  among  the  chief  men  in  jiroporlion  to  their  influence, 
ability,  or  service  rendered."  He  predicted  that  the  West  must  even- 
tually leave  the  United  States:  "Whenexer  the  western  settlements  be- 
lieve themselves  to  be  in  a  condition  to  assert  their  inde])cndence,  every 
measure  that  the  Congress  may  take  to  retain  this  region  will  serve  to 
precipitate  its  wishes  to  avoid."  ^' 

Since  1785  there  had  been  large-scale  land  speculations  going  on 
in  the  ^'azoo  country,  where  Georgia,  as  well  as  Spain,  claimed  authority. 
John  Holder  jiromised  to  plant  in  this  region  400  families  from  Kentucky 
witliin  four  years.  In  1789  a  new  and  larger  undertaking  was  set  going 
in  the  form  of  the  South  Carolina  Yazoo  Com])any,  which  had  secured 
a  tract  of  10,000,000  acres  from  Georgia.  Dr.  James  O'Fallon  now 
I  became  a  jirominent  figure  in  this  region.  He  came  to  Lexington  in  the 
interest  of  the  project  and  immediately  met  Wilkinson.  As  these  lands 
were  held  through  the  authority  of  Georgia,  although  claimed  by  Spain, 
the  latter  did  not  look  with  favor  on  the  Yazoo  colonization  scheme. 
But  the  hand  of  Wilkinson  now  began  to  operate.  He  sought  to  show 
Miro  that  the  new  settlement  would  ultimately  sue  for  Spanish  protec- 
tion and  that  the  project  in  its  present  form  should  not  be  opposed  by 
Spain.  He  wrote  to  the  Spanish  governor,  "I  am  ])ersuaded  that  I  shall 
e.xperience  no  difficulty  in  adding  their  establishment  to  the  domains 
of  his  Majesty,  and  this  they  will  soon  discover  to  their  interests." 
Sjjanish  fears  were  allayed,  and  extensive  plans  for  its  complete  acquisi- 
tion and  settlement  began.  George  Rogers  Clark  was  said  to  be  inter- 
ested in  the  project.  O'Fallon  immediately  set  about  securing  troops  of 
infantry,  artillery  and  cavalry,  and  in  November,  1790,  reported  that  he 
was  ready  to  send  down  from  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  300  troops,  and 
that  in  February  he  would  follow  them  up  with  300  more  and  600  fam- 
ilies. Reports  of  these  |)reparations  reached  the  United  Slates  authori- 
ties; proclamations  and  warnings  followed,  and  the  whole  project  soon 
fell  through.-'^ 

A  zest  was  added  to  the  purely  Spanish  scheme  of  colonization  by  the 
settlement  of  Col.  George  Morgan,  of  New  Jersey,  at  New  Madrid  with 
a  colony  of  Americans. ■'■'  Considerable  interest  was  aroused  among  the 
dissatisfied  settlers  in  the  West.  It  was  significant  that  about  this  time 
the  Danville  I'oJitical  CIul)  debated  the  question,  "Has  a  member  of  any 
government  a  right  to  exiKitrialc  himself  without  leave?"  The  decision 
was  even  more  significant ;  according  to  tliis  club,  he  had  such  a  right. •''^ 

George    Rogers    Clark    now    entered    into    the    Spanish    colonization 


8"  Green,  S/'anish   Conspiracy,  286. 

3'  Sheplierd,  "Wilkinson  and  the  Beginnings  of  the  Spanish  Conspiracy"  in 
American  Historical  Review,  IX,  751-764. 

'2  C.  H.  Haskins,  "The  Yazoo  Land  Companies"  in  American  Historical  As- 
sociation Papers,  V,  398-407.  O'Fallon,  deserted  by  Wilkinson,  ceased  further 
activities,  and  soon  afterwards  married  the  sister  of  Clark. 

'^  Brown,  Political  Beginnings  of  Kentucky,  125-145;  Fish,  American  Diplo- 
macy, 75. 

3*  Speed,  Political  Club,   122,    123. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  277 

scheme  as,  perhaps,  a  last  chance  to  secure  as  his  own  a  small  portion  of 
the  country  he  had  previously  played  so  important  a  part  in.  Clark  had 
not  fared  well  at  the  hands  of  his  government,  he  believed,  since  the  days 
when  he  had  wrested  the  Northwest  from  the  British.  Ill  fortune  seemed 
to  have  pursued  him  in  all  of  his  efforts  at  land  acquisitions.  As  early  as 
1779  he  addressed  a  letter  to  Governor  Patrick  Henry  concerning  certain 
lands  he  possessed  on  the  Cumberland  River.  "If  I  should  be  deprived," 
he  declared,  "of  a  certain  tract  of  land  on  that  river  which  I  purchased 
three  years  ago,  and  have  been  at  considerable  expense  to  improve,  1 
shall  in  a  manner  lose  my  all.  It  is  known  by  the  name  of  the  great 
French  Lick  on  the  south  or  west  side  containing  3,000  acres;  if  you  can 
do  anything  for  me  in  saving  it — I  shall  forever  remember  it  with  grati- 
tude." 2''  In  1780  he  petitioned  the  Virginia  authorities  to  confirm  a 
grant  of  land  about  36,000  acres  north  of  the  Ohio  River,  which  the 
Indians  had  given  him  out  of  their  gratitude  and  respect  for  him.  His 
petition  was  not  granted. ^'"^  As  time  went  on  Clark  becanie  morose  from 
brooding  on  the  ingratitude  of  his  government,  which  he  had  so  nobly 
stood  by  in  its  hour  of  greatest  need.  In  1780  he  had  indignantly 
spurned  the  enticing  offer  of  Governor  Hamilton  to  give  him  all  the 
land  he  desired  northwest  of  the  Ohio  and  an  English  title  if  he  would 
give  up  the  Ohio  Valley  to  the  British. 3"  In  his  attempt  to  revive  his 
sinking  fortunes  in  1786,  he  had  gone  on  the  Indian  expedition  up  the 
Wabash.  He  had  not  only  to  bear  the  pangs  of  this  defeat,  but  he  be- 
came the  subject  of  a  proclamation  disclaiming  his  actions  and  the  object 
of  a  hostile  investigation.^**  He  now  came  to  see  his  own  name  and  fame 
eclipsed  by  the  intriguing  Wilkinson — a  condition  that  the  latter  had  un- 
doubtedly consciously  tried  to  bring  about. 

Smarting  under  such  treatment,  Clark  wrote  Gardoqui  in  March, 
1788,  stating  that  he  had  been  maligned  by  his  enemies  and  that  he  was 
convinced  that  "neither  property  nor  character  is  safe  in  a  government  as 
weak  and  unsettled  as  that  of  the  United  States."  He,  therefore,  desired 
to  head  a  company  of  settlers,  who  wished  to  secure  a  tract  of  land  in 
Spanish  territory,  west  of  the  Mississippi,  lying  between  the  36th  and  38th 
parallels  of  latitude  and  extending  two  degrees  of  longitude  westward.^" 
He  wanted  1000  acres  to  be  allotted  to  each  head  of  a  family  and  100 
acres  to  each  member.  Clark  had  definite  plans  for  an  autonomous  gov- 
ernment :  The  governor  was  to  be  appointed  by  the  Spanish  authorities, 
who  should  be  assisted  by  six  counsellors  elected  by  the  settlers.  They 
were  not  to  be  disturbed  in  their  religious  liberties.*"  These  plans  were 
never  carried  out. 

The  colonization  scheme  that  Spain  was  holding  out  had  wide  and 
varied  attractions.  It  offered  an  outlet  for  the  energies  of  those  who  had 
failed  in  their  eft'orts  to  disrupt  the  western  boundaries  of  the  United 
States,  as  well  as  for  those  who  wished  to  play  a  part  in  the  uncertain 
drama  of  the  West,  but  did  not  care  to  go  to  the  limits  of  detaching  parts 
of  the  Union.  John  Brown  had  refused  to  follow  Wilkinson  to  that  limit; 
but  he  was  still  willing  to  fish  in  the  troubled  waters.  In  July,  1789,  he 
suggested  to  Gardoqui  that  he  could  find  capital  for  a  colony  of  Americans 

3^  Qark  to  Henry,  March  g,  1779,  in  Anierican  Historical  Review,  I,  95.  This 
letter  never  reached  Henry,  as  it  was  captured  by  the  British. 

'0  Robertson,  Petitions  of  the  Early  Inhabitants  of  Kentucky,  57-60.  This  peti- 
tion was  dated  May  7,  1780.  Although  it  was  not  granted,  Virginia  set  aside 
150,000  acres  of  land  north  of  the  Ohio  for  Clark's  officers  and  men. 

2^  C.   M.   Ambler,  Life  and  Diary   of  John  Floyd    [Richmond,    1918],   29. 

38  Qreen,  Spanish  Conspiracy,  79.  A  copy  of  Governor  Randolph's  proclamation 
disowning  Clark's  acts  against  the  Spanish  merchants  at  Vincennes  and  promising 
that   the  guilty  should  be   punished,  may  be   found   here. 

20  These  boundaries  would  have  included  for  the  most  part  the  southeast  corner 
of  the  present  state  of  Missouri. 

""Clark  to  Gardoqui,   March   25,    1788.   in   Durrett  MSS.   Collection. 


1) 


278  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

who  would  settle  in  Spanish  territorj'  at  the  mouth  of  the  Big  Black 
River.  If  he  were  given  6oo,cxx)  acres  of  land  in  this  region,  he  would 
engage  to  see  that  loo  families  were  settled  there  within  the  next  eighteen 
months  and  too  additional  families  for  each  of  the  ensuing  four  years. 
Civil  rights  and  religious  liberty  must  be  guaranteed.'"  This,  as  indeed 
most  of  the  other  colonization  schemes  never  go  beyond  the  state  of 
suggestion  and  discussion.  This  part  of  Spanish  western  intriguing 
played  no  vital  i)art  in  the  political  discussion  of  the  day.  Elections  and 
conventions  could  proceed  unruftled  by  foreign  distractions. 

Undisturbed  by  these  colonization  plans  which  were  being  promoted 
\  by  Clark,  Brown,  Wilkinson  and  others,  the  ninth  convention  met  in 
July,  1790,  and  proceeded  to  a  vote  of  acceptance  of  the  amended  Vir- 
ginia terms.  But  since  the  storm  of  the  preceding  year  had  blown  over, 
so  strong  had  the  conservative  sentiment  for  continuing  a  part  of  Vir- 
ginia become,  that  separation  was  secured  only  by  the  surprisingly  close 
vote  of  twenty-four  to  eighteen.  This  shows  the  strong  reaction  that 
had  recently  set  in  against  separation  at  all  on  any  terms.''-  This  fourth 
enabling  act,  thus,  adopted  by  Kentucky  became  a  compact  or  contract 
between  the  two  states  and  was  afterwards  referred  to  as  the  Virginia 
Compact.  The  Constitution  of  1792  gave  it  equal  sanctity  with  thai 
document.  The  terms  were  absolutely  binding  on  both  parties,  as  was 
shown  later  in  a  decision  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court  concerning 
certain  land  disputes.  An  address  was  sent  to  the  Virginia  Assembly 
informing  that  body  of  Kentucky's  acceptance  of  the  terms,  and  ex- 
pressing the  thanks  and  good  will  of  the  people  of  Kentucky  for  Vir- 
ginia.''^  Another  address  was  sent  to  the  President  of  the  United  States 
and  to  Congress  reciting  the  facts  concerning  the  Virginia  agreement, 
expressing  the  kindliest  feelings  toward  the  Federal  Government,  and 
praying  to  be  taken  into  the  Union  within  the  time  limit  set  by  Virginia.^* 
It  provided  for  the  election  of  a  constitutional  convention  to  meet  in 
April,  1792;  and  designated  the  first  day  of  June  following  as  the  date 
for  the  new  state  to  enter  into  its  duties  in  the  Union. ^-"^ 

«i  Brown,  PoUtkal  Beginnings  of  Kentucky,  172. 

"  The  people  had  stopped  talking  about  separation,  to  a  great  extent.  Nathaniel 
Richardson  in  a  letter  to  John  Breckinridge,  February  11,  1790,  said,  "Our  Indian 
affairs  seem  to  engage  tlie  attention  of  the  common-people  &  a  Separation  that 
of  the  leading  Men."    Breckinridge  MSS.  1 1790.] 

*^  Kentucky  Gazette,  February  12,  19,  1791. 

**  Brown,  Political  Beginnings  of  Kentucky,  220-222. 

«»  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  I,  271,  272. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 
CONSTITUTION  AND  UNION 

Kentucky  was  now  in  sight  of  statehood.  She  had  been  patient  to 
the  extraordinary  extent  of  electing  nine  conventions;  and  she  had  been 
long-sufTering  to  the  extent  of  ahnost  as  many  disappointments.  A  dis- 
tinct feeling  of  relief  was  now  apparent.  She  understood  the  national 
government  better,  a  condition  which  led  the  national  government  to 
understand  her  problems  better.  John  Brown's  influence  was  now 
directed  toward  a  forwarding  of  this  mutual  accord.  He  was  accused  by 
his  enemies  of  even  having  changed  from  being  in  favor  of  separation 
to  an  opposition  to  it,  because  of  fear  that  he  might  lose  his  position  in 
Congress  if  Kentucky  became  a  state.'  Brown  had  been  sounding  the 
President  and  Senators  on  Kentucky's  chief  problem  that  remained  after 
statehood  had  been  gained,  the  question  of  the  navigation  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, and  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  Kentucky's  position  should 
be  made  perfectly  plain.  He  wrote  Harry  Innes  in  October,  1789,  to  have 
Kentucky  address  the  President  and  the  Senate  and  "state  what  would 
satisfy  the  people"  on  this  question.^  Thomas  Marshall,  who  in  the  early 
part  of  17S9,  had  written  Washington  of  the  serious  situation  in  Ken- 
tucky, in  September  of  1790  was  able  to  give  an  entirely  different  picture. 
Kentucky  was  now  contented.  Washington  replied  that  he  "never 
doubted  that  the  operations  of  this  government,  if  not  prevented  by 
prejudice  or  evil  designs,  would  inspire  the  citizens  of  America  with 
such  confidence  in  it,  as  effectually  to  do  away  [with]  those  apprehensions- 
which  under  the  former  confederation,  our  best  men  entertained  of 
divisions  among  ourselves,  or  allurements  from  other  nations.  I  am 
therefore  happy  to  find,  that  such  a  disposition  prevails  in  your  part  of 
the  country,  as  to  remove  any  idea  of  that  evil,  which  a  few  years  ago, 
you  so  much  dreaded."  ^ 

Even  Wilkinson  found  such  a  change,  that  he  began  to  despair  of  being  j 
able  to  continue  his  labors  in  the  interests  of  Spain.  The  national  govern- 
ment, instead  of  being  weak  and  of  no  importance  as  he  had  predicted, 
was  now  functioning  vigorously.  In  the  early  part  of  1790,  he  wrote 
Miro  that  he  had  been  noting  a  great  change  coming  about  in  the  people. 
"Many,"  he  said,  "who  loudly  repudiated  all  connection  with  the  Union, 
now  remain  silent.  I  attribute  this,  either  to  the  hope  of  promotion  or 
the  fear  of  punishment.  According  to  my  prognostic  [sic]  Washington 
has  begun  to  operate  on  the  chief  heads  of  this  district."  He  then  gave  a 
list  of  Kentuckians  who  had  been  appointed  to  various  Federal  positions.-" 
He,  himself,  gave  up  active  intriguing  with  foreign  countries  until  times 
were  more  propitious,  and  sought  his  old  position  again  in  the  United 
States  army.^ 

1  Thomas  Marshall  to  George  Nicholas,  April  26,  1789.    Innes  MSS.,  22,  No.  69. 

2  Dated  October  7,  1789-    I"ues  MSS.  19,  No.  4. 

»  Marshall  to  Washington,  September  ii,  1790.  Green,  Spanish  Conspiracy,  277, 
278.    Washington  to  Marshall,  February  6,  1791.    Ihid,  273,  274. 

*  Green,  Spanish  Conspiracy,  288.     Letter  to  Miro,  January  26,   1790. 

» Wilkinson's  later  dealings  with  Spain  are  set  forth  in  I.  J.  Cox,  "General 
Wilkinson  and  his  Later  Intrigues  with  the  Spaniards"  in  American  Historical 
Review,  XIX,  794-812. 

279 


2^0  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

\\  liLii  Congress  iiiL-t  in  the  fall  of  ijfp,  it  took  uj)  the  question  of 
Kentucky  in  order  that  it  might  act  within  the  time  limits  set  by  Virginia. 
In  his  message  to  Congress  of  December  8,  Washington  spoke  of  the 
arrangement  between  \  irginia  and  Kentucky  for  the  latter's  separation 
and  admission  into  the  Union,  and  declared  that  the  "liberality  and 
harmony  with  which  it  has  been  conducted,  will  be  found  to  do  great 
justice  to  both  parties;  and  the  sentiments  of  warm  attachment  to  the 
Union  and  its  present  government,  expressed  by  our  fellow  citizens  of 
Kentucky,  cannot  fail  to  add  an  affectionate  concern  for  their  particular 
welfare  to  the  great  national  impressions  under  which  you  will  decide  the 
case  submitted  to  you."  "  With  Washington's  supjKjrt,  the  question  of 
Kentucky's  admission  was  not  long  delayed.  Sectional  jealousies  played 
their  part,  however.  The  admission  of  Vermont  was  linked  with  Ken- 
tucky. Although  the  act  for  admission  of  the  latter  passed  a  few  weeks 
earlier  in  February  than  for  the  former;  yet  by  Kentucky's  action  in  fixing 
the  date  of  her  aclmission  so  far  ahead  (June  i,  1792],  \'ermont  actually 
came  into  the  Union  first. '^ 

Amjjle  time  was  given  in  the  date  set  for  the  call  of  the  constitutional 
convention  for  a  complete  discussion  by  the  ])eoplc  of  principles  of  gov- 
ernment and  for  formulating  their  desires  on  what  they  should  want 
included  in  the  new  constitution.  Throughout  the  period  from  the  first 
convention,  there  had  been  more  or  less  discussion,  and  at  times  preceding 
certain  of  the  conventions  which  they  thought  would  make  constitutions, 
the  discussions  became  very  definite  as  to  constitutional  jninciples.  Ken- 
tucky's e.xperiences  from  the  very  first  settlement  had  been  in  many 
res])ects  different  from  that  of  any  other  state  which  had  ever  uKule  a 
constitution.  Equality  and  democracy  had  been  lived  from  the  necessities 
of  the  situation.  It  had  already  in  certain  oi  their  governmental  regu- 
lations departed  from  the  Virginia  customs  in  such  a  way  as  to  point 
to  a  greater  degree  of  democracy.  While  others  had  been  talking  about 
democracy,  Kentuckians  were  willingly  or  otherwise  living  it.  During 
the  fall  of  1791,  the  Kentucky  Gazette  carried  a  series  of  articles  advo- 
cating universal  sufTrage.  The  author,  signing  himself  "A.  B.  C."  de- 
clared that  "every  cast  and  denomination  of  men  amongst  us,  are  entitled 
to  a  rei)resentation  in  forming  a  constitution  by  which  they  will  all  be 
equally  bound."  All,  he  declared,  helped  to  clear  the  wilderness  of  the 
savages,  sufTered  dangers  and  [jrivations  together,  and  intend  to  live 
under  the  new  constitution.  Therefore,  all  should  have  ccjual  rights.^ 
In  all  of  the  states  of  the  Union  at  this  time,  there  were  varying  jjroperty 
and  religious  (jualifications  for  voting  and  office-holding.  In  her  dealings 
with  Kentucky,  Virginia  had  continued  these  usages.  In  the  act  of  erect- 
ing the  country  of  Kentucky  out  of  Fincastle,  she  gave  the  franchise  to 
"every  white  man  possessing  twenty-five  acres  of  land  with  house  and 
l^lantation  thereon,"  and  later  when  the  General  Assembly  incor])orated 
the  town  of  Lexington,  a  property  qualification  of  £25  was  ])laced  on  the 
right  to  vote."  I'ut,  of  course,  Kentucky  was  not  a  Uto])ia  ;  there  was 
always  a  difference  of  opinion  on  all  ])rinci])les  of  government.  The 
Danville  Political  Club,  in  discussing  the  (piestion,  "In  a  free  government 
ought  there  to  be  any  other  qualification  required  to  entitle  a  right  of 
suffrage  than  that  of  freedom?"  decided  that  some  other  qualification 
was  necessary. 1" 


^American  Stale  Papers,  Foreifjn  Relations,  I,   13. 

'  McMaster,  History  of  the  People  of  tlie  United  Slates,  II,  35.  For  a  general 
account  and  summary  of  the  conventions  and  the  conspiracies  mixed  up  with  them, 
sec  Proceedings  of  the  American  Historical  Association,  IV,  352,  357-361  ;  and  S. 
E.  M.  Hardy,  "Early  Conspiracies  in  Kentucky,"  in  Tlie  Green  Bag,  Vol.  12 
[  1900],  617-620. 

"For  example,  Kentucky   Gazette,   October  8,    1791. 

"  Robertson,  Petitions  of  tlie  Earlv  Inhabitants  of  KenlKcky,  41,  106. 

>»  Speed,  Political  Club.  125. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  281 

Perhaps  no  constitution  problem  came  up  for  more  thorough  and  pro- 
longed discussion,  than  the  question  whether  the  legislative  power  should 
be  vested  in  one  or  two  houses.  Those  in  favor  of  two  houses  advanced 
the  usual  arguments  for  such  an  arrangement.  But  there  was  a  persistent 
opposition  against  this  usual  division  of  powers.  It  was  argued  that  it 
would  be  unworkable,  as  one  house  would  most  certainly  block  the  other 
in  whatever  legislation  might  be  attempted ;  that  one  group  of  people 
out  in  the  state  would  side  with  one  house  for  a  law  and  another  group 
would  side  with  the  other  house  against  the  law,  and  that  as  a  result  the 
strife  of  the  legislative  chamber  would  be  transferred  broadcast  over  the 
state  to  the  destruction  of  the  public  peace  and  tranquillity ;  and  finally 
that  it  would  be  an  additional  expense  to  the  state  without  any  corres- 
ponding good. 11  In  the  election  for  delegates,  Bourbon  County  in- 
structed her  representatives  to  vote  in  the  convention  for  a  legislative 
body  of  one  chamber.^- 

The  question  as  to  the  manner  in  which  representation  should  be 
apportioned  came  up,  also,  for  much  discussion.  The  Virginia  method  of 
fixing  representation  by  counties,  regardless  of  the  population  did  not 
appeal  to  the  Kentuckians.  It  did  not  represent  the  principles  of  equality 
and  democracy.  The  Danville  Political  Club  discussed  this  question  and 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  numbers  should  be  the  controlling  factor 
and  not  counties. ^^ 

The  people  were  thoroughly  aroused  in  their  desire  to  impress  their 
views  into  the  new  constitution.  Many  of  the  better  educated  worked 
out  constitutions  of  their  own;  while  others  discussed  various  principles, 
or  listened  with  intelligent  interest.  DiiTerent  methods  were  used  in 
bringing  their  thoughts  before  the  people  and  in  giving  the  people  at 
large  a  chance  to  feel  that  they  were  having  a  part  in  the  important  work. 
The  Kentucky  Gazette  was,  of  course,  filled  with  communications  on  the 
subject.  Another  method  is  seen  in  the  public  meetings  that  took  place 
on  court  days,  and  which  were  sometimes  called  for  the  specific  purpose 
of  discussing  constitutional  principles.  In  November,  1791,  a  committee 
met  at  Sinking  Springs  Meeting  House,  near  Paris,  for  the  purpose  of 
formulating  the  outlines  of  a  constitution.^* 

The  most  systematic  way  of  giving  the  people  at  large  a  chance  to 
reflect  their  will  in  the  convention  was  designed  by  Bourbon  County.  The 
plan  called  for  the  selection  of  a  committee  by  each  militia  company, 
which  in  turn  should  choose  a  committee  of  two  to  go  to  the  county  seat 
to  meet  with  like  committees  for  the  purpose  of  nominating  candidates 
for  the  convention.  The  ticket  selected  should  be  sent  back  to  the  original 
militia  committee  for  ratification.  The  advocates  of  this  method  declared 
it  would  largely  settle  the  minds  of  the  people  on  their  candidates  and 
prevent  disorganization  and  disorders  at  the  election. '^  A  person  whose 
views  were  not  known  would  thus  stand  little  chance  in  coming  out  a  few 
days  before  the  election,  inflaming  the  minds  of  the  people  on  some  sub- 
ject, and  securing  a  place  in  the  convention,  before  wiser  counsels  could 
checkmate  him.  To  make  doubly  sure  against  too  great  an  independence 
of  views  of  their  representatives,  the  Bourbon  County  committees  gave 
definite  instructions  on  certain  principles  that  should  go  into  the  con- 
stitution. They  were  instructed  for  the  ballot  as  against  oral  voting,  and 
also  to  favor  one  house  for  the  legislature  instead  of  two.  Among  other 
instructions  given  was  the  rather  unusual  demand  that  no  code  or  laws 
of  England  or  other  nations  be  adopted ;  "but  that  a  simple,  and  concise 
code  of  laws  be   framed,   adopted   to  the   weakest  capacity;   which   we 

^'^  Kentucky  Gazette,  October  22,  passim,  1791. 

^•Kentucky  Gazette,  October   15,   1791. 

'3  Speed,  Political  Club,  113. 

^*  Ibid.,  Februarj-  11,  1792. 

^^  Kentucky  Gazette,  October  15,   1791. 


282  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

humbly  conceive,  will  happily  supersede  the  necessity  of  attorneys,  plead- 
ing in  our  state."  '"  The  vigorous  minds  of  the  Kentucky  pioneers  were 
not  to  be  bound  by  precedents  in  constitution  making ;  and  every  man 
would  be  his  own  lawyer.  These  efforts  at  instructing  delegates  met  with 
strong  criticism.  It  was  argued  that  the  convention's  very  purpose  and 
power  would  be  usurped  by  the  people  in  such  proceedings. 

The  convention  met  in  the  early  part  of  A])ril,  1792,  and  before  the 
end  of  the  month  had  framed  and  adopted  a  constitution.  This  document 
was  an  interesting  and  remarkable  instrument  of  government.  It  repre- 
sented the  genius  for  govcnuncnt  of  a  community  of  people  that  had 
grown  up,  as  an  entity,  separated  hundreds  of  miles  from  a  sustaining 
power.  It  owed  less  to  ]jrecedent  and  more  to  cxiierience  than  the  con- 
stitution of  any  other  American  state  up  to  this  time.  Many  new  and 
unusual  features  went  into  the  framework.  It  departed  from  the  Eastern 
practice  of  requiring  no  religious  test  of  any  kind  for  office-holding. 
Representation  was  based  on  population  and  not  on  counties  as  was  the 
case  in  X'irginia.  Kentucky  preceded  the  rest  of  the  world  a  quarter  of  a 
century,  in  granting  a  full  and  free  suffrage  regardless  of  the  amount 
of  property  owned. 

But  democracy  did  not  go  unbridled  through  this  constitution.  Here 
is  seen  an  unusual  admixture  of  sentiments  for  popular  sovereignty  and 
fears  of  too  much  of  it.  In  this  new  community,  scarcely  a  dozen  years 
out  of  the  stockades,  there  had  already  grown  up  the  cry  of  aristocracy. 
Agitators  had  stirred  up  a  class  hatred  that  was  louder  than  it  was 
dangerous.  Nevertheless,  the  luore  substantial  elements  were  led  to  guard 
against  a  condition  where  unreasoning  popular  jjassion  might  wreck  the 
social  and  economic  order.'"  The  governor,  senators,  and  judges  were 
removed  from  direct  election  by  the  people.  The  Governor  was  to  be 
elected  by  an  electoral  college,  on  much  the  same  order  as  provided  for 
in  the  recent  constitution  of  the  United  States  for  the  election  of  the 
president.  The  one  chamber  argument  in  the  convention  had  not  pre- 
vailed. The  legislature  was  composed  of  a  Senate  and  a  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives. The  people  were  given  the  power  of  direct  election  of  the 
representatives;  but  this  was  offset  in  a  peculiar  method  adopted  for 
choosing  the  senators.  The  number  of  senators  was  fixed  at  eleven; 
the  rejiresentatives  could  vary  from  forty  to  100,  according  to  the  popula- 
tion ajiportionments.  But  a  definite  ratio  was  fixed  between  the  numbers 
composing  the  two  bodies.  For  every  additional  four  representatives, 
one  new  senator  was  added.  Thus,  according  to  an  indirect  method,  the 
senators  were  apportioned  according  to  population.  The  senate  was 
elected  by  the  same  electoral  body  which  elected  the  governor,  directly 
dependent  on  the  people,  but  without  any  relationship  at  all  with  regard 
to  county  divisions.  Until  the  number  of  cf)unties  showed  equal  the 
mmiber  of  senators,  at  least  one  should  be  elected  from  each  County; 
thereafter  they  were  to  be  elected  at  large.  They  were  charged  by  the 
constitution  to  elect  "men  of  the  most  wisdom,  exjicrience  and  virtue 
above  twenty-seven  years  of  age  who  shall  have  been  resident  of  the 
State  above  two  whole  years  next  preceding  the  election."  ^^  Senators 
served  a  term  of  four  years,  one-fourth  retiring  at  the  end  of  each  year. 
The  constitution  did  not  provide  for  the  election  of  a  lieutenant-governor; 
but,  instead,  the  speaker  of  the  senate  succeeded  to  the  governorship  in 


"  Kentucky  Gasette,  October  15,  1791. 

>'  The  conditions  that  produced  Shay's  Rebellion  were  still  remembered  by 
many  Americans  with  an  uncomfortable   feeling. 

''The  Danville  Political  Chih  had  debated  the  question  of  the  manner  of  elect- 
ing the  senate,  and  had  decided  on  the  very  method  adopted  by  the  convention 
more  than  four  years  later.  Speed,  Political  Club,  142.  The  text  of  the  Q)n- 
stitution  may  be  found  in  B.  P.  Poore,  federal  and  Slate  Constitutions,  and  in 
Thorpe,  American  Charters,  Constitutions,  and  Organic  Laws. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  283 

case  of  the  death,  resignation,  or  incapacity  of  the  incumbent.'^     The 
judges  were  appointed  by  the  governor. 

On  the  whole,  the  proceedings  of  the  convention  were  devoid  of  ex- 
citement. The  only  ruffle  was  caused  by  the  question  of  slavery,  which 
thus  early  had  begun  to  play  its  checkered  role  in  Kentucky  history. 
From  almost  the  very  beginning  of  the  settlement,  there  had  been  grow- 
ing up  a  sentiment  against  the  introduction  of  this  institution.  The 
opposition  was  confined  largely  to  the  religious  denominations  and 
especially  to  the  Baptists.  Slavery  had,  by  this  time,  taken  considerable 
foothold  in  this  new  region,  embedding  itself  into  the  thoughts  and 
economic  life  of  the  more  substantial  elements  of  the  population.  When 
Article  Nine,  dealing  with  the  subject  was  read  the  fight  began.  This, 
the  earliest  expression  of  the  Kentucky  pioneer  democracy  on  slavery, 
follows : 

"The  Legislature  shall  have  no  power  to  pass  laws  for  the  emancipa- 
tion of  slaves  without  the  consent  of  their  owners,  or  without  paying  their 
owners,  previous  to  such  emancipation,  a  full  equivalent  in  money,  for 
the  slaves  emancipated ;  -they  shall  have  no  power  to  prevent  immigrants 
to  this  state,  from  bringing  with  them  such  persons  as  are  deemed  slaves 
by  the  laws  of  any  one  of  the  United  States,  so  long  as  any  person  of  the 
same  age  and  description  shall  pass  laws  to  permit  the  owners  of  slaves 
to  emancipate  them,  saving  the  rights  of  customers,  and  preventing  them 
from  becoming  a  charge  to  the  county  in  which  they  reside ;  they  shall 
have  full  power  to  prevent  slaves  from  being  brought  into  this  state  as 
merchandise;  they  shall  have  full  power  to  prevent  any  slave  being 
brought  into  this  state  from  a  foreign  country,  and  to  prevent  those  being 
brought  into  this  state,  who  have  been  since  the  first  of  January,  1789, 
or  may  hereafter  be  imported  into  any  of  the  United  States  from  a  foreign 
country.  And  they  shall  have  full  power  to  pass  such  laws  as  may  be 
necessary  to  oblige  the  owners  of  slaves  to  treat  them  with  humanity,  to 
provide  for  them  necessary  clothes  and  provisions,  to  abstain  from  all 
injuries  to  them  extending  to  life  and  limb,  and  in  case  of  their  neglect 
or  refusal  to  comply  with  the  directions  of  such  laws  to  have  such  slave 
or  slaves  sold  for  the  benefit  of  their  owner  or  owners." 

Kentucky's  position  on  slavery  was,  thus,  advanced  and  enlightened. 
Emancipation,  although  guarded,  was  possible  by  legislative  action.  The 
right  to  prohibit  the  domestic  as  well  as  foreign  slave  trade  was  granted 
without  conditions.  The  humanitarian  interest  in  slaves  was  also  clearly 
shown  in  the  powers  given  the  legislature  to  pass  laws  for  their  pro- 
tections.^" 

In  the  discussion  preceding  the  adoption  of  Article  Nine,  David  Rice, 
an  eminent  Presbyterian  clergyman,  made  a  strong  appeal  against  slavery. 
When  the  question  was  put  "to  expunge"  the  article  on  slavery,  all  of  the 
six  clergymen  in  the  convention  voted  in  the  affirmative.  Among  the 
others  voting  affirmatively  was  Harry  Junes.  However,  the  motion  was 
lost  twenty-six  to  sixteen. ^^ 

The  framers  of  this  constitution  did  not  consider  their  work  as 
definitely  permanent.  It  was  rather  a  substantial  experiment  in  govern- 
ment. Anticipating  the  fact  that  it  might  not  suit  the  people  in  all  of 
its  parts,  the  convention  provided  a  special  method  to  take  the  popular 

1*  For  a  general  discussion  of  this  constitution,  see  J.  C.  Doolan,  "The  Constitu- 
tions and  Constitutional  Conventions  of  1792  and  1799"  in  Proceedings  of  the 
Kentucky  State  Bar  Association,  1817,  134-158.  The  governor's  term  of  office 
was  four  years;  he  was  ineligible  to  succeed  himself. 

2°  For  a  short  account  of  the  part  slavery  played  in  the  convention,  see,  Brown, 
Political  Beginnings  of  Kentucky,  222-230. 

^^  MSS.  Minutes  in  Durrett  MS.  Collection^  p.  23.  For  further  information 
on  the  constitution,  see  Proceedings  of  the  Amencan  Historical  Association,  V,  361; 
and  Reports  of  American  Historical  Association  Reports,  19OS,  I,  67. 


284  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

will  on  the  question  after  the  docinnent  had  been  given  a  test.  It  was 
provided  that  the  people  might  take  a  vote  on  the  advisability  of  calling 
a  new  constitutional  convention,  in  the  elections  of  1797,  and,  that  if  the 
majority  was  in  favor  of  a  convention,  then  the  electorate  should  vote 
in  the  following  general  elections  of  1798,  and  if  again  the  majority 
was  favorable,  the  legislature  should  call  a  convention  in  1799  to  revise 
or  reiiiake  the  conslilntion.  There  was  another  method  [)rovi(lc(l  whereby 
a  majority  of  two-thirds  of  both  houses  of  the  Legislature  might  call  a 
constitutional  conxention  without  a  vote  of  the  people.  The  laws  of 
\'irginia  of  a  general  nature  were  continued  in  the  new  state  "until  they 
shall  be  altered  or  repealed  by  the  legislature." 

The  elements  entering  into  the  situation  that  made  possible  this  con- 
stitution were  varied.  The  influence  of  Virginia  was  felt,  but  not  nearly 
to  the  extent  that  would  have  seemed  natural  in  the  case  of  a  parent 
state  on  its  ofTspriiig.  Fundamental  X'irginia  usages  were  thrown  in  the 
discard,  as  noted  in  suffrage  and  representation.  'J"he  years  of  thought 
and  discussion  by  large  numbers  of  the  people  clearly  had  their  weight. 
The  Danville  Political  Club  decided  in  favor  of  the  manner  of  electing 
senators  four  years  before  the  convention  adopted  that  very  method. 
The  widespread  demand  that  there  be  no  property  qualifications  for 
voting  was  as  surely  the  source  of  the  constitutional  provision  guarantee- 
ing universal  sufifrage,  as  was  the  desire  of  the  more  wealthy  and  larger 
property  holders  to  have  their  rights  protected  responsible  for  the  manner 
of  choosing  the  governor,  senators,  and  judges. 

Just  as  peojjle  in  the  aggregate  had  their  effect,  so  did  certain  indi- 
viduals. That  the  constitution  was  the  work  of  any  individual  or  sub- 
stantially his  work  cannot  be  successfully  maintained.  The  man  who, 
perhaps,  contributed  most  to  it  both  in  what  he  himself  had  to  give  and 
in  making  it  possible  for  the  other  forces  to  produce  their  efTects  was 
George  Nicholas.  lie  was  thoroughly  conversant  with  constitutions  and 
constitutional  practices,  having  ])layed  an  im])ortant  part  in  the  Virginia 
convention  which  ratified  the  I'"ederal  Constitution.  So  comj)letely  had 
he  buried  himself  in  the  arguments  for  that  instrument  of  government, 
that  he  undoubtedly  carried  with  him  into  the  Kentucky  convention,  nuich 
of  its  influence  which  found  its  way  into  the  Kentucky  constitution. 
Whatever  similarities  may  be  drawn  between  these  two  constitutions 
must  be  attributed  to  the  work  of  Nicholas.  The  large  number  of 
speeches,  letters,  and  essays,  written  by  Nicholas  give  ample  evidence  of 
his  preparations  for  the  work.  Among  the  subjects  thus  treated  were: 
Government;  Resolutions  regarding  Form  of  (jovernment  for  Kentucky; 
Expenses  of  Government,  Land  Tax,  Loan  Office;  Checks  and  Divisions 
of  Power;  Senate;  House  of  Representatives;  Power  of  the  House  of 
Representatives;  Governor;  Ajiiwintmcnts  to  Office;  Suflrage;  Bill  of 
Rights;  Courts;  and  Slaves.--  Nicholas  was  also  appointed  on  a  com- 
mittee for  the  final  draft  of  the  constitution,  with  Cuthbert  Harrison, 
Benjamin  Sebastian,  Isaac  Shelby,  Thomas  Kennedy,  Thomas  Lewis, 
Caleb  Wallace,  James  Garrard,  Thomas  Warring,  and  Alexander  S. 
Bullitt.23 

The  United  States  House  of  Representatives  in  an  address  to  Wash- 
ington characterized  the  Kentucky  document  "as  jiarticularly  interesting 
since  besides  the  immediate  benefits  resulting  from  it,  it  is  another 
auspicious  demonstration  of  the  facility  and  success  with  which  an  en- 
lightened peoijle  is  capable  of  producing  for  their  own  safety  and  happi- 


ness. 


'  24 


22  "Nicholas   Papers,   Letters,   and   Speeches"   in   Durrctt  MS.   Collection. 
2'Jl/.9.  Minutes,  in  DurrctI  MS.  Collections,  p.  20. 

^*  A    Compihtiiin    nf    the    Messages    and    Papers    of   the  Presidents,    1789-1897, 

Edited  by  J.  D.  Ricliardson,  I,  132.     Date  of  address,  Nov.  10,  1792. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  285 

On  June  i,  1792,  without  further  action  by  Congress,  Kentucky  came 
into  the  American  Union.  In  the  annals  of  constitutional  government, 
she  has  no  counterpart.  For  eight  years  she  had  labored  and  toiled 
through  ten  conventions,  a  record  that  was  never  to  be  approximated 
from  that  day  until  the  present  by  any  American  community  in  quest  of 
statehood.  Her  provocations  were  frequent  and  exasperating,  the  more 
so  because  often  the  conditions  producing  the  perplexities  were  the  con- 
spiring of  men  and  events  without  any  human  design.  With  master 
intriguers  to  work  on  a  popular  discontent,  which  fed  not  only  on  political 
privileges  denied  but  also  on  economic  rights  withheld.  Kentucky  in  her 
efforts  to  find  a  solution  for  these  problems  approached  nearer  to  treating 
with  foreign  nations  than  a  less  sorely  tried  and  perplexed  people  would 
have  done.  liut  there  was  never  an  element  in  Kentucky,  outside  of  hired 
Spanish  agents,  that  considered  for  a  moment  bowing  the  knee  to  Spanish 
domination.  The  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  was  a  powerful  weapon, 
controlling  completely  the  economic  existence,  of  the  Kentuckians.  The 
Spaniards  used  it,  and  gave  it  to  their  hired  conspirators  "to  use.  Ken- 
tucky listened  and  deliberated.  The  river  she  would  have,  if  hot  through 
the  power  of  the  national  government,  then  through  her  own  efforts. 
With  the  coming  of  statehood,  she  temporarily  forgot  the  Mississippi 
in  the  joy  of  her  present  conquest.  The  prospect  of  the  new  Federal 
Government  was  pleasing.  With  one  of  her  besetting  problems  now 
solved,  she  could  with  good  graces  await  for  the  time  a  solution  of  the 
other.  But  as  a  member  of  the  new  union  she  would  be  respected  accord- 
ing to  her  deserts,  and  in  due  time  she  would  have  every  right  political 
and  economic  that  was  hers.  In  the  meantime  she  could  aft'ord  to  watch 
and  wait. 

In  criticising  those  who  seem  to  have  favored  a  Spanish  alliance,  many 
of  whom,  after  statehood,  became  prominent  in  both  state  and  National 
affairs,  the  situation  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Kentucky  territory,  cut  off 
from  the  parent  State  of  Virginia,  and  the  National  government  as  well, 
must  be  taken  into  consideration.  The  purposes  of  Wilkinson  were  plainly 
made  manifest  in  the  end,  but  many  of  those  who  were  at  first  attracted 
by  his  suavity  of  manner  and  power  to  influence  others,  once  they  under- 
stood his  designs,  became  the  most  ardent  advocates  for  a  place  in  the 
National  Union.  With  all  charity,  therefore,  should  their  actions  be 
judged,  and  the  harsher  criticism  indulged  by  many  be  avoided.  Innes, 
Brown,  Sebastian.  Wallace  and  those  holding  their  views,  were  men  of 
sterling  worth  and  character,  incapable  of  ignoble  or  treasonable  conduct, 
and  were  so  regarded  by  their  contemporaries. 


CHAPTER  XXV 

KENTUCKY  CHARACTER  AND  SOCIETY  AT  THE  BEGIN- 
NING OF  STATEHOOD 

The  settlement  of  Kentucky  began  in  1775;  statehood  was  granted 
in  1792.  The  number  of  population  requisite  for  admission  as  a  state  set 
down  in  the  Northwest  Ordinance  for  the  territories  north  of  the  Ohio, 
had  here  been  exceeded  by  over  13,000.  The  mighty  impetus  that  changed 
cane-brakes  and  forests  of  an  uninhabited  region  into  farmsteads  and 
cities  of  a  state  in  the  American  Union  w'ithin  a  period  of  seventeen 
years,  was  a  composite  of  numerous  forces  working  together.  Likes  and 
dislikes,  repulsions  and  attractions,  resultants  of  the  spirit  of  the  times 
and  the  conditions  of  the  country,  played  their  parts. 

The  Revolutionary  War  left  a  train  of  discontent  and  economic  ruin 
in  its  wake,  which  alTccted  large  numbers  of  people.  For  seven  years  the 
ravages  of  war  had  desolated  an  invaded  country.  Plantations  had  been 
destroyed,  and  the  accumulations  of  generation  had  been  consumed. 
Added  to  the  invasion  of  a  foreign  enemy,  was  the  still  more  bitter  strife 
carried  on  between  Whig  and  Tory,  Patriot  and  Loyalist.  In  some  com- 
munities the  former  were  outnumbered  by  the  latter,  and  not  until  irrep- 
arable damage  had  fastened  itself  on  the  social  and  economic  order, 
could  the  Tories  be  exterminated  by  stern  laws  of  confiscation  and  re- 
pression and  by  the  sword.  Thus,  was  driven  out  and  banished  to 
foreign  countries  through  the  very  exigencies  of  the  times  a  substantial 
element,  which  had  played  no  mean  part  in  prc-Revolutionary  days.  Im- 
poverished in  population,  the  country  was  no  less  a  sufferer  in  its 
economic  order.  Thriftless  agriculture  had  already  begun  to  work  ruin 
to  the  fertility  of  the  soil.  With  the  same  crop  planted  year  after  year, 
without  a  rotation,  the  yield  steadily  decreased.  Tobacco  was  playing 
havoc  with  Virginia  agriculture.  The  economic  ruin  that  was  later  to 
drive  Jefferson,  Monroe,  and  many  other  Virginians  almost  into  abject 
poverty  had  set  in. 

Economic  and  financial  ruin  was  staring  in  the  face,  the  individual, 
the  state,  and  the  nation.  Burdensome  taxation  increased  as  the  value 
of  state  and  continental  currency  decreased.  Beset  by  all  of  these  con- 
ditions, j)lantation  owners,  small  farmers,  and  the  landless  class,  began 
to  turn  their  thoughts  toward  a  solution.  Many  large  planters  sought  a 
remedy  in  the  endless  process  of  acquiring  the  contiguous  lands  of  the 
small  farmers,  thus  to  replenish  their  worn  out  soil.  The  small  farmer, 
iiaving  sold  his  holdings,  moved  further  westward  to  repeat  the  process 
of  clearing  the  forests  for  a  new  beginning.  The  condition  of  the  land- 
less, the  adventuresome,  and  the  habitually  unfortunates  became  worse  as 
time  went  on. 

But  this  ever  increasing  discontent,  born  largely  of  economic  incom- 
petency, had  its  safety-valve.  To  the  west  lay  an  unexplored  region, 
whose  possibilities  could  yet  be  only  imagined.  Reports  of  it  had  already 
begun  to  filter  back  across  the  Alleghanies  when  the  Revolution  came  and 
cut  off  further  consideration.  But  before  this  struggle  had  ended,  the 
region  was  becoming  better  known  and  its  attractions  were  increasing 
in  proportion.     By  1780,  it  had  come  to  occupy  a  definite  place  in  the 

286 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  287 

thoughts  of  the  people.    Thus  for  every  repelHng  force  in  the  East  was 
found  an  attraction  in  the  West. 

The  reports  of  the  wonderfully  fertile  soil  of  the  westernmost  part 
of  Virgmia  beyond  the  mountains  were  irresistible.  The  vanguard  that 
had  followed  Boone  to  this  land  on  the  eve  of  the  Revolution  had  been 
forced  to  almost  desert  the  country  during  the  first  few  years  of  the  war. 
The  hunters  and  explorers  closely  followed  by  the  occasional  settler, 
which  became  the  typical  process  of  westward  expansion,  had  now  opened 
the  way  for  the  onrush  of  settlers  with  their  families  and  whatever 
property  might  be  carried  along.  The  Kentucky  regions  were  now  coming 
to  be  systematically  advertised  by  word  of  mouth,  letters,  and  publica- 
tions. 

Returning  hunters,  explorers,  and  messengers  painted  the  trans-Alle- 
ghany  country  as  a  region  of  boundless  hopes  and  opportunities.  There 
the  landless  and  the  unfortunate  could  acquire  a  competency  and  even  a 
fortune  in  an  incredibly  short  time.  The  restless  and  lovers  of  adventure 
would  here  find  a  veritable  paradise.  Big  game  abounded,  and  Indian 
dangers  were  on  all  sides.  Letters  from  those  who  had  gone  before  were 
sent  back  to  relatives  and  friends,  urging  them  to  come  to  Kentucky  and 
partake  of  the  boundless  opportunities.  George  Rogers  Clark  had  written 
back  to  Virginia  in  1775,  urging  his  father  to  come  and  settle  in  Ken- 
tucky. "I  am  convinced,"  he  said,  "that  if  he  once  sees  ye  country  he 
will  never  rest  until  he  gets  on  it  to  live."  ^  Another  enthusiast  wrote 
later  that  "Here  are  the  finest  and  most  excellent  sites  for  farms,  cities 
and  towns.  Here  may  the  industrious  and  broken  hearted  farmer,  tired 
with  the  slavery  of  the  unfortunate  situation  in  which  he  was  born,  lay 
down  his  burthen  and  find  rest  on  these  peaceful  and  plenteous  plains; 
here  may  Iberia,  Britain,  and  Scotia,  pour  out  their  superabundant  sons 
and  daughters,  who  with  cheerful  hearts,  and  industrious  hands,  will 
wipe  away  the  tear  of  tyrannic  toil,  and  join  the  Children  of  America 
in  the  easy  labors  of  comfort  and  plenty,  and  bless  the  providence  of  that 
power  which  has  directed  them  to  such  a  land."  ^ 

The  movement  into  Kentucky  was  yet  young  when  publications  on 
the  country  began  to  appear.  All  described  that  land  in  the  most  florid 
and  superb  style  of  language.  The  earliest  work  on  Kentucky  was  by 
John  Filson.  He  entitled  his  book,  "The  Discovery,  Settlement,  and 
Present  State  of  Kentucke,  and  an  Essay  Toward  the  Topographical  and 
Natural  History  of  that  Important  Country."  As  a  history  it  was  not 
exact  in  all  of  its  facts ;  but  as  a  picture  of  a  wonderful  newly  discovered 
country  it  gave  a  true  portrayal  that  immediately  attracted  world-wide 
attention.  The  first  edition  of  this  advertisement  of  Kentucky  appeared 
in  1784.  The  following  year,  it  was  translated  into  the  French  and  Ger- 
man languages;  and  before  the  end  of  the  century  three  reprints  had 
been  made  in  England.  Filson  admitted  that  his  chief  purpose  was  to 
let  the  world  know  about  this  land  of  opportunities :  "When  I  visited 
Kentucky,  I  found  it  so  far  to  exceed  my  expectations,  although  great, 
that  I  concluded  that  it  was  a  pity  that  the  world  had  not  adequate  in- 
formation of  it."  In  describing  McBride's  visit  to  Kentucky,  he  said  the 
explorers  returned  "with  the  pleasing  news  of  their  discovery  of  the  best 
tract  of  land  in  North  America,  and  probably  in  the  world,"  and  Filson 
added  on  his  own  authority  that  "a  great  part  of  the  soil  is  amazingly 
fertile."  ^  Four  other  works  directly  on  Kentucky  or  dealing  largely  with 
it,  some  running  through  as  high  as  four  editions,  appeared  before  the 
end  of  the  century.* 

lA.  B.  Hulbert,  Pilots  of  the  Republic  [Chicago,  1906],  172. 

2  Butler's  Journal  from  N.  B.  Craig,  The  Olden  Time  [Pittsburg,  1846],  quoted 
in  J.  A.  James,  "Some  Phases  of  the  History  of  the  Northwest"  in  Proceedings 
of  the  Mississippi  Valley  Historical  Association,  1913-1914,  168-195. 

3  Filson,  History  of  Kentucky,  [London,  i793]  I  7,  9- 

*  These  were :    Alexander  Fitzroy,  The  Discovery,  Purchase,  and  Settlement  of 


288  HISTORY  OF  KICX  ITCKV 

The  soil  of  ceinr;il  Kentucky,  which  came  to  be  Utiown  as  the  Blue- 
grass  Region,  was  of  unusual  and  enduring  fertility  and  gave  a  glamour 
to  the  whole  country  tying  south  of  the  Ohio  and  west  of  the  mountains. 
One  of  the  early  historians  declared  that  as  the  c[uality  of  the  land  was 
the  great  object  to  immigrants,  "every  one  must  be  pleased  with  the  soil, 
and  was  that  the  only  thing  requisite  to  make  a  country  valuable  or  i)!eas- 
ing.  Kentucky  would  be  the  most  so  in  the  world,  as  the  land  is  nowhere 
excelled.''  •''  The  limestone  formations  were  responsible  for  the  fertile 
soil.  The  pre-historic  glaciers  which  had  overrun  the  regions  north  of 
the  Ohio,  depositing  boulders  and  covering  up  these  formations  with 
other  debris,  had  sto])|)cd  with  the  Ohio,  except  in  a  few  instances.  The 
extreme  northern  ])art  of  the  state  just  south  of  Cincinnati  and  including 
parts  of  the  |)reseiit  counties  of  Cam])bell,  Kenton,  and  Roone,  and  a  few 
regions  furllier  down  the  river  in  Trimble  County  are  the  only  excep- 
tions." 

These  printed  records  were  not  responsible  for  the  first  onrush  of 
settlers  beginning  in  1780;  but  they  played  their  part  in  making  the  stream 
continuous  for  many  years  to  follow.  Although  the  first  serious  effort 
at  settling  Kentucky  began  in  1775  with  ])rospects  of  a  steady  increase, 
the  fierce  struggle  with  the  Indians  and  the  British  in  the  ensuing  years 
of  the  Revolution  almost  depo]ntlated  the  countrv;  so  that  by  177c),  there 
w^ere  perha])s  no  greater  ninnber  of  peo])le  there  than  when  the  settlement 
began.  In  1787,  the  statement  was  made  that  only  14C1  white  men  could 
be  found  in  the  whole  country  at  the  former  date.' 

r>ut  the  next  year  all  the  forces  in  East  and  West  seem  to  have  begun 
to  conspire  together  to  fill  up  Kentucky.  The  Wilderness  Trail  through 
the  Cumberland  Gap,  which  had  heretofore  been  the  chief  access  to  Ken- 
tucky, was  now  again  carrying  westward  its  stream  of  hardy  pioneers. 
The  Ohio  River,  while  still  an  ambuscade  for  Indian  attacks  almost 
throughout  its  whole  course,  yet  was  now  beginning  to  carry  the  vanguard 
of  a  great  migration  to  come  later.  A  fever  for  western  migration  seems 
to  have  set  in  that  has  no  counterpart  in  American  expansion,  except  in 
the  gold  rush  to  California  more  than  a  half  century  later.  Just  as  vessels 
of  war  and  commerce  in  the  ports  of  California  w-ere  deserted  by  many 
of  their  crews  for  the  "gold  diggings,"  so  A'irginia  regiments  suffered 
numerous  desertions  for  the  Kentucky  regions.  The  incredible  statement 
was  made  in  1780  that  Kentucky  could  furnish  15,000  men  ready  for  war 
against  the  British  or  Indians.**  The  truth  might  be  ajijiroximated  in  this 
statement,  if  Kentucky  were  made  to  include  e\ery  settler  and  fugitive 
Tory  in  the  Ohio  Valley.  The  settlers  went  forward  as  unattached  in- 
dividuals, moving  famih'es.  and  in  1781,  there  was  the  spectacle  of  a 
whole  religious  congregation  going  in  a  body  to  this  jiromised  land.  This 
was  the  celebrated  Bjaiitist  "Traveling  Church"  as  it  came  to  be  called. 
The  congregation  voting  to  leave  in  a  body  moved  out  from  its  seat  in 


Ihc  Country  of  Kentucky  in  North  America  f London,  1786I,  Harry  Toulmin, 
Thoughts  on  Rmigrnlion ,  To  Which  arc  Added  Miscellaneous  Obscrrallons  Relating 
to  the  United  States  of  North  America  and  a  Short  Account  of  the  State  of 
Kentucky  [London,  1792],  Gilbert  Inilay,  .•/  Topograj^hlcal  Descrlt'llon  of  Western 
Territory  of  North  America  [London,  1792],  \V.  \\'intcrl)othani.  An  Historical, 
Geographical.  Commercial  and  Philosophical  View  of  the:  American  United  States 
and  of  the  liuropean  Seltlcmenis  in  America  and  the  West  Indies  [London,  1795I. 

^  Winterhothani,    An    Historical    F/V-i'.    IH,     131. 

"  G.  F.  Wright,  "The  Glacial  Houndary  in  Western  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Ken- 
tucky, bidiana  and  Illinois"  in  Bulletin  of  the  United  States  Geological  Suwey, 
Miscellaneous  Doc.  244,  51  Cong.  I  Sess.,  63,  64. 

'  Pennsyk'anui  Gacette,  March  29,  1787,  quoted  in  McMaster,  History  of  the 
People  of  the  United  States,  I,  149. 

*  W.  H.  Siebcrt,  "The  Tory  Proprietors  of  Kentucky  Lands"  in  Ohio  Archaelog- 
Ical  and  Historical  Quarterly,  No.   i,  January,   1919.   13. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  289 

Spottsylvania   County,   Virginia,  under  the  leadership  of  the   Reverend 
Lewis  Craig  and  Captain  William  Ellis." 

The  population  of  Kentucky  now  increased  by  leaps  and  bounds. 
In  1783  the  number  was  estimated  around  12,000  to  13,000;  and  by  the 
summer  of  the  following  year  the  population  had  doubled  from  the  pre- 
ceding year.  Estimates  now  placed  the  number  from  20,000  to  30,000.*" 
A  half  a  dozen  years  after  the  movement  set  in  a  veritable  stream  of 
settlers  began  to  float  down  the  Ohio.  The  Indians  still  beset  the  river 
immigrant ;  but  he  had  now  learned  to  better  prepare  for  his  safety. 
He  had  become  acquainted  with  the  numerous  tricks  and  ruses  used  by 
the  Indians  to  entice  him  ashore;  and  he  had  also  begun  to  use  a  more 
servicable  boat.''  The  adjutant  at  Fort  Harmar,  opposite  Marietta  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Muskingum  River,  counted  from  October,  1786,  to  May 
1787,  177  flat  boats  with  over  2,700  people  on  board.  It  was  estimated  by 
another  authority  that  at  least  ten  thousand  people  floated  by  the  same 
place  during  1788.^2  Virtually  all  boats  that  floated  by  Marietta  and 
Fort  Harmar  were  bound  for  Kentucky.  The  first  effort  to  take  an 
actual  count  was  two  years  later,  when  the  United  States  Government 
took  the  first  census.  At  that  time  there  were  over  73,000  people  in 
Kentucky.13  Thus,  within  one  decade,  practically  all  the  people  then 
in  this  region  had  arrived. 

The  earlier  settlers  who  had  used  the  Wilderness  Trail  almost  alto- 
gether had  from  the  accessibility  of  this  road  come  from  Virginia  and 
North  Carolina.  They  settled  first  on  the  Kentucky  River  and  to  the 
south,  gradually  moving  northv\-ard  across  the  river  through  the  Blue- 
grass  Region  as  the  numbers  continued  to  increase.  The  first  settlements 
of  this  element  were  at  Boonsborough.  Harrodstown  and  the  regions 
round  about.  They  later  laid  out  and  settled  such  towns  as  Danville 
and  Lexington.  The  other  fork  of  this  Western  Migration,  coming  down 
the  Ohio,  was  made  up  of  Virgianians,  and  people  further  north,  princi-  n 
pally  Marylanders  and  Pennsylvanians.  Those  from  Pennsylvania  em-  1/ 
barked  on  the  Ohio  for  the  most  part  at  Pittsburg;  while  the  Marylanders 
and  Virginians  reached  the  river  by  the  road  leading  through  Cumberland 
in  Maryland.  This  element  began  the  settlement  of  the  river  towns,  such 
as  Limestone  [Maysville]  and  Louisville,  and  spread  southward  to  meet 
the  people  coming  over  the  Wilderness  Trail.  The  Virginia  authorities 
became  alarmed  at  the  large  numbers  of  their  population  that  were  remov- 
ing west  of  the  mountains.  It  was  felt  that  they  would  soon  be  lost  to 
Virginia  for  the  mountains  formed  a  barrier  which  must  eventually 
divide  the  state  into  two  separate  governments.  Before  the  separation 
conventions  in  Kentucky  had  begun,  Richard  Henry  Lee  expressed  to 
Madison  his  alarm  at  the  loss  of  population  Virginia  was  sustaining.  He 
said  that  the  accounts  he  was  daily  receiving  "of  the  powerful  emmigra- 
tions  from  our  State  to  Georgia,  to  North  &  South  Carolina,  &  from 
the  interior  parts  to  Kentucki,  are  very  alarming — "  He  believed  that 
heavy  taxation  and  a  search  after  better  lands  were  the  main  causes.*'* 

»G.  W.  Ranck,   The  Trtvelling  C/h(>-c/j   [Louisville,   1891]    Pamphlet. 

10  Monette,  History  of  Valley  of  Mississippi,  II,  143 ;  Magazine  of  Western 
History,  X,  500.  The  statement  in  McMaster,  History  of  the  People  of  the  United 
States,  i,  70,  that  the  settlers  came  principally  from  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina 
and  Georgia  is  incorrect. 

11  A  favorite  ruse  of  the  Indians  was  to  force  a  captive  to  appear  on  the  banks 
of  the  river  and  summon  a  passing  flat  boat  to  take  him  on.  When  a  landing  was 
made,  the  Indians  who  had  concealed  themselves,  would  take  captive  the  whole 
party.  .        _  _  '    ''^^ 

'2  McMaster,  History  of  the  People  of  the  Umted  States,  I,  517. 

13  The  census  for  each  county  and  for  the  state  at  large  from  1790  to  1870  is 
given  in  Collins.  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  258,  259. 

1*  Letters  of  Richard  Henry  Lee,  II,  300.  Nov.  20,  1784.  The  rage  for  settling 
in  the  West  is  portrayed  in  letters  from  John  Jay  to  W.  Bingham,  May  31,  1785, 
and  to  LaFayette,  Jan.  19.  1785. 

Vol.  1—23 


290  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

Jefferson  a  few  years  later  noted  this  unprecedented  growth  of  the 
regions  beyond  the  mountains,  but  without  great  concern.  "We  have 
seen  lately,"  lie  said,  "a  single  person  go  and  decide  on  a  settlement  in 
Kentucky,  manj-  hundred  miles  from  any  white  inhabitant,  remove  thither 
with  his  family  and  a  few  neighbors;  and  though  perpetually  harassed 
by  the  Indians,  that  settlement  in  the  course  of  ten  years  has  acquired 
thirty   thousand   inhabitants."  ^'' 

A  passion  for  local  self  government  and  the  ability  to  successfully 
administer  it  constitute  a  jjcculiar  characteristic  of  Anglo-Saxon  races. 
In  the  regions  beyond  the  mountains,  no  sooner  had  a  few^  straggling 
pioneers  settled  down  than  a  clamor  at  once  went  up  for  local  self  gov- 
ernment, expressed  in  a  new  coimty  organization.  In  1775  \'irginia  had 
shown  her  favor  and  interest  by  cutting  the  westernmost  bounds  of  Fin- 
castle  off  for  the  benefit  of  these  settlers  and  named  it  Kentucky.  During 
the  early  years  of  the  revolution  there  was  little  time  on  the  part  of  the 
few  remaining  settlers  to  think  of  new  counties,  and  indeed  little  incentive 
to  want  new  governmental  units,  so  scanty  was  the  population.  But 
before  the  war  had  ended,  the  pojjulalion,  though  not  numerous,  was  so 
scattered  that  new  counties  seemed  nccessar)-.  With  the  beginning  of 
the  process  of  forming  new  counties  in  1780,  an  index  is  given  to  the 
numbers  of  incoming  immigrants  and  the  general  location  of  their  settle- 
ment. However,  there  was  always  a  tendency  on  the  part  of  every  small 
group  of  people  to  want  a  new  county  created.  As  a  testimony  to  the 
numbers  of  people  that  had  begun  to  filter  over  the  mountains  as  well 
as  a  recognition  of  the  main  centers  of  population,  \'irginia  created 
three  new  counties  in  1780.  These  were  Fayette,  Lincoln  and  Jefferson, 
named  for  the  three  RcNolutionary  heroes.  In  general  the  boundaries 
were  these:  Jefferson  included  the  territory  south  and  west  of  Salt  River, 
I'"ayette  embraced  the  country  north  of  the  Kentucky  River,  while  Lincoln 
included  the  remainder  of  the  settled  country  extending  south  and  east 
of  the  Kentucky  River.  Kentucky  County  lost  its  identity  in  this 
division ;  and  for  the  three  years  there  was  no  legal  existence  of  the 
name.  It  was  revived  when  the  judicial  district  of  Kentucky  was  formed, 
which  included  these  three  counties  and  all  divisions  into  new  counties 
that  should  be  made.  All  of  the  counties  of  Kentucky  created  during  the 
X'irginia  regime  were  the  results  of  popular  petitions;  but  all  petitions 
did  not  materialize  into  counties.  As  already  noted,  the  mania  for  new 
counties  could  not  always  be  satisfied.  In  the  same  year  in  which  Ken- 
tucky County  was  divided,  the  trustees  of  a  settlement  around  Fort 
Jefferson  in  a  region  which  had  never  yet  been  included  in  a  treaty  of 
cession  from  the  Indians,  petitioned  for  a  new  county.^"  According  to 
their  petition  they  "conceive  it  necessary  our  Settlement  should  be 
erected  into  a  Corporation,  or  Separate  County  distinct  from  Kentucky." 
They  declared  "That  from  want  of  Proper  authority,  the  regulations 
made  by  the  Trustees,  have  not  their  due  weight  with  the  People."  Their 
love  of  authority  was  shown  in  their  pniyer  to  be  continued  as  the 
officers  of  the  new  county.'" 

The  reasons  generally  advanced  in  petitions  for  new  counties  were 
\alid.  The  great  distance  from  the  courthouse  was  always  stressed,  as 
also  the  difficulties  and  dangers  of  traveling.  The  petition  of  the  people 
south  of  the  Kentucky  River  in  1780,  which  resulted  in  the  establishment 


"■  Writings  of  Jeffcrsnn,  XVII,  98.  James  Hall,  The  Romance  of  IVeslern 
History  [Cincinnati,  1857I  and  C.  B.  Walker,  The  Mississippi  Valley  and  Prc- 
Ilistoric  Events  [Burlington,  Iowa,  1879]  deal  in  part  with  the  settlement  of 
Kentucky. 

'"  Fort  Jefferson  was  estahlislied  by  GeorRC  Ropers  Clark  in  17R0  in  the  Chick- 
asaw country  on  the  Mississippi  River.     It  was  abandoned  in  the  following  year. 

^''George  Rogers  Clark  Papers  lyyi-ijSi  [Springfield,  1912]  Vol.  VIII  in  Illinois 
Historical  Collections,  425,  426. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  291 

of  Lincoln  Countly,  recounted  how  the  settled  portion  of  Kentucky 
County  "is  of  Late  grown  so  Extensive  that  in  a  time  of  peace  it  would 
be  extremely  inconvenient  for  your  petitioners  to  attend  at  the  Court- 
house much  more  so  at  present  when  an  invetorate  War  rages  with  un- 
remitted violance."  In  describing  the  difficulties  of  travel,  the  petitioners 
declared  the  high  banks  of  the  Kentucky  River  were  almost  impassable.'* 
The  first  of  the  three  new  counties  to  be  sub-divided  was  Jefferson. 
Nelson  County  was  cut  out  of  it  in  1784  to  take  care  of  the  numerous 
settlers  who  had  been  moving  westward  from  Danville  and  Harrodstown 
and  southward  from  Louisville.'"  The  next  year,  the  northern  part  of 
Fayette  County  was  erected  into  Bourbon,  in  response  to  the  demands 
of  a  rapidly  settling  country  fed  by  immigrants  coming  north  from  the 
Kentucky  and  south  from  the  Ohio.""  Two  other  counties  in  this  year 
arose  out  of  Lincoln — Mercer  and  Madison.  Both  lying  in  the  south 
and  east  administered  to  the  governmental  wants  of  the  increasing  num- 
bers that  were  entering  the  region  through  Cumberland  Gap.  -'  During 
this  fever  of  county  building,  the  settlers,  who  had  begun  to  occupy  the 
portion  of  Bourbon  County  bordering  on  the  Ohio,  and  who  had  in  1785 
laid  out  the  town  of  Washington,  petitioned  the  \'irginia  Legislature  for 
a  separation  from  Bourbon  and  the  erection  of  a  new  country.  Soon  a 
counter  petition  arose  in  the  older  parts  of  the  county  against  a  division, 
The  petitioners  declared  that  a  division  would  "derange  all  the  public 
business  of  the  County  to  the  great  injury  of  individuals''  and  also 
that  it  would  "so  weaken  the  militia  of  the  present  County  as  to  render 
them  incapable  of  defending  themselves  as  well  as  paying  the  County 
Levy."  The  military  strength  of  the  county  was  at  that  time  only  400 
men. 22 

Bourbon  was  not  the  only  county  to  protest  against  a  useless  sub- 
division of  its  strength.  Numerous  petitions  for  new  counties  were  met 
by  counter  petitions  opposing  division.  There  were  thus  two  influences 
in  conflict  with  each  other  in  the  movement  for  new  counties.  The 
danger  that  the  setting  up  of  new  communities  into  counties  would  work 
to  the  detriment  of  the  original  as  well  as  new  county,  was  largely  met  by 
the  tenacious  opposition  of  the  older  settlements.  As  a  result,  there  were 
few  if  any  weaklings  set  going;  and  even  if  there  should  have  been  the 
rapid  filling  up  of  the  country  would  soon  have  remedied  the  evil.  There 
was  in  fact  the  strong  feeling  on  the  part  of  some  that  the  younger 
communities  were  made  the  unwilling  bondsmen  of  the  older  county 
seats.  In  1788,  when  a  movement  in  the  western  part  of  Fayette  County 
arose  for  a  separation,  and  was  met  by  the  customary  opposition,  the 
blame  was  immediately  laid  to  the  ungenerous  selfishness  of  Lexington, 
the  county  seat.  A  correspondent  to  the  Kentucky  Gazette  sarcastically 
remarked  that  "It  would  be  inconceivably  to  the  advantage  of  a  small 
number  of  men  in  Fayette  if  all  Kentucke  was  included  in  one  County, 
and  obliged  to  assemble  here  12  times  a  year."  ^s  But  in  1788  this  move- 
ment was  successful,  resulting  in  the  formation  of  Woodford  County. ^^ 
In  the  same  year  Bourbon  was  forced  to  undergo  another  division  to 
satisfy  the  increasing  numbers  of   river  immigrants,   who  had   already 

1*  Robertson,  Petitions  of  the  Early  Inhabitants  of  Kentucky,  55,  56. 

18  This  county  was  named  for  Thomas  Nelson,  a  former  governor  of  Virginia 
and  one  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  for  that  state.  For  the 
dates  of  formation  and  persons  for  whom  named  of  all  Kentucky  counties  up  to 
1884,  see  H.  A.  Scomp,  "Kentucky  County  Names"  in  Magazine  of  History,  VII, 
144-154. 

20  Named  for  the  reigning  House  in  France. 

21  Named  for  General  Mercer  of  Revolutionary  fame  and  for  James  Madison. 
^2  Robertson,  Petitions  of  Early  Inhabitants  of  Kentucky,  91  passim. 

"^  Kentucky  Gazette,  Aug.  23,  1788. 

2*  Named  for  General  William  Woodford,  a  Revolutionary  hero,  who  was 
wounded  at  Brandywine,  captured  at  Charleston,  and  later  died  in  prison. 


292  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

settled  Washington  and  Limestone  [Maysville].  This  new  county  was 
named  in  honor  of  George  Mason ;  Washington  became  the  county  seat. 

When  Kentucky  was  admitted  into  the  Union  the  budding  process 
of  county  formation  had  produced  nine  counties.  These  had  all  grown 
out  of  the  original  Kentucky  County  within  the  past  dozen  years.  All 
made  a  respectable  showing  in  numbers  of  people  in  the  first  census,  and 
gave  excellent  promise  for  the  future.  Fayette  was  still  by  far  the 
most  populous,  having  more  than  18,000.  Nelson  came  next  with  over 
11,000;  followed  by  Woodford  with  9,210;  Bourbon,  7,837;  Mercer, 
7,091  ;  Lincoln,  6.54'8;  Madison,  5,772;  Tefferson  4,76s;  and  Mason  with 
2,729. 

Here  was  the  spectacle  of  a  state  with  not  a  native-born  adult  citizen 
within  its  bound.s.  It  was  as  if  a  mighty  impulse  had  suddenly  seized  a 
people  and  caused  them  to  migrate  hundreds  of  miles  away  from  the  rest 
of  the  civilized  world  and  there  set  up  a  new  state.  JBut  this  was  not  one 
people  moving  in  a  body,  as  was  the  case  with  the  Goths  and  Vandals 
in  earlier  times.  This  population  was  made  up  of  numerous  classes  and 
conditions,  impelled  westward  by  varying  forces  and  purposes.  No 
mediaeval  tribal  relations  bound  together  these  restless  pioneers.  But  out 
of  this  motley  aggregation  that  had  descended  upon  the  virgin  fields  and 
forests,  there  stood  three  general  classes. 

First,  there  were  the  original  pioneers,  the  settlers  who  had  come 
out  before  and  during  the  early  years  of  the  Revolution.  They  had  held 
the  countrv'  through  a  bitter  warfare  with  the  British  and  Indians.  To 
them  was  due  the  honor  and  credit  of  having  saved  the  country  for  the 
future  immigrants.  Few  in  numbers,  they  had  been  strong  in  spirit. 
But  it  was  not  for  them  to  enjoy  the  full  fruits  of  what  they  had  won. 
As  has  been  noted,  they  were  dispossessed  of  their  lands  and  despoiled 
of  their  property.  Many  of  these  early  pioneers  who  had  helped  to 
conquer  an  empire,  died  without  a  square  foot  of  this  land  they  could 
call  their  own.  They  were  robbed  by  dishonest  speculators  and  land 
sharks,  and  soon  swallowed  up  by  the  floods  of  immigrants  that  came 
in  after  the  Revolution.  One  must  look  to  the  period  before  1780  to 
see  the  glory  of  such  early  pioneers  as  George  Rogers  Clark,  Daniel 
Boone,  and  Simon  Kenton.  Thereafter,  denied  the  enjoyment  of  what 
they  had  won,  they  were  pushed  aside  and  superseded  by  some  who  were 
less  brave  and  more  astute  and  by  others  who  had  contributed  their  full 
share  to  final  victory,  in  other  fields. 

A  second  class  of  the  Kentucky  population  was  the  post-Revolution- 
ary immigrants.  As  has  been  noted,  they  came  in  great  numbers  and 
soon  took  possession  of  the  country  and  its  government.  They  became 
the  backbone  of  the  District  and  of  the  State  later.  As  a  class,  they  were 
for  the  most  part  a  sturdy  and  industrious  people  of  Anglo-Saxon  stock. 
Although  influenced  by  their  conditions  and  surroundings,  still  they  kept 
a  consers'atisni  which  was  proof  against  rash  action.  They  could  not 
easily  be  led  astray.  The  course  of  Kentucky's  efforts  to  enter  the  Union 
is  eloquent  proof  of  this  conservatism. 

There  was  a  third  group  made  up  of  odds  and  ends,  the  adventure- 
some and  the  cowards,  some  ahead  of  their  day  and  others  the  dross 
of  civilization.  Here  was  also  sought  and  found  for  a  time  a  refuge  by 
outlaws  and  Tories.  This  group  was  fugitive,  ephemeral,  evanescent. 
In  general  it  migrated  with  the  frontier.  Beginnmg  about  1780,  large 
numbers  of  Tories  driven  out  of  the  Fastern  states  drifted  into  Ken- 
tucky. Others  with  varying  Tory  sentiments  and  with  a  decided  distaste 
for  war  also  began  to  appear  in  considerable  numbers.  They  did  not  go 
unnoticed  in  their  new  refuge.  One  observer  noted  that  "Should  the 
English  go  there  and  offer  them  protection  from  the  Indians  the  great 
part  will  join."     It  was  also  charged  that  Tory  influence  had  been  re- 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  293 

sponsible  for  the  surrender  of  Licking  Station  to  Bird's  expedition.  An- 
other contemporary  declared  that  he  was  "sensible,  that  there  are  a  great 
number  of  disaffected  inhabitants  on  this  side  of  the  mountain,  that  wish 
for  nothing  more  than  a  fair  opportunity  to  submit  to  the  British  Gov- 
ernment, and,  therefore,  would  be  glad  to  have  the  regular  troops  with- 
drawn." 2S  There  can  be  little  question  that  a  large  portion  of  the 
arrivals  in  1780  were  of  doubtful  sympathies  in  the  war.  The  early 
pioneers  had  noted  this  at  numerous  times  and  on  various  occasions. 
Suspicions  as  to  Tory  influence  became  so  wild,  as  to  result  in  the  trial 
of  Daniel  Boone  for  treason  on  the  charge  that  he  had  surrendered  the 
saltmakers  at  the  Lower  Blue  Licks,  and  had  made  a  treaty  with  the 
British  at  Boonesborough.^" 

In  1780,  when  Clark  attempted  to  raise  a  force  to  go  against  the 
Shawnee  Indians  he  could  obtain  virtually  no  volunteers.  He  was  forced 
to  use  extraordinary  powers  to  obtain  recruits.  He  forced  the  land  office 
to  close  and  ordered  out  the  militia  as  the  only  method  to  deal  with  the 
situation.-''  The  next  year  when  Clark  was  trying  vigorously  to  raise 
troops  for  his  cherished  expedition  against  Detroit  he  again  found  no 
volunteers.  When  he  then  set  about  putting  a  draft  into  effect  he  aroused 
a  violent  hatred  and  opposition  on  the  part  of  this  disaffected  class.  A 
Kentuckian  wrote  Jefferson  that  he  feared  the  draft  would  "not  be  com- 
plied with,  by  Reason  of  the  disaffected  people  amongst  us.  (A  Col- 
lector for  one  of  the  Divisions  for  making  up  the  Cloathes  and  Beef  was 
Interrupted  in  the  execution  of  his  office.)  A  certain  John  Claypole 
said  that  if  all  the  men  were  of  his  mind,  they  would  not  make  up  any 
Cloathes,  Beef  or  Men,  and  all  that  would  join  him  should  turn  out. 
Upon  which  he  got  up  all  the  men  present,  to  five  or  six  and  Got  Liquor 
and  Drank  King  George  the  third's  health,  and  Damnation  to  Congress, 
upon  which  complaint  was  made  to  three  Magistrates.  Upon  which 
there  was  a  warrant  Issued  for  several  of  them,  and  Guard  of  Fifty 
men  with  the  Sheriff.  When  they  came  to  this  place,  they  found  sixty 
or  seventy  men  embodied,  with  arms — After  some  time  they  capitu- 
lated."^* This  incident  ended  with  an  apology  from  the  trouble-makers 
and  the  claim  that  their  actions  had  been  due  mostly  to  liquor.  This 
Tory  element  in  Kentucky  was  soon  converted  or  driven  out.  Virginia 
confiscation  laws  were  not  at  work  here. 

In  the  great  migrations  that  were  spreading  out  over  Kentucky  during 
the  Seventeen  Hundred  Eighties,  there  was  a  substantial  sprinkling  of 
people  of  education  and  considerable  prominence.  Not  only  were  eco- 
nomic conditions  on  the  plantations  in  the  East  tending  to  drive  planters 
to  the  West ;  but  the  very  attractions  in  Kentucky  were  operating  inde- 
pendent of  other  forces.  Here  was  a  land  of  opportunity  not  only  for 
the  land  seeker;  but  also  for  the  fame  seeker.  It  was  a  province  of 
Virginia  where  her  rising  young  lawyers  and  would-be-statesmen  could 
win  fame  and  fortune.  Land  laws  were  so  intricate  and  unsystematic 
that  a  flood  of  litigation  raised  an  inviting  prospect  for  the  lawyer.  Ken- 
tucky undoubtedly  received  a  larger  element  of  that  steadying  class  of 
populations  than  any  other  state  in  the  expansion  of  the  American  nation 
westward.  An  early  observer  noted  that  among  the  settlers  "there  are 
gentlemen  of  abilities,  and  many  genteel  families,  from  several  of  the 
States,  who  give  dignity  and  respectability  to  the  settlement.  They  are, 
in  general,  more  regular  than  people  who  usually  settle  new  countries."  -" 

25  L.    P.    Kellogg,   Frontier  Retreat   on   the    Upper    Ohio    1779-17S1    [Madison, 
1917],  22. 

2«  Siebert,  "Tory  Proprietors  of  Kentucky  Lands,"   12. 

27  Kellogg,  Frontier  Retreat  on  Upper  Ohio,  21,  22. 

28  George  Rogers  Clark  Papers,  525.  Garret  Van  Meter  to  Thomas  Jefferson, 
April  14,  1781. 

28 Winterbotham,  An  Historical   View,  III,   150.     Another  writer  said:     "The 


294  HISrURY  OF  KENTUCKY 

Repardless  of  the  amuuiit  of  influence  \'irginia  played  in  the  forma- 
tion of  Kentucky  institutions,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  she  sent  more  of 
her  [)opuIation  thither  than  was  contributed  by  any  other  state.  As  has 
been  said,  Kentuckj-  was  an  edition  de  luxe  of  \'ir{(inia.'"'  Francois 
-Micliaux,  who  visited  the  state  in  1802,  declared  that  the  "inhabitants  of 
Kentucky  *  *  *  are  nearly  all  natives  of  Virginia,  and  particularly 
the  remotest  parts  of  the  state;"  and  that  with  few  exceptions  "they  have 
preserved  the  manner  of  the  \'irginians."  •"  The  influence  of  X'irginia 
from  tlie  very  nature  of  the  situation  inu.->t  have  been  great.  X'irginians 
transplanting  themselves  into  another  part  of  the  commonwealth  and 
later  becoming  a  separate  state  could  not  possibly  di\est  themselves  of 
their  innate  character  and  life-long  training  and  habits  of  thought.  Their 
unconscious  actions  were  those  of  Virginians;  and  however  much  they 
may  have  been  influenced  by  conditions  differing  from  those  in  Virginia, 
and  by  dislike  for  the  treatment  they  had  received  at  the  hands  of 
Virginia,  still  they  were  Virginians  living  in  Kentucky.  Whatever 
jjetulant  animosities  that  may  have  grown  up  during  the  peri(jd  of  her 
statehood  efTorts  were  soon  afterwards  forgotten;  and  up  until  the  Civil 
War,  \'irginia  was  aflectionately  remembered  as  a  mother  who  still 
could  give  good  counsel.  The  great  majority  of  early  Kentucky  politi- 
cians and  statesmen  were  born  in  Virginia,  educated  in  her  political 
j)hilosophy,  and  remembered  it  when  they  were  playing  their  role  in 
Kentucky.  An  unconscious  blossoming  forth  of  Virginia  in  Kentucky 
is  seen  in  the  names  chosen  for  counties.  Out  of  the  118  counties  exist- 
ing in  Kentucky  in  1884,  nearly  one-half  were  named  for  Virginians  or 
for  N'irginians  who  had  migrated  to  Kentucky. 

Generally  speaking,  the  life  in  Kentucky  was  rough  and  vigorous 
as,  indeed,  it  was  in  all  frontier  communities.  And  wherever  Kentucky 
differed  from  other,  a  greater  degree  of  intensification  marked  the 
former.  The  people  had  rude  and  energetic  sports  and  hard  habits.  They 
raced,  wrestled,  played  leap-frog,  kicked  the  hat,  fought,  gouged,  gambled, 
drank,  and  practiced  marksmanship.  In  later  times  the  "Kentuc"  river- 
man  came  to  represent  a  terror  to  everybody.  The  worst  were  described 
as  half  horse,  and  half  alligator  tipped  with  snapping  turtle.  Life  in 
Louisville,  which  was  now  a  growing  river  town,  and  had  a  tendency  to 
catch  the  scum  of  western  migration,  as  was  the  case  with  all  river  towns 
during  this  period,  was  as  rough  as  the  roughest,  and  its  .sports  were  as 
vigorous  as  could  be  found.  The  town  consisted  of  350  people  living 
in  houses  of  boat-planks  and  of  logs,  small  but  arranged  in  regular 
streets.  Much  dancing,  drinking,  and  fighting  marked  the  regular  tenor 
of  life  here.  Sunday  was  not  considered  as  deserving  any  more  respect 
than  any  other  day.  One  of  the  more  conscientious  Louisvillians  de- 
scribed his  experience  with  the  people  on  this  point:  "One  Sunday  morn- 
ing, when  we  all  came  into  breakfast,  they  observed  my  store  was  not 
opened,  and  asked  the  reason  ichy.  1  answered,  Liecause  it  was  Sabbath 
day.  Oh !  they  replied,  .Sunday  had  not  yet  come  over  the  Mountains. 
Yes,  I  answered,  it  had,  tliat  1  brought  it  with  ine.  Well,  said  they,  you 
are  the  first  person  who  has  kept  his  .Store  shut  in  this  Village  on  the 
Sabbath  day."  sa 

Major  Erkuries  Beatty,  a  paymaster  in  the  United  States  Army  was 

beauty  of  the  country  and  richness  of  the  soil,  however,  excited  general  attention 
after  the  peace  [1783]  and  many  persons  of  respectability  and  fortune  fell  in  with 
the  current  of  population  rushing  westward.     Nilcs  Register,  VI,  249. 

'■"^  Library  of  Southern  Literature,  XI,  5083. 

5'  F.  A.  Michaux,  "Travels  to  the  West  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains  in  the 
States  of  Ohio,  Kentucky,  and  Tennessee  ♦  *  *  in  the  Year  1802"  in  R.  G. 
Thwaitcs,  Early  Western  Travels,  III,  247. 

^'  McMaster,  History  of  the  People  of  the  United  States,  II,  152,  quoting  from 
Autobiography  of  Maj.  Samuel  S.  Forman  in  Historical  Magazine  Dec.   i86g,  326. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  295 

stationed  at  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio  during  1786  and  1787.  He  kept  a 
diary  in  which  he  made  rather  close  and  interesting  observations  on  the 
lives  and  customs  of  the  people.  He  gives  this  description  of  Louisville 
society  and  sports : 

"In  the  morning  we  started  in  a  great  hurry,  the  Colonel  and  myself, 
over  to  Louisville,  *  *  *  saw  the  genteeler  sort  of  people  in  num- 
bers coming  in  from  the  country,  each  with  a  young  girl  behind  them  or 
woman  on  the  same  horse  (the  way  of  riding  in  this  country),  to  a  great 
Barbecue  on  the  Island  opposite  Louisville,  and  to  conclude  with  a  dance 
in  the  town  in  the  evening ;  we  got  a  very  polite  invitation  to  attend  it 
some  days  before,  but  Colonel  Harmar  would  not  stay ;  only  two  officers 
of  the  troops  stationed  here  intended  to  go,  for  the  people  and  they  do 
not  agree  very  well.  Suppose  there  will  be  near  100  men  and  women  at 
this  frolick;  saw  some  of  the  young  ladies  in  town  dressed  in  all  their 
finery  for  the  honor  of  the  treat;  some  of  them  middling  handsome,  rich 
enough  dressed  but  tawdry.  Saw  the  barbarous  custom  of  Gouging, 
practiced  between  two  of  the  Lower  Class  of  people  here ;  their  unvaried 
way  of  fighting.  When  two  men  quarrel  they  never  have  an  idea  of 
striking,  but  immediately  seize  each  other,  and  fall  and  twist  each  others 
thumbs  or  fingers  into  the  eye  and  push  it  from  the  socket  till  it  falls 
on  the  cheeks,  as  one  of  those  men  experienced  to-day,  and  was  obliged 
to  acknowledge  himself  beat,  altho  he  was  on  top  of  the  other — but  he,  in 
his  turn,  had  bit  his  adversary  almost  abominably.  *  *  *  Tt  chilled 
my  blood  with  horror  to  see  the  unmanly,  cruel  condition  these  two  men 
were  left  in  today  from  this  manner  of  fighting,  and  no  person,  altho  a 
number  stood  by,  ever  attempted  to  prevent  them  from  thus  butchering 
each  other,  but  all  was  acknowledged  fair  play.  Soon  after  our  troops 
came  here,  one  of  the  officers  being  in  a  public  house  in  Louisville,  was 
grossly  insulted  by  one  of  these  Virginia  Gougers,  a  perfect  bully ;  all  the 
country  round  stood  in  awe  of  him,  for  he  was  so  dexterous  in  these 
matters  that  he  had,  in  his  time,  taken  out  five  eyes,  bit  off  two  or  three 
noses  and  ears  and  spit  them  in  their  faces — this  fellow  our  officer  was 
obliged  to  encounter  without  side  arms  or  any  weapon  but  his  hands,  and 
the  insult  could  not  be  got  over." 

The  fight  is  then  described  with  all  of  its  barbarity,  in  which  the 
officer  came  out  winner.  Major  Beatty  hastened  to  add  that  gouging  anrl 
ill  will  toward  the  officers  was  not  universal.  "I  dont  speak  generally  of 
the  people,"  he  said,  "for  certainly  there  are  some  very  genteel  families 
in  this  country,  and  treat  the  officers  very  politely.     *     *     *"  ■''•'■ 

There  was,  however,  the  beginnings  of  a  refined  and  cultivated  society 
evident  in  the  Bluegrass  Region  by  the  time  Kentucky  had  become  a  state. 
Of  course,  the  better  class  of  people  that  had  moved  into  this  new  coun- 
try did  not  forget  their  culture  and  gentility  but  they  were  forced  to 
leave  behind  much  of  the  material  evidences  of  it.  No  homes  had  yet 
been  built  that  could  correspond  to  the  Virginia  manors,  and  the  furniture 
was  in  general  of  home  production.  Lexington  early  became  the  center 
of  refinement,  for  the  District  and  State,  and  for  many  years  held  first 
place  in  this  respect  throughout  the  whole  western  country.  Memories 
of  horse  racing  in  X'irginia  led  to  the  establishing  of  a  race  course  here 
as  early  as  August,  1789. "^  Dancing  was  a  social  qualification  not  to  be 
unknown  or  forgotten.  In  1788,  a.  dancing  school  was  started.''"  By 
1791,  the  town  had  so  far  advanced  in  its  ideas  of  public  safety  and 
sanitation  that  it  passed  an  ordinance  forbidding  the  construction  of 
wooden    chimneys    and    also    bani'^hed    from    the    town    limits    slaughter 

^3  Diary  of  Maj.  Erkurics  Beally,  paymaster  in  the  Western  Army,  May  15, 
1786,  to  June  5,  1787,  in  Magazine  of  American  History,   1877,  432,  433. 

^*  Kentucky  Gazette,  Aug.  22,  1789.    The  rules  of  entry,  etc.,  were  given  here. 
36/Krf,  March  22,  1788. 


296  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

houses.  The  people  were  also  forbidden  to  permit  their  hogs  to  run 
loose  in  the  streets.-'" 

Five  towns  were  listed  in  the  first  United  States  census  with  their 
population.  They  were:  Lexington  with  834  people;  Washington,  462; 
Bardstown,  216;  Louisville,  200;  and   Danville,   150. 

The  country  had  been  so  completely  possessed  that  the  dangers  of 
Indian  wars  had  almost  ceased.  With  the  successful  conclusion  of 
Wayne's  campaign  in  the  Northwest  in  1795,  Kentucky  was  to  have 
peace  from  that  quarter  until  the  preliminaries  of  the  War  of  1812  once 
more  set  the  Kentuckians  on  the  march.  The  actual  invasion  of  the 
country  south  of  the  Ohio  by  formidable  forces  had  ceased  in  the  early 
1 780s.  For  some  years  following  prowling  bands  of  Indians  of  a  half 
dozen  or  fewer  made  their  way  across  the  Ohio  on  horse-stealing  forays ; 
but  by  1792  these  were  becoming  rare.^'  In  that  year  Andre  Michaux. 
in  traveling  from  Alaysville  to  Lexington,  noted  farm  houses  scattered 
all  along  the  way.  Apart  from  the  dangers  of  the  abominable  road,  he 
found  travel  otherwise  safe.'^** 

But  the  wars  and  massacres  the  people  had  heretofore  passed  through 
left  an  indelible  impress  on  their  thoughts  and  characteristics.  Ac- 
cording to  an  early  chronicler,  "There  is  liardly  a  family  which  does  not 
preserve  the  reminiscence  of  some  mournful  catastrophe,  or  cherish  the 
recollections,  they  cannot  be  other  than  an  original  and  highly  romantic 
people."  *"  Thomas  Corwin,  Kentucky-born  but  soon  afterwards  moved 
to  Ohio,  said  of  Kentucky's  experiences  in  war,  "If  any  community  of 
people  have  lived,  since  the  dispersion  on  the  plains  of  Shinar,  to  this 
day.  who  were  literally  cradled  in  war,  it  is  to  be  found  in  the  state  of 
Kentucky.  The  Indians'  path  of  incursion  in  the  West  was  moistened 
with  Kentucky  blood — our  battlefields  are  white  with  Kentucky  bones"'*'* 

Kentucky  started  out  on  statehood  with  a  rich  heritage  of  experiences, 
with  a  population  vigorous  and  sturdy,  and  with  unbounded  enthusiasm 
for  any  task  in  the  future.  Gilbert  Imlay,  who  had  been  a  spectator  of 
much  that  had  haiipened.  thus  summed  up  Kentucky's  achievements  and 
her  outlook :  "Such  has  been  the  progress  of  the  settlement  of  this  coun- 
try, from  dirty  stations  or  forts,  and  smoky  huts,  that  it  has  expanded 
into  fertile  fields,  blushing  orchards,  pleasant  gardens,  luxuriant  sugar 
groves,  neat  and  commodious  houses,  rising  villages,  and  trading  towns. 
Ten  years  have  produced  a  ditTerence  in  the  population  and  comforts  of 
this  country,  which  to  be  portrayed  in  just  colours  would  appear  mar- 
vellous. To  have  im])licit  faith  or  belief  that  such  things  have  happened, 
it  is  hrst  necessary  to  be  (as  I  have  been)  a  spectator  of  such  events."' ■" 

^0  Ibid..  June  18,  1791. 

3' Collins,  History  of  Kcniiicky,  I,  23;  II,  567.  They  did  not  completely  cross 
in  179.'?  as  here  stated  by  Collins. 

'^joiiriwl  of  .Indre  Mirluiii.v,   1793-1796,   in  Thwaites,   Early   IVestcrn   Travels, 

III,  38. 

30  Hall,  .^'kclcJics  of  the  West,  II,  93-97- 

<"  Quoted  in  Isaac  Smuckcr,  "l7,"0 — Kentucky  History — 1800"  in  Magazine  of 
Western  History,  X,  504. 

<•  Gilbert  Iinlay,  ./  Toju-iiirnphical  Description  of  the  Western  Territory  of  North 
America  [London,  1797],  third  edition,  168. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 
MATERIAL  AND  INTELLECTUAL  PROGRESS,  I775-I792 

The  development  of  social  conditions  and  the  characteristics  of  Ken- 
tuckians  has  been  discussed  in  the  preceding  chapter.  It  is  now  necessary 
in  order  to  give  a  complete  description  of  the  people  to  note  their  material 
and  intellectual  progress.  In  no  state  in  the  Union  did  the  economic  wel- 
fare of  the  people  hang  on  a  more  slender  thread.  Stagnation  or  pros- 
perity depended  entirely  on  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi.  This  be- 
came the  besetting  problem  from  the  time  the  country  began  to  produce 
more  than  it  consumed  until  the  question  was  finally  settled  with  the 
purchase  of  Louisiana  in  1803.1  Kentucky's  material  outlook  was  in  the 
minds  of  the  people  predicated  absolutely  on  the  free  use  of  this  great 
highway. 

Methods  and  ways  of  reaching  Kentucky  as  well  as  communication 
within  the  country  were  necessarily  of  prime  importance  to  its  economic 
developments.  Travel  and  transportation  on  land  were  confined  almost 
altogether  to  horseback;  while  progress  on  the  rivers  was  limited  to 
pirogues  and  flatboats — down-river  traffic  alone  being  profitable  or 
feasible.-  As  has  been  heretofore  noted,  the  chief  ways  leading  to  Ken- 
tucky were  the  Wilderness  Trail  and  the  Ohio  River.  The  ease  of 
floating  down  the  river  was  largely  neutralized  by  the  constant  danger 
from  Indian  attacks.  For  this  and  other  reasons  the  land  route  over 
the  Wilderness  Trail  was  the  chief  highway  to  the  West  down  until  about 
1790.  It  not  only  served  the  North  Carolina  and  Virginia  pioneers,  but 
it  also  oftered  a  feasible  road  westward  to  people  further  north.  Many 
immigrants  from  Maryland  and  even  as  far  north  as  Philadelphia,  rather 
than  travel  300  miles  to  Fort  Pitt  to  brave  the  dangers  of  the  Ohio,  came 
southward  through  the  Shenandoah  Valley  to  pick  up  the  Wilderness 
Trail.-'*  Virtually  all  travel  back  eastward  went  over  this  road.*  Ex- 
tensive as  travel  was  by  this  course,  it  all  went  on  foot  or  on  horseback. 
No  wheeled  vehicle  passed  over  it  before  1795.  Virginia  had  before 
the  close  of  the  Revolution  en-acted  a  law  for  the  improvement  of  this 
great  way,  but  nothing  came  of  it.  In  1792  a  private  subscription  was 
taken  up  in  Kentucky  for  this  purpose,  and  during  the  sunmier  of  the 
same  year  work  was  carried  on  for  about  a  month. ^ 

As  an  increasing  number  of  people  began  to  use  the  Ohio  River,  the 
northern  parts  of  Kentucky  soon  began  to  accumulate  a  considerable 
population.  Louisville  and  Limestone  now  became  important  towns  and 
their  connection  with  the  regions  south  of  the  Kentucky  River  assumed 
importance.     In   1779  a  ferry  across  the  Kentucky  River  at  Boonesbor- 

1  Long  after  the  value  of  the  river  had  been  largely  dissipated  by  other  means 
and  routes  of  communication,  the  Kentuckians  still  cherished  the  right  to  navigate  it. 
When  the  Southern  Confederacy  was  set  up  1861,  Kentucky  entered  a  vigorous  pro- 
test against  closing  the  river. 

2  Some  boats  had  been  towed  up  the  Mississippi  and  Ohio  rivers  during  the  Revo- 
lution ;  but  it  had  been  a  slow  and  costly  process. 

3  Thomas  Speed,  The  Wilderness  Road  [Louisville,  1886],  1-47;  Speed,  Political 
Club,  21,  22. 

*  Parties  generally  collected  at  Crab  Orchard  to  begin  their  journey. 
^  Speed,  Wilderness  Road,  47-51. 

297 


298  HISTORY  OF  KENTl^CKY 

oiigh  was  authorized  l)_v  act  of  the  X'irginia  Cieneral  Assembly."  This  was 
the  first  link  in  the  road  system  that  was  now  growing  up  to  make  com- 
munication throuL;hout  the  Central  Kentucky  region  possible.  During 
this  period,  Danville  was  the  most  important  road  center  in  Kentucky. 
The  Wilderness  Trail,  leading  directly  to  this  place,  poured  out  its 
stream  of  settlers  to  be  scattered  over  the  country.  The  road  from 
Maysville  to  Lexington  and  on  to  Danville  was  the  important  highway 
for  travel  north  and  south.  From  Danville  ran  a  road  to  Louisville; 
this  road,  in  connection  with  the  Maysville-Lcxington-Danville  road, 
formed  the  land  route  from  ALaysville  to  Louisville.  For  travel  to 
regions  .south  of  Kentucky  there  was  the  Maysville  and  Nashville  road, 
which  made  up  the  northern  link  of  the  old  Natchez  Trace.  These 
were  the  main  lines  of  travel  in  Kentucky  when  it  became  a  state.  Minor 
roads  led  off  from  Lexington,  Danville  and  other  places  in  all  directions, 
as  the  large  trees  composing  the  forests  stood  well  apart,  making  travel 
ea.sy.  with  scarcely  no  clearing  away  of  undergrowth  necessary. 

There  were  no  post  roads  in  existence  in  Kentucky  at  this  time. 
Letters  from  the  Fast  were  carried  by  responsible  settlers  moving  west- 
ward;  letters  from  Kentucky  were  often  carried  across  the  moimtains 
by  the  groups  that  freciuently  gathered  at  Crab  Orchard  in  order  to  make 
the  trip  over  the  Wilderness  Trail  in  greater  safety.  Notices  of  the  date 
of  departure  of  these  parties  were  regularly  put  in  the  Kentucky  Gazette 
for  the  purpose  of  collecting  their  numbers  as  well  as  for  announcing 
their  willingness  to  carry  letters  back  east.  There  was  always  a  certain 
amount  of  travel  back  and  forth  of  responsible  people  on  business,  as, 
for  example,  the  Kentucky  representatives  in  the  Virginia  General  As- 
sembly.    They  offered  a  safe  and  convenient  way   for  carrying  letters. 

In  the  earliest  days  of  Kentucky  settlements  there  was  felt  little 
need  for  money.  The  economic  order  had  not  advanced  to  that  stage 
where  trade  and  traffic  could  no  longer  be  conveniently  carried  on  by 
barter.  The  earliest  money  was,  of  coin"se,  the  Virginia  paper  cur- 
rency, which  had  been  carried  westward  by  Virginia  settlers.  Inter- 
spersed with  this  were  stray  continental  currency  notes.  But  these 
paper  notes  were  practically  worthless.  Virginia,  Ijy  a  law  in  1781.  took 
away  the  legal  tender  qualities  of  her  paper  issues,  with  the  result  that 
within  a  short  lime  it  required  $i,000  of  them  to  buy  one  Spanish  tlol- 
lar."  Kentucky  was  thus  given  an  early  insight  into  the  dangers  that 
beset  the  issuing  of  paper  money.  But,  as  the  region  developed,  some 
kind  of  money  became  absolutely  necessary.  In  1786  John  Brown  was 
calling  for  paper  money  as  the  only  hope  of  saving  the  people  from 
ruin.  He  would  have  the  Virginia  Assembly  start  its  printing  presses 
immediately.* 

As  Kentucky's  trade  coiuiections  became  broader,  she  began  to  ac- 
cumulate small  amounts  of  gold  and  silver  money.  Dealings  with  the 
Spaniards  brought  in  at  times  considerable  amounts  of  S])anish  coins. 
Wilkinson's  tobacco  trade  with  New  Orleans  not  only  gave  the  Kentucky 
farmers  a  market  for  their  crops,  but  also  brought  back  Spanish  dollars 
and  piasters.  Just  as  this  region  became  a  refuge  for  many  people  of 
many  kinds,  so  it  became  a  till  for  the  floating  coins,  good  and  bad,  of 
almost  every  country  that  had  reached  that  stage  of  civilization  where 
money  was  coined.  According  to  Durrett:  "Li  addition  to  British  and 
United  States  coins  there  was  scarcely  a  civilized  country  on  the  globe 
with  a  mint  whose  coins  did  not  circulate  in  Kentucky.  The  doubloons 
and  piasters  of  Sj^ain,  the  louis  and  ecus  of  I'Vance,  the  duccatoons  and 

"  Robertson,  Petitions  uf  llic  Early  Inlial)ilanls  of  Kentucky.    This  was  .soon  fol- 
lowed by  acts  authorizing  the  cstablisliment  of  other  ferries. 

''Breckinridge  MSS.   [1786],  Jolin  Brown  to  John  Breckinridge,  May  20,  1786. 
"  B.  W.  Dnkc,  History  of  the  Bant:  of  Kciituctty   [Louisville,   1895],  7-9. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  299 

the  rix  dollars  of  Holland,  the  goulds  and  ducats  of  Austria,  the  fred- 
erics  and  florins  of  Prussia,  the  crusadores  and  moidores  of  Portugal, 
the  lires  and  pistoles  of  Italy,  the  sequins  and  tomonds  of  Arabia,  and 
the  maces  and  rupees  of  India  were  circulated  in  Kentucky,  and  their 
value  ascertained  in  case  of  doubt  by  weighing  them  in  balances."  * 

But  with  the  great  variety  of  money  to  be  found,  the  quantity  was 
not  large.  Complaints  were  often  made  that  "Northern  merchants"  soon 
leached  out  of  Kentucky  all  money  of  any  value.*"  Paper  money,  being 
of  so  small  value,  was  actually  worthless  as  a  medium  of  circulation. 
Under  these  conditions  the  natural  result  was  the  use  of  articles  of 
intrinsic  value  for  money.  Skins  of  animals  and  tobacco  came  to  be 
important  mediums  of  exchange — the  latter  was  of  special  importance. 
In  1786  Virginia  agreed  to  receive  taxes  from  Kentucky  in  tobacco  at 
twenty  shillings  the  hundredweight  and  hemp  at  thirty. 

Another  step  in  the  development  of  these  rude  makeshifts  is  seen 
in  the  appearance  of  tobacco  warehouse  receipts  and  land  warrants.  As 
Wilkinson  developed  his  tobacco  business,  he  received  quantities  of 
tobacco  which  had  to  be  stored  in  warehouses  to  await  shipment  down 
the  Mississippi.  He  issued  receipts  for  this  tobacco,  which  passed  in 
many  places  as  currency.*  ^  Another  convenient  form  of  exchange  was 
the  land  warrants  issued  by  Virginia.  As  they  were  secured  by  the 
amount  of  land  called  for,  a  lively  traffic  sprang  up  in  them,  both  for 
use  in  securing  land  as  well  as  for  currency  value.  The  following  adver- 
tisement appeared  in  the  Kcntiickv  Gazette:  "I  have  a  large  Quantity  of 
military  land  Warrants — which  [I]  will  dispose  of  upon  reasonable 
terms  for  cash  or  likely  horses  at  cash  prices."  *- 

There  were,  of  course,  no  banks  in  this  early  period  to  administer  to 
the  financial  wants  of  the  people.  However,  an  early  protoptype  sprang 
up  in  Louisville  in  1780.  A  certain  John  Sanders,  a  trader,  came  float- 
ing down  the  Ohio  and  on  reaching  Louisville  tied  up  his  boat  and  soon 
converted  it  into  a  "bank."  His  method  of  doing  business  was  to  re- 
ceive furs  and  skins,  and  in  return  give  out  paper  receipts.  When  he 
had  disposed  of  his  accumulated  stock  in  New  Orleans  or  some  other 
market  he  would  return  in  the  fall  and  redeem  the  receipts  he  had  given 
out.  In  the  meantime  these  paper  receipts  circulated  among  the  people 
as  money.*  3 

With  all  the  varied  foreign  coins,  continental  and  state  paper  cur- 
rency, tobacco,  hemp  and  fur  receipts  and  circulating  land  warrants, 
Kentucky  was  continuously  hard  pressed  for  a  medium  of  exchange. 
As  a  result  barter  played  a  very  prominent  part  in  the  commercial  trans- 
actions of  the  district  and  state.  In  1788,  John  Bradford,  editor  of  the 
Kentucky  Gazette,  inserted  a  notice  in  his  paper  that  he  would  receive 
in  return  for  subscriptions  to  the  Gazette,  "Beef,  Pork,  Flour,  Wheat, 
Rye,  Barley,  Oats,  Indian  Corn,  Cotton,  Wool,  Hackled  Flax  or  Hemp, 
Linen  or  good  Whiskey."  *■•  Wilkinson,  in  his  tobacco  business,  often 
exchanged  salt  for  tobacco.  A  store  which  had  on  hand  dry  goods  and 
groceries  advertised  in  the  Kentucky  Gazette  that  it  would  exchange 
them  "for  Bear,  Otter,  Beaver,  Raccoon  and  Fox  skins.  Country  made 
Linen  and  Sugar."  *5 

The  people  had  scarcely  moved  out  of  the  forts  and  stockades  before 

^  R.  T.  Durrett,  "Early  Banking  in  Kentucky"  in  Proceedings  of  Kcntuctty  State 
Bar  Association,  1892,  35-45.  quoted  in  Duke,  History  of  the  Bantt  of  Kentucliy,  6. 
See  also  chapter  on  Swift's  Silver  Mines. 

^^  Breclcinridc/e  MSS.  [1786],  John  Brown  to  John  Breckinridge,  May  20,  1786. 

11  Verhoeff,  Kentuclcy  River  Navigation,  65,  66. 

^^Kcntucl;y  Gazette,  April  14,  1792. 

13  E.  C.  Griffith,  "Early  Banking  in  Kentucky"  in  Proceedings  of  llie  Mississippi 
Valley  Historical  Association,  igo8,  1909,  II,  168. 

^*  Kentucky  Gazette,  November  22,  1788. 

'^^  Ibid.,  April  14,  1792. 


300  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

visions  of  great  manufacturing  cities  began  to  arise  before  their  eyes. 
There  was  an  early  distinct  feeling  that  Kentucky's  greatness  lay  along 
the  lines  of  manufactories,  and  it  was  not  abandoned  for  many  years 
to  conic.  This  was  an  early  expression  of  Kentucky's  later  attitude  in 
favor  of  protection.  In  1788  Harry  Inncs  wrote  John  Brown:  "If  ever 
we  are  a  great  and  happy  people,  it  must  arise  from  our  industry  and 
attention  to  manufactories."  *"  One  of  the  reasons  for  Innes'  opposi- 
tion to  the  adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution  was  a  fear  that  the  new 
government  would  hamper  Kentucky's  chances  in  securing  a  market  for 
her  manufactured  articles.  The  right  of  free  navigation  of  the  Missis- 
sippi River  to  its  mouth  was  not  necessary  to  the  agricultural  interests 
alone;  it  was  indispensable  to  the  fruition  of  the  hopes  and  plans  of  these 
early  would-be  cajHains  of  industry.  Innes  declared  in  a  letter  to  Brown 
that  the  clo.sing  of  the  Mississippi  "will  deprive  us  of  the  power  of  erect- 
ing any  considerable  manufactories  because  we  shall  have  no  means  of 
procuring  the  materials  to  erect  and  carry  on  the  different  branches, 
which  can  only  be  procured  from  abroad."'' 

These  thoughts  on  building  up  manufacturing  plants  in  this  virgin 
country  were  not  day  dreams  to  be  dismissed  from  the  mind  when  con- 
templation ceased  to  be  pleasing.  In  the  fall  of  1789  the  "Kentucky 
Manufacturing  Society"  was  organized  in  Danville  for  the  purpose  of 
making  cotton  cloth  and  stockings.  Among  the  members  of  this  com- 
])any  were  Harry  Innes,  Thomas  Barbee,  Christopher  Greenup,  George 
Nicholas  and  Samuel  McDowell.  This  was  a  stock  company  appealing 
to  the  small  investor  as  well  as  to  the  larger.  A  considerable  proportion 
of  the  people  in  Danville  bought  small  amounts  of  stock,  many  of  them 
making  payments  in  installments.  This  rather  ambitious  undertaking 
called  for  a  carding  machine,  spinning  machine  and  British  stocking 
loom.  Experienced  workmen  nmst  be  secured,  among  whom  a  manager, 
carder,  spinner,  and  corduroy  and  stocking  weaver  were  necessary. '>* 

The  only  indisjiensable  part  of  this  undertaking  west  of  the  moun- 
tains was  the  determination  to  carry  it  out;  the  rest  was  in  the  East  or 
in  foreign  countries.  John  Brown,  who  was  the  Kentucky  representative 
in  Congress  now,  was  appealed  to  for  his  service  in  securing  both  ma- 
chinery and  workmen.  In  the  spring  of  1790  Brown,  having  secured 
the  necessary  machinery  in  Philadelphia  and  engaged  a  manager  for 
the  factory,  started  the  outfit  across  Pennsylvania  on  wagons  for  Fort 
Pitt.  Here  they  were  loaded  on  a  boat  for  Maysville.'"  It  now  seemed 
that  within  a  short  time  Kentucky  would  be  adding  cotton  cloth  and 
stockings  to  her  tobacco  and  hemp  trade.  But  human  frailties  were  des- 
tined to  force  a  delay.  The  manager  for  some  reason  was  arrested  be- 
fore he  reached  Kentucky,  and  as  no  one  west  of  the  mountains  knew 
how  to  set  up  the  machinery,  the  workmen  who  had  been  engaged  were 
dismissed  until  the  manager  was  released  or  another  obtained.  In  the 
fall  of  1790  active  preparations  went  forward  which  resulted  in  the 
beginning  of  oj)erations.2*' 

Other  manufactories  were  also  engaging  the  attention  of  the  people. 
The  numerous  salt  s])rings  and  wells  had  invited  the  manufacturing  of 
salt  by  the  first  explorers  and  settlers.  As  the  process  was  simple,  little 
capital  was  needed  for  small  scale  i)roduction.  But  the  indispensable 
necessity  which  was  produced  and  the  fact  that  the  extensive  manufac- 
ture of  salt  was  more  expensive,  early  led  Virginia  to  grant  aid  to  salt- 
workers.     In  1777  a  group  of  settlers  in  Kentucky,  feeling  that  certain 

'"  Innes  MSS.,  28.    Harry  Innes  to  John  Brown,  February  20,  1788. 
"  Ibid.,  28.    Harry  Inncs  to  John  Brown,  December  7,  1787. 

'^  Innes  MSS.,  24.  The  early  records  of  this  society  are  preserved  in  this  col- 
lection. 

^"Jbid.,  19.    John  Brown  to  Harry  Innes,  April  27,  1790. 

-"Kentucky  Gazette,  October  31,  1789,  February  13,  1790;  Innes  MSS.,  24. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  301 

salt  springs  nearby  were  not  being  developed  sufficiently  by  the  claimants, 
petitioned  Virginia  "to  take  it  into  consideration  and  Order  that  the  said 
Springs  should  be  made  public  Property  and  be  Manufactured  by  Gov- 
ernment by  which  Means  Government  would  be  profited  &  your  peti- 
tioners have  speedy  relief.  *  *  *"  21  The  manufacture  of  salt  was 
the  earliest  of  the  pioneer  industries. 

Another  early  industry  was  paper-making.  The  very  first  issues  of 
the  Kentucky  Gazette  carried  the  announcement  that  Jacob  Myers  had 
begun  the  erection  of  a  paper  mill  in  Lincoln  County.  "He  flatters  him- 
self that  in  the  execution  of  an  undertaking  which  promises  such  ad- 
vantages to  the  district,  he  will  meet  with  the  greatest  encouragement 
from  every  good  citizen  who  wishes  to  see  arts  and  manufactories 
flourish."  He  cailed  for  old  linen  and  cotton,  and  begged  the  people  to 
save  their  rags  for  his  agents,  who  would  call  for  them."^  Four  years 
later  another  mill  was  set  up  in  Georgetown,  and  by  1793  it  was  turning 
out  paper  in  sufficient  quantities  as  to  supply  the  Kentucky  Gazette 
with  print  paper.  The  issue  of  March  30,  1793,  announces  that  it  was 
printed  on  paper  of  Kentucky  manufacture,  made  by  Craig  Parkers  & 
Company.23 

Various  manufactories  were  springing  up  on  all  sides.  In  1787  an 
enterprising  Kentuckian  offered  for  sale  spinning-wheels  "of  every  con- 
struction *  *  *  for  cash  or  country  produce,  and  that  on  the  short- 
est notice."  ^^  In  the  same  year  a  tan-yard  was  set  up  in  Bourbon 
County  and  the  promise  was  made  to  tan  all  hides  received  except  buffalo 
skins. ^-^  Five  years  later  a  "Hat  Manufactury"  sprang  up  on  the  road 
from  Lexington  to  Bourbon  County.  It  announced  that  "Ladies  and 
Gentlemen  may  be  supplied  on  short  notice."  It  promised  to  receive 
"Cash,  young  Cows  and  Sheep  *  *  *  jj^  payment  for  HATS."  "''• 
By  1793  a  tobacco  factory  had  been  set  up  in  Lexington  and  was  asking 
for  the  people's  custom.-^  There  were,  of  course,  numerous  grist-mills, 
some  of  which  had  been  set  up  soon  after  Kentucky  had  a  stationary 
population.  One  of  the  contemporary  writers  pictured  this  period  as 
boom  times  in  Kentucky.  After  mentioning  the  tobacco  trade,  he  added 
that  they  had  "also  erected  a  paper  mill,  an  oil  mill,  fulling  mills  and 
a  great  number  of  valuable  grist  mills."  He  then  mentioned  the  salt 
works,  sugar  maple  works,  and  the  printing  office.-* 

With  clue  consideration  for  the  comijlaints  of  hard  times  and  money 
stringencies  which  had  already  begun  to  spring  up  and  which  were  to 
continue  for  many  years  to  come,  still  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  Ken- 
tucky was  buoyant  and  developing  fast.  Laborers  were  few,  and  wages 
were  high.  For  a  decade  or  more  this  shortage  of  laborers  was  destined 
to  be  intensified.  The  main  cause  for  this  condition  was  the  ease  with 
which  a  newcomer  could  obtain  land  and  become  his  own  master.  A 
contemporary  report  declared :  "Laborers,  particularly  tradesmen,  are 
exceedingly  wanted  here."  ^^ 

Commerce  with  outside  regions  got  its  impetus  during  this  period 
It  was  so  bound  up  with  and  hampered  by  the  navigation  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi that  it  could  not  fully  develop  until  the  complete  control  of  the 
river  could  be  secured  by  the  United  States.  As  noted  elsewhere,  Wil- 
kinson was  responsible  for  this  phase  of  Kentucky's  commercial  prog- 

21  Robertson,  Petitions  of  the  Early  Inhabitants  of  Kentucky,  43,  44. 

22  Kentucky  Gazette,  August  15,  1787. 

23  Also  see  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  I,  516. 
^*  Kentucky  Gazette,  September  8,  1787. 

26  Ibid.,  October  13,  1787. 

28  Ibid.,  April  14,  1792. 

2T  Kentucky  Gazette,  September  28,  1793. 

28  Winterbotham,  An  Historical  View,  III,  ISS. 

2»/6,-<i. 


302  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

ress.  There  was,  however,  beginning  to  grow  up  a  trade  of  considerable 
proportions  with  the  Eastern  merchants,  principally  in  Philadelphia.  It 
was  of  unequal  advantages,  as  the  valuable  manufactured  articles  brought 
across  the  moimtains  and  floated  down  the  Ohio  must  be  paid  for  by 
something  with  at  least  a  concentrated  value.  No  Kentucky  product 
could  bear  the  expense  of  an  up-river  voyage  and  cross-country  wagon- 
ing to  the  seaboard ;  the  result  was  that  most  of  their  hard  money  went 
to  these  "Northern  merchants."  This  trade  gave  rise  to  the  first  stores 
in  Kentucky,  saving  the  i)roprictary  establishment  set  up  by  Henderson 
in  1775.  in  keeping  with  the  route  followed  by  this  early  trade,  the 
first  store  sprang  up  in  Louisville.  Very  soon  thereafter  Lexington 
could  boast  of  a  store — set  up  by  the  enterprising  Wilkinson. •'<'  It  re- 
ceived its  goods  by  way  of  the  Ohio  River  to  Limestone  and  thence 
over  the  road  to  Lexington.  But  not  all  Eastern  merchants  used  the 
river;  one  Andrew  Bayard,  a  Philadelphia  merchant,  carried  on  an  ex- 
tensive trade  over  ilie  Wilderness  Trail  and,  unlike  others,  accepted  in 
payment  tobacco,  which  he  sold  in  New  Orleans."' 

Although  ambitious  of  manufactures  and  the  commerce  that  went 
with  them,  Kentucky  developed  first  and  fastest  in  agriculture  and  stock 
raising.  The  fertility  of  the  soil  had  been  the  chief  attraction  for  the 
western  invasion.  As  early  as  1779  the  forts  and  stockades  began  to 
break  up,  and  the  population  commenced  to  spread  out  over  the  inter- 
vening country.^-  This  marked  the  real  begimiing  of  agriculture  as  a 
business.  Imlay  observed:  "As  the  country  gained  strength,  the  sta- 
tions began  to  break  yp  *  *  *  and  their  inhabitants  to  spread  them- 
selves, and  settle  upon  their  respective  estates."  ■'^  The  principal  crops 
were  corn,  hemp,  and  tobacco.  The  supplementary  products,  pork,  beef, 
and  fowls,  also  began  to  assume  importance  as  an  economic  asset. 

Slavery,  heretofore  noted  as  having  produced  the  only  flurry  in  the 
Constitutional  Convention,  had  entered  the  region  almost  as  early  as  its 
first  settlers.  Here  slaves  had  done  their  share  in  subduing  the  wilder- 
ness, with  both  axe  and  gim.^^  Their  task  was  not  now  and  was  never 
to  be  the  hard  drudgery  that  fell  to  the  lot  of  the  slave  further  south. 
The  relation  of  the  slave  to  his  master  and  family  was  close  and  per- 
sonal. As  a  result  of  this  early  life  on  the  frontier,  where  often  slave 
and  master  fought  together  for  each  other's  protection,  and  on  account 
of  the  agricultural  system  that  sprang  up  here,  slavery  on  the  whole 
was  ever  marked  by  consideration  and  humanity.  The  first  constitution 
showed  this  enlightened  attitude.  But  wherever  man  enslaves  man.  there 
must  be  some  discontent  on  the  part  of  the  slave,  as  well  as  opposition 
from  the  innocent  bystander. 

It  was  therefore  not  unnatural  that  slaves  should  run  away  from 
masters.  This  practice  began  in  the  pioneer  period  and  continued  until 
slavery  was  abolished.  In  1788  the  Kentucky  Gazette  carried  a  notice 
that  two  slaves  had  run  away  and  that  their  master  would  give  a  reward 
of  is  for  their  return. ^^  Opposition  to  slavery  was  as  old  as  the  insti- 
tution itself.  Many  people,  unable  to  own  slaves,  objected  to  a  system 
which  tended  to  elevate  a  portion  of  the  population  into  a  higher  social 
caste  than  themselves,  and  consequently  degraded  honest  toil.  Others  for 
I^hilosophical  and  humanitarian  reasons  opposed  it.  This  sentiment, 
crystallizing  around  religious  denominations,  was  soon  to  burst  forth 
with  vigor.  The  Rev.  David  Rice,  of  the  Presbyterian  faith,  had  written 
and  talked  against   slavery  before   Kentucky   became  a   state,  and   had 

">  Ranck,  History  of  Lexington,  106. 

31  hmcs  MSS.,  24. 

^-  George  Rogers  Clark  Papers,  cvii. 

^3  Imlay,  A  Topograf'hical  Description  nf  the  Western  Territory. 

"  Butler,  History  of  Kentucky,  51s,  517. 

^^  Kentucky  Gazette,  July  12,  1788. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  303 

in  the  constitutional  convention  led  the  fight  against  that  institution. 3" 
A  contemporary  poem  on  the  West  decried  the  iniquity : 

"O  come  the  time,  and  haste  the  day, 
When  man  shall  man  no  longer  crush ! 
When  reason  shall  enforce  her  sway. 
Nor  these  fair  regions  raise  our  blush ; 
Where  still  the  African  complains, 
And  mourns  his,  yet  unshaken  chains."^'' 

By  1790  slavery  had  secured  a  strong  foothold  in  the  District.  The 
census  of  this  year  gave  over  12,000.^''* 

Intellectual  progress  was  certainly  as  far  advanced  as  might  reason- 
ably be  expected  from  frontier  community,  beset  in  its  earliest  period 
with  more  dangers  than  fell  to  the  lot  of  any  other  pioneer  state.  As 
stated  elsewhere,  a  numerous  element  of  the  higher  classes  from  Vir- 
ginia and  other  states  migrated  to  Kentucky.  In  this  respect  Kentucky 
showed  a  perceptible  difi^erence  from  later  frontier  communities.  Instead 
of  being  made  up  almost  exclusively  of  the  lower  classes,  honest  but 
unlettered,  instead  of  being  a  lateral  section  of  society  and  herself  the 
under  section,  she  was  more  truly  a  cross  section,  with  a  full  proportion 
of  all  classes  that  made  up  the  typical  American  community.  Cut  loose 
from  all  contact  with  the  Eastern  seaboard,  intellectual  and  otherwise, 
robbed  of  books  and  newspapers,  the  people  did  not  drift  with  the  easiest 
current.  There  was  an  inquisitiveness  and  eagerness  for  news,  attested 
by  many  later  travelers.  There  was  a  mental  alacrity  that  would  not 
rest  without  the  stimulus  of  acquiring  knowledge  for  its  own  sake  and 
debating  questions  for  the  mental  training. 

The  Danville  Political  Club,  heretofore  noted,  gives  an  interesting 
view  of  the  intellectual  attainments  of  the  leaders  of  the  community  in 
Danville  and  the  surrounding  country.  Just  as  this  club  concerned 
itself  with  questions,  generally  of  a  political  nature,  another  society 
arising  about  a  year  later  was  primarily  interested  in  the  general  knowl- 
edge of  its  members.  This  was  the  "Kentucky  Society  for  Promoting 
Useful  Knowledge,"  which  was  in  the  process  of  formation  during  the 
winter  of  1787-1788  in  Lexington.  It  was  in  reality  an  adjunct  of  the 
Political  Club,  an  outlet  for  the  energies  of  the  latter  in  a  different  field. 
More  than  half  of  the  members  of  the  Political  Club  were  members  of 
this  new  society.  During  the  period  of  its  formation  it  consisted  of 
thirty-eight  members,  a  roster  of  the  intellectual  and  political  leadership 
of  the  District.  Among  its  members  were  George  Muter,  Samuel  Mc- 
Dowell, Harry  Innes,  William  McDowell,  Thomas  Todd,  Thomas  Speed, 
Gabriel  Johnson,  John  Brown,  Joseph  Crockett,  Ebenezer  Brooks,  Caleb 
Wallace,  Charles  Scott,  Levi  Todd,  James  Garrard,  Isaac  Shelby, 
Humphrey  Marshall  and  Christopher  Greenup. ^^  As  its  membership 
was  widely  scattered,  and  as  the  difficulties  and  dangers  of  travel  pre- 
vented well-attended  meetings,  it  was  never  able  to  accomplish  fully  the 
purpose  for  which  it  was  founded. 

Education  for  the  masses  of  the  people  did  not  seriously  engage  the 
attention  of  the  leaders  of  the  times,  due  in  most  part  to  the  impossibility 


3^  A.  E.  Martin,  The  Anti-Slavery  Movement  in  Kentucky  Prior  to  1850  [Louis- 
ville, 1918],  12-14. 

3'  Kentucky  Gazette,  July  19,  1788. 

3'a  Many  Kentucky  owners  of  slaves,  particularly  from  Bourbon  County,  moved 
to  Chillicotiie,  Ohio,  and  freed  their  slaves,  rather  than  live  in  a  slave  state. 

^'^  Ibid  ,  December  15,  1787.  .A.  notice  and  instructions  for  the  election  of  officers 
is  given  here.  It  is  reprinted  in  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  193.  .Also  see 
Ranck,  History  of  Lexington,  123-124. 


304  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

of  its  accomplishment ;  but  the  vision  and  the  efTort  were  also  lacking 
now  and  long  after  conditions  of  the  country  could  not  be  pleaded  as  an 
excuse.  The  first  constitution,  replete  with  interesting  principles  of  gov- 
ernment, was  silent  on  education.  The  Northwest  Ordinance  of  1787 
had  made  liberal  allowances  for  education  in  the  future  states  to  arise 
north  of  the  Ohio.  But  this  was  national  aid,  given  in  the  abundance  of 
land ;  Kentucky,  never  having  been  a  part  of  the  national  domain,  could 
not  receive  such  a  bounty.  Instead  she  was  left  by  the  Virginia  land 
laws  with  a  maize  of  conflicting  land  titles,  which  future  generations 
were  long  too  busy  themselves  in  their  efforts  to  untangle. 

I!ut  schools  sprang  up,  administering  to  a  limited  number,  before  the 
])ioneers  had  left  the  forts  and  stockades.  A  school  was  taught  in  Har- 
rodstown  by  Mrs.  William  Coomes  as  early  as  1775  or  1776."'"  Other 
fort  or  stockade  schools  soon  arose.  At  McAfee's  Station  nearby.  John 
May  began  a  school  in  1777,  while  two  years  later  Joseph  Doniphan 
taught  a  class  of  seventeen  in  Boonsborough.  The  Lexington  fort  was 
served  by  John  AlcI'Cinney  in  1780.  Regardless  of  formal  schools  and 
teachers,  there  undoubtedly  was  instruction  of  some  kind  in  many  other 
of  the  more  than  200  forts  and  stations  that  dotted  the  country.  Condi- 
tions under  these  circumstances  were  more  propitious  for  educating  the 
children  than  they  were  for  many  years  after  the  people  moved  out 
from  their  concentrated  centers  broadcast  of  the  country.  These  schools 
were  elementary  in  their  instruction  and  primitive  in  their  equipment. 
The  alphabet  was  learned  from  letters  inscribed  on  wooden  paddles, 
and  the  higher  branches  were  undoubtedly  taught  at  times  from  manu- 
script books.  There  is  also  evidence  that  the  llible  was  early  used  as  a 
text  for  reading  class.'*"  Teachers  were  migratory,  teaching  when  they 
were  not  employed  at  some  other  task. 

The  development  of  higher  education  in  Kentucky  was  to  differ 
greatly  from  the  lack  of  efforts  and  a  policy  for  common  sciiools.  The 
leaders  early  saw  the  advantage  and  necessity  for  a  school  of  high  stand- 
ing in  which  their  successors  might  be  trained.  To  educate  the  few  was 
also  a  much  easier  problem  to  solve.  The  fort  schools  and  their  suc- 
cessors were  private  or  subscription  schools;  the  first  school  of  higher 
education  was  the  direct  outcome  of  Governmental  aid  and  action.  In 
1779  Virginia  passed  a  law  confiscating  the  lands  and  property  of  Tories. 
Through  the  efforts  of  Col.  John  Todd  the  following  year  the  lands 
ihat  should  be  forfeited  by  Tories  in  Kentucky  were  to  be  set  apart  for 
a  "public  school  or  Seminary  of  Learning"  to  be  established  as  soon  as 
possible.^'  The  law  endowing  the  school  with  these  lands  declared 
"that  it  was  to  the  interest  of  the  Commonwealth  always  to  encourage 
and  promote  every  design  which  may  tend  to  the  improvement  of  the 
mind  and  the  diffusion  of  useful  knowledge,  even  among  the  remote 
( itizens,  whose  situation  in  a  barbarous  neighborhood  and  a  savage 
intercourse  might  otherwise  render  them  unfriendly  to  science."  ^^  The 
result  of  confiscation  proceedings  in  Lexington  in  this  year  was  the 
adding  of  8,000  acres  to  the  endowment ;  three  years  later  an  additional 
12,000  acres  of  these  escheated  Tory  lands  were  secured;  and  in  1787 
Virginia  added  one-sixth  of  all  surveyors'  fees  in  Kentucky,  which 
had  heretofore  gone  to  William  and  Mary  College. '■'  The  first  meeting 
of  the  board  of  trustees  of  this  new  school,  called  Transylvania  Sem- 


30  A.  F.  Lewis,  History  of  Higher  Education  in  Kentucky  [Washington,  1890], 
II,  12;  W.  Chenault,  "Education  in  Kentucky"  in  Smith,  History  of  Kentucky,  688- 
601. 

«"  Chenault,  "Education  in  Kentucky"  in  Smith,  History  of  Kentucky,  690,  691. 

■■>  Siebcrt,    "Tory    Proprietors    of    Kentucky    Lands,''     16,    25. 

*^  Chenault,  "Education  in  Kentucky"  in  Smith,  History  of  Kentucky,  692. 

*^  A  more  extended  .iccount  of  this  remarkable  institution  will  be  found  in  a  spe- 
cial article  in  this  work. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  305 

inary,  was  held  at  Crowe's  Station,  near  Danville,  in  1783,  resulting  in 
the  setting  up  of  a  grammar  school  there  the  following  year.'*  As  the 
District  was  beset  with  Indian  wars  about  this  time,  conditions  were  not 
favorable  for  the  progress  of  such  an  undertaking.  Calls  on  the  people 
for  subscriptions  to  enable  the  school  to  open  brought  no  aid,  but  Rev. 
John  Todd,  of  Louisa  County,  Virginia,  heard  the  plea  and  sent  the 
beginnings  of  a  library  and  other  useful  equipment  to  the  school.  As 
all  efforts  to  raise  money  locally  for  the  school  met  with  failure,  the 
trustees  in  1789  moved  it  to  Lexington,  where  it  later  developed  into 
the  pre-eminent  educational  institution  of  the  West. 

Efforts  of  the  Transylvania  trustees,  aided  by  Virginia,  to  establish 
a  secondary  school  were  soon  followed  by  private  individuals  in  setting 
up  academies,  or  seminaries,  as  they  were  commonly  called.  John  Filson, 
a  Pennsylvanian,  came  to  Kentucky  in  1783  and  soon  thereafter  opened 
a  school  in  Lexington  which  approached  academy  proportions  in  its 
instruction.  During  this  period  he  was  also  busied  in  the  writing  of  his 
history  of  Kentucky.  In  the  early  part  of  1788,  he  announced  that  he 
would  open  an  academy  in  the  following  April  in  Lexington  in  which 
"the  French  language  will  be  taught,  with  all  the  arts  and  sciences  used 
in  academies."  '•''  In  his  announcement  he  entered  into  a  discussion  of 
the  advisability  of  estaljlishing  his  school  in  the  town  as  opposed  to  the 
country.    He  decided  that  the  proper  place  was  in  tovifu  as : 

"Experience  proves  that  a  being  determined  on  folly,  will  find  as 
many  opportunities  in  the  country,  as  in  town,  with  the  addition  of  a 
greater  secrecy  in  accomplishing  his  designs ;  many  mean  and  vicious 
practices  can  be  effected,  which  in  a  public  situation  the  unavoidable  idea 
of  detention  would  effectually  prevent ;  this  obvious  from  a  view  of  a 
country  student  walking  out  of  school,  he  carelessly  hulks  his  body  along 
in  clownish  gestures,  pays  no  respect  to  a  genteel  movement,  from  a 
consciousness  that  no  eye  beholds  him,  fears  not  the  contempt  or  ridicule 
which  must  be  consequent  upon  such  a  conduct  in  a  respectable  town,  or 
if  in  a  public  situation  indecorum  should  pass  unnoticed  by  all,  but  the 
teachers,  then  is  the  most  pertinent  season  for  admonitions,  when  the 
culprit  must  be  sensible  upon  the  smallest  observation  of  the  ruinous 
consequences  to  all  character  and  future  reputation,  which  he  must 
unavoidably  sustain.  I  conceive  the  voice  of  thunder  could  not  make 
more  serious  impressions.  Experience  beyond  doubt  will  confirm  these 
observations."  *^ 

This  argument  brought  the  unexpected  satirical  rejoinder  of  "Ag- 
ricola,"  who  took  exception  to  Filson's  use  of  English  as  much  as  to 
his  argument.  He  was  especially  anxious  to  know  the  history  and 
meaning  of  the  word  "hulk."  He  ventured  to  inquire  if  "young  ladies, 
educated  in  the  country"  were  "guilty  of  the  sin — of  hulking."  Con- 
tinuing his  satirical  shafts  he  said  the  question  arose  from  the  fair  sex 
themselves,  who  had  taken  the  alarm.  They  fully  believe  that  the  crime 
of  hulking,  which  you  have  so  indiscriminately  charged  upon  their 
brothers,  is  a  rude  stroke  of  satire,  indirectly  aimed  at  them.  Take  heed 
good  Sir;  'tis  death  to  provoke  the  Fair."  A  beginning  of  sectional 
feeling  against  the  North  is  evidenced  in  this  extract  from  "Agricola's" 
letter:  "What  peculiar  charms  have  northern  teachers  to  inspire  virtue, 
suppress  vice,  and  explode  all  party  spirit,  that  southern  teachers  do 
not  possess?"  He  took  this  final  fling  at  the  "Yankee  teacher":  "Lastly, 
for  the  benefit  of  such  as  cannot  give  their  children  a  public  education, 

**  Library  of  Southern  Literature,  XVm,  146;  Lewis,  History  of  Higher  Educa- 
tion in  Kentucky,  13,  14. 

*^  Kentucky  Gazette,  January  19,  1788.  This  announcement  together  with  the 
correspondence  of  "Agricola"  are  copied  in  R.  T.  Durrett,  John  Filson  [Louisville, 
1884],  119-121. 

■■«  Durrett,  John  Filson,  120.  121. 

Vol.  1—24 


306  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

be  pleased  to  point  out  that  peculiar  moment,  that  particular  nick  of 
time  when  admonition,  like  a  tliunderbolt,  shall  knock  a  hulking  boy  out 
of  his  'awkward  gestures'  into  a  'genteel  movemenl'."  Filson  answered 
"Agricola"  by  declaring  that  the  latter  had  proposed  "a  few  silly  and 
impertinent  questions,  which  I  shall  take  no  notice  of.  Your  officious 
performance  Kcllects  no  re])utation,  indicating  a  Spirit  of  altercation, 
which  in  every  attitude  1  view  with  contempt.  As  you  have  been  so 
]jersonaI  with  me,  you  will  please  to  leave  your  name  with  the  printer 
and  oblige  john  filson."  ^'' 

In  this  same  year  [178S]  there  were  at  least  tour  other  private 
academies  being  taught.  Joshua  Fry  was  teaching  a  school  in  Mercer  and 
-Samuel  Finley,  in  ^ladison.  A  school  which  James  Priestly  had  been 
teaching  for  two  years  in  Dardstown  was  incorporated  during  this  year 
by  the  \'irginia  Legislature  as  Salem  Academy."*  .Another  school  was 
established  at  Lebanon  [Georgetown]  under  the  i)atronage  of  Elijah 
Craig,  which  promised  to  "teach  the  Latin  and  Creek  languages  together 
with  such  branches  of  the  sciences  as  are  usually  taught  in  public  semina- 
ries." The  following  terms  and  advice  were  given:  "For  diet,  washing 
and  houseroom,  for  a  year,  each  scholar  pays  three  jjounds  in  cash,  or 
five  hundred  weight  of  pork  on  entrance,  and  three  pounds  cash  on  the 
beginning  of  the  third  quarter.  It  is  desired  that  as  many  as  can  would 
furnish  themselves  with  beds ;  such  as  cannot  may  be  provided  for  here 
to  the  miniber  of  eight  or  ten  boys,  at  thirty-five  shillings  a  year  for  each 
bed.  *  *  *  It  would  be  projjer  for  each  boy  to  have  his  sheets, 
shirts,  stockings,  &c.  marked,  to  prevent  mistakes.''^'-' 

W'itliin  a  short  lime  the  academy  moveiuent  had  spiread  throughout 
the  state.  .As  will  appear  later,  they  were  included  in  an  ambitious 
scheme  of  education  by  the  state  and  given  important  land  endowments. 

The  only  newspaj)er  in  the  state  was  the  Kentucky  Gazette,  provided 
for  by  the  second  convention  called  to  vote  on  separation,  and  established 
in  Lexington  by  John  Bradford  in  1787.  The  first  issue  was  on  the 
eleventh  of  August.-''"  The  important  part  it  played  in  the  development 
of  thought  on  separation  had  already  become  evident.  This  ])aper  was 
the  foreriuiner  of  a  fruitful  period  of  journalism,  which  developed 
within  the  ne.xt  two  decades. 


"Ibid.,  121. 

■•*  Lewis,  History  of  Higher  Education  in  Kentucky,  12,  13. 

^"Kentucky  Gacctte.  January  14,  1788.  This  announcement  is  copied  in  Collins, 
History  of  Kentucky,  II,  194. 

'""  Bradford  made  this  editorial  apology  in  the  first  issue:  "My  customers  will  ex- 
cuse this  my  first  publication,  as  I  am  nuich  hurried  to  get  an  impression  by  the 
time  appointed.  A  great  part  of  the  types  fell  into  pi  in  the  carriage  of  them  from 
Limestone  to  this  ortice,  and  my  partner,  which  is  the  only  assistant  I  have,  through 
an  indisposition  of  the  body,  has  been  incapacitated  of  rendering  the  smallest  assist- 
ance for  ten  days  past."     W.  H.  Perrin,  Press  of  Kentucky  [Louisville,  1888],  10. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

PUTTING  THE  GOVERNMENT  INTO  OPERATION:  EXECU- 
TIVE, LEGISLATIVE  AND  JUDICIAL  CONTROVERSIES 

The  new  government  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Kentucky  was  for- 
mally inaugurated  on  June  4,  1792,  in  Lexington.  In  the  preceding  May, 
Isaac  Shelby  had  been  instinctively  turned  to  as  the  first  governor.  He 
received  formal  letters  of  congratulation  and  good  wishes  from  Danville 
and  Lexington,  and  the  population  as  a  whole  felt  proud  in  honoring 
honest  Isaac  Shelby  by  making  him  their  first  governor. *  The  general 
feeling  was  much  akin  to  that  shown  on  the  election  and  inauguration 
of  Washington.  Like  him,  Shelby  proceeded  on  horseback  from  his 
home  to  the  temporary  capital,  greeted  by  the  people  along  the  way. 
He  stopped  in  Danville  and  was  there  given  a  cordial  welcome.^  He 
then  proceeded  on  to  the  Lexington,  where  he  was  received  with  well- 
planned  and  well-executed  formalities.  Rifle-fire,  enlivened  now  and  then 
by  an  old  six-pounder,  announced  his  arrival.  John  Bradford  in  a 
short  speech  fonnally  welcomed  him  to  the  town,  after  which  Shelby 
headed  the  procession  to  the  Sheaf  of  Wheat  Inn,  which  became  the 
governor's  mansion  for  the  time.  The  Legislature  organized  for  its 
first  session  in  the  log  capitol,  set  aside  for  its  use,  with  Alexander  Scott 
Bullitt  as  speaker  of  the  Senate  and  Robert  Breckinridge,  speaker  of 
the  House.  Governor  Shelby  appeared  at  the  appointed  hour  and  read 
in  person  his  message.  Each  senator  and  representative  was  presented 
with  a  copy.  Later  a  reply  was  made  by  each  House.  The  formal  cere- 
monies were  concluded  by  the  firing  of  fifteen  rounds  by  the  Lexington 
Infantry  stationed  on  the  outside.^ 

Amidst  these  simple  and  unostentatious  surroundings  a  pioneer  com- 
monwealth was  being  inaugurated  with  ceremonies  that  smacked  of 
royalty.  Like  a  king  of  England  presenting  his  message  to  Parliament, 
Shelby  addressed  his  Legislature;  and  just  as  the  English  Parliament 
voted  its  reply  to  the  king,  so  these  frontier  lawmakers  answered  with 
addresses  to  Governor  Shelby.  True  enough,  the  example  of  George 
Washington  was  before  him.  This  practice  of  the  governor  presenting 
his  message  in  person  was  not  dropped  until  Governor  Scott's  time. 

One  of  the  arguments  that  had  been  advanced  with  telling  effect 
against  statehood  was  that  increased  taxes  would  have  to  be  imposed  in 
order  to  meet  the  salaries  of  the  numerous  state  officers.  Out  of  respect 
for  this  desire  for  economy,  the  remuneration  for  public  service  was 
made  entirely  inadequate.  This  was  especially  true  in  the  most  im- 
portant instance,  the  judiciary.  The  salary  of  the  governor  was  fixed 
at  $1000  per  annum;  the  members  of  the  executive  departments  received 
$333  1/3 ;  and  the  members  of  the  highest  court  received  $666  2/3.  The 
Legislature  with  commendable  self-control  fixed  the  pay  for  its  members 
at  one  dollar  per  day  while  in  session.     A  chaplain  while  in  good  taste 


^  These  letters  are  preserved  in  the  Durrctt  MSS.  Collection. 

2  Kentucky  Gazette,  June  9,  1792. 

^  G.  W.  Ranck,  "How  Kentucky  Became  a  State''  in  Harper's  Magazine,  Vol.  f>S 
[June,  1892],  46-49;  Kentucky  Gasette,  June  23,  1792;  Ranck,  History  of  Lexington 
172-174. 

307 


308 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 


was  still  nut  necessary  for  the  governing  of  the  commonwealth.  He 
either  served  for  nothing,  or  received  a  collection  from  the  members. 
In  1798  the  House  of  Representatives  provided  a  salary  for  the  chaplain, 
1)V  each  iiRiiiher  agreeing  to  deduct  one  dollar  from  his  own  pay.^  The 
first  revenue  bill  included  ta.xes  on  land,  cattle,  carriages,  and  billiard 
tables. 

Among  the  most  important  work  to  be  performed  by  the  First  Legisla- 
ture was  the  establishing  of  the  judiciary  svslem  and  the  selection  of  a 
permanent  capital.  The  method  of  performing  the  latter  task  was  some- 
what peculiar.     Tiie  constitution  |iro\ided  that  the  House  of  Representa- 


Old  Okic;in.\l  Coukx  Huusic  .vi  Lk.mmjton 


tives  should  by  ballot  choose  twenty-one  persons,  out  ot  which  number 
was  to  be  finally  selected  five  commissioners  who  should  li.\  upon  the 
site  for  the  capitol.  The  process  of  elimin.ition  was  to  be  carried  out 
by  the  delegations  from  I'ayetle  and  Mercer  counties,  each  striking  out 
alternately  one  name  until  there  should  be  left  only  five.  This  method 
was  a  coin|iroiuise  fornnilated  by  (leorge  Nicholas,  to  give  the  two  coun- 
ties com])eting  for  the  capitol  an  e([ual  show.  According  to  the  resolution 
introduced  into  the  constitutional  convention  by  .Xicholas,  the  five  com- 
missioners "shall  have  pt>wer  to  fix  on  the  place  for  the  seat  of  Gov- 
ernment and  to  receive  grants  from  individuals  therefor  &  to  make  such 
conditions  with  the  proprietors  of  the  lands  so  iiitched  on  by  them,  as 
to  them  shall  seem  right  &  shall  be  agreed  to  by  the  said  proprietors,  and 

*  Mirror  [Published  at  Washington,  Kentucky],  January  13,  I7(;8. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  309 

lay  off  a  town  thereon   in   such   manner  as  they  should   judge   most 
proper."  ^ 

The  action  contemplated  did  not  limit  the  commissioners  to  a  choice 
of  a  town,  but  made  it  possible  for  them  to  create  a  capitol  on  any  loca- 
tion that  might  seem  desirable.  It  was  also  contemplated  in  the  pro- 
visions that  whoever  was  honored  with  the  capital  should  pay  for  it. 
Seven  towns  made  application  and  presented  their  inducements."  Dan- 
ville, which  had  been  the  political  center  of  the  state  up  to  this  time,  did 
not  enter  a  bid.  The  list  of  applicants  was  composed  of  Legerwood's 
Bend,  Delany's  Ferry,  Petersburg,  Louisville,  Lexington,  Frankfort, 
and  Leestown.  After  canvassing  the  offers  of  each  of  these  places, 
the  commissioners  reported  to  the  Legislature  on  December  5  that 
"Frankfort  was  the  most  proper  place  for  the  seat  of  government." 
Three  days  later  the  Legislature  approved  this  recommendation  and  the 
22nd  of  the  month  adjourned  "to  hold  its  next  sessions  in  the  house  of 
Andrew  Holmes  at  Frankfort,  on  the  Kentucky  river."  '' 

Having  an  empty  treasury  to  start  with,  the  state  was  naturally  to  a 
large  extent  influenced  by  the  persons  making  the  best  offer  in  lands, 
money,  and  materials.  The  actual  accessibility  and  situation  seem  to 
have  played  a  minor  part  in  the  consideration  of  the  commissioners.  The 
efforts  put  forth  by  these  early  inhabitants  of  Frankfort  and  the  material 
offer  they  made  shows  a  public  spirit  and  civic  pride  that  was  not  only 
surprising  but  in  fact  amazing.  For  a  temporary  state  house,  they  gave  I 
rent  free  for  seven  years  a  dwelling  house  built  by  James  Wilkinson ;  I 
and  for  a  permanent  capitol  building  they  deeded  in  fee  simple  eight 
public  lots.  They  also  gave  thirty  lots  for  additional  grounds,  and  if 
more  were  found  necessary,  they  agreed  to  donate  twenty-five  half-acre 
lots  yet  to  be  laid  off.  These  were  ample  provisions  for  all  building 
activities  and  grounds  to  go  with  them.  But  actual  aid  in  money  or  its 
equivalent  was  also  e.xacted  by  the  commissioners.  The  town  gave  the 
rents  arising  from  tobacco  and  fiour  warehouses  for  seven  years.  For 
the  erection  of  the  capitol,  citizens  of  the  town  gave  ten  boxes  of  window 
glass,  1,500  pounds  of  nails,  $166  2/3  worth  of  locks  and  hinges,  and 
the  necessary  amount  of  stone  and  lumber.  A  private  sawmill  was 
donated  to  cut  the  lumber  and  two  horses  and  a  wagon  were  furnished 
to  haul  the  stone  and  lumber  to  the  capitol  grounds.  Eight  citizens  gave 
their  bond  to  pay  the  state  $3000  in  gold  or  silver.  Frankfort  had  made 
a  practical  offer  and  much  beyond  what  should  have  been  expected  of 
so  small  a  town.  Five  years  later  the  total  population  was  only  441, 
including  U2  slaves.  Judging  it  by  the  standards  of  rapid  growth  that 
prevailed  in  Kentucky  at  that  time,  it  must  not  have  had  half  that  num- 
ber when  the  capitol  was  secured.  A  few  men  with  a  strong  faith 
in  the  future  of  their  town  were  responsible.* 

But  this  heroic  effort  of  Frankfort  was  not  to  secure  her  the  un- 
disputed possession  of  the  state  capital  for  all  time  to  come ;  for  more 
than  a  century  she  was  forced  to  defend  her  conquest,  resorting  to  one 
strategy  and  another  to  keep  the  disappointed  cities  of  Lexington  and 
Louisville  from  securing  it.     When  the-  capitol  burned  in  1813,  the  citi- 

^MS.  Minutes  of  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  1792,  p.  19,  in  Durrett  MS. 
Collection.  The  language  but  not  the  import  of  this  resolution  varies  slightly  from 
the  finished  form  in  the  Constitution.  The  commissioners  were  appointed  June  18, 
1792.  They  were  John  Allen  and  John  Edwards,  of  Bourbon  County,  Robert  Todd, 
of  Fayette,  Henry  Lee,  of  Mason,  and  Thomas  Kennedy,  of  Madison. 

8  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  181,  182. 

'  Ibid.,  182.  Todd  voted  for  Frankfort  because  he  owned  1,000  acres  adjoining 
Lexington,  and  feared  he  would  be  accused  of  self-interest  if  he  voted  for  Lexington. 

8  J.  M.  Brown,  An  Address  Delivered  on  the  Occasion  of  the  Centennial  Com- 
memoration of  the  Town  of  Frankfort,  Kentucky,  6th  of  October,  1886,  Pamphlet, 
38CP.    Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  181,  182. 


310  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

zens  of  Frankfort  and  the  surrounding  county  came  to  the  rescue  with 
almost  $20,000  to  help  replace  it."  In  1824  the  capitol  burned  again, 
and  again  I-rankfort  was  forced  to  fight  to  prevent  the  removal  to  some 
other  city.  These  unfortunate  fires  destroyed  many  of  the  invaluable 
state  records,  the  loss  of  which  is  still  keenly  felt  by  those  who  would 
know  more  of  the  state's  early  legislative  history. 

The  disappointment  of  Lexington  in  losing  the  capital  was  keen. 
A  few  years  later  when  a  straggling  Indian  or  two  seemed  to  ajiproach 
the  capital,  Lexington  spread  the  rejjort  that  the  Legislature  had  been 
broken  up  by  an  Indian  raid,  which  .showed  conclusively  that  Frankfort 
was  no  ])lace  for  the  seat  of  government.  A  few  weeks  after  the  Legis- 
lature adjourned  to  meet  next  in  Frankfort,  the  following  squib  appeared 
in  the  Kentucky  Gazette:  "Be  it  known,  that  all  persons,  who  have  busi- 
ness to  transact  with  the  Government  of  Kentucky,  may  by  enquiry 
find  the  Executive  in  the  neighborhood  of  Knob  Lick,  the  Secretary 
sometimes  in  Lexington,  the  Auditor  in  fiercer  County;  the  Treasurer  in 
Lincoln  Coimty ;  the  Register  sometimes  in  Lexington;  the  Superior 
Courts  at  the  sj)ot  the  jjublic  convenience  stubbornly  requires  them 
[Lexington] — the  Federal  Court  for  this  district  at  Harrodsburg;  the 
Postoffice  at  Danville — the  Legislative  body  the  Lord  knows  where, 
perhaps  in  the  pleasant  valley  of  Frankfort.     *     *     *"  '" 

The  other  important  work  of  the  First  Legislature  was  to  establish  and 
put  into  operation  the  state  judiciary.  The  highest  court  was  called  the 
Court  of  Appeals  and  was  presided  over  by  three  justices.  The  inferior 
courts  consisted  of  county  courts,  courts  of  quarter  session,  and  a  court 
of  oyer  and  terminer.  The  Court  of  Appeals  was  organized  on  June  28, 
1792,  with  Harry  Innes,  as  chief  justice,  and  Iknjamin  Sebastian  and 
Caleb  Wallace,  as  associates.  This  was  in  effect  the  continuation  of 
the  personnel  of  the  old  District  of  Kentucky  court,  with  the  exception 
of  George  Muter,  who  was  given  a  less  lucrative  position  in  the  court 
of  Oyer  and  Terminer  at  $100  a  year.  Harry  Innes  succeeded  to  the 
chief  justiceship  from  the  attorney-generalship  of  the  old  District  court. 
It  wa.^  commonly  believed  that  Muter  failed  of  appointment  to  the 
highest  court  because  of  his  position  of  conservatism  in  the  separation 
fight,  and  also  because  of  his  Federalism,  which  he  naturally  fell  into. 
But  before  the  end  of  the  year  [1792],  Innes  was  appointed  to  the  Fed- 
eral District  Court  of  Kentucky  and  acce])ted.  The  vacancy  left  by 
him  was  then  filled  by  the  appointment  of  Muter." 

Before  the  end  of  the  century  every  one  of  the  three  departments  of 
government  passed  through  more  or  less  serious  crises.  The  judiciary 
was  the  one  most  gravely  aiTected.  The  light  that  here  began  on  the 
courts  was  destined  to  continue,  regardless  of  the  settlement  of  minor 
incidents,  until  the  very  foundations  of  the  state  were  tlireatcncd.  The 
occasion  for  the  first  rufille  involved  the  Court  of  Appeals.  In  the  case  of 
Kenton  v.  McConnell,""  concerning  a  land  suit,  the  court  by  a  two  to 
one  vote  handed  down  an  unfortimate  decision  which  overturned  a  ruling 
of  the  Virginia  Land  commissioners.     .\s  thousands  of  land-claims  were 


"The  chief  men  in  Frankfort  at  this  time,  who  were  responsible  for  securing 
the  capital  were  Andrew  Hohiies,  Harry  Innes,  Nathaniel  Sanders,  Bennct  Peniber- 
ton,  Benjamin  Craig,  Jeremiah  Craig,  William  Haydon,  Daniel  James,  and  Giles 
Samuel.  Citizens  of  Frankfort  and  Franklin  County  were  not  alone  in  the  subscrip- 
tions. The  following  contributions  were  also  received :  Henry  County  citizens,  $13 ; 
Louisville,  $50;  Lexington,  $350;  Shelby  County,  $330;  Woodford  County,  $550;  and 
$100  from  a  citizen  of  Virginia.  Collins,  History  of  Kentiicliy,  H,  246.  Both  the 
first  and  second  constitutions  provided  that  the  capital  could  be  removed  by  a  two- 
thirds  vote  of  both  houses  of  the  Legislature. 

^"Kentucky  Gazette,  January  12,  1793. 

■■W.  H.  Whitsitt,  Life  and  Tivtcs  of  Judge  Caleb  Wallace  [Louisville,  1888J, 
136,  137- 

i'»  See  Kenton  vs.  McConnell,  Hughes'  Reports,  p.  103,  printed  by  John  Bradford. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  311 

based  on  the  work  of  these  commissioners,  visions  arose  in  many  house- 
holds of  the  loss  of  all  their  property.  The  flood  of  land  suits  that  was 
sure  to  follow,  if  not  checked  some  way,  would  have  almost  engulfed 
the  land  system  of  the  state.  A  furor  of  protest  and  excitement  fol- 
lowed, which  when  the  next  session  of  the  Legislature  met  found  im- 
mediate expression.  It  was  argued  by  some  that  the  decision  was  made 
for  the  unholy  purpose  of  providing  business  for  the  lawyers.  Judge 
Wallace,  who  was  the  minority  justice,  wrote  a  dissenting  opinion  which 
carried  much  weight.  When  the  Legislature  met  in  1795,  the  movement 
was  started  at  once  to  impeach  and  remove  the  obnoxious  justices  by 
address.  The  Senate  passed  a  resolution  for  this  purpose,  but  not  by  the 
two-thirds  majority  required  by  the  constitution.  Regardless  of  this 
failure,  it  sent  the  resolution  to  the  House  for  action.  The  lower  branch 
which  representing  more  closely  the  popular  clamor,  summoned  Muter 
and  Sebastian  to  appear  before  that  body.  They  refused  on  the  grounds 
that  the  legislative  power  had  no  authority  to  review  or  in  any  way  inter- 
fere with  the  decisions  of  the  judiciary.  The  House  than  took  refuge 
behind  a  resolution  declaring  that  Muter  and  Sebastian  were  "altogether 
destitute  of  that  judgment,  integrity,  and  firmness,  which  are  essential 
in  every  judge;  but  more  especially  in  judges  of  the  Supreme  court;  and 
that  there  is  no  security  for  property  so  long  as  the  said  Judge  Muter 
and  Benjamin  Sebastian  continue  as  judges  of  the  court  of  Appeals." 
The  attempt  to  address  the  judges  out  of  office  failed.  However,  it  had 
a  very  sobering  as  well  as  menacing  effect  on  the  court.  In  May  of  the 
following  year  Justice  Muter  reversed  his  opinion  in  the  court's  review 
of  the  original  case.  This  quieted  the  trouble.'^  Qne  of  the  direct 
results  of  the  whole  afifair  was  to  develop  and  confirm  the  suspicions  and 
fears  that  many  had  already  begun  to  harbor  toward  the  courts.  It 
also  showed  the  people  the  power  that  excitement  and  popular  clamor 
could  wield,  a  weapon  to  be  made  use  of  in  a  much  more  serious  dis- 
turbance which  was  to  convulse  the  land  thirty  years  later. 

The  situation  was  solved  before  it  had  time  to  develop  to  the  point 
of  a  legislative  assault  on  the  very  foundations  of  the  court.  No  attempt 
was  made  to  abolish  the  court  in  order  to  get  rid  of  the  judges,  who 
could  not  be  addressed  out  of  office;  but  the  original  jurisdiction,  that  had 
been  conferred  on  the  Court  of  Appeals  in  land  suits  was  taken  away. 
It  could  at  least  prevent  a  disliked  court  from  further  tampering  in  its 
ill-judged  decisions  with  so  fundamental  a  part  of  the  economic  fabric 
as  land  tenure.  A  general  reorganization  of  the  judiciary  was  undertaken 
at  the  same  time  [1795].  The  Court  of  Oyer  and  Terminer  had  been 
an  object  of  attack  from  the  first.  Although  its  personnel  to  begin  with 
was  of  a  high  talent  (George  Muter,  Samuel  McDowell,  and  Christopher 
Greenup  were  the  first  judges)  ;  they  soon  resigned,  and  the  salary  of 
$100  a  year  failed  to  attract  men  learned  in  the  law,  who  could  in  a 
private  practice  amass  many  times  that  amount.  Six  district  courts  were 
created  to  assume  most  of  the  powers  of  the  court  abolished,  and  to  have 
jurisdiction  in  suits  involving  land.  In  fact,  the  business  of  the  district 
courts  came  in  time  (before  they,  too,  fell  at  the  hands  of  the  Legisla- 
ture) to  be  made  up  almost  altogether  of  land  cases.  Changes  of  less  im- 
portance were  made  in  the  other  courts.'*  Not  only  were  the  judges  of 
the  Court  of  Oyer  and  Terminer  repealed  out  of  their  positions,  but  the 
same  fate  befell  the  judges  of  the  county  courts  in  their  reorganization. 
This  set  up  a  dangerous  precedent,  which  faulty  logic  years  later  de- 
manded should  be  applied  to  the  Court  of  Appeals,  the  only  court  that 

^^  Kentucky  Gazette,  February  12,  1795 ;  Whitsitt,  Life  of  Wallace,  136,  137, 
Butler,  History  of  Kentucky,  252-254. 

1^  Ibid.,  239.  The  District  Courts  met  at  Washington,  Paris,  Franklin,  Lexing- 
ton, Danville,  and  Bardstown. 


312 


IIISTURY  OF  KENTUCKY 


llie  constitution  makers  had   made   impregnable  as   far  as  constitutions 
can  go. 

The  criminal  laws  of  the  state  also  met  with  early  and  widespread 
disapproval.  As  the  constitution  continued  until  repealed  all  general 
laws  in  force  in  the  District  of  Kentucky  when  it  became  a  state,  the 
Virginia  criminal  code,  which  contained  much  of  the  severity  of  the 
Hritish  laws,  remained.  All  the  states  had  inherited  the  English  system; 
but  many  modifications  had  been  made  to  suit  local  needs.  But  every- 
where prison  conditions  and  criminal  laws  were  very  severe.  Virginia 
had  made  less  progress  of  amelioration  than  most  of  the  other  states. 
As  a  result  when  Kentucky  became  a  state  she  inherited  a  code  which 


Old  Courthouse,  Constructeu  in  1794  .'\t  Washington,  Mason 

County 


imposed  the  death  penally  (or  twenty-seven  crimes.  New  York  at  this 
time  had  sixteen  capital  crimes,  while  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  and 
Rhode  Island  had  ten  cach.'^  It  was  from  the  imjjossibility  of  imme- 
diately revising  the  criminal  code  and  not  from  a  desire  to  adopt  eastern 
severities,  that  Kentucky  continued  the  Virginia  code.  The  newer  and 
more  practical  democracy  of  the  frontier,  desijife  the  hard  life  incident 
thereto,  was  opposed  to  these  mediaeval  survivals.  The  Danville  i'olitical 
Club  debated  in  17S7  the  question,  "Ought  capital  punishment  to  he  in- 
flicted for  any  other  crime  than  that  of  murder  and  treason?''  and  decided 
that  no  other  crime  ought  to  be  so  punished.''' 

'*  Report  of  the  American  Historical  Association,  1905,  I,  67.  According  to  the 
Proceedings  of  the  American  Historical  Association,  Vm,  364,  365,  the  niimber  of 
capital  crimes  was  160.     This  is  undoubtedly  a  mistake. 

'^  Speed,  Political  Club,  125,  126. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  313 

The  principle  of  widespread  capital  punishment  was  distasteful,  but 
the  practice  soon  came  to  be  intolerable.  For  crimes  whose  effect  little 
endangered  the  state  of  the  well-being  of  society  death  was  meted  out. 
Instead  of  preventing  crime  this  severity  actually  increased  it.  The  move- 
ment to  bring  about  a  change  started  with  the  very  beginning  of  the 
commonwealth.  "Aristides"  writing  in  the  Kentucky  Gazette  lamented 
the  increase  of  crime  due,  he  believed,  to  this  very  cause.  He  advocated 
the  adoption  of  the  reforms  that  had  been  put  into  practice  in  Pennsyl- 
vania.^'^ 

John  Breckinridge,  who  was  one  of  the  most  talented  lawyers  in  the 
state  and  who  more  than  any  other  was  a  leader  of  western  democracy 
and  all  it  stood  for,  was  soon  urged  to  conduct  the  fight  for  more  humane 
laws.  William  McDowell  appealed  to  him  to  use  his  influence  to  obtain 
a  pardon  for  a  client  who  was  sentenced  to  death  for  a  trivial  offense. 
McDowell  added  that  "my  reading  and  experience  has  ever  taught  me  to 


Cabin   of  John    Clark   Built   on   Beargrass    Creek,   and   Called 

Mulberry  Hill  within  George  Rogers  Clark  Park, 

Louisville,  in  1921 

thinl<  that  laws  so  sanguinary  as  those,  we  have  borrowed  from  Great 
Britain,  ought  not  to  be  continued  in  force  among  us."  i'^  Petitions  were 
also  got  up  praying  for  relief.  In  the  following  draft  of  a  petition  is 
an  indictment  against  the  system : 

"That  they  feel  the  most  painful  sensation  when  they  reflect  on  the 
present  sanguinary  code  of  Criminal  Laws  which  prevail  in  our  State. 
They  conceive  it  both  unjust  and  impolitic.  It  is  unjust  because  the 
power  assumed  by  Government  to  deprive  a  citizen  of  cases,  where  the 
immediate  safety  of  the  Community  is  not  involved,  is  arbitrary  and 
must  have  originated  from  the  source  of  Despotism.  It  is  unjust  be- 
cause the  punishment  in  most  cases  infinitely  exceeds  the  quality  of  the 
crime.  It  is  impolitic  because  the  humanity  of  enlightened  freemen  re- 
volts at  the  injustice  and  wanton  affusion  of  human  blood  which  mark 
the  existing  Criminal  Laws.     Your  petitioners  conceive  that  the  induce- 

^*  Kentucky  Gazette,  November  8,  1794. 

^T  Breckinridge  MSS.  [1794].  William  McDowell  to  John  Breckinridge  May 
20,  1794- 


314  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

ments  to  rigorous  and  sanguinary  Laws,  having  ceased  to  exist  in 
America,  they  flatter  themselves  that  the  representatives  of  the  freemen 
of  Kentucky  will  not  hesitate  to  adopt  a  system  more  correspondent  to 
the  genius  and  spirit  of  a  free  Government.  These  are  a  few  of  an 
indefinite  variety  of  reasons  that  might  be  adduced  to  demonstrate  the 
propriety  of  a  reform. 

"But  your  petitioners  would  but  suggest  the  importance  of  an  im- 
mediate attention  to  this  subject,  and  submit  it  to  the  wisdom  of  that 
body  in  whose  hand  is  placed  the  happiness  of  their  Constituents."  '* 

As  the  years  went  on.  the  movement  became  so  persistent  for  reform 
that  action  soon  resulted.  By  1796  Breckinridge  was  actively  working 
on  a  new  code.  In  January  of  1797  he  was  urged  by  Thomas  I'odly  of 
Lexington  to  "Go  on,  &  prosper  in  your  alterations  and  amendments  in 
the  Criminal  Code  it  fully  meets  with  the  approbation  of  the  people  of 
this  i)lacc,  &  every  proper  exertion  will  be  used  by  them  to  accomplish 
it."  1"  It  was  not  strong  opposition  that  had  prevented  action  before 
this  time;  but  rather  inertia  and  the  lack  of  proper  interest  in  the  Legisla- 
ture. Final  success  to  a  six-year  agitation  came  in  the  session  of  1797- 
1798. 

According  to  the  preamble  of  the  new  criminal  code,  "the  reforma- 
tion of  the  offenders,  an  object  highly  meriting  the  attention  of  the 
laws,  is  not  affected  at  all  by  capital  punishments,  which  exterminate 
instead  of  reforming,  and  should  be  the  last  melancholy  resource  against 
those  whose  existence  is  become  inconsistent  with  the  safety  of  their 
fellow  citizens."  It  also  inferred  that  each  citizen  had  an  economic  worth 
to  the  state,  and  that  the  destruction  of  life  weakened  the  state  and 
society  to  that  extent,  and  forever  cut  off  the  possibility  of  reform.  The 
pendulum  swung  far  in  the  other  direction  in  this  new  law.  Now  only 
one  crime  was  to  be  punished  with  death,  'ibis  was  murder  in  the  first 
degree,  which  shall  include  "all  murder  which  shall  be  perpetrated  by 
means  of  poison,  or  by  laying  in  wait,  or  by  any  other  kind  of  wilful, 
deliberate  and  premeditated  killing,  or  which  shall  be  committed  in  the 
perpetration  or  attempt  to  perpetrate  an}-  arson,  rape,  robbery  or  bur- 
glary."^'' All  persons  guilty  of  taking  human  life,  not  adjudged  first 
degree  murder  were  subject  to  punishment  by  imprisonment  from  five  to 
eighteen  years.  Since  the  policy  of  annihilation  had  now  given  way  to 
a  more  humane  system  of  reformation,  the  first  necessity  for  a  peniten- 
tiary was  felt,  i'he  state,  therefore,  established  at  this  time  at  Frank- 
fort its  first  "jail  and  penitentiary  house,"  as  it  was  termed. 

This  law  was  in  reality  a  code  in  which  all  offences  against  peace  and 
dignity  of  the  state  were  listed  and  punishments  designated.  The  rough 
and  inhuman  manner  of  fighting,  heretofore  mentioned,  was  thus  dealt 
with  by  the  new  code:  "Whosoever  on  purpose  and  of  malice  afore- 
thought, by  laying  in  wait,  shall  unlawfully  cut  out,  or  disable  the  tongue, 
put  out  an  eye,  slit  the  nose,  ear  or  lip,  or  cut  off  or  disable  any  limb 
or  member,  with  intention  in  so  doing  to  maim  or  disfigure  such  person, 
or  shall  voluntarily,  maliciously,  and  of  purpose,  pull  or  put  out  an  eye, 
while  fighting  or  otherwise,  every  such  offender,  his  or  her  aiders, 
abettors  and  counsellors"  shall  be  on  conviction  confined  in  the  "Jail  and 
]icnitentiar\'  house"  from  two  to  ten  years  and  pay  a  fine  not  exceeding 
$1000.-*     Slaves  were  specifically  excluded  from  the  benefits  of  this  act. 


^^Breckinridge  MSS.  [1793].  This  was  evidently  a  draft  nf  a  petition  first  sub- 
mitted to  Breckinridge  for  his  opinion.  This  statement  is  written  on  the  back :  "It 
will  not  do;  draw  one."  Objection  was  doubtless  due  to  the  strong  language  used 
in  referring  to  the  Government. 

^^Breckinridge  MSS.  [1797].     Letter  dated  January  15,  1797. 

2"  The  text  of  the  law  is  given  in  the  Mirror,  March  17,  1798.  Also  see  Butler, 
History  of  Kentucky,  281. 

^''■Mirror,  March   17,   1798. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  315 

This  exception  brought  on  much  criticism.  It  was  maintained  that  slaves 
were  human  beings  and  as  such  should  not  be  treated  differently  in  cases 
of  life  and  death  from  freemen.22 

Thus,  again  did  the  vigorous  democracy  of  the  frontier  forge  far 
ahead  of  the  older  communities  in  the  East.  But  later  on,  many  came  to 
believe  that  the  reaction  had  carried  the  law-makers  too  far  in  their  zeal 
for  reform.  One  capital  crime  alone  they  believed  was  insufficient  pro- 
tection both  to  life  and  the  social  welfare. 

Popular  agitation  was  not  to  be  confined  to  the  judiciary  and  the 
penal  code ;  the  Legislature  also  came  in  for  a  disturbance  which  for  a 
time  affected  a  people  zealous  of  their  political  institutions  but  more 
especially  of  their  treasury.  The  starvation  salaries  fixed  for  the  state 
officials  by  the  First  Legislature  never  ceased  to  remain  the  object  of  con- 
cern and  subject  of  criticism  by  those  who  noted  their  evil  effects.  The 
dignity  and  efficiency  of  the  Government  suffered  from  this  penurious 
policy  which  had  been  forced  on  the  First  Legislature  by  the  pressure  of 
popular  opinion.  The  courts  were  most  seriously  affected ;  for  the  train- 
ing required  for  a  good  judge,  whom  the  state  would  pay  from  $100  to 
$666  2/3  a  year,  would  also  qualify  a  man  to  earn  as  a  lawyer  ten  times 
that  amount  and  more.  Governor  Shelby  in  his  message  to  the  Legisla- 
ture in  1793  had  called  attention  to  the  inadequate  salaries  of  the  judges, 
and  especially  the  judges  of  the  Court  of  Oyer  and  Terminer,  who  re- 
ceived only  $100  a  year.^^  In  1796  the  Legislature  finally  decided  to 
brave  popular  wrath  and  increase  the  salaries  of  the  state  officials.  The 
governor  was  given  an  increase  of  one-third,  and  the  officers  of  the 
executive  departments  were  raised  from  $333  1/3  to  $600.  The  Legisla- 
ture timidly  increased  its  own  members'  pay  from  $1.00  a  day  to  $1.50. 

The  people  were  ill  pleased  with  this  expenditure  of  their  money. 
The  ones  easiest  to  attack  were  the  very  ones  who  were  guilty.  The 
discussion  started  on  the  eligibility  of  members  of  the  body  who  had 
voted  the  salary  increase  to  sit  in  the  next  Legislature.  The  constitution 
provided  that  "No  Senator  or  Representative  shall,  during  the  time  for 
which  he  shall  have  been  elected,  or  for  one  year  afterwards,  be  appointed 
to  any  civil  office  under  this  State,  which  shall  have  been  created  or  the 
emoluments  of  which  shall  have  been  increased  during  the  time  such 
Senator  or  Representative  was  in  office.  *  *  *"  '*  The  discussion 
centered  around  the  question  of  whether  a  legislator  was  an  officer  in  the 
meaning  of  the  constitution. ^s  The  agitators  passed  over  the  direct 
implication  in  the  word  "appointed,"  which  undoubtedly  carried  the  mean- 
ing of  the  appointees  of  the  governor,  and,  therefore,  had  no  reference  to 
the  legislators,  who  were  "elected."  They  also  failed  to  note  that  the 
question  they  were  trying  to  stir  up  was  answered  by  inference  in  the 
provision  of  the  constitution  dealing  directly  with  the  legislators.  This 
clause  stated  that  no  increase  in  the  pay  of  the  Legislature  should  take 
effect  during  the  existence  of  the  body  making  the  alteration. 20  This 
disturbance,  however,  never  got  far  beyond  the  limits  of  academic  dis- 
cussion. The  chief  importance  of  this  episode  was  to  show  the  possibility 
of  raising  doubts  as  to  the  real  meaning  of  the  constitution  by  those  who 
could  find  no  other  grounds  so  inviting  idt  leveling  their  attacks  against 
something  they  did  not  like. 

The  third  and  last  department  of  the  Government  to  come  in  for  a 
jarring  was  the  executive.  In  the  election  of  a  governor  to  succeed 
Isaac  Shelby  in  1796,  the  electoral  college  failed  to  give  a  majority  to 
any  of  the  four  men  voted  for.     Benjamin  Logan  received  twenty-one 

22  Mirror,  March  24,  1798. 

^'^  Kenhicky  Gazette,  November  23,  1793.     Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  I,  509. 

2*  Article  I,  section  4. 

25  Kentucky  Gazette,  July  9,  1796. 

28  Article  I,  section  23. 


316  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

votes,  which  was  pkirality ;  James  Garrard  was  given  seventeen,  Thomas 
Todd,  fourteen,  and  John  iJrown,  one.-'  The  question  immediately  arose 
as  to  whether  there  had  been  a  legal  choice  made.  The  constitution 
failed  to  say  whether  a  majority  was  necessary,  or  simply  a  plurality. 
The  electors  decided  that  a  majority  was  necessary ;  so  they  voted  on 
the  highest  two,  Logan  and  Garrard.  The  latter  wa.s  chosen  despite  the 
fact  that  Logan  had  received  five  more  votes  on  the  first  ballot.  This 
apparent  injustice  to  Logan  aroused  a  wide-spread  agitation.  His  sup- 
porters believed  he  had  been  robbed  of  an  office  which  he  had  been  elected 
to  fill.  They  declared  that  a  second  ballot  was  not  necessarj'  as  the 
constitution  did  not  require  a  majority.  Logan,  himself,  felt  keenly 
the  sting  of  defeat.  He  did  not  intend  to  tamely  submit  without  a 
struggle.  He  addressed  a  comnninication  to  John  Breckinridge,  the 
attorney-general,  asking  an  opinion  from  his  department.  Breckinridge 
wisely  refused  to  add  to  the  dangers  of  the  present  situation,  by  com- 
mitting the  Government  on  the  question.  However,  he  was  not  loath  to 
give  his  views  in  the  capacity  of  a  private  citizen.  Disclaiming  at  the 
outset  that  he  was  writing  an  official  opinion,  he  declared  that  Logan  had 
been  elected.  The  constitution  made  no  provision  for  a  second  ballot, 
except  in  case  of  a  tie.  He  declared  that  this  was  proof  sufficient  that  no 
second  ballot  could  be  argugd  even  by  implication.  The  fact,  urged  by 
some,  that  the  states  on  the  seaboard  chose  the  highest  two  to  vote  on 
where  a  majority  was  not  obtained  on  the  first  ballot,  could  have  no 
weight  in  Kentucky,  for  Kentuckians  were  not  beholden  to  the  East  for 
their  constitutional  principles  or  the  interpretation  of  their  framework 
of  government.  Moreover  the  electors  were  merely  a  representation  of 
the  popular  vote,  where  the  highest  vote  always  elected  regardless  of 
whether  it  was  a  majority  or  merely  a  plurality.  Sound  logic  would 
apply  the  same  rule  to  the  electors.  He  summed  up  his  opinion  by  stoutly 
maintaining  "That  gen.  Logan  was  constitutionally  elected  Governor 
upon  the  first  ballot,  and  ought  to  have  been  declared  and  returned  as 
such  by  the  electors."  ^'* 

With  this  pronunciamento  by  Breckinridge  and  his  strong  arguments 
therefor,  Logan's  case  was  greatly  strengthened;  and  if  pressed  the 
outcome  would  have  been  difficult  to  foresee.  The  Senate,  which  had 
been  invested  by  statute  with  the  power  to  decide  disputed  gubernatorial 
elections,  was  now  appealed  to  by  Logan.  But  it,  following  a  unique 
line  of  reasoning,  refused  to  interfere;  for  it  declared  any  law  that  does 
not  promote  the  peace  and  welfare  of  the  state  is  unconstitutional  and 
this  law  comes  under  that  classification.-"*  With  no  further  legal  re- 
course, Logan,  disdaining  the  use  of  violence,  let  the  controversy  drop. 
The  good  sense  of  the  leaders  as  well  as  of  the  masses,  reinforced  by 
an  inborn  respect  for  law  and  order,  prevented  a  dangerous  situation 
from  developing  into  something  worse.  "A  Citizen"  writing  in  the  Ken- 
tucky Gazette  saw  ambition  and  selfishness  at  the  root  of  the  trouble. 
"How  long  shall  we  be  the  sport  of  an  ambitious  few?"  he  inquired,  "and 
when  shall  we  see  the  period  arrive,  that  a  sincere  aflfection  for  the  peace 
and  dignity  of  our  country  shall  lead  us  to  suppress  with  indignation 
the  interested  and  designing.".'"'  This  trouble  was  the  direct  outcome 
of  an  honest  difference  of  opinion  on  the  interpretation  of  the  constitu- 
tion. 

Within  four  years  after  the  constitution  had  been  put  into  operation 
three  controversies  had  arisen  involving  the  three  departments  of  gov- 
ernment carrying  with  them  a  dispute  over  or  a  disregard  of  that  instru- 

'"  Kentucky  Gazette,  May  28,  1796;  Proceedings  of  the  American  Historical  Asso- 
ciation, V,  363.     The  vote  given  in  the  former  is  not  complete. 

2»  Kentucky  Gazette,  May  28,  1796.     Breckinridge's  letter  was  dated  May  24. 
^^Proceedings  of  the  American  Historical  Association,  V,  363. 
^"Kentucky  Gazette,  June  11,  1796. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  317 

ment.  In  the  legislative  and  executive  troubles  a  dispute  over  the  mean- 
ing of  the  constitution  was  the  direct  cause;  while  in  the  case  of  the 
judiciary  a  peaceable  revolution  was  brought  about  when  the  Legislature 
deprived  the  Court  of  Appeals  by  statute  of  powers  conferred  on  it  by 
the  constitution,  and  the  dangerous  practice  had  grown  up  of  depriving 
judges  of  their  seats  by  court  reorganizations. 

Humphrey  Marshall  characterized  the  legislative  history  of  the  times 
as  follows : 

"Whoever  attends  to  the  subject,  will  be  struck  with  the  frequent 
changes  in  the  courts,  and  in  the  execution  laws;  which  if  it  were 
possible,  should  be  fixed  and  immutable.  The  observer  of  the  legislative 
course  under  the  constitution,  can  but  be  equally  effected,  by  the  frequent 
occurrence  of  acts  that  violate  private  rights  to  real  property,  as  well  by 
their  retro-active  eft'ects,  as  by  vesting  power  in  one  or  another,  to  sell 
lands  belonging  to  infants,  as  well  as  those  of  adults,  without  their  con- 
sent. Relief,  also,  of  one  kind  or  another,  either  to  private  individuals 
who  should  have  been  left  to  seek  it  in  a  court  of  law,  or  equity ;  or  to 
public  functionaries  who  had  violated  the  laws,  and  ran  to  the  legislature 
to  cover  their  ignorance  or  design  from  the  consequences,  by  legalizing 
what  was  illegally  done,  makes  a  figure  in  the  code;  besides  those  acts 
of  direct  interference  between  creditor  and  debtor,  by  means  of  replevy, 
arrd  otherwise ;  which  taken  together  as  a  body  of  evidence,  goes  to  prove 
great  defects  in  the  political  morality  of  the  law-makers,  and  separately, 
furnishes  precedents  for  every  species  of  irregular  and  incorrect  legisla- 
tion. Not  that  there  are  no  good  laws;  there  are  certainly  many;  for  at 
different  times,  different  moral  and  political  feelings  have  prevailed: 
but  so  predominant  has  been  the  disposition  to  change,  but  few  acts  have 
escaped  its  ignorance,  its  love,  its  rage,  or  its  malice."  ^i 

^1  Quoted  in  Butler,  History  of  Kentucky,  292. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 

DEMOCRATIC  CLUBS  AND  THE  FRENCH  SCHEME 
AGAINST  LOUISIANA 

When  Kentucky  entered  the  Union  in  1792,  she  had  tliereby  solved 
one  of  her  most  trying  problems.  The  center  around  which  she  had 
grouped  all  of  her  other  complaints  was  the  quest  for  statehood.  Many 
had  for  the  time  professed  to  believe  that  when  she  once  became  master 
of  her  own  destinies  as  an  equal  state  in  the  American  Union,  all  of  her 
other  besetting  difficulties  would  vanish  innnediately  or  be  easily  solved. 
So  on  becoming  a  state,  there  was  a  brief  period  of  relief  and  rejoicing. 
But  she  was  soon  to  see  that  the  cause  of  statehood,  which  she  had  so 
long  held  up  as  a  rallying  cry  and  which  it  was  so  easy  to  group  the 
people  around,  was  after  all  not  her  fundamental  problem.  The  leaders 
in  politics  and  the  toilers  in  fields  soon  came  to  see  with  compelling  force 
that  the  holding  of  an  office  or  the  voting  for  a  state  official  was  in  fact 
a  less  fundamental  part  of  their  existence  than  the  receiving  of  a  just 
reward  for  their  labors  in  agriculture  and  manufacturing.  The  Mississippi 
was  just  as  tightly  held  by  Spain  now  as  when  Kentucky  had  been  a 
district  of  Virginia.  Her  entry  into  the  Union  had  not  increased  the  price 
of  her  tobacco,  her  corn,  and  her  bacon.  Stagnation  was  intensified,  if 
statehood  had  produced  a  change  at  all.  A  bitter  hatred  of  Spain  could 
not  but  continue  to  develop  under  such  conditions. 

Another  old  complaint,  which  it  was  argued  statehood  would  remedy, 
was  the  unsettled  conditions  in  Indian  relations.  The  Indians  had  noted 
with  little  anxiety  Kentucky's  entry  into  the  Union.  True  it  was  that 
Kentuckians  were  held  as  being  far  from  contemptible  by  the  tribes 
throughout  the  whole  Northwest ;  but  statehood  had  not  increased  their 
prowess  in  the  eye  of  the  Indians.  The  American  government  had  been 
pursuing  a  policy  of  treaty-making  that  always  ended  in  war;  and  Ken- 
tuckians were  inevitably  the  sufTerers  from  such  hostilities.  The  Federal 
government  was  in  Kentucky's  belief  deserving  of  much  blame  for  the 
situation.  It  had  never  adequately  protected  the  frontier;  and  the  selfish- 
ness and  narrow  prejudice  of  the  Fast  had  prevented  larger  forces  from 
being  sent  to  the  West  and  had  begrudged  the  few  troops  actually  there. 
But  all  the  condemnation  should  not  rest  on  the  United  .'States  alone. 
Great  Britain  was  still  in  defiance  of  the  treaty  of  American  independence 
holding  the  Northwest  military  jiosts,  for  the  purpose,  among  others,  of 
inciting  the  Indians  against  the  northern  frontiers  of  Kentucky,  and  was 
thus  adding  warfare  to  the  economic  ruin  Spain  was  so  successfully  carry- 
ing out,  in  the  opinion  of  Kentuckians.  Was  not  the  United  States  power- 
ful enough  to  defy  Great  Britain,  force  her  to  retreat  across  the  Great 
Lakes  into  Canada,  and  remind  Spain  that  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi 
to  its  mouth  was  the  right  of  the  American  reimblic,  by  nature  and  by 
compact?  Kentucky  believed  the  reason  why  such  things  were  not  done 
was  to  be  found  nowhere  else  than  in  the  jealousy  of  the  Fast  toward 
the  rapidly  increasing  West. 

The  \Vest  was  paying  taxes  to  the  Federal  government  on  the  same 
basis  as  was  the  rest  of  the  nation ;  but  the  benefits  derived  from  the 
expenditure  of  the  national  funds  were  not  being  felt  in  Kentucky.    More- 

318 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  319 

over,  the  tax  that  was  adopted  by  the  national  administration  as  a  good 
revenue  producer  was  the  very  tax  that  hit  the  West  hardest.  Since 
the  conversion  of  grain  into  whisky  so  concentrated  its  value  that  it 
could  be  transported  profitably  regardless  of  river  navigation,  the  Federal 
government  was  now  levying  a  tax  upon  this  scant  prosperity  by  the 
excise  tax  on  distilled  spirits.  This,  it  was  argued,  was  sufficient  to  show 
the  unequal  position  Kentuck-y  was  being  made  to  assume  in  the  American 
union  by  the  hostile  East. 

This  was  the  state  of  mind  prevailing  in  the  West,  when  in  Europe 
there  burst  forth  the  pent-up  fury  and  despair  of  centuries  in  the  French 
Revolution,  starting  a  train  of  events  destined  to  shake  the  American 
nation  to  its  center  and  involve  it  in  a  second  war  with  Great  Britain 
twenty  years  later.  Beginning  in  1789,  in  an  orderly  fashion,  it  grew 
more  radical  with  the  lapse  of  time,  stirring  up  on  all  sides  the  fears  and 
plots  of  disquieted  monarchs.  By  1793,  France  was  in  war  with  five  of 
the  most  powerful  nations  in  Europe.^  The  sympathy  which  had  been 
held  out  to  the  French  by  the  Americans  in  1789,  was  not  to  be  forgotten 
by  France  in  1793.  The  principles  of  the  American  Revolution  had 
played  their  part  in  bringing  on  the  French  Revolution.  Jefiferson  and 
Franklin  had  been  great  admirers  of  the  French  from  colonial  days  and 
had  built  up  a  strong  French  feeling  in  America.  While  the  colonies  had 
been  struggling  for  freedom  from  Great  Britain,  France  had  from  mingled 
motives  aided  the  Americans  with  her  fleet  and  with  money.  In  1778, 
treaties  of  amity  and  commerce  and  alliance  were  concluded.  In  her  great 
danger  France  now  expected  to  find  a  powerful  ally  in  the  United  States. 
Citizen  Genet  was  sent  as  minister  to  the  American  government  with  in- 
structions to  enlist  its  aid  in  the  European  struggle. 

He  arrived  in  Charleston  in  1793,  and  immediately  began  prepara- 
tions for  an  expedition  against  the  Spaniards  in  the  Floridas  and  Louisiana. 
He  then  proceeded  through  the  interior  of  the  country  to  Philadelphia,  the 
capital.  Everywhere  along  the  way  he  was  received  by  the  people  with 
enthusiasm,  born  of  the  gratitude  they  had  ever  held  to  France  since  her 
aid  had  been  given  in  the  war  for  American  independence.  While  Genet 
was  building  up  this  popular  support,  Washington  and  his  cabinet  were 
wrestling  with  the  problem  of  the  position  the  United  States  should  occupy 
in  the  European  war  that  was  threatening  to  involve  the  whole  world.  Be- 
fore Genet  reached  Philadelphia,  the  Washington  administration  declared 
that  in  the  struggle  between  France  and  the  other  European  nations  the 
American  government  would  remain  neutral. 

Genet  was  incensed  and  disappointed.  Here  he  had  met  defeat  for 
the  most  important  part  of  his  mission.  Despite  treaties  of  alliance  with 
France,  the  United  States  had  now  announced  its  intentions  to  treat  the 
French  in  the  same  manner  as  the  British.  Genet  could  not  understand 
the  motives  of  the  Washington  administration  which  would  thus  abandon 
France  in  her  greatest  need;  neither  did  he  believe  in  the  light  of  the 
reception  he  had  received  from  the  people  that  the  Federal  government 
properly  represented  the  will  of  the  people.  But,  if  the  United  States 
would  not  meet  its  treaty  obligations,  he  believed  it  would  at  least  repay 
the  money  which  France  had  loaned  to  the  struggling  colonies.  With  this 
money  he  expected  to  carry  on  expeditions  from  the  United  States  against 
the  Spaniards  in  the  Floridas  and  in  Louisiana  and  against  the  British 
in  Canada.  On  account  of  the  fact  that  the  debt  was  not  yet  due,  he 
was  doomed  to  failure  in  this  particular  also. 

Impatience  with  the  Washington  administration  and  deep  sympathy 
for  Genet  and  France  were  evident  on  all  sides.  Many  Americans  were 
as  bitterly  disappointed  at  the  declaration  of  neutrality  as  was  Genet.  In 
discussions  preceding  the  determination  of  the  American  policy  Jefferson 

'  Fish,  American  Diplomacy,  95,  96. 


320  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

and  Madison  were  inclined  to  favor  the  French,  although  all  were  agreed 
that  neutrality  was  the  proper  position  for  the  United  States  to  assume.* 
Party  spirit  was  fast  arising  desi)ite  Washington's  attempts  to  ignore  and 
crush  it  by  including  in  his  cabinet  such  opposites  as  Hamilton  and 
Jefferson.  Among  other  lines  of  demarkation  that  were  beginning  to 
divide  the  people,  sympathy  for  France  and  the  democracy  she  was 
asserting  were  becoming  prominent  characteristics  of  those  who  had  come 
to  side  with  Jefferson ;  while  the  more  conservative  followers  of  Hamilton 
were  accused  of  sympathizing  with  England.  Villification  of  Washington 
speedily  arose  and  became  the  settled  policy  of  a  majority  of  the  American 
newspapers.  As  important  elements  in  the  same  movement,  there  sprang 
up,  with  Philadelphia  as  a  center.  Democratic  societies,  patterned  directly 
after  the  powerful  and  violent  Jacobin  clubs  of  France,  and  designed  to 
weld  together  the  rising  forces  of  discontent. 

Conditions  in  the  West  were  ripe  for  the  rapid  spread  of  these  societies 
to  that  region.  During  the  summer  of  1793  John  Bradford  was  instru- 
mental in  organizing  a  Democratic  society  in  Lexington.^  On  August 
twenty-second,  citizens  of  the  town  and  from  the  surrounding  regions 
held  a  preliminary  meeting  and  resolved  to  found  a  Democratic  society 
"embracing  the  laudable  objects  of  the  Philadelphia  Democratic  Society." 
A  committee  was  appointed  to  draw  up  articles  of  organization.  Six  days 
later  a  meeting  was  held  at  which  the  organization  was  completed. 
John  Breckinridge  was  elected  chairman,  and  Thomas  Todd  and  Thomas 
Bodley,  clerks.  A  circular  letter  was  prej^ared  an<l  distributed  throughout 
the  state  calling  on  the  people  to  organize  like  societies  in  every  county.* 
This  society  became  at  once  the  articulate  voice  of  Lexington.  It  erected 
liberty  poles  on  occasions,  wore  the  tricolored  cockades,  and  used  all  the 
other  trappings  and  customs  that  were  becoming  characteristic  of  these 
societies.^  Before  the  end  of  the  year  (1783)  at  least  two  other  societies 
had  been  organized,  one  at  Paris  and  one  at  Georgetown." 

As  has  been  indicated  the  main  purpose  of  these  societies  was  to  attack 
the  Washington  administration  in  its  foreign  policy — as  well  as  doinestic. 
But  in  Kentucky  the  immediate  purpose  was  to  forge  a  weapon  to  be  used 
as  circumstances  should  allow,  for  securing  the  navigation  of  the  Miss- 
issippi River.'  Exasperation  on  this  question  was  fast  developing  into 
desperation.  If  Kentucky  products  succeeded  in  slipping  by  New  Madrid, 
it  was  sure  to  be  stopped  somewhere  before  reaching  New  Orleans,  and  a 
tariff  of  15%  ad  valorem  imposed  on  unloading  for  purposes  of  examina- 
tion and  a  6%  additional  duty  exacted  for  reloading.* 

The  order  of  business  at  every  meeting  of  the  societies  included  a  dis- 
cussion of  the  Mississippi  question.  This  is  a  characteristic  entry  in  the 
minutes  of  the  Lexington  Democratic  Society,  "Society  went  into  committee 
of  the  whole  on  the  subject  of  the  Navigation  of  the  Mississippi."''  Dis- 
cussion within  the  walls  of  the  club  was  by  no  means  the  uttermost  extent 
given  to  this  all-absorbing  question.  At  intervals  the  indignation  of  the 
club  was  expressed  in  an  outburst  of  resolutions,  which  were  directed 
more  often  to  the  people  of  Kentucky  and  the  West  than  to  Congress 


2  Fish,  Amcrkun  Diplomacy.  100.  Tlic  nations  vvliicli  had  declared  war  on 
France   at    this    time    were    England,    Prussia,    .Austria,    Holland,    and    Spain. 

3  hiiu's  AfSS.,  Vol.  19,  No.  65.  Bradford  in  a  letter  to  Harry  Lines,  Oct.  30, 
1808,  said  he  was  the  first  one  to  propose  the  society  for  Lexington. 

*  Kentucky  Gaccltc,  Aug.  24,  31,  1793. 

^  Ranck,  History  of  Lcxiiifjton,  181. 

"Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  I,  23,  277.  The  society  at  Paris  (Bourbon 
County),  was  organized  Oct.  15,  1793.     Kentucky  Gazette.  Nov.  2,  1793. 

'  limes  MSS.,  Vol.  ly,  No.  6>  So  stated  by  Bradford  in  his  letter  to  Lnies, 
Oct.  30,  1808. 

«F.  A.  OgK,  The  Opening  of  the  Mississippi  (New  York,  1904).  449,  450. 

"  Innes  MSS.,  Vol.  19,  Nos.  89,  90.  The  minutes  of  some  of  the  meetings  of 
the  Lexington  society  arc  found  here. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  321 

and  the  President.  By  this  method  foundations  were  being  laid  for 
building  up  the  West  into  a  power  whose  demands  would  sometime  be 
heeded  by  either  the  national  government  or  by  Spain  direct. 

On  December  13,  1793,  the  Democratic  Society  of  Kentucky  (the  name 
used  by  the  Le.xington  branch)  formulated  an  address  on  the  grievances 
of  the  West  and  particularly  on  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  directed 
it  "To  the  People  West  of  the  Alleghanies,"  and  printed  it  in  broadside 
form  for  distribution  throughout  the  western  country-.  They  declared  that 
the  use  of  the  outlet  of  the  Mississippi  was  a  God-given  right  which  nuist 
now  be  secured  forever  not  only  for  themselves  but  for  their  children. 
Now  was  the  time  to  act;  and  if  they  were  to  be  worthy  of  their  offspring 
they  would  delay  no  longer.  The  national  government'  had  done  nothing ; 
and  gave  no  promise  of  anything  better  for  the  future.  "Repeated 
memorials  were  presented  to  Congress  upon  the  subject,  but  they  were 
treated  with  a  neglect  bordering  on  contempt."  The  people  had  been 
patient  and  long-suffering.  When  the  new  federal  government  succeeded 
the  old  Confederation  they  had  hoped  that  it  would  secure  their  rights. 
On  the  contrary,  "Six  years  have  passed  away,  and  our  right  is  not  yet 
obtained.  *  *  *  jn  t^g  meanwhile,  our  brethren  on  the  Eastern 
waters  possess  every  advantage  which  nature  or  compact  can  give  them. 
Nay  we  do  not  know  that  even  one  firm  attempt  to  obtain  it  has  been 
made."  Furthermore  they  believed  that  this  neglect  to  obtain  for  the 
West  this  right  was  due  to  the  desire  of  the  East  to  retard  Western 
development  and  thereby  discourage  their  people  from  migrating  thither.^o 
No  plan  of  direct  action  was  suggested,  beyond  the  call  for  the  formation 
of  Democratic  societies  in  every  community,  whereby  the  people  could  be 
drawn  together  to  act  in  unison  on  any  future  policy  that  might  later  be 
declared. 

The  tone  of  this  address  showed  a  wounded  pride  engendered  by  the 
failure  of  the  national  government  to  recognize  the  importance  of  the 
West  in  that  it  had  not  secured  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  or  even 
deigned  to  tell  the  West  whether  it  had  actually  tried.  This  address  also 
held  out  the  veiled  threat  that  the  West  might  sometime  look  to  herself 
for  further  action  regardless  of  the  federal  government. 

The  Lexington  Democratic  Society  was  the  leading  organization  of 
its  kind  west  of  the  Alleghanies.  It  made  itself  the  mouthpiece  for  the 
whole  West.  It  not  only  addressed  communications  to  the  citizens  of  the 
western  regions,  but  it  also  sent  now  and  then  an  address  or  resolutions 
to  Congress,  invariably  dealing  with  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi.' » 
In  line  with  its  desire  to  organize  the  W'est  every-where  into  Democratic 
societies,  it  carried  on  a  correspondence  with  such  clubs  from  western 
Pennsylvania  to  Tennessee.  An  interesting  part  of  each  meeting  consisted 
in  reading  to  the  society  the  correspondence  from  other  clubs. 12  In  answer 
to  an  invitation  from  the  Washington  County,  Pennsylvania,  Democratic 
Society  to  open  a  correspondence,  the  Lexington  society  resolved  that  it 
would  gladly  ernbrace  the  opportunity  "assuring  them  of  our  strong  de- 
sire &  perfect  willingness  to  open  a  correspondence  with  them,  on  the  sub- 
ject of  our  unredressed  grievances  &  assuring  them  also,  that  being  all 
equally     fellow-sufferers     we     shall     heartily     co-operate     with     them 

The  Kentucky  Democratic  Society,  as  the  Lexington  society  was  often 


"Copies  of  this  address  may  be  found  in  various  places.  See  State  Papers 
Miscrllanemis.  I,  929,  0,-?n.  For  one  of  the  broadsides,  see  Breckinridge  AfSS' 
(■179.3).  A  MS.  copy  is  in  the  Iitnes  MSS..  Vol.  19,  No.  84.  The  address  was 
s'g'ij^  by  John  Breckinridge,  as  chairman  and  Thomas  Bodley  and  Thomas  Todd 

^3^  A  copy  is  in  Breckinridge  MSS.  (1793). 
^*  '=  Minutes  in  liiiies  MSS..  Vol.  19,  Nos.  89,  90. 
'^  Minutes  Ibid.,  No.  92. 

Vol.  1—25 


322  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

called,  was  not  proceeding  l)lindly  without  a  definite  [)iirpose  in  arousing 
the  VVest.  In  the  fall  of  1793,  it  advanced  a  step  beyond  mere  agitation. 
With  a  considerable  number  of  societies  now  functioning  in  the  West,  it 
was  able  to  enter  into  concrete  action.  The  method  of  procedure  was  set 
forth  in  a  resolution  it  ado])tcd  and  sent  to  the  other  societies  for  ratifica- 
tion. It  declared  "That  it  will  be  jjroper  to  make  an  attempt  in  a  peaceful 
manner,  to  go  with  ;in  American  bottom  properly  registered  and  cleared 
into  the  sea  through  the  channel  of  the  Mississippi ;  that  we  may  either 
procure  an  immediate  acknowledgment  of  om^  riglit  from  the  Spaniards; 
or  if  they  obstruct  us  in  the  enjoyment  of  that  right,  that  wc  may  be  able 
to  lay  before  the  Federal  Government,  such  unequivocal  proof  of  their 
having  done  so,  that  they  will  be  compelled  to  say,  whether  they  will 
abandon  or  protect  the  inhabitants  of  the  western  country."  ^* 

This  mode  of  procedure  shows  conclusively  the  understanding  the 
Kentuckians  had  of  the  way  in  which  the  United  States  (kivernment  was 
handling  the  Mississippi  Kiver  question.  They  believed  the  national 
government  was  concerning  itself  very  little  with  this  serious  western 
problem,  and  they  harbored  the  suspicion  that  it  might  even  doubt  that 
there  were  really  grievances  to  redress  or  a  problem  to  solve.  The  feeling 
became  widesjiread  that  the  trouble  was  soon  to  be  brought  to  a  head  by 
sending  the  test  boat.  James  Seagrove,  a  United  States  agent  to  the 
Indians,  declared  to  them  that  if  the  Sjianiards  "do  not  leave  the  passage 
of  the  Misisipi  free  to  us,  we  shall  not  be  long  in  obtaining  it  by  force. 
The  inhabitants  of  Kentucky  are  resolved  that  if  Congress  does  not  obtain 
this  permission  they  will  take  it  for  themselves.  They  are  to  send  a  boat 
down  to  the  sea  by  this  river,  and  if  the  Spaniards  take  this  boat,  or  detain 
it  in  its  passage,  they  will  go  to  find  out  who  has  done  so."  ^■'' 

The  conditions  of  the  times  were  so  confused  with  cross-purposes  and 
counter-moves,  intrigues  and  international  suspicions,  that  no  policy  or 
line  of  procedure  could  be  pursued  uninfluenced  by  the  surging  forces. 
The  development  of  the  W'estern  Democratic  societies  was  merely  one 
part  of  a  much  more  comprehensive  movement  which  had  been  set  into 
operation  coeval  with  the  rise  of  those  clubs,  and  which  bore  such  a  close 
relationship  to  them.  This  was  Genet's  plan  to  enlist  the  discontented 
West  in  a  project  to  bear  down  upon  the  .Spanish  possessions,  wrest  them 
from  the  control  of  Spain,  and  erect  them  into  an  independent  state  with 
commercial  treaties  with  France  and  the  I'nited  States  or  annex  them  to 
the  former.'"  The  Mississippi  was,  of  course,  to  be  free  throughout  its 
length,  and  in  this  Genet  expected  to  easily  seduce  Kentucky.  He  could 
also  count  on  the  vigorous  sympathy  for  France  and  rancorous  hatred  of 
Spain.  Within  a  short  time  after  arriving  at  Philadelphia,  Genet  had  met 
with  so  many  reverses  at  the  hands  of  the  Washington  administration 
that  he  had  come  to  conclude  that  the  American  people  and  the  national 
administration  were  not  the  same  and  that  the  former  was  the  proper 
authority  to  treat  with.'^  He,  therefore,  had  no  hesitancy  in  dealing  with 
the  people  directly,  secretly  as  well  as  openly. 

When  and  where  his  plan  of  conquest  began  is  not  certainly  known. 
It  was  to  a  great  extent  a  growth  developing  as  circumstances  suggested 
and  permitted.  On  landing  at  Charleston,  Genet  set  one  part  of  it  into 
operation,  organizing  at  this  time  his  aids  who  were  to  proceed  against 
the  two  Floridas  and  later  Louisiana  itself.'*    Plans  for  arousing  Kentuckv 


'■•  hines  MSS..  Vol.  iq.  No.  105.     Also  sec  Nos.  103.  104. 

"  "Correspoiiflcncc  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  in  .Innual  Rr/^ort  of  Ihc  American 
Hislnricnl  Assnciatiiin.  1806,  I,  1055. 

1"  The  Complete  Annals  of  Thomas  Jefferson   (New  York,  1903),  130,  131. 

"  See  Fish.  American  DIflomacy.  103. 

""See  E.  M.  Coulter,  "The  Foreign  Intrigues  of  Elijah  Clarke  and  the  'Trans- 
Oconee  Republic,' "  in  Transactions  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  Historical  Association, 

tC)20. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  323 

and  the  West  against  Spain's  possessions  were  not  developed  until  after 
Genet  reached  Philadelphia.  Here  suggestions  from  Americans  awaited 
him,  and,  indeed,  at  times  appear  to  have  outrun  him.  George  Rogers 
Clark  anxiously  offered  his  services  and  John  Brown  was  a  ready  coun- 
selor. About  twenty  years  afterwards,  one  of  the  participants  declared 
that  the  plan  for  raising  forces  in  Kentucky  arose  in  a  meeting  held  in 
New  Orleans  on  April  20,  1793.^' 

Indeed,  no  lesser  person  than  Thomas  Jefferson,  Secretary  of  State, 
was  privy  to  Genet's  main  purpose.  That  his  course  adjudged  from  the 
accumulated  experience  and  precedents  of  the  following  century  and  a 
quarter,  was  extraordinary  cannot  be  doubted ;  but  regarded  in  the  light 
of  his  times  and  surrounding,  it  was  not  out  of  harmony  with  good 
policy  and  political  sagacity.  His  relations  were  so  close  with  the  French 
minister  that  the  latter  was  received  in  a  conference  on  July  5,  1793.  at 
which  the  whole  plan  was  laid  bare.  Genet  here  unfolded  his  instructions 
to  Andre  Michaux  regarding  a  mission  to  Kentucky  and  also  read  two 
addresses,  one  to  the  people  of  Louisiana  and  the  other  to  the  Canadians. 
In  both  he  sought  to  arouse  the  people  against  their  European  rulers.  He 
boldly  told  Jefferson  that  Kentuckians  were  anxious  to  enlist  their  support 
against  the  Spaniards,  and  that  two  generals  there  had  offered  to  take 
New  Orleans  if  they  were  furnished  with  f  3,000.  He  declared  that  he 
refused  to  advance  them  the  money,  but  was  willing  to  send  it  later. 
When  Louisiana  should  be  conquered,  it  was  to  be  erected  into  an 
independent  state  bound  by  commercial  treaties  to  the  United  States  and 
France.  Genet  made  it  plain  to  Jefferson  that  this  information  was 
given  to  him  not  as  Secretary  of  State,  but  as  a  private  individual.  In  the 
preceding  April  Jefferson  had  issued  the  celebrated  neutrality  proclamation, 
which  directly  prohibited  the  things  which  Genet  was  now  proposing. 
Jefferson  showed  his  undisguised  attitude  toward  the  part  of  the  plan 
dealing  with  Kentucky  by  declaring  to  Genet  "that  his  enticing  officers  and 
soldiers  from  Kentucky  to  go  against  Spain  was  really  putting  a  halter 
around  their  necks;  for  they  would  surely  be  hung  if  they  commenced 
hostilities  against  a  nation  at  peace  with  the  United  States."  He  would 
thus  not  have  the  United  States  used  as  a  base  of  operations  against  a 
nation  with  which  the  United  States  was  at  peace,  although  it  might  not  be 
of  the  friendliest  kind.  He  was,  however,  quick  to  assure  Genet  how- 
little  he  was  concerned  at  what  might  happen  to  the  Spanish  possessions 
in  America  provided  the  position  of  the  United  States  were  not  com- 
promised. He  declared  that  leaving  out  the  Kentucky  part  of  the  plan. 
he  "did  not  care  what  insurrections  should  be  excited  in  Louisiana."  20 

Some  two  weeks  previous  to  this  conference.  Genet  had  asked  Jefferson 
to  receive  Michaux  as  a  consul  on  the  Western  waters.  Jefferson 
sensed  the  purpose  of  this  at  once  and  demurred.  He  stated  that  it  was 
not  customary  for  consuls  to  be  stationed  anywhere  except  on  the  sea- 
board, and  that  if  the  French  were  allowed  such  an  officer  in  the  West, 
other  nations  would  demand  the  same  right  and  as  a  result  "we  should 
have  all  our  interior  filled  with  foreign  agents."  Failing  in  this,  Genet 
then  asked  Jefferson  to  give  Michaux  a  letter  of  introduction  to  Governor 
Shelby.  As  he  and  Michaux  had  enjoyed  an  acquaintanceship  for  some 
time,  made  especially  agreeable  on  account  of  their  common  interest  in 
botany,  Jefferson  complied.    In  this  he  adroitly  avoided  being  drawn  into 

'*  Statement  of  DePauw  in  connection  with  the  investigation  of  Harry  Innes 
in  1808.     "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  1102-1 106. 

'"  Complete  Annals  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  130.  131.  This  was  a  step  in  the  de- 
velopment of  the  law  of  neutrality  far  advanced  over  European  practice.  Despite 
the  fact  that  the  law  of  Congress  of  June  5.  1794.  interpreting  and  enforcing 
neutrality  was  yet  to  come.  Jefferson  here  declared  that  the  halter  awaited  those 
enlisting  in  the  United  States  to  fight  Spain,  even  though  they  should  make  their 
rendezvous   outside. 


324  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

Genet's  political  scheme.  He  stated  in  the  letter  that  Michaux  was  a 
citizen  of  tlie  i"reiich  Kepiiblic  who  had  been  in  the  United  States  for 
several  years  and  that  he  was  "'a  man  of  science  and  merit,  and  goes  to 
Kentucky  in  pursuit  of  objects  of  Natural  history  and  botany,  to  augment 
the  literary  acquirements  of  the  two  re])ublics."  He  also  noted  that  "Mr. 
Genet  the  minister  of  I-'rance  here"  had  expressed  "His  esteem  for 
Mr.  Michaux  and  good  opinion  of  him,  and  his  wish  that  he  should  be 
made  known  to  you."-'  This  letter,  written  on  June  28th,  did  not  suit 
Genet.  He  complained  "that  in  that  letter  I  speak  of  him  only  as  a 
person  of  botanical  and  natural  pursuits,  but  that  he  wished  the  Governor 
to  view  him  as  something  more,  as  a  French  citizen  possessing  his  con- 
fidence." 22  Thereupon  Jefferson  took  this  letter  back  and  wrote  an- 
other one.  This  letter  has  not  been  found ;  but  it  would  seem  certain 
that  in  the  light  of  Jefferson's  expressed  attitude,  Michaux  could  not 
have  been  represented  as  a  French  agent  whose  mission  was  to  arouse 
the  Kentuckians  to  take  Louisiana  from  the   Spaniards. 

Genet  also  secured  from  John  Brown  letters  of  introduction  for 
Michaux  to  George  Rogers  Clark  and  to  Governor  Shelby.  Brown  re- 
ferred to  him  in  both  instances  as  a  man  of  science  who  was  going  to 
Kentucky  to  carry  on  botanical  studies.- ^  These  letters  were  undoubted- 
Iv  much  less  pleasing  to  Genet  than  to  Michaux,  for  the  latter  was  not 
by  nature  a  political  intriguer,  but  rather  a  true  botanist  with  an  in- 
satiable thirst  for  more  knowledge  in  his  chosen  field.-*  He,  however, 
became  Genet's  political  agent  for  the  West,  and  reached  Kentucky  in 
early  September  (1793).  He  visited  Governor  Shelby,  Benjamin  Logan, 
George  Rogers  Clark,  and  other  leaders  before  the  end  of  the  month.  In 
November  he  was  followed  to  Kentucky  by  four  other  French  agents, 
De  Pauw,  LaChaise,  Mathurin,  and  Gignoux.  At  different  times  various 
other  Frenchmen,  self-appointed  or  otherwise,  had  a  hand  in  the  move- 
ment. The  amount  of  authority  or  influence  exercised  by  these  agents 
was  not  great  as  they  were  continually  without  funds. 

-1  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  98.). 

--Complete  Annals  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  130,  131;  also  in  "Correspondence  of 
Clark  and  Genet,"  984.  985. 

="  For  copies  see  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  982,  983.  Both  arc 
dated  June  2),  1793. 

-*  The  journal  of  Michaux  during  the  period  in  which  he  was  acting  as  political 
agent  in  Kentucky,  gives  little  attention  to  politics,  but  is  replete  with  botanical 
observations.  Tliese  proportions  were  a  true  reflection  of  his  interests  in  the  two 
fields.  See  "Journal  of  Andre  Michaux,  1793-1796,"  in  R.  G.  Thwaites,  Early 
Western  Travels,  III,  27,  104.  For  instructions  of  Michaux,  see  "Correspondence 
of  the  French  Ministers,"  in  Annual  Report  of  the  American  Historical  Associa- 
tion, II,  1903. 


CHAPTER  XXIX 
GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARK  AND  THE  FRENCH  ENTERPRISE 

Although  Michaux  was  Genet's  chief  pohtical  agent  in  the  West, 
George  Rogers  Clark  was  in  fact  the  life  and  head  of  the  movement. 
Clark  had  not  fared  well  at  the  hands  of  Virginia  and  of  the  Nation, 
as  before  noted.  He  had  spent  his  private  fortune  in  his  conquest  of  the 
Northwest  and  had  never  been  able  to  get  a  satisfactory  and  adequate 
settlement.  His  offer  to  Spain  in  1788  to  expatriate  himself  and  set 
up  a  colony  beyond  the  Mississippi,  was  an  expression  of  his  sense  of 
neglect  by  his  own  country.  As  this  venture  came  to  nothing,  in  1791  he 
reminded  Virginia  again  of  the  fact  that  he  had  used  his  substance  in 
conquering  a  country  which  was  soon  to  be  dotted  with  settlements  and 
again  petitioned  for  an  adjustment  of  his  claims. 1  Again  he  was  doomed 
to  disappointment.  It  was  said  that  in  one  of  his  lits  of  despondency 
and  anger,  he  broke  to  pieces  the  sword  Virginia  had  voted  him  in  1779.- 

Perhaps,  no  man  in  American  history  gave  greater  promise  in  his 
early  life,  of  a  more  brilliant  career.  Before  he  was  twenty-eight  years 
old,  he  had  won  all  the  fame  he  enjoys  today ;  and  in  fact  had  done  ever>-- 
thing  that  was  to  add  to  the  honorable  position  he  was  to  hold  in 
American  history  as  one  of  the  country's  most  intrepid  military  leaders. 
His  health  had  been  impaired  on  his  Northwestern  expedition,  and 
rheumatism  was  later  brought  on  to  add  to  his  gloom  and  sense  of  a 
country's  ingratitude.  Disappointed  in  love,  he  never  married.  Restless 
and  impatient  of  restraint,  he  turned  from  one  scheme  to  another  in  the 
hope  of  finding  relief  from  a  situation  that  was  almost  intolerable.  This 
man,  great  and  admirable  while  his  native  ajaility  and  talents  remained 
unimpaired,  spent  the  last  years  of  his  lifer  in  pain  and  sorrow.  In 
addition  to  his  portion  of  the  Clark  grant  north  of  the  Ohio,  Virginia 
showed  her  continued  regard  and  respect  for  him  by  having  made  in 
1812  a  neatly-wrought  sword  with  suitable  devices  and  presented  to  him. 
She  also  settled  on  him  a  pension  of  $400  annually. ^ 

Qark  was  in  the  midst  of  his  troubles  and  disappointments  when  he 
hit  upon  the  idea  of  entering  a  French  scheme  for  the  conquest  of 
Louisiana.  In  the  latter  part  of  1792  he  had  been  in  communication  with 
the  French  authorities  through  Thomas  Paine,  regarding  the  acceptance 
of  his  services  in  such  a  project. ■*  Before  Genet  arrived  in  America, 
Clark  made  proposals  for  an  expedition  down  the  Mississippi. 

In  a  letter  of  February  5,  1793,  to  the  French  minister,  he  gave  his 
main  reasons  for  seeking  to  join  himself  to  the  French.  He  declared 
with  a  strain  of  bitterness:  "My  country  has  proved  notoriously  un- 
grateful, for  my  Services,  and  so  forgetful  of  those  successful  and  almost 
unexampled  enterprises  which  gave  it  the  whole  of  its  territory  on  this 
side  of  the  great  mountains,  as  in  this  way  in  my  very  prime  of  life,  to  have 
neglected  me.    And  yet,  although  I  feel,  I  never  shall  resent."    Turning 

1  Robertson.  Petitions  of  the  Early  Inhabitants  of  Kentucky,  172-174. 

2  Butler,  History  of  Kentucky,  .S37-539. 

'Butler,  History  of  Kentucky.  537-539.  For  a  short  sketch  of  Clark's  life,  see 
Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  133-140.  For  an  estimate  of  him  see.  Magazine  of 
American  History,  Vol.  14.  571,  572. 

■•  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  967,  968. 

325 


Gen.  George  Rogers  Clark,  1752-1818 
(Courtesy  of  The  I-'ilson  Club) 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  327 

from  the  neglect  he  suffered  from  the  government  he  pointed  out  the  in- 
fluence he  still  had  among  the  people  of  the  West :  "Since  I  relinquished  my 
command  over  the  western  country,  congress  had  not  one  successful  cam- 
paign in  it.  The  Indian  tribes,  from  New  Mexico  to  the  Alleghany  moun- 
tains are  my  friends  and  could  be  brought  to  march  under  my  banners — • 
and  why?  because  I  was  Just  and  dealt  uprightly  and  manfully  with  them, 
while,  by  frequent  defeats,  I  made  them  trouble."  He  now  turned  to  the 
main  point  of  his  letter:  "if  you  and  the  free  nation  you  represent  will 
but  concur  in  the  project — by  sanctioning  my  proceedings,  duly  com- 
missioning me  to  that  end,  supplying  me  with  some  small  resources  by 
Letters  of  credit  or  cash,  and  suffering  me  to  raise  my  own  men  in  this 
Country,  and  to  appoint  them  such  officers  as,  I  am  sure,  will  execute 
the  business  with  promptitude,  secrecy  and  decision.  I  say  secrecy ;  for 
until  the  blow  is  struck,  the  design  of  the  expedition,  or  the  expedition 
itself  ought,  by  no  means,  to  transpire." 

He  showed  a  great  desire  to  convince  the  French.  Continuing  he  de- 
veloped his  plan  and  described  his  power  in  the  Western  country:  "I 
can  raise  abundance  of  men  in  the  western  country — men  as  well  American 
as  French  who  have  repeatedly  fought,  obtained  Laurels,  and  never  yet 
were  met  with  a  repulse  under  my  command,  men  through  whose  courage, 
fidelity  to  their  country  and  confidence  in  my  arrangements,  which  never 
yet  failed  them  of  success,  took  the  Illinois  and  Post  St.  Vincennes  from 
the  Britons,  saved  St.  Louis  and  the  rest  of  Louisiana  for  the  Spaniards, 
from  that  nation,  humbled  the  whole  Northern  and  Southern  tribes  of 
Indians  (those  in  particular  who  are  now  so  hostile  and  triumphant) 
to  the  very  dust,  preserved  Kentucky,  Cumberland  and  the  whole  terri- 
tory north  west  of  the  Ohio  to  the  United  States,  and  protected  the 
western  frontiers  of  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania  from  British  and  Indian 
depredations.  These  are  not  exaggerations.  All  America  will  concur 
with  this  my  unexaggerated  testimony  in  their  favor,  and  these  are  the 
men,  who,  with  me,  will  instantly  expatriate  ourselves,  (as  the  Law  direct), 
and  are  ready  to  become  citizens  of  the  French  Republic — if  my  proposals 
shall  have  been  approved  of." 

He  had  no  doubt  of  the  number  of  men  he  could  raise  and  the  ease 
with  which  he  could  subdue  the  immense  Spanish  dominions  through- 
out all  America.  He  further  developed  his  plans  as  follows :  "Out  of 
Kentucky,  Cumberland,  the  settlement  on  Holston,  the  Waliash  and  the 
Illinois  I  can  (by  my  name  alone)  raise  1500  brave  men,  or  thereabouts — 
and  the  French  at  St.  Louis  and  throughout  the  rest  of  Louisiana,  to- 
gether with  the  American  Spanish  Subjects  at  the  Natchez  would,  I  am 
sure  of  it,  (for  they  all  know  me),  flock  to  my  Standard.  These  last 
would  amount  to,  at  least,  as  many  more.  With  the  first  1500  alone  I 
can  take  the  whole  of  Louisiana  for  France.  I  would  begin  with  St. 
Louis,  a  rich,  large  and  populous  town — and  by  placing  only  two  or 
three  frigates  in  the  Mississippi's  mouth,  (to  guard  against  Spanish 
succours)  I  would  engage  to  subdue  New  Orleans,  and  the  rest  of 
Louisiana.  If  further  aided,  I  would  capture  Pensacola ;  and  if  Santa 
Fe  and  the  rest  of  New  Mexico  were  objects — I  know  their  strength 
and  every  avenue  leading  to  them,  for  conquest.  *  *  *  For  our 
pay  and  gratifications  in  Land,  (as  we  abandon  our  own  here)  we  shall 
confide  in  the  Justice  and  generosity  of  the  great  nation  we  shall  serve, 
after  our  labours  are  over.  To  save  congress  a  rupture  with  Spain,  on 
our  accounts,  we  must  first  expatriate  ourselves,  and  become  French 
citizens.     This  is  our  intention."  ^ 

This  bold  move  proposed  by  Clark  was  not  known  to  Genet  until 
he  reached  Philadelphia  in  May,  when  he  found  Clark's  letter  awaiting 

'■•  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  967-971. 


328  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

him."  He  then  developed  his  plan  for  the  West  as  has  been  previously 
described.  Clark  was  put  in  charge  of  military  affairs  and  given  the 
pretentious  title  of  "Major  General  in  the  Armies  of  France  and  Com- 
mander in  Chief  of  the  French  Revolutionary  Legion  on  the  Mississippi." 
His  control  was  complete  as  far  as  hVench  permission  could  go.  He  was 
responsible  for  the  whole  military  organization,  apj)ointing  his  officers  and 
agents.  A  co[n'  of  a  commission  he  granted  follows :  "To  Henry  Lind- 
say; Know  you  that  by  the  special  confidence,  reposed  in  your  courage, 
ability,  good  conduct  and  fidelity,  and  by  the  jiower  invested  in  me  by 
tile  Minister  of  France,  do  appoint  you  Captain  in  the  Second  Battalion 
of  the  Second  Regiment,  to  serve  in  an  expedition  designed  against  the 
Spaniards  of  Louisiana  and  the  Floridas  by  order  of  Citizen  Genet, 
Alinister  Plenipotentiary  of  the  French  Republic.  All  persons  whom  it 
may  concern  are  [Requested  to  pay  due  attention  lo  you  as  such. 

"Given  under  my  hand  at  Louisville  this  Fleventh  day  of  January, 
1794 — and  in  the  second  year  of  the  h'rench  Rei)ublic  one  and  in- 
divisible." ^ 

Alichaux,  who  was  in  Kentucky  during  September,  October,  and 
November,  (1793)  worked  in  harmony  with  Clark,  lie  sounded  out 
numerous  men  and  attempted  to  turn  them  toward  the  enterprise,  when 
he  was  not  too  busy  botanizing.  In  early  September  he  visited  L'.enjamin 
Logan,  and  learned  he  was  not  going  to  jump  at  conclusions  too  early. 
Logan  declared  that  he  would  rather  wait  for  a  time  to  see  what  would 
be  the  outcome  of  the  American  negotiations  with  Spain  on  the  question 
of  the  Mississippi  before  committing  himself  to  the  French  project.**  But 
within  a  few  months,  his  patience  gave  out  and  he  urgently  offered  his 
aid  to  Clark.  He  declared  on  December  31,  1703,  "I  have  taken  my  leave 
of  appointments  in  this  state  of  the  United  States  and  do  presume  that  I 
am  at  liberty  to  go  to  any  foreign  country  I  please  and  intend  to  do  so."  " 
Michau.x  found  George  Nicholas  in  a  receptive  mood  from  the  very 
beginning.  On  the  9th  of  November  the  latter  proposed  to  Michaux  that 
the  French  fleet  seize  the  mouth  of  the  AIississip])i  and  declare  that  all 
Louisiana  belonged  to  h'rance  by  conquest.  He  would  then  have  the 
French  proclaim  the  freedom  of  navigation  to  the  United  States.  Should 
the  Spaniards  refuse  to  believe  what  the  French  should  proclaim  and 
continue  sto])ping  boats  on  the  river  then  the  Kentuckians  "would  have 
the  right  to  re]jel  Constraint  and  force  by  force.  Thus  the  Spanish  Gov- 
ernment would  have  no  reason  to  complain  of  the  United  States  having 
broken  through  inasmuch  as  the  country  would  he  re])ute(l  in  the  jiossession 
of  the  French  Republic."  It  should  be  noted  that  Nicholas'  suggestion 
had  no  direct  relation  to  a  Kentucky  expedition  except  as  one  might 
develop  to  dislodge  freebooting  Spaniards  from  declared  French  terri- 
tory. Such  niceties  in  international  relations  were  in  kcc]iing  with  the 
legalistic  luind  of  Nicholas.'" 

Clark  was  always  impatient  at  the  interminable  delay  that  seemed  to 
him  to  be  following  his  prejiarations.  He  wrote  Genet  in  early  October 
declaring  that  if  he  had  liad  an  earlier  reply,  he  could  have  by  that  time 
"in  all  probability  I'.xecuted  my  first  Project  that  of  getting  comjileat 
Possession  of  the  Mississippi  as  the  f rends  of  the  people  hoath  in  that 
Country  and  this  was  prejjared  and  I  had  every  information  I  wished 
for  but  at  present  the  season  being  far  advanced  and  I  find  an  impossibility 
of  keeping  it  a  secret."     Clark  was  here  allowing  his  enthusiasm  to  lead 

"  For  a  disciis.sioii  as  to  tlic  time  Geiict  received  tlic  letter  and  as  to  tlie  exact 
address  see  "CorresiKindence  of  Clark  and  Genet."  logg.  Letter  from  T.  M.  Picker- 
inp  to  N.  Welister,  Nov.  i,  171)7. 

'  Ihid..  1033,   1034. 

"Jnuritnl  of  Michaux,  1703-1706,  30-42. 

"  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet."   1026. 

^"Jnuriial  of  Micluiti.r,   1793-1796,  44,  45. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  329 

him  into  exaggerations.  His  preparations  were  far  from  complete  at 
this  time.  He  also  doubtless  by  making  this  statement  sought  to  increase 
Genet's  faith  in  the  practicability  and  ultimate  success  of  the  project,  as 
he  was  continually  troubled  by  the  fear  that  Genet  migiit  not  promptly 
support  him.  He  wrote  in  October,  "Continue  so  to  cherish  that  confidence 
support  me  and  you  will  ere  long  hear  of  a  flame  kindled  on  the  Missisippi 
that  will  not  be  easily  Extinguished." 

The  first  and  immediate  concern  was  to  secure  an  adequate  amount  of 
provisions  and  ammunition,  and  the  necessary  boats.  Transportation 
facilities  seem  to  have  been  the  most  perplexing  of  Clark's  problems.  He 
wrote  Genet  in  October,  1793,  "Boats  are  the  first  object  (a  few  Hundred 
dollars  will  do  to  commence  that  business)  without  them  we  can  do 
nothing  had  we  one  or  two  now  ready  we  could  Vex  the  Enemy  in  less 
than  four  weeks."  He  was  continually  worried  at  the  delay  in  securing 
boats.  He  appointed  a  Captain  Sullivan  "to  superintend  the  building 
of  Boats  purchasing  provisions  and  other  stores  for  the  use  of  the  French 
Republick."  He  wrote  Sullivan  on  October  17,  "I  can  wish  you  to 
loose  no  time  in  Exicuting  the  business  having  the  whole  compleat  as  soon 
as  consistant."  n  V\'ith  all  of  his  urging  Clark  succeeded  in  securing  very 
few  boats.  He  paid  $150  for  two  boats,  and  was  disappointed  in  another 
after  paying  a  builder  $100.12  He  was  more  successful  in  collecting  pro- 
visions. He  had  his  agents  in  the  fertile  Blue  Grass  region  laying  up 
large  stores.  Samuel  Fulton  and  Charles  De  Pauw  were  principally  con- 
cerned in  this  work.  The  latter  was  stationed  near  Danville,  while  the 
former  had  general  oversight  for  the  whole  state.  Fulton,  who  had  fled 
West  Florida  on  the  outbreak  of  war  between  France  and  Spain,  and 
who  having  heard  of  Clark's  activities  when  he  reached  Tennessee,  came 
to  Kentucky  and  joined  the  movement  and  became  one  of  Clark's  princi])al 
aids.i" 

During  the  month  of  January,  1794,  he  traveled  over  the  state  ex- 
tensively in  the  general  interests  of  the  enterprise.  In  the  meantime 
De  Pauw  was  not  working  as  fa.st  in  collecting  provisions  as  Clark 
desired,  so  in  early  February,  (1794),  he  was  informed  by  the  latter  of 
the  hope  that  "you  would  not  hav  Long  to  tarry  as  we  should  soon  move 
down  the  River."  '^  A  little  over  a  month  later  Clark  dispatched  Fulton 
to  Central  Kentucky  to  "examine  in  what  State  the  provisions  that  De 
Pauw  had  purchased  for  the  Republic  of  France  was  in  and  to  indeavor  to 
Secure  a  quantity  more."  is  On  the  i8th  of  March,  (1794),  Fulton  .sent 
a  notice  to  De  Pauw  stating  that  "I  will  Cal  on  you  tomorrow  pray  stay 
at  Home  that  I  may  See  you."  i«  Fie  found  that  he  had  "not  the  Quantity 
we  Generally  Heard."  Their  expectations  must  have  been  large,  as  Fulton 
reported  that  he  had  over  15,000  pounds  of  bacon,  twenty  barrels  of  flour, 
and  six  hundred  ])ounds  of  lard.  lie  also  found  that  a  certain  William 
Thompson  had  about  four  hundred  barrels  of  flour  and  a  thousand 
pounds  of  bacon  collected  for  the  expeditions."  As  soon  as  the  river 
should  become  passable  ,all  of  these  stores  were  to  be  floated  down  the 
Kentucky  River  and  to  Clark's  headquarters  at  Louisville. 

As  this  enterprise  was  not  to  be  exclusively  confined  to  Kentucky, 
Clark  had  his  agents  at  work  in  other  parts  of  the  West.  John  Montgomery 
was  responsible  for  preparations  that  were  going  on  in  the  Cumberland 
region  in  Tennessee.     In  January,  1794,  he'informed  Clark  that  he  had 

11  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  Clark  to  Sullivan,  Oct.  17,  179.3,  1014. 
1-Froin  Clark's  expense  account,  Ibid.,  1071. 

'^  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  Fulton's  account,   1064 
'<  Ibid.,   1040.     Clark  to  DePauw,  Feb.   10,   1793. 
^^  Ibid.,  1064.     Fulton  to  Fouchct,  n.  d. 

""•"Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  1046.  Fulton  to  DePauw  March  18 
1794. 

^'  Ibid.,  1051.     Fulton  to  Clark,  March  21,  1794. 


330  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

between  ig.cxx)  and  20,000  ])ounds  of  beef,  over  1,100  pounds  of  Bear 
meat,  seventy  or  seventy-four  pairs  of  venison  hams,  some  beef  tongues, 
one  large  flat  bottomed  boat  and  four  pirogues,  500  bushels  of  corn  and 
10,000  pounds  of  pork.'*  The  bear  meat  and  venison  were  doubtless  the 
result  of  a  hunting  expedition  carried  on  by  a  Mr.  McCoUam  who  promised 
to  let  Clark  have  whatever  was  secured.*" 

Munitions  of  war  were  equally  as  necessafy  for  this  expedition  as 
were  boats  and  provisions.  The  chief  concern  along  this  line  was  powder 
and  cannon.  Musket  were  as  plentiful  as  the  peo])le  who  inhabitated  the 
frontier.  No  mention  of  them  was  made  in  any  of  the  stores  of  munitions. 
Montgomery  in  his  report  of  progress  on  the  Cumberland  also  informed 
Clark  that  he  had  about  thirty  poimds  of  good  jjowder,  117  pounds  of 
lead,  five  axes,  and  three  jjots.  Fulton  was  also  given  the  task  of  collect- 
ing war  munitions.  He  secured  a  list  of  persons  who  subscribed  varying 
amounts  of  powder,  .'\mong  these  subscribers  were  some  of  the  most 
prominent  men  in  the  state.  John  Breckinridge,  John  Bradford,  Levi 
Todd,  Thomas  Todd,  Robert  Patterson,  and  Andrew  Holmes  were  among 
the  number.  These  subscriptions  were  most  likely  made  through  the 
Democratic  Society  at  Lexington  as  the  list  contained  the  name  of  the 
chairman  and  both  clerks,  and  Clark  referred  to  the  fact  that  "The  Demo- 
cratic Society  of  Kentucky  have  made  some  advances  in  ammunition  and 
Given  all  the  encouragement  in  their  power." -'^  In  March,  i7<)4,  Clark 
secured  500  pounds  of  powder.-'  As  he  conlem])lated  laying  siege  to  St. 
Louis,  New  Orleans  and  other  Sjjanish  towns,  he  stood  in  great  need  of 
cannon.  In  the  early  days  of  the  enterprise,  he  informed  Michaux  of  his 
desire  for  two  brass  field  pieces  of  three  pound  calibre  "and  one  or  two 
small  mortars  or  Howitzers"  with  balls  and  shells.  As  these  could  not 
be  |)rovided  in  the  West  they  would  have  to  be  secured  in  the  East  and 
brought  across  the  mountains.  Clark  believed  some  confidential  jjerson 
might  be  got  "to  bring  them  out,  this  winter  they  may  come  out  very 
secretly  as  they  might  be  put  into  large  trunks  of  goods."  He  added  that 
if  they  could  be  conveniently  sent,  it  would  be  much  better  to  double  the 
number.--  Before  the  expedition  was  abandoned  he  came  into  possession 
in  some  manner  of  a  few  cannon ;  for  in  March,  1794,  he  reported  that  he 
had  on  hand  one  ton  of  cannon  balls,  and  in  his  claims  presented  to 
France  he  included  an  item  of  $300  for  a  cannon  "taken  by  the  Spaniards 
and  the  Savages."  ~^ 

The  least  of  Clark's  troubles  in  preparing  for  his  expedition  was 
the  supjjly  of  men.  The  conditions  in  the  West  ever  since  the  Revolution 
were  such  as  to  ]iroduce  a  restlessness  among  its  inhabitants  in  addition 
to  the  natural  inclinations  of  frontiersmen  in  this  particular.  He  gave 
comparatively  little  thought  to  the  subject  of  raising  men,  declaring  to 
Genet  that  as  to  "men  they  we  can  get  at  any  time."  -*  There  was  also 
the  point  of  secrecy  involved.  As  long  as  there  were  no  armed  forces 
evident,  danger  of  detecting  the  movement  was  almost  non-existent;  for 
little  importance  could  be  attached  to  building  of  boats,  and  the  collecting 
of  provisions,  activities  common  to  the  West  at  that  time.  But  Clark 
was   so  confident   of   ])0]nilar   suiijjort   or   at   most   indifference,   that   he 

'*  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  1034.     Montgomery  to  Clark,  Jan.  12, 

1794. 

'"  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  1018,  1019.  Montgomery  to  Clark, 
Oct.  26,  1793. 

-"  "Corre.spondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  1073,  1074.  From  a  list  prepared  for 
the  French  government.  Clark  to  Genet,  April  28,  1794,  in  American  Historical 
licvicu:  Xyill.  781,  782. 

■-'  .Inicrican  Stale  Palters,  Foreifin  Relations,  I,  4S^- 

--  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  1013.    Clark  to  Michau.x,  Oct.  i,^,  1793- 

"'"Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  1071,  1072;  American  Slate  Papers, 
Foreign  Relations,  I,  4.';8. 

^*  American  State  Papers,  Foreign  Relations,  I,  458. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  331 

never  made  a  strong  point  on  secrecy.  By  October,  (1793),  he  seems 
to  have  ceased  to  have  any  concern  whatever  about  the  pubHcity  of  his 
undertaking,  as  he  informed  Michaux  that  "it  will  be  out  of  our  power 
to  keep  our  design  a  secret  it  is  genly  known  already."  -^ 

So  far  removed  were  Clark's  ideas  of  his  undertaking  being  a  secret 
intrigue  and  so  implicit  was  his  belief  that  it  was  a  popular  movement 
deserving  popular  support,  that  he  issued  a  proclamation  in  the  midst  of 
preparations  calling  for  volunteers.-"  This  was  designed  especially  to 
facilitate  the  immediate  raising  of  a  force  when  the  time  should  come 
for  it.  Clark  announced  the  purpose  to  be  "the  reduction  of  the  Spanish 
posts  on  the  Mississippi,  for  opening  the  Trade  of  that  river  and  giving 
freedom  to  all  its  inhabitants."  All  volunteers  should  be  amply  paid  either 
in  land  "that  may  be  conquered"  or  in  money.  All  persons  entering  the 
service  were  provided  one  thousand  acres,  and  if  they  served  one  year  or 
for  the  duration  of  the  war,  they  should  receive  two  thousand  acres. 
Ofificers  should  be  recompensed  in  proportion  to  their  rank.  The  Procla- 
mation that  "All  lawful  plunder  to  be  equally  divided  according  to  the 
custom  of  war."  \olunteers  who  should  not  care  for  land  would  be  paid 
one  dollar  per  day. 

This  proclamation  first  appeared  in  the  Ccntinel  of  the  Northwestern 
Territory,  a  newspaper  published  at  Cincinnati,  in  its  issue  for  January 
25,  1794.  The  Koitifcky  Gazette  copied  it,  February  8,  in  an  extraordin- 
ary issue.  The  paper  for  this  week  contained  besides  this  proclamation, 
another  proclamation  issued  by  Governor  St.  Clair  of  the  Northwest 
Territory  warning  all  people  under  his  jurisdiction  to  refrain  from  taking 
sides  in  the  war  between  France  and  Spain,  and  specifically  cautioning 
them  against  attaching  themselves  to  Le  Chaise,  De  Pauw,  or  any  other 
French  agents.-^  But  any  fear  that  St.  Clair  might  have  instilled  into 
Kentuckians  was  destined  to  be  smothered  by  their  indignation  at  the 
"desolated  and  deserted"  conditions  of  their  state  so  extensively  set  forth 
throughout  almost  the  whole  of  the  front  page  and  continuing  "beyond,  by 
"An  Old  Fashioned  Republican"  in  an  article  entitled  the  "Crisis."  He 
laimched  into  a  long  discussion  of  the  Mississippi  River  question  in  which 
he  roughly  handled  the  United  States  Government  for  its  inactivity.  He 
declared  that  "From  Government  we  have  nothing  even  to  hope.  They 
never  did  intend  nor  will  they  ever  invest  us  with  this  right."  If  the 
"Crisis"  was  not  written  directly  in  answer  to  St.  Clair,  and  if  both  St. 
Clair's  proclamation  and  this  article  were  not  published  by  design  in  the 
same  issue  of  the  Kentneky  Gazette,  the  coincidences  are  striking  and 
strange.  The  "Old  Fashioned  Republican"  was  undoubtedly  taking  a 
thrust  at  St.  Clair,  when  he  declared  that  "To  talk  of  infractions  of  laws, 
is  puerile,  when  the  government  we  live  under  has  suffered  an  infraction 
of  that  only  law,  which  can  be  a  just  consideration  for  obedience  to  any 
government."  He  then  gave  to  Clark  by  inference  the  strong  assurance 
that  the  people  would  stand  by  him  and  follow  him  in  securing  just  rights 
withheld:  "To  those  remaining  veteran  patriots  therefore,  whose  foot- 
steps we  followed  to  the  distant  desert,  and  who  by  their  blood  and  toil, 
have  converted  it  into  a  smiling  and  delightful  country,-  we  now  look  u|). 
Under  your  guidance  we  fought,  we  bled,  and  acquired  the  country ;  and 
under  your  guidance  we  still  wish  to  fight  and  bleed,  while  any  appendage 
to  its  complete  enjoyment  remains  to  be  procured.  *  *  *  q^j.  jj^gg 
and  our  fortunes,  we  are  free  to  hazard  in  the  attempt  and  so  long  as 
we  can  wield  a  sword  or  raise  a  shilling,  they  shall,  if  you  lead  the  way, 

-5  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  1009.    Clark  to  Michaux,  Oct.  3,  1793. 

2«  This  proclamation  was  printed  in  the  Centhiel  of  the  Northwestern  Terrv- 
tory  (Cincinnati),  Jan.  25,  1794,  and  was  copied  in  the  Kentucky  Gazette,  Feb.  8, 
1794- 

2'  Dated  Dec.  7,  1793. 


332  HISTORY  UF  KENTUCKY 

be  devoted  to  the  procureinenl  of  this  right."  He  declared  that  if  their 
present  conditions  were  to  continue,  it  was  well  that  they  move  over  into 
the  Spanish  dominions  and  let  Spain  rule  over  them,  '"for  slavery  among 
slaves,  is  not  more  intolerable,  than  partiality  and  oppression  among  free- 
men." 

Public  sentiment  was  thus  being  played  upon  in  a  manner  hel])ful  u> 
Clark;  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  there  were  jMesent  the  elements  in  the 
situation  that  would  have  made  possible  the  actual  raising  of  considerable 
numbers  of  men.  Clark  never  had  the  slightest  worry  as  to  this  part  of 
his  preparations.  He  afterwards  declared  that  "Alen  we  could  have  got 
in  what  numbers  we  chose"  and  that  large  numbers  of  officers  "were 
nominated  and  ready  to  come  forward  when  called  ior."-^  As  anxious 
as  he  always  was  to  set  out,  he  never  was  able  to  put  his  whole  expedi- 
tion into  motion,  for  reasons  that  shall  appear  later.  In  October,  1793, 
he  claimed  by  that  time  he  could  have  seized  control  of  the  Mississip])i 
River,  had  certain  instructions  not  been  lacking ;  in  January  following  he 
planned  to  move  by  the  20lh  of  the  next  month;  and  in  March  he  was 
still  holding  out  expectations  of  moving  soon. 

The  only  actual  movement  of  troops  took  place  in  this  last  named 
month  and  was  composed  of  a  detachment  from  the  Cumberland  region, 
who  floated  down  the  Cumberland  River  to  join  the  main  expedition, 
destined  never  to  start.  From  the  beginning  of  the  enterjirise,  considerable 
enthusiasm  had  been  shown  in  this  part  of  Tennessee.  John  .Montgomery 
informed  Clark  in  October,  1793,  that  he  could  easily  raise  several  hundred 
men.-'-'  Governor  Blount,  on  receiving  information  of  what  was  going  on, 
gave  the  solemn  warning  that  "Should  these  inconsiderate  Persons 
actually  carry  their  scheme  so  far  into  execution  as  to  make  an  attempt 
to  conquer  West  Florida,  which  is  certainly  all  they  can  do,  thej'  will 
unquestionably  involve  the  United  States,  in  a  general  War,  and  lay  them- 
selves liable  to  heavy  Pains  and  penalties,  both  pecuniary  and  corporal, 
in  case  they  ever  return  to  their  injured  Country.'"'  Regardless  of  the 
attitude  of  Blount  this  party,  reported  variously  from  twenty-one  to 
two  hundred,"'  passed  down  the  Cumberland  to  its  mouth  in  the  hopes  of 
joining  Clark.  They  constructed  a  fort  here  and  with  nothing  else  to  do, 
soon  began  to  interfere  with  the  boats  passing  up  and  down  the  river. 
One  account  stated  that  "they  determined  to  sto]),  detain,  and  plunder  all 
boats  that  should  be  found  passing  the  river"  as  they  were  disappointed 
at  Clark's  delay  and  became  exasperated  at  not  receiving  their  pay.  Their 
action  was  most  likely  due  to  a  lack  of  restraint  and  the  ease  with  which 
such  river  crafts  might  be  taken.  Clark  claimed  that  he  paid  three  troops 
$1,346  for  two  months'  services. •'- 

It  was  reported  in  the  East  by  a  ])erson  who  claimed  to  be  an  eye- 
witness that  when  Spain  heard  of  this  force  of  nien,  she  dispatched  a 
party  of  Chickasaw  Indians  against  it,  who  fell  upon  it,  killed  three, 
wounded  four,  and  dispersed  the  remainder.^-'     The  fact  was  that  the 


-^  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  1095.  Clark  to  Coniniitlec  of  Public 
Safety,  Nov.  2.  1795. 

-"  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  1018,  loig.  Montgomery  to  Clark, 
Oct.  26,  1793. 

3"  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"   1037,   Blount   to   Robertson,   Jan.   19, 

1794- 

"'  .'\  person  who  declared  he  slipped  by  the  mouth  of  the  Cumberland  in  the 
night  time,  reported  tliere  were  twenty-one;  the  Spaniards  heard  there  were  about 
200;  and  Clarlc  in  his  statement  of  expenses  to  the  French  government  has  an  item 
of  $1,346  paid  to  a  captain,  a  lieutenant  and  100  men  at  the  month  of  the  Cumber- 
land.    See  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"   1039,   1062,  1071,   1072. 

"^  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  1071,  1072. 

3''  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  1062.  Pennsylvania  Gascttc,  June  4, 
1794.  There  must  have  been  an  clement  of  truth  in  this  statement;  as  Clark 
marked  down  in  his  claims  against  France  a  caininn  "taken  by  the  Spaniards  and 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  333 

adhesion  of  the  party  soon  began  to  spend  itself  in  idleness,  and  the 
remnant  was  scattered  by  a  detachment  of  General  Wayne's  army,  which 
then  fortified  Fort  Massac  further  down  the  river  to  prevent  further 
trouble.^* 

The  enterprise  was  definitely  given  up  by  Clark  on  April  20,  1794, 
when  he  dispatched  Fulton  throughout  the  state  "To  countermand  all 
orders  that  had  before  Been  Issued."  ^^  Fouchet,  who  had  displaced 
Genet  as  the  French  minister  had  issued  his  orders  to  stop  the  enterprise 
on  the  6th  of  IVIarch.  Regardless  of  other  causes  that  might  have  proved 
sufficient,  the  main  reason  for  the  failure  to  get  started  during  the  period 
of  preparation  extending  over  almost  a  year's  time,  was  the  lack  of  money. 
And  the  reason  why  the  French  minister  and  his  agents  did  not  supply 
Clark  was  due  to  the  fact  that  they,  themselves,  did  not  have  it.  Genet 
had  planned  to  carry  on  his  enterprises  against  the  enemies  of  France 
in  America  through  funds  he  expected  to  collect  from  the  United  States 
as  payments  on  her  French  debt.  The  refusal  of  the  American  govern- 
ment to  make  payment  at  that  time  was  in  fact  the  ultimate  cause  for  the 
disruption  of  Genet's  schemes.  Clark  was  continually  calling  for  funds 
and  urging  their  absolute  necessity  for  the  success  of  the  undertaking 
In  October,  1793,  he  wrote  Michaux  "Money  is  an  object  of  the  greatest 
Importance  it  will  almost  insure  our  success  no  doubt  but  Mr.  Genet 
will  be  anctious  to  Honour  your  Draughts  on  him."  ^s  James  Brown, 
Secretary  of  State  for  Kentucky,  in  February,  1794,  declared  to  Gov- 
ernor Shelby  that  he  was  fully  convinced  "that  nothing  less  than  a  con- 
siderable supply  of  money  will  enable  the  promoters"  of  the  enterprise 
"to  effectuate  their  intentions."  *"  Michaux  made  anxious  attempts  to 
raise  funds  in  Kentucky.  He  informed  Clark  in  the  early  stages  of  the 
movement  that  he  had  been  sounding  the  merchants  in  Lexington  "and 
they  promise  to  me  as  much  as  they  could  give  in  the  times."  ^^  One  of 
the  reasons  for  Michaux  returning  to  Philadelphia,  after  spending  only 
about  three  months  in  Kentucky,  was  to  try  to  raise  money  in  the  East. 
In  December,  (1793),  he  sent  Clark  a  bill  of  exchange  on  a  resident  of 
Lexington  for  $400.2" 

But  very  little  money  ever  went  to  the  leaders  of  the  movement  in 
Kentucky.  Their  interest  in  the  undertaking  was  so  great  and  their 
faith  in  the  French  government  so  strong  that  they  did  not  wait  for  funds, 
but  used  up  their  own  private  fortunes  in  the  expectation  of  being  later 
repaid. 

Clark,  as  the  leading  spirit,  had  not  stood  back  in  spending  his  own 
money  almost  to  the  limit  of  his  substance.  He  immediately  on  the  aban- 
donment of  the  expedition,  after  Fouchet  had  so  ordered,  sought  to  make 
collections.  On  April  28,  1794,  he  wrote  Genet,  that  he  wished  to  be 
recompensed  for  the  money  that  had  been  used,  for  "though  it  is  not 
Considerable  it  is  Sufficient  to  Ruin  me,  and  hurt  many  others."  He 
also  stated  that  the  members  of  Democratic  Society  of  Kentucky,  who  had 

the  Savages."  Doubtless  the  Chickasaws  fell  upon  some  scattered  detachments  of 
this  abortive  expedition,  captured  the  cannon  and  perhaps  performed  the  other 
exploits  mentioned.  .'X.s  there  is  no  trace  of  any  conflict  that  detachments  of  the 
Clark  forces  could  have  had  with  the  Spaniards  and  Indians,  the  mention  of  the 
loss  of  a  cannon    must  have  had  reference  to  this  instance. 

'••  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  inSo.  Gayoso  to  Alcudia,  Sept.  19, 
1794:  Roosevelt,   JVinniiifj  nf  the  lVc<:f.  IV.  tS^. 

^"  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  1064. 

^''  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  1013. 

^"  Thid..  Brown  to  Shelhv.  Feb.   16,  1794. 

'5  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  loio,  1012.  Michaux  to  Clark,  Oct. 
7.  10,   1793- 

'^  Ibid..  1025,  Michaux  to  Clark,  Dec.  27,  1703.  Clark's  claims  were  given  at 
one  time  as  $4,805,862/3  and  at  another  as  $4,3iO..S3  1/3.  For  itemized  accounts, 
see  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet."  1071,  1072. 


334  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

advanced  ammunition,  as  well  as  the  others  who  had  used  their  own 
money  were  "impatiently  Expecting  Mr.  Michaux  with  Supplies  of 
money."  ••" 

Clark  felt  the  need  of  money  so  keenly  that  he  did  not  forget  to 
petition  Virginia  in  the  very  midst  of  this  undertaking,  after  he  had  be- 
come a  major-general  in  the  French  army  and  presumably  a  French 
Citizen. <'  On  November  ii,  1793,  he  asked  for  full  pay  for  five  years, 
or  half  pay  for  life.''^ 

Clark's  name  at  the  head  of  the  enterprise  had  caused  many  not 
only  to  be  ready  to  join  it  at  the  proper  time,  but  had  led  them  to  advance 
their  own  money  in  payment  for  supplies.  John  Mongomery,  who 
collected  large  amounts  of  provisions  and  ammunition  in  the  District  of 
Niro  (Cumberland  regions)  wrote  Clark  in  January,  1794,  that  these 
supplies  had  "been  purchased  on  the  Credit  and  faith  of  you  and  the 
French  [najtion  with  my  exertions.  I  am  ruined  if  neglected."  ■•^  Clark 
not  only  had  the  trouble  of  trying  to  make  his  own  collections,  but  was 
also  importuned  by  others  to  aid  them.'**  Samuel  Fulton  became  the  chief 
claim  agent  for  Clark  and  incidentally  of  the  others.  He  first  went  to 
Philadelphia  where  he  saw  Fouchet.  He  was  advised  to  lump  all  the 
claims  together  and  present  them  at  the  same  time.*'  Soon  finding  out 
that  he  could  do  little  in  Philadeljihia  toward  collecting  them,  he  set 
sail  for  Paris  to  present  them  to  the  National  Convention.  He  succeeded 
in  getting  them  allowed  in  principle  but  due  to  the  fact  that  they  were 
not  certified  by  the  French  minister  they  were  not  paid.'*" 

Clark  did  not  become  exasperated  at  the  delay  in  the  settlement  of 
his  claims.  He  was  not  convinced  for  a  year  or  two  after  the  expedition 
liad  been  abandoned  that  it  might  not  be  renewed.  And  he  in  fact  urged 
another  attempt  on  the  French  government.  That  there  was  much  hope 
of  a  renewal  in  Clark's  mind  may  well  be  doubted ;  rather  must  this  con- 
tinued interest  manifested  by  Clark  be  laid  to  his  sense  of  tact  and  judg- 
ment in  remaining  in  the  good  graces  of  the  French  until  he  could  make 
collections.  In  November,  1795,  Clark  wrote  the  Committee  of  Safety 
that  the  people  still  sympathized  with  France  and  that  if  they  should 
attempt  another  expedition  "no  opposition  that  would  be  made  in  this 
quarter  could  stop  their  Career  were  they  again  to  be  put  in  IMotion." 
He  declared  that  since  the  Mississippi  was  the  outlet  for  the  western 
country  the  people  were  still  upset  over  the  question  and  that  "They  dis- 
pair  of  ever  getting  it  opened  through  the  mediation  of  the  present 
American  Ministry."  He  was  quick  to  add  that  "This  is  not  the  only  rea- 
son for  their  desire  to  assist  France  but  a  powerful  one  that  of  gratitude 
toward  you  and  the  Idea  they  possess  of  the  rights  of  man."  ■*'' 

Fulton  also  professed  to  be  as  much  interested  in  a  renewal  of  the 
enterprise  as  he  had  ever  been  for  the  original  venture.  He  informed 
Clark  of  his  belief  that  after  he  should  see  the  National  Convention  it 
would  most  likely  be  renewed.  In  expectation  of  this,  he  said,  he  had  re- 
fused an  appointment  in  the  United  States  army  offered  him  by  General 

■•"  Clark  to  Genet,  .April  28,  1794,  in  American  Historical  Review,  XVIII,  781, 
782. 

*'  See  Clark's  letter  to  the  French  minister  Feb.  5,  1793,  in  "Correspondence  of 
Clark  and  Genet,"  07°- 

*-  Robertson,  Petitions  of  the  Early  Inhabitants  of  Kentucky,  172.  174. 

<'  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  1034.     Montgomery  to  Clark,  Jan.  12, 

1794- 

**  See  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  1085,  iog6,  1097. 

■">  Ibid.,  1067,  1069,  passim.     Fulton  bcRan  his  eflforts  in  the  summer  of  1794. 

■""The  prcsimiption  is  that  these  claims  were  never  paid,  as  the  whirl  of  Rov- 
emmcntal  chanRes  ,ind  confusion  in  France  prochidcd  such  a  settlement.  See  "Cor- 
resDondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  1088,  1089,  935. 

<'  "Corre.spondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  1096.    Letter  dated  Nov.  2,  1795. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  335 

Knox.'**  About  a  year  later  he  wrote  Clark  from  Paris  that  he  was  up 
to  that  time  unable  to  determine  whether  the  French  would  begin  anew 
the  undertaking ;  but  that  in  case  they  did  he  stood  ready  to  set  out  for 
America  to  give  his  support  to  it.^^  But  events  moved  fast  in  the  United 
States ;  in  a  short  time  conditions  were  so  changed  that  a  continuance 
of  such  French  enterprises  was  out  of  the  question. 

*"  Ibid.,  1068.     Fulton  to  Clark,  July  26,  1794. 

■*»  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  1086,  1087.     Fulton  to  Clark,  Feb.   13, 
March  2,  1795. 


CHAPTER  XXX 

GOVERNOR  SHELBY  AND  THE  FRENCH  ENTERPRISE 

The  official  attitude  whicli  Kentucky  uu'^ht  assume  toward  his  enter- 
prise was  of  prime  importance  to  Genet.  However,  he  had  no  fears,  witli 
his  behef  in  the  almost  imiversal  popular  clamor  in  favor  of  France. 
He  had  so  little  apprehension  apart  from  Washington  and  his  immediate 
supporters  that  he  had  confided  the  main  outlines  of  his  plans  to  Jefferson, 
the  Secretary  of  State.  And  no  less  a  ])ersonage  than  George  Rogers 
Clark,  had  on  his  own  initiative  urged  the  scheme  and  offered  his  services. 
I  le  believed  there  were  unmistakable  signs  of  almost  universal  sup])ort 
from  the  jieople,  and  if  not  active  assistance,  at  least  passive  acquiescence 
from  the  governmental  officials.  He  had,  therefore,  sent  Alichaux  West 
armed  with  am])le  letters  of  introduction  to  Governor  Shelby.  With  no 
natural  bent  toward  political  intrigue.  Michaux  no  doubt  said  little  to 
Shelby  concerning  Genet's  scheme. 

The  ever  watchful  and  intriguing  Spaniards  had  received  information 
of  the  French  plans,  even  before  (icnet  had  dispatched  a  single  emissary 
to  Kentucky.  The  Spanish  minister  made  representations  to  Jetiferson 
that  the  French  were  bent  on  inciting  the  Kentuckians  against  the  Spanish 
power  in  Louisiana,  and  demanded  that  the  I'nited  States  put  a  stop 
to  the  proceedings.'  Jefferson  therefore  on  August  29,  1793,  wrote 
Governor  Shelby  of  the  Spanish  accusations  and  reminded  him  of  the 
impropriety  and  danger  of  such  proceedings  against  a  friendly  power, 
and  especially  against  Spain  under  present  relations  with  that  country, 
and  instructed  him  "to  take  those  legal  measures  which  shall  be  necessary 
to  prevent  any  such  enterprise."  -  This  letter  no  doubt  gave  Shelby  his 
fir.st  idea  as  to  the  actual  importance  of  the  iM-ench  scheme.-''  On  October 
5,  he  replied  to  JefTerson  that  he  would  be  on  the  watch  for  such  expedition 
fitting  out  in  tlie  state  and  prevent  it.  He  added  that  he  was  "well  persuaded 
at  present  none  such  is  in  contemplation  in  this  State.  The  citizens  of 
Kentucky  possess  too  just  a  sense  of  the  obligation  they  owe  the  General 
Government,  to  embark  in  anv  enterprise  that  would  be  so  injurious  to  the 
United  States."  * 

But  at  this  very  time.  Genet's  chief  p<ilitical  agent  was  in  Kentucky 
and  four  other  principal  aids  were  there  or  were  shortly  to  arrive.  In 
fact  two  days  before  Shelby  answered  Jefferson,  Clark's  enthusiasm  for 
the  enterprise  led  him  to  say  that  had  he  received  a  quicker  answer  from 
Genet,  he  could  by  that  time  have  been  in  "Complete  Possession  of  the 
Mississippi."  There  must,  therefore,  have  been  certain  evidences  of  the 
expedition  fitting  in  Kentucky  re|)orted  to  JefTerson,  apart  from  the  pan- 
icky Spanish  minister's  charge  that  four  Frenchmen  had  recently  gone 
there  to  aid  the  enterprise.  Jefferson  was  so  far  convinced  and  alarmed 
that  he  addressed  Governor  Shelby  again  on   November  6   (1793),  and 

'  American  Stale  Paf>crs.  foreign  Relalions,  I,  455.  This  was  prior  to  Aug. 
29.  170.1- 

=  Ibid.,  455- 

'Between  the  time  when  Jcflferson  wrote  this  letter  and  the  date  nf  Shelby's 
reply,  Micliatix  \mt\  paid  Iiis  first  visit  to  the  latter.     CScpt.  13.) 

*  American  Stale  Pnj^ers,  Foreiiin  Relatiniis,  I,  455. 

336 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  337 

asked  him  to  use  every  legal  means  to  frustrate  the  French  designs.  He 
threw  out  the  suggestion,  that  when  such  possible  legal  means  "failed  or 
are  inadequate,  a  suppression  by  the  militia  of  the  State  has  been  ordered 
and  practiced  in  the  other  states."  He  expressed  his  concern  "that  the 
citizens  of  Kentucky  will  not  be  decoyed  into  any  participation  into  these 
illegal  enterprises  against  the  peace  of  this  country  by  any  effect  they  may 
expect  from  them  on  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi.  Their  good  sense 
w^ill  tell  them,  that  that  is  not  to  be  effected  by  half  measures  of  this 
kind,  and  that  their  surest  dependence  is  on  those  regular  measures  which 
are  pursuing,  and  will  be  pursued,  by  the  General  Government,  and  which 
flow  from  the  united  authority  of  all  the  States."  •'  The  solicitude  of 
the  national  government  that  this  enterprise  be  seized  in  the  bud  was 
evident  in  a  letter  from  the  Secretary  of  War  three  days  later.  General 
Knox  declared  to  Shelby  that  he  had  been  instructed  by  President  Wash- 
ington to  state  to  him  that  if  peaceful  means  should  fail  "to  request  that 
your  excellency  will  use  effectual  military  force  to  prevent  the  execution 
of  the  plan  of  the  said  Frenchmen,  or  any  other  persons  who  may  support 
or  abet  their  design."  To  which  he  added  the  further  persuasion  that, 
"for  the  lawful  expenses  of  which  the  United  States  will  be  responsible."  ^ 

Shortly  after  the  receipt  of  this  letter,  Shelby  was  addressed  in  separate 
communications  by  two  of  the  four  French  agents  that  Jefferson  had 
warned  him  against.  La  Chaise  and  De  Pauw,  the  former  wrote:  "Dis- 
patched by  the  ambassador  of  the  French  republic,  to  co-operate  with 
Citizen  Michaux,  in  the  object  of  his  mission  as  agent  of  the  republic 
(of  which  I  presume  you  have  already  been  informed),  I  now  take 
the  liberty  of  expressing  my  regret  that  it  is  out  of  my  power  to  wait 
upon  you  to  deliver  the  letters  which  I  was  entrusted  with  by  the  minister ; 
and  to  assure  you  to  the  lively  affection  which  I  feel  for  the  inhabitants 
of  that  country,  whose  interests  are  so  dear  to  you.  *  *  *  Impressed 
with  a  conviction  that  you  feel  yourself  deeply  interested  in  the  success 
of  our  arms,  I  transmit  you  an  account  of  our  late  brilliant  achievements. 
I  also  add  a  copy  of  our  excellent  constitution,  which  has  been  generally 
accepted,  and  which  has  reconciled  all  parties."' 

La  Chaise's  letter  gave  little  information  beyond  the  fact  that  he  could 
not  at  that  time  deliver  certain  letters,  that  he  was  a  French  Agent,  and 
that  he  was  a  well-wisher  of  Kentucky.  His  associate,  De  Pauw,  who 
has  already  been  noted,  was  in  Central  Kentucky  at  Clark's  orders  collect- 
ing provisions,  was  more  open  and  e.xact  in  communicating  his  designs  to 
Governor  Shelby.  His  letter  bore  the  same  date,  November  25,  1793, 
as  La  Chaise's.  It  follows :  "It  may  appear  quite  a  strange  to  write  to 
you  on  a  subject  in  which,  although  it  is  of  some  consequence,  with  con- 
fidence from  the  French  ambas'sador  I  have  been  dispatched  with  more 
Frenchmen  to  join  the  expedition  of  the  Mississippi,  as  I  am  to  procure 
the  provision  I  am  happy  to  communicate  to  you,  whatever  you  shall 
think  worthy  of  my  notice,  as  I  hope  I  have  in  no  way  disoblige  you ; 
if  I  have,  I  will  most  willingly  ask  your  pardon.  For  nobody  can  he  more 
than  I  am,  willing  for  your  prosperity  and  happiness.  As  some  strange 
reports  luis  reached  my  ears  that  your  excellence  has  positive  orders  to 
arrest  all  citizens  inclining  to  our  assistance,  and  as  my  remembrance 
know  by  your  conduct,  in  justice  you  will  satisfy  in  this  uncommon 
request.  Please  let  me  know  as  I  shall  not  make  my  supply  till  your 
excellence  please  to  honor  me  with  a  small  answer."     He  added  as  a 


'•American  Stale  Papers,  Foreign  Relations,  I,  455. 

"  ,4  inert  can  State  Papers,  Foreign  Relations,  I,  458.    The  letters  from  Jefferson 
and  Knox  were  sent  together  to  Shelhy. 
"  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  III.  gg. 

Vol.  1—26 


338  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

postscript,  "Please  to  participate  some  of  these  liaiul  bills  to  that  noble 
society  of  democrats.     I  also  enclose  a  paper  from  Pittsburg."  * 

This  was  a  bold  and  undisguised  atlemj)t  to  enlist  the  power  of  the 
state  government  in  the  enterprise.  Willing  to  take  the  governor  into  his 
confidence  and  promising  to  delay  his  collection  of  provisions  until  he 
should  receive  a  reply,  he  did  not  let  Shelby's  answer  interfere  with  his 
duties  as  a  French  agent.  Three  days  later  in  his  straightforward  reply, 
without  exhibiting  resentment  or  indignation,  (iovcrnor  Shelby  said,  "I 
will  just  state  to  you  what  I  have  in  charge  from  the  Secretary  of  State 
at  Phila(lel])hia  on  that  subject  (the  expedition  down  the  Mississipjji)." 
He  then  gave  the  substance  of  Jefferson's  letter  to  him  of  November  6, 
to  which  he  added  "to  this  charge  I  must  pay  that  attention  which  my 
present  situation  obliges  me. 

I  am  Sir  with  respect. 

Your  Most  Obt.  Servt 

Isaac  Shelby."  " 

As  heretofore  set  forth,  there  was  no  expression  of  apprehension 
from  Clark  and  the  Frenchmen  at  any  governmental  efforts  to  stop  them. 
Their  chief  concern  was  obtaining  needed  supplies.  Preparations,  there- 
fore, went  on  apparently,  with  no  effort  at  concealment.  It  was  known 
in  the  East  that  extraordinary  things  were  happening  in  Kentucky  and 
that  Clark  was  at  the  head  of  affairs.  John  Prown.  who  was  by  no  means 
unsympathetic,  wrote   Harry  Innes   from  Philadelphia  on  December  31, 

1793.  tliat  these  things  "have  excited  some  attention  &  perhaps,  some 
apprehension  lest  the  impatience  of  the  Western  Brethren  may  precipitate 
them  into  some  measure  which  may  envolve  the  U.  states  m  an  unequal 
contest."  ^"  On  December  7,  1793,  Governor  St.  Clair,  chiefly  on  the 
information  received  from  a  copy  of  Jefferson's  letter  to  Shelby  of 
November  6th,  had  issued  his  proclamation  previously  noted,  calling  on 
the  people  within  his  jurisdiction  northwest  of  the  Ohio  to  refrain  from 
aiding  the  French  enterprise.  Two  days  later  he  informed  General  \\'ayne 
of  the  movement  being  fostered  in  Kentucky  and  stated  that  he  had 
previously  written  Governor  Shelby  about  it  and  criutioned  him  to  be  on 
his  guard. *i 

Much  agitation  was  going  on  around  the  fringes  of  the  area  of  chief 
disturbance,  but  silence  seemed  to  predominate  within.    Early  in  January, 

1794,  General  Wayne,  seeking  to  bring  about  action  of  some  sort,  addressed 
a  letter  to  Governor  .Shelby,  in  which  he  offered  him  the  use  of  a  detach- 
ment of  Federal  trof)j)s  stationed  near  Pexington.  enclosed  his  order  to 
the  commander,  to  that  effect,  and  promised  to  send  more  if  they  should 
be  desired.'-  There  was  certainly  much  more  anxiety  and  activity  in  the 
Northwest  Territory  concerning  the  French  enterprise  than  in  Kentucky 
where  it  was  in  part  being  carried  on.  Governor  Shelby  saw  a  proclama- 
tion issue  from  a  territorial  governor  in  the  north,  who  should  have  had 
less  concern  in  any  project  forming  in  Kentucky  than  he,  himself;  also, 
he  had  received  a  letter  from  the  same  source  concerning  the  necessity 
of  dealing  with  the  same  project.  In  addition  he  had  received  letters 
more  or  less  mildly  admonishing  him  on  the  same  subject,  froin  the 
Secretary  of  State,  the  Secretary  of  War,  nnd  the  Commander  of  the 
United  States  Army  in  the  West. 

It  may  not  be  an  unwarranted  assumption  to   make  that    Governor 


"Collin.';,  History  of  Kculucky.  I,  278,  279. 

"  "Corrcspoiulciicc  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  1023.  Also  in  Marsliall,  History  of 
Kentucky,  II,   loi. 

'"  Junes  MSS..  Vol.  19,  Nos.  16,  16^. 

"  Marshall.  Ilistnry  of  Kentucky.  II,  ma;  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  112, 
^l^:  Tlie  St.  Clair  Pahers.  II.  .?2o.  ,121. 

'-  .hnerican  Stiite  Papers,  Foreiijn  Relations,  I,  45S.     Letter  dated  Jan.  6,  1794. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  339 

Shelby's  patience  was  being  somewhat  tried  by  these  continuous  prompt- 
ings on  his  duty  in  a  matter  in  his  own  state,  if  existent  at  all,  and  about 
which  he  was  best  situated  to  know  the  facts,  and  he  may  quite  naturally 
have  resented  officious  federal  interference  with  state  action.  At  any 
rate  he  assumed  an  attitude  in  a  letter  addressed  to  Secretary  of  State. 
January  13,  (1794),  that  had  not  been  characteristic  of  him  in  his  former 
correspondence.  He  informed  Randolph  (who  had  succeeded  Jefferson 
as  Secretary  of  State)  that  reports  had  come  to  him  to  the  effect  that 
Clark  had  received  a  commission  in  the  French  army  and  authorization 
to  raise  volunteers.  But,  "No  steps  having  been  taken  by  him  (as  far  as 
has  come  to  my  knowledge)  to  carry  this  plan  into  execution,  I  did  not 
conceive  it  was  either  proper  or  necessary  for  me  to  do  anything  in  the 
business."  True  it  was  that  two  Frenchmen  (he  is  here  referring  to  tlie 
two.  La  Chaise  and  De  Pauw,  who  had  communications  with  him)  came 
into  the  state  with  the  expectation  of  raising  money  for  the  purpose  of 
fitting  out  an  expedition  to  go  down  the  river,  but  there  is  no  evidence 
that  any  money  was  so  applied.  As  to  where  the  danger  lay  and  how 
it  was  to  be  met,  he  would  like  for  the  president  "to  be  full  and  explicit 
as  to  the  part  which  he  wishes  and  expects  me  to  act."     He  continued : 

"I  have  great  doubts,  even  if  they  do  try  to  carry  their  plan  into 
execution,  (provided  they  manage  their  business  with  prudence)  whether 
there  is  any  legal  authority  to  restrain  or  punish  them,  at  least  before 
they  have  actually  accomplished  it:  for,  if  it  is  lawful  for  any  one  citizen 
of  this  state  to  leave  it,  it  is  equally  so  for  any  number  of  these  to  do  it. 
It  is  also  lawful  for  them  to  carry  with  them  any  quantity  of  provisions, 
arms,  and  ammunition;  and,  if  the  act  is  lawful  in  itself,  there  is  nothing 
but  the  particular  intention  with  which  it  is  done  that  can  possibly  make 
it  unlawful ;  but  I  know  of  no  law  that  inflicts  a  punishment  on  intention, 
only,  or  any  criterion  by  which  to  decide  what  would  be  sufficient  evidence 
of  that  intention,  if  it  was  a  proper  subject  of  legal  censure. 

"I  shall,  upon  all  occasions,  be  averse  to  the  exercise  of  any  power 
which  I  do  not  consider  myself  as  being  clearly  and  explicitly  invested 
with,  much  less  would  I  assume  a  power  to  exercise  it  against  men  who 
I  consider  as  friends  and  brethren,  in  favor  of  a  man  whom  I  view  as  an 
enemy  and  a  tyrant.  I  shall  also  feel  but  little  inclination  to  take  an 
active  part  in  punishing  or  restraining  any  of  my  fellow-citizens  for  a 
supposed  intention  only  to  gratify  or  remove  the  fears  of  the  minister  of  a 
prince,  who  openly  withholds  from  us  an  invaluable  right,  and  who  secretly 
instigates  against  us  a  most  savage  and  cruel  enemy." 

After  giving  vent  to  these  vigorous  feelings  and  sympathies  he  closes 
this  extraordinary  letter  by  taking  better  counsel  with  himself,  as  governor: 
"But  whatever  may  be  my  private  opinion  as  a  man,  as  a  friend  to  liberty, 
an  American  citizen,  and  an  inhabitant  of  the  Western  waters,  I  shall, 
at  all  times,  hold  it  as  my  duty  to  perform  whatever  may  be  constitu- 
tionally required  of  me,  as  Governor  of  Kentucky,  by  the  President  of 
the  United  States."  ^^ 

Judging  by  Randolph's  reply  of  March  29,  1794,  hereafter  noted,  this 
letter  seems  to  have  produced  a  painful  surprise  in  the  councils  of  the 
Federal  Government.  Shelby  rejected  completely  the  suggestion  made  by 
Jefferson  in  his  letter  of  November  6,  (1793),  regarding  the  alleged 
practice  that  prevailed  in  other  states  in  the  use  of  the  militia  on  such 
occasions.  Again  would  Kentucky  be  her  own  judge  of  what  to  do  rather 
than  follow  in  the  reputed  footsteps  of  others  of  which  there  was  no 
very  obvious  trace.  Especially  was  it  important  to  determine  what  the 
law  was  when  it  was  broken,  and  how  it  should  be  upheld.  The  legal 
mind  of  John  Breckinridge,  whom   Shelby  appointed  Attorney  General 

1'  American  State  Papers,  Foreign  Relations,  I,  45s,  456. 


340  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

in  December,  1793,  is  evident  in  Shelley's  reasoning.'^  And  such  advice 
was  not  faulty  or  unwarranted  in  the  hght  of  tlie  stage  of  develoi)nient 
of  neutrality  laws  and  usages  at  that  time.'-'' 

Governor  Shelby,  about  a  month  later,  declined  General  Wayne's 
proflFer  of  Federal  Troops,  informing  him,  "That  there  is  not  the  smallest 
possibility  that  such  an  enterprise  will  be  attempted,"  and  that  even  if 
such  an  attempt  was  made  the  state  militia  would  be  "able  and  willing" 
to  stop  every  violation  of  the  laws  of  the  United  States. >" 

The  Federal  Government,  believing  there  was  a  dangerous  combination 
at  work  in  Kentucky  and  that  the  governor  of  the  state  was  unaware 
of  its  gravity,  decided  to  take  the  matter  into  its  own  hands.  The  Secretary 
of  War  ordered  General  Wayne  to  garrison  Fort  Massac,  which  had  been 
recognized  previously  as  a  strategic  position,  in  order  to  cut  off  any 
expedition  attempting  to  start  down  the  Ohio.  Word  of  the  detachment 
from  the  Cumberland  region  South  of  Kentucky  having  reached  the 
Federal  officials,  the  Secretary  of  War's  instructions  to  \\'ayne  were 
grave  and  explicit.  He  was  charged  to  sto])  the  expedition  at  all  hazards. 
First,  he  should  try  to  persuade  its  leaders  of  the  dangers  of  their  rash 
acts  and  induce  them  to  go  back ;  but  failing  in  this  he  was  specifically 
ordered  to  use  every  military  means  at  his  command. ''^ 

Conditions  were  regarded  as  sufficiently  serious  by  Washington  and 
his  cabinet  to  call  for  the  issuing,  on  March  24.  1794,  of  a  proclamation 
denouncing  the  mad  attempts  of  the  Kentuckians.  He  declared  that, 
"Whereas  I  have  received  information  that  certain  persons  in  violation 
of  the  laws,  have  presumed,  under  color  of  a  foreign  authority,  to  enlist 
citizens  of  the  United  States  and  others  within  the  State  of  Kentucky, 
and  have  there  assembled  an  armed  force  for  the  purpose  of  invading  and 
plundering  the  territory  of  a  nation  at  peace  with  the  said  United  States. 
*  *  *  I  have  therefore  thought  proper  to  issue  this  proclamation, 
hereby  solemnly  warning  every  person  not  authorized  by  the  laws,  against 
enlisting  any  citizen  or  citizens  of  the  United  States,  or  bringing  in  Troops 
or  assembling  any  persons  witliin  the  United  States  for  the  purpose 
aforesaid,  or  proceeding  in  any  manner  to  the  execution  thereof,  as  they 
will  answer  the  same  at  their  peril."  ^* 

From  a  comparison  of  this  document  with  Clark's  call  for  volunteers, 
the  conclusion  is  inevitable  that  the  former  was  largely  thought  tardily 
provoked  by  the  latter.  There  certainly  was  no  other  evidence,  apart  from 
the  detachment  from  the  Cumberland  regions  of  Tennessee  and  Clark's 
proposals,  that  would  warrant  a  proclamation  from  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment. The  attitude  that  Shelby  had  taken  undoubtedly,  also  had  its 
bearing.  This  tardy  interference  by  the  President  did  not  set  well  with 
some  of  the  Kentuckians,  whose  patience  was  being  sorely  tried.  "A 
Man  of  Peace"  wrote  to  the  Kentucky  Gacctte,  with  a  strain  of  clear 
and  biting  satire:  "Mr.  Piradford,  Can  you  inform  me  who  could  have 
told  the  President  of  the  United  States,  that  some  of  the  citizens  of  the 
state  were  assembling  for  the  purjiose  of  plundering  the  territories  of  a 
nation  at  peace  with  the  United  States?  I  am  apprehensive  I  don't  rightly 
understand  this  matter.     What  nation  is  meant?     1  know  of  no  nation 


'■*  Breckinridge  was  a  Democrat  strongly  syni|)atlictic  to  tlic  Frcncli.  He  lia<l 
subscribed  6  toward  equipping  Clark's  expedition.  For  Breckinridge's  activities  in 
advising  the  governor,  see  in  Brcclclnridgc  MSS.  (1704),  Sbelljy  to  Breckinridge, 
June  10,  1794,  Passim.  And  the  Outline  History  of  Kentucky,  by  John  A.  Mc- 
Chnig,  in  Collins,  History  of  !\cnlucl;y   (1S47),  p.  ^y. 

^'>  The  American  neutrality  law  was  not  passed  until  June  S,  1794- 

'"Butler,  History  of  Kentucky  (2d  Edition),  524.  Shelby  to  Wayne,  Feb.  10, 
1794. 

"  American  Slate  Papers,  Foreign  Relations,  I,  4.S8,  4.';9. 

^"Kentucky  Gazette,  May  3,  1794;  Richardson,  Messages  and  Papers  of  the 
Presidents,  I,  157- 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  341 

that  is  peaceable  to  us  except  the  French ;  and  I  am  sure  instead  of 
plundering  them,  there  is  not  a  man  in  Kentucky  who  would  not  divide 
with  them  the  last  loaf."  »» 

Five  days  after  the  Federal  Government  had  served  notice  on  the 
Kentuckians  in  the  proclamation,  the  Secretary  of  State,  Edmund  Ran- 
dolph, turned  his  attention  to  Governor  Shelby,  in  a  communication  in 
answer  to  the  January  13th  letter  of  the  latter.  Randolph,  showing  a  lack 
of  patience  at  Shelby's  course,  tacitly  blamed  him  for  his  seeming  inactivity. 
He  suggested  that  if  Kentucky's  laws  were  not  greatly  different  from  the 
laws  of  other  states,  the  governor  could  use  them  to  put  a  stop  to  the 
French  scheme.  With  a  touch  of  sarcasm  he  declared:  "I  cannot,  there- 
fore, doubt  that,  when  your  excellency  shall  revise  this  subject,  you  will 
come  to  this  conclusion,  that  the  resentments  which  you  profess  as  a 
private  man,  a  friend  to  liberty,  an  American  citizen,  and  an  inhabitant 
of  the  Western  waters,  ought  not  to  interfere  with  your  duty  as  governor 
of  Kentucky ;  and  that,  on  the  other  hand,  the  contemplation  of  those 
several  characters,  under  which  you  have  considered  yourself,  ought  to 
produce  a  compHance  with  those  measures  which  the  President  of  the 
United  States  has  consigned  to  your  discretion  and  execution."  He  re- 
counted some  of  the  efforts  that  the  United  States  was  putting  forth  in 
her  negotiations  with  Spain  on  the  opening  of  the  Mississippi.  He  closed 
with  an  admonition:  "Let  this  Communication  then  be  received,  Sir, 
as  a  warning  against  the  dangers,  to  which  these  unauthorized  schemes  of 
war  may  expose  the  United  States  and  particularly  the  State  of  Ken- 
tucky." 20 

The  expedition  against  Louisiana  had  been  definitely  and  publicly  given 
up  by  Fouchet  on  March  6th,  shortly  after  he  had  arrived  and  been  re- 
ceived by  Washington.21  The  proclamation  did  not  issue  until  the  24th 
and  Secretary  of  State  Randolph  did  not  answer  Shelby's  letter  of  January 
13th,  until  the  29th.  The  real  dangers  from  the  French  scheme,  if  they 
ever  had  been  great,  had  largely  passed  away  before  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment took  its  energetic  steps.  The  reason  that  it  did  act  at  so  late  a 
time  was  due  to  the  fact  that  the  situation  had  been  slowly  developing 
to  the  point  of  Federal  action  through  the  conservatism  of  Washington, 
the  caution  of  Shelby  and  the  reported  activity  of  Clark ;  and  now  that 
the  government  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  its  position  should  be 
stated  publicly,  it  refused  to  be  swerved  from  its  purpose  by  Fouchet's 
proclamation.  And  in  this  connection  it  must  also  be  noted  that  the 
Federal  Government,  conscious  of  the  unsettled  opinion  in  the  West,  was 
announcing  a  policy  on  such  attempts  of  the  future,  as  much  as  providing 
a  deterrent  to  any  present  scheme. 

Abandoned  by  the  French  minister  and  denounced  by  the  United 
States,  the  leaders  of  the  enterprise  soon  ceased  further  activities.  On 
April  20,  Clark  disbanded  his  organization. 22 

A  number  of  considerations  present  themselves  regarding  this  enter- 
prise of  the  French.  The  question  of  how  substantial  the  preparations 
were  and  how  formidable  the  scheme  ever  became  has  been  partly  an- 
swered in  the  account  of  Clark's  efforts.  It  is  certain  that  the  project 
assumed  large  proportions  to  people  outside  of  Kentucky  and  in  direct 
ratio  to  their  distance  away.    There  was  never  a  great  deal  of  excitement 


'^''Kentucky  Gazette,  May  17,  1794. 

20  /Imerican  State  Palmers,  Foreign  Relations,  I,  456,  457.     Breckinridge  MSS. 

(1793). 

21  Genet's  recall  had  been  demanded  on  Aug.  23,  1793.  His  successor  was  re- 
ceived by  Washington  on  Feb.  22,  1794. 

--  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  1064.  William  Clark,  a  brother  of 
George  Rogers,  wrote  on  May  25,  1794,  "The  expedition  that  was  going  against 
Louisiana,  I  believe  has  given  out."    Ibid.,  1061. 


342  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

in  the  State.  To  the  great  majority  of  those  not  actively  interested  in  it, 
its  success  would  not  have  been  displeasing.  In  their  estimation  its 
purpose  was  more  to  their  own  benefit  than  to  that  of  France.  But  its 
chances  of  success  were  by  no  means  reassuring  to  most  Kentuckians. 
Qark's  standing  was  no  longer  that  of  the  hero  of  Kentucky.  As  Wilkin- 
son had  previously  said  and  honestly  hoped  "the  sun  of  General  Clark's 
military  glory  was  set,  never  more  to  rise."  Clark's  high  estimation  of 
his  own  influence,  which  he  gave  Genet,  was  sadly  exaggerated.  As 
Humphrey  Marshall  wrote  in  1812,  "Candour,  however,  extorts  a  con- 
fession, which  is  made  with  regret,  that  General  Qark  at  this  time,  'was 
not  the  man  he  had  been.'  A  high  sense  of  injustice,  and  a  mind  corroded 
by  chagrin,  had  been  left  with  General  Clark  by  the  Government,  whose 
territory  he  had  enlarged,  and  whose  reputation  he  had  raised  to  renown ; 
which  in  the  ennui  and  mortification,  incident  to  a  state  of  inaction,  had 
sought  extinguishment,  or  oblivion,  in  the  free  use  of  spirits."  ^s  Robert 
Breckinridge  in  January,  1794,  declared  that  when  he  considered  "the 
unhappy  situation  of  the  leader,  and  some  Frenchmen  about  him,  every 
Idea  of  carrying  the  scheme  into  execution  droops."  He  summed  up  the 
feelings  of  many  other  Kentuckians  when  he  added  "I  sincerely  wish  the 
French  Republic  success,  but  if  that  nation  have  any  hopes,  or  our  General 
Government  any  fears  from  this  enterprise,  both  will  be  disappointed,  in 
my  opinion."  ^^ 

Perhaps  two  hundred  men,  all  told,  were  under  arms  at  different  times. 
However,  the  fact  as  to  this  number  should  not  be  held  conclusive  as  to 
the  importance  of  the  exjjedition.  There  was  always  to  be  counted  on  the 
potential  strength,  the  numerous  ones  whom  Clark  spoke  of  as  only 
awaiting  the  call  to  march.  Whatever  number  that  might  have  turned 
out  to  be,  it  is  certain  that  there  would  have  been  groups  here  and  there 
who  would  have  been  willing  to  march  with  Clark  if  the  expedition  had 
started.  However,  that  they  would  have  turned  out  in  the  numbers  spoken 
of  by  Clark  is  not  at  all  likely.  Such  statements  must  be  laid  to  his 
enthusiasm  and  diplomacy  in  handling  Genet.  The  great  majority  of 
people  in  Kentucky,  as  has  been  intimated,  would  have  gladly  seen  the 
Mississippi  opened  by  Clark  and  the  French  in  the  methods  they  were 
pursuing ;  but  the  elements  of  conservatism  in  the  West  had  by  this 
time  become  too  strong  and  varied  to  permit  of  a  popular  uprising  in 
favor  of  such  a  scheme  as  the  French  were  trying  to  put  through.  Con- 
temporary opinion,  supported  by  later  evidence,  considered,  the  whole 
afTair  was  greatly  exaggerated  in  the  Fast  and  other  regions  outside  of 
Kentucky.  It  assumed  greater  proportions  in  the  ojien  secrecy  that  sur- 
rounded it  than  in  point  of  actual  fact.  Proof  is  not  lacking  that  it 
possessed  many  of  the  elements  of  a  gigantic  imposture.  At  any  rate 
it  proved  a  fiasco. 

The  part  that  Isaac  Shelby,  as  governor  of  the  commonwealth,  played 
in  tlie  movement  and  his  reason  therefore  assume  considerable  im- 
portance.*^ Thoughts  of  anything  approaching  treason  to  his  country 
were  as  foreign  to  Shelby's  nature  as  to  Washington,  JefTerson,  Knox, 
or  any  other  representative  American  Statesman  of  the  time.  Due 
weight  must  be  given  to  Shelby's  expressed  beliefs  that  the  project  was 
doomed  to  failure  and  therefore  needed  no  further  attention  than  what 


23  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky  (1812  Edition),  291-292. 

2»  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  1033.  Robert  Breckinridge  to  Isaac 
Shelby,  Jan.  10,  1794. 

20  For  a  discussion  favorable  and  unfavorable  to  Shelby,  see  respectively  A 
Rcviexv,  by  Samuel  M.  Wilson  of  "Isaac  Shelby  and  the  Genet  Mission,"  by  Dr. 
Archibald  Henderson  (Lexington,  Ky.,  1920),  pamphlet,  52  pages,  and  Archibald 
Henderson,  "Isaac  Shelby  and  the  Genet  Mission,"  in  Mississippi  Valley  Historical 
Review,  March,  1920,  Vol.  VI,  No.  4,  451-469. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  343 

he  was  giving  it.  There  was  at  no  time  danger  of  it  succeeding.  Shelby's 
behef  that  nothing  was  happening  in  the  state  which  could  be  punished 
either  by  state  or  Federal  laws  was  not  far  removed  from  the  fact.  But 
had  he  been  particularly  anxious  to  act,  it  is  equally  true  that  he  could 
have  found  something  to  at  least  issue  a  proclamation  against,  regardless 
of  whether  any  other  power  should  be  invoked.  In  pursuance  of  a 
resolution  introduced  by  Humphrey  Marshall,  Governor  Shelby  laid  his 
correspondence  concerning  the  project  before  the  legislature  with  a 
message  on  November  15,  1794.  In  this  message  he  defended  his  courst 
on  the  ground  of  a  lack  of  power,  which,  he  declared,  was  subsequently 
borne  out  by  the  action  of  the  Federal  Government  in  passing  the  neu- 
trality laws.  He  said :  "The  subject  now  became  serious  and  interesting, 
and  required  the  most  attentive  consideration,  for  although  I  felt  no 
apprehensions  that  the  intended  expedition  could  be  carried  into  effect, 
yet  I  entertained  too  high  a  sense  of  the  obligations  due  to  the  General 
Government,  to  refuse  the  exercise  of  any  powers  with  which  I  was 
clearly  invested.  After  the  most  careful  examination  of  the  subject,  I 
was  doubtful  whether  under  the  constitution  and  the  laws  of  my  country,  I 
possessed  powers  so  extensive  as  those  I  was  called  upon  to  exercise." 
After  referring  to  the  subsequent  action  of  Congress  in  passing  the 
neutrality  law  he  continued,  "From  the  necessity  of  passing  that  law,  I 
infer  that  my  doubts  as  to  the  criminality  of  the  proposed  enterprise  were 
well  founded,  and  until  the  passage  of  that  law,  the  offence  had  not  been 
disclosed  nor  the  punishment  defined."  -^ 

But  the  belief  that  the  expedition  would  fail  without  governmental 
interference,  and  that  there  were  no  laws  that  could  be  used  to  stop  it, 
cannot  be  held  solely  responsible  for  Shelby's  course.  In  fact,  had  he 
had  no  other  consideration  in  view,  he  would  thereby  have  been  throwing 
away  an  excellent  opportunity,  and  would  have  shown  less  political  sagacity. 
He  was  given  to  see  the  possibilities  of  furthering  the  influence  of 
Kentucky  toward  forcing  the  Federal  Government  to  secure  the  free 
navigation  of  the  Mississippi.  This  project  was  a  most  excellent  weapon 
to  use  in  playing  on  the  fears  of  the  Federal  Administration.  James 
Brown,  secretary  of  state  for  the  commonwealth,  in  a  letter  to  Shelby, 
February  15;  1794,  clearly  stated  this  attitude: 

"Indeed  it  appears  to  me  that  good  policy  will  justify  the  Executive 
of  this  country,  in  discovering  a  certain  degree  of  unwillingness  to  oppose 
the  progress  of  an  enterprise,  which  has  for  its  object  the  free  navigation 
of  the  Mississippi.  In  their  deliberations  on  this  interesting  subject, 
Congress  had  uniformly  acted  under  the  influence  of  a  local,  unjust  policy. 
Instead  of  consulting  the  interests  of  every  part  of  the  Union,  they  were 
once  on  the  point  of  sacrificing  all  the  western  waters  by  an  unnecessary 
surrender  of  their  most  valuable  rights.  Although  that  detestable  plot 
could  not  be  effected,  yet  our  right  is  suspended  and  we  are  deprived  of 
all  the  advantages  which  would  result  from  the  enjoyment  of  it.  The 
secrecy  with  which  the  late  negotiations  are  veiled,  justifies  a  suspicion  that 
some  designs  unfriendly  to  our  interests  yet  exist  and  only  wait  a  more 
favorable  moment  to  be  carried  into  effect.  Congress,  therefore,  ouglit 
to  know  through  every  possible  channel,  that  we  are  convinced  of  our 
wrongs,  and  conscious  of  our  ability  to  redress  them.  Such  information 
might  call  their  attention  to  our  situation,  and  give  our  interests  a  place 
in  their  political  deliberations.  Mortified  at  finding  that  their  conduct 
towards  the  powers  at  war  has  only  served  to  offend  their  allies  without 
soothing  their  enemies — and  apprehensive  that  all  their  abject  submissions 
may  fail  in  procuring  them  peace  with  England  and  Spain,  they  may 
be  alarmed  at  the  idea  of  our  detaching  ourselves  from  the  Union  at  so 

=«  Quoted  in  Butler,  History  of  Kentucky  (1836  Ed.),  525,  526. 


344  HISTORY  OF  KKXTL'CKV 

critical  a  period.  I  am  tlierefore  happy  that,  whilst  you  have  expressed 
your  devotion  to  the  laws  and  constitution  of  the  Union,  you  have  re- 
minded the  government  of  what  is  due  to  us  as  a  State,  and  that  power 
ought  not  to  be  assumed  for  the  punishment  of  those  whose  object  is  to 
do  what  government  ought  long  ago  to  have  done  for  us."  -" 

This  was  an  admirable  statement  of  the  feeling  not  only  of  P.rown 
but  of  Shelby  and  many  other  Kentuckians.  It  was  a  clever  use  of  an 
unusual  ojjijortunity.  While  Governor  Shelby  was  too  tactful  to  proclaim 
this  to  be  his  plan  and  object  at  the  time;  he  later  declared  that  it  was 
nevertheless  true  and  that  it  succeeded.  In  i8i2,  Shelby  said:  "I  saw 
evidently  that  the  whole  scheme  of  La  Qiaise  would  fall  to  the  ground 
without  any  interference,  and  that  the  present  moment  was  a  favorable 
one,  while  the  apprehensions  of  the  President  were  greatly  excited,  to 
express  to  him  what  I  knew  to  be  the  general  senlimenls  of  the  Kentucky 
people,  relative  to  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  Spanish 
Government.  *  *  *"  He  added  that  he  considered  the  ultimate  settle- 
ment had  been  hastened  by  his  course.-* 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  general  opinion  in  Kentucky  was  that 
the  Federal  government  was  not  fully  e.xerting  itself  to  solve  the  great 
Western  problem;  and  in  the  light  of  this  and  as  part  of  it,  Shelby's  course 
must  be  judged.  It  is  also  true  that  the  Kentuckians  were  grossly  mis- 
taking the  jealousy  and  hostility  to  the  West  frequently  exjiressed  by 
Xew  Englanders  and  other  Easterners,  as  the  sentiments  of  Washington's 
Administration.  As  is  known  today,  the  Federal  Government  was  doing 
all  in  its  power  to  wrest  its  rights  from  Spain,  but  the  Kentuckians 
honestly  believed  they  were  being  neglected,  and  they  must  be  judged 
in  the  light  of  this  belief.  Although  Shelby's  attitude  most  likely  did 
not  and  could  not  hasten  a  settlement  with  Spain,  it  did  bring  about  a 
better  understanding  between  Kentucky  and  the  Washington  administra- 
tion. And  if  the  French  enterprise  in  assuming  the  proportions  it  did 
aided  in  any  way  in  the  settlement,  it  was  by  way  of  Spain  and  not 
the  United  States.  Its  effects  if  any,  were  to  hasten  Spain  in  seeking 
an  amicable  settlement  with  the  United  States,  for  fear  that  otherwise 
the  Kentuckians  could  not  be  restrained  from  marching  on  New  Orleans 
and  probably  seizing  the  whole  of  Louisiana. 

The  purjiose  and  methods  of  this  French  project  were  entirely  dif- 
ferent from  the  plots  and  intrigues  of  the  Spanish  as  well  as  of  the 
British.  It  was  in  fact  not  a  cons])iracy  in  any  way  against  the  United 
States,  but  was  an  attempt  to  help  the  United  .States  solve  a  long-stand- 
ing problem.  A  secondary  consideration,  to  the  French,  however,  in 
their  main  purpose  was  to  humiliate  their  enemy,  the  Spaniards.  The 
machinations  of  the  other  foreign  nations  in  the  West,  previously  and 
following,  had  reference  to  the  detaching  of  American  territory,  of 
interfering  with  the  integrity  of  the  .'\merican  possessions.  Such  was 
never  a  part  of  the  I'Vench  scheme.  Participation  in  it  on  the  part  of 
Americans,  then,  could  under  no  circumstances  possess  the  elements  of 
treason  against  their  country ;  for  by  the  Federal  Constitution  that  crime 
was  defmed  as  consisting  "Only  in  levying  War  against  the  United 
States,"  or  "in  adhering  to  their  enemies,  giving  them  aid  and  Comfort." 

At  most  it  was  only  a  breach  of  American  neutrality,  which  at  that 
time  was  undefined  by  American  Law.  It  was  simply  taking  sides  in  a 
war  between  friends  and  enemies  on  a  question  which  ajipeared  on  its 
face  to  concern  Kentuckians  much  more  than  their  friemls,  the  I'rcncii. 
It   was   a   situation    in   which   much   the   same   sentiments   that    had    led 


-'  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  1041. 

2*  Letters  from  Slu-lliy  to  M.irtin  D.  Hardin,  July  i,  1812,  quoted  in  Wilson,  A 
Review,  36;  W.  H.  English,  Concjucsl  of  the  Country  Northwest  of  the  Kiz'Cr 
Ohio,  1778-1783,  and  Life  of  George  Rogers  Clark   (Indianapolis,  1896). 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  345 

LaFayette  and  others  previously  to  help  America,  played  a  part.  And 
such  sentiments  were  not  confined  to  the  West  alone.  General  Henry  Lee, 
Governor  of  Virginia,  in  April  1793,  asked  Washington's  opinion  on 
Accepting  a  major  general's  commission  in  the  French  army.^'-*  Wash- 
ington refused  to  give  any  explicit  advice,  but  let  it  be  known  that  he, 
himself,  would  ponder  long  and  well  such  a  course  before  embarking  on 
it.s'' 

Not  only  from  the  nature  of  the  project  was  it  different  from  a 
conspiracy  or  intrigue,  but  also  in  the  methods  under  which  it  was  carried 
on.  Genet  had  considered  it  to  be  so  far  from  injurious  to  the  interests 
of  the  United  States  that  he  gave  the  main  outlines  of  it  to  one  of  the 
chief  officers  of  the  Federal  administration  at  the  very  outset.  George 
Rogers  Clark,  in  its  earliest  stages,  thought  it  should  be  kept  a  secret ;  but 
long  before  preparations  for  it  had  been  completed,  he  declared  that 
secrecy  could  no  longer  be  maintained,  and  soon  boldly  threw  off  all 
appearances  of  secrecy  by  issuing  his  proclamation  calling  for  troops. 
Clark  could  not  therefore  have  thought  that  he  was  doing  a  treasonable 
or  despicable  thing,  or  even  an  unlawful  thing.  He  tried  to  exercise  all 
necessary  care  and  circumspection,  to  the  end  of  keeping  the  United 
States  from  being  implicated  or  in  any  way  compromised.  In  his  offer 
to  Genet  of  February  (1793)  Clark  declared  that  "To  save  Congress 
from  a  rupture  with  Spain,  on  our  accounts ;  we  must  first  expatriate 
ourselves,  and  become  F"rench  citizens.  This  is  our  intention."  ^^  In 
October,  when  he  declared  that  he  found  it  impossible  to  keep  the  proj- 
ect a  secret  any  longer,  he  believed  he  should  "have  to  be  very  circum- 
spect in  my  conduct  while  in  this  country  and  guard  against  doing  any- 
thing that  would  injure  the  U.  States  or  giving  offense  to  their  Govt 
but  in  a  few  days  after  seting  sail  we  shall  be  out  of  their  Government, 
I  shall  then  be  at  liberty  to  give  full  scope  to  the  authority  of  the  com- 
mission you  did  me  the  Honour  to  send."  ^- 

The  Neutrality  law  passed  by  Congress  and  becoming  effective  on 
June  5,  1794,  declared  any  person  entering  the  service  of  a  foreign  state 
or  enlisting  others,  should  on  conviction  be  liable  to  a  fine  of  $1,000  and 
three  years  imprisonment. ^s  Thus,  not  until  after  the  French  project 
had  been  definitely  abandoned,  were  laws  passed  which  explicitly  defined 
and  provided  punishment  for  such  proceedings. s-* 

Finally,  in  reviewing  the  whole  subject  and  passing  judgment  upon 
the  character  and  quality  of  the  acts  of  those  chiefly  concerned  in  it, 
due  account  must  be  taken  of  the  fact  that  State  Sovereignty  had  not 
yet  been  attuned  to  National  Sovereignty;  that  the  sense  of  nationality 
was  still  inchoate,  not  only  in  Kentucky  and  the  West  but  everywhere 
throughout  the  Union. 

_  -"'Sparks,  IVritings  of  IVasltingfon,  X,  343,  34^.  Dated  April  29,  1793.  There 
IS  no  reason  to  suspect  that  he  had  not  heard  of  the  neutrality  proclamation  issued 
a  week  previously. 

3»  Sparks,  Writings  of  Washington,  X,  342,  345.     Dated  May  6,  1793. 

21  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  969.  Clark  to  French  Minister  Feb 
5,  1703- 

^-Jbid.,  1008.     Clark  to  Genet,  Oct.  3,   1793. 

"■■'Fish,  American  Diplomacy,  105,  106. 

^*  Disunion  Sentiment  in  Congress  in  1794,  by  John  Taylor  Caroline,  for  James 
Madison;  edited,  with  introduction  by  Gaillard  Hunt;  Washington,  1905;  and  The 
Northern  Confederacy.  According  to  the  Plans  of  the  "Essex  Junto,"  1796-1814, 
by  Charles  Raymond  Brown,  Princeton  University  press,  1915;  also.  The  Kentucky 
Resolutions  of  179S,  by  Ethelbert  Dudley  Warfield ;  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons  New 
York,  1887. 


CHAPTER  XXXI 

KENTUCKY  AND  THE   FEDERAL   GOVERNMENT   ON   THE 
OPENING  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI 

The  failure  of  the  Frencli  enterprise  did  not  improve  the  feeling  of 
the  Kentuckians  on  their  ever-present  problem,  the  navigation  of  the 
Mississippi.  As  long  as  that  project  was  still  in  existence  there  was  the 
possibility  of  something  happening  to  their  advantage  even  though  they 
should  not  bestir  themselves.  But  now  with  this  veiled  hope  or  expecta- 
tion gone,  they  became  more  insistent  in  their  efforts  and  demands  for  a 
final  settlement  of  the  question. 

The  Democratic  societies  still  continued  to  exercise  a  powerful  in- 
fluence, in  organizing  and  voicing  the  discontent  of  the  people.  They 
had  entered  into  the  French  enterprise  with  zeal,  and  after  the  ]5rojcct 
had  been  disbanded  everywhere  else,  the  French  agents  still  continued 
their  correspondence  with  the  Lexington  society.  In  early  May  (1794), 
over  two  months  after  Fouchet  had  officially  abandoned  the  venture,  and 
ordered  others  to  do  the  same,  this  society  issued  an  address  "To  the 
Inhabitants  of  Western  America,"  in  which  the  people  were  again  re- 
minded of  their  unredressed  grievances,  with  em])hasis  on  the  Mississi])pi 
River  navigation.  It  declared  that  the  time  was  at  hand  to  act,  that  "we 
ought  to  relinquish  our  claim  to  those  blessings,  profifered  to  us  by 
nature,  or  endeavour  to  obtain  them  at  every  hazard."  It  then  rekindled 
its  anger  against  the  selfish  and  grasping  Easterners,  who  "have 
endeavored  to  deprive  us  of  all  that  can  be  important  to  us  as  a  people." 
The  address  continued :  "To  you  then,  inhabitants  of  the  west !  is  reserved 
the  display  of  those  virtues,  once  the  pride  and  boast  of  America,  un- 
contaminated  with  Atlantic  luxury — beyond  the  reach  of  Eiu-opean  in- 
fluence, the  pampered  vultures  of  commercial  countries  have  not  found 
access  to  your  retreat. 

"A  noble  and  just  occasion  presents  itself,  to  assert  your  rights — 
and  with  your  own,  perhaps  establish  those  of  thousands  of  your  fellow 
mortals. 

"Reflect  that  you  may  be  the  glorious  instruments  in  the  hands  of 
Providence,  of  relieving  from  ihe  galling  chains  of  slavery,  your  bretherii 
of   Louisiana.     *     *     *"  ^ 

This  address  showed  that  goodwill  for  France  and  actual  considera- 
tions of  aiding  her  in  her  undertaking  still  lived  with  the  Democratic 
clubs.  But  shortly  thereafter  La  Chaise  informed  the  Lexington  Dein- 
ocrats  that  "causes  unforeseen  had  put  a  stop  to  the  march  of  two 
thousand  brave  Kentuckians,  who  were  about  to  go  and  put  an  end  to  the 
Spanish  despoti.sm  on  the  Mississippi ;  where  Frenchmen  and  Kentuckians, 
united  under  the  banners  of  France,  might  have  made  one  nation,  the 
happiest  in  the  world ;  .so  perfect  was  their  sympathy."  He  also  noted 
that  he  would  bring  the  attention  of  the  National  Assembly  to  the  efforts 
and  goodwill  of  the  Kentuckians,  and  suggested  that  they  prepare  an 
address  to  be  delivered  to  it.^    The  Democratic  Society  answered,  express 

•Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,   113.     John  Breckinridge  was  most  likely 
the  author  of  this  address. 

2  Marshall,   History   of  Kentucky.  II,   120.     It   is  quoted   differently  in   Smith, 

346 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  347 

ing  its  deep  regard  for  the  French  and  lasting  appreciation  of  their  efiforts 
to  secure  for  them  the  freedom  of  the  Mississippi;  but  it  declared:  "It 
appears  to  us  that  Notwithstanding  we  feel  deeply  interested  in  the  course 
of  freedom  and  the  enjoyment  of  an  unmolested  Navigation  of  the 
Waters  of  our  Country  to  the  Ocean,  from  which  we  are  deprived  by 
injustice  and  despotism,  Yet  as  Citizens  of  Kentucky  and  a  part  of  the 
American  Union,  it  would  be  improper  at  this  period  in  our  present 
situation  to  address  the  National  Convention  or  Executive  Council  of 
France."  ^ 

But  Le  Chaise  was  not  willing  to  dismiss  all  further  efforts  or  con- 
sideration on  the  final  conquest  of  Louisiana.  He  still  believed  that 
France  could  depend  on  the  Democratic  societies,  by  agitating  the  Mis- 
sissippi River  question.  On  May  19,  1794,  he  wrote  the  Lexington  society 
that  he  felt  his  mission  had  been  a  failure,  but  he  still  had  faith  and 
hopes  in  their  support.  Assuming  the  role  of  a  crusader,  he  asked,  "why 
should  I  not  have  the  luck  of  that  fanatic  priest  whose  name,  I  have 
forgot,  who  preached  in  France  and  the  other  States  of  Europe  for  the 
Conquest  of  the  Holy  Land."  "Louisiana  &  its  wretched  inhabitants," 
he  added,  "are  assuredly  more  interesting  than  that  barren  Country.  The 
Spaniards  who  defend  the  Mississippi  are  more  worthy  of  contempt  than 
the  Ottomans."* 

The  activity  of  the  Lexington  society  was  marked  during  the  summer 
following  the  collapse  of  the  French  enterprise.  It  not  only  gave  the 
last  hope  to  the  expiring  French  cause,  but  also  continued  through  resolu- 
tions and  addresses  to  rouse  the  people  to  a  still  higher  pitch,  and  to 
impress  the  seriousness  of  the  situation  on  Congress  and  the  East.  On 
May  24  (1794),  "a  numerous  meeting  of  respectable  citizens  from  differ- 
ent parts  of  Kentucky  was  held  in  Lexington"  and  after  taking  into  con- 
sideration the  degraded  and  deserted  situation  of  that  country,  both  as 
to  its  commerce  and  protection ;  and  coolly  deliberating  thereon  passed  a 
series  of  thirteen  resolutions.  They  began  with  the  only  question  a 
Westerner  could  think  of  for  first  position  and  consideration,  viz. :  The 
navigation  of  the  Mississippi.  Although  they  had  stated  this  grievance 
and  their  views  thereon  previously  to  a  number  of  times  not  enumerated, 
they  again  declared  that  they  were  "entitled  by  nature  and  by  stipulation, 
to  the  free  and  undisturbed  navigation  of  the  river  Mississippi,"  and 
that  from  the  day  of  American  independence  to  the  present  day  had  been 
uniformly  prevented  by  the  Spaniards  from  enjoying  the  right.  But 
the  Spaniards  were  not  the  only  ones  who  had  been  flouting  the  United 
States  with  impunity.  Great  Britain  had  come  to  be  as  great  a  sinner 
along  this  line  as  was  Spain.  And  so  wide-spread  had  the  violations 
of  the  British  become  that  the  Eastern  Americans  had  demanded  a  redress. 
If  redress  came,  they  declared  that  "Western  America  has  a  right  to 
expect  and  demand,  that  nothing  shall  be  considered  as  a  satisfaction  that 
does  not  completely  remove  their  grievances ;  which  have  a  stronger  claim 
to  satisfaction,  both  from  their  atrocity  and  continuance."  The  chief 
source  of  their  discontent,  however,  was  not  confined  to  the  audacity  of 
foreign  countries;  it  was  rather  to  be. seen  in  the  inaction  due  to  sectional 
partiality  of  their  own  Federal  Administration.  Indian  dangers  were 
ever  present,  and  on  this  point  they  resolved  that  the  Western  people 
had  a  right  to  demand  adequate  protection  for  their  frontiers  and  that 
the  present  defenceless  condition  "is  a  grievance  of  the  greatest  magni- 
tude." 

But  one  of  their  most  aggravating  grievances  against  the  National 

History  of  Kentucky,  323.  A  full  and  true  copy  may  be  found  in  Innes  MSS., 
Vol.  g,  No.  86. 

^Ibid.,  Vol.  19,  No.  8s. 

*  Innes  MSS.,  Vol.  19,  No.  87. 


348  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

administration  was  the  apparent  contempt  it  had  been  showing  toward 
the  West.  The  most  conclusive  evidence  of  this  was  to  be  seen  in  the 
fact  that  it  had  not  been  taken  into  the  confidence  of  the  nation  in  its 
dealinj^s  with  Spain  in  opening  the  Mississippi.  So  Hltle  had  been  told 
them  that  they  were  not  sure  that  any  serious  negotiations  were  going  on 
at  all.  The  Lexington  Democrats  resolved  "That  the  general  government, 
whose  duty  it  was  to  have  put  us  in  possession  of  this  right,  have,  either 
through  design  or  mistaken  policy,  adopted  no  effectual  measures  for  its 
attainment. 

"That  even  the  measures  they  have  adopted,  have  been  uniformly 
concealed  from  us,  and  veiled  in  mysterious  secrecy. 

"That  civil  liberty  is  prostituted,  when  the  servants  of  the  people  are 
suffered  to  tell  their  masters,  that  communications  which  they  may  judge 
important,  ought  not  to  be  intrusted  to  them. 

"That  we  have  a  right  to  expect  and  demand,  that  Spain  should  be 
compelled  immediately  to  acknowledge  our  rights,  or  that  an  end  be  put 
to  all  negotiations  on  that  subject." 

The  days  of  resolving  and  addressing  were  soon  to  be  follewed  by 
a  more  vigorous  line  of  procedure.  In  this  same  set  of  resolutions,  it  was 
declared  that  the  grievances  enumerated  were  common  to  all  the  western 
peojjles  "and  that  we  will  unite  with  them  in  any  measures  that  may  be 
expedient  for  that  purpose."  In  order  to  obtain  "the  sense  of  the  in- 
habitants of  the  State  at  large,  that  no  doubt  may  be  entertained  of  their 
O])inions  and  determinations  on  these  important  subjects;  that  we  may  be 
able  when  it  shall  be  necessary  to  communicate  as  a  state,  with  the  other 
inhabitants  of  the  Western  Country"  they  recommended  that  each  county 
appoint  a  committee  of  correspondence.  These  committees  were  to  be 
vested  with  powers,  which  if  exercised  and  supported  by  the  people,  would 
weld  the  state  into  a  unit  on  the  question  of  their  grievances.  Not  only 
should  the  committee  send  and  receive  communications  on  these  subjects 
of  Western  discontent,  but  it  should  also  call  county  meetings  "and  when 
it  may  be  judged  expedient,  to  call  upon  the  people  to  elect  proper  persons 
to  represent  them  in  Conventions,  for  the  purpose  of  deliberating  on  the 
stejjs  which  will  be  most  expedient  for  the  attainment  and  security  of  our 
just  rights.5  Such  powers  if  carried  to  their  logical  conclusion  could 
easily  have  led  to  almost  revolutionary  performances.  That  these  were  not 
idle  resolutions  born  of  the  heat  and  stress  of  the  Lexington  meeting  and 
destined  to  die  with  it  is  seen  in  the  fact  that  the  Bourbon  Democratic 
Society  endorsed  the  Lexington  resolutions  and  took  the  first  step  of 
putting  the  plan  of  state  organization  into  working  by  providing  for 
two  men  from  each  militia  company  to  compose  the  county  committee." 
Meetings  were  called  in  other  counties  and  efforts  made  to  carry  out  the 
program,  but  on  account  of  the  general  conservatism  of  the  peojjle,  and 
also  for  reasons  that  will  appear  later,  little  beyond  this  was  ever  done." 

At  the  same  time  the  Lexington  society  was  attempting  to  arouse  the 
people  of  the  state,  it  also  prepared  an  address  to  Congress  and  the  Pres- 
ident, reiterating  its  old  demands  and  becoming  more  insistent  for  action 
of  some  sort  that  would  let  the  Kentuckians  know  what  to  expect.  The 
Western  resolutions  which  had  been  passed  to  arouse  the  people  of  the 
state  were  incorporated  into  the  address  w^th  comments  designed  to 
strengthen  them.  Great  Britain  was  strongly  denounced  again  and  it  was 
demanded   that   an   ultimatum   should  go   out    to    Spain   requesting   that 


'•  For  full  text  of  resolutions  sec  "Correspondence  of  Chirk  and  Genet,"  1056- 
1058;  Marsliall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  121,  122.  Kentucky  Gazette,  May  31,  1794. 
These  resolutions  on  a  printed  handbill  of  the  times  may  be  found  in  Brecliinridge 
MSS.  (179-1). 

"Kentucky  Gazette,  July  12,  1794. 

^Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  122,  123. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  349 

nation  to  give  a  categorical  answer  whether  it  would  "acknowledge  the 
right  of  the  Citizens  of  the  United  States,  to  the  free  and  uninterrupted 
navigation  of  the  river  IMississippi,  and  cause  all  destructions,  interruption, 
and  hindrance  to  the  exercise  of  that  right  in  future  to  be  withdrawn  and 
avoid,  the  immediate  answer  thereto  be  regained ;  and  that  such  answer  be 
the  final  period  of  all  negotiations  upon  that  subject."  In  support  of  the 
demand  for  this  ultimatum,  the  Federal  administration  was  reminded 
that  "Eight  years  are  surely  suiificient  for  the  discussion  of  the  most 
doubtful  and  disputable  claim;  the  right  to  the  navigation  of  the  Missis- 
srppi  admits  neither  of  doubt  or  dispute."  The  address  added :  "Your 
remonstrants  further  represent,  that  the  encroachment  of  the  Spaniards 
upon  the  territory  of  the  United  States  is  a  striking  and  melancholy 
proof  of  the  situation  to  which  our  country  will  be  reduced,  if  a  tame 
spirit  should  still  continue  to  direct  our  councils."  The  strong  reminder 
was  expressed  that  if  these  foreign  nations  were  made  to  live  up  to  their 
obligations  to  the  United  States,  the  Federal  administration  was  expected 
in  so  bringing  it  about  to  remember  that  satisfaction  should  "extend  to 
every  injury  and  insult,  done  or  offered  to  any  part  of  America  by  Great 
Britain  and  Spain ;  and  as  the  detention  of  the  posts,  and  interruption  to 
the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  are  injuries  and  insults  of  the  greatest 
atrocity  and  of  the  longest  duration,  they  require  the  most  particular 
attention  to  those  subjects."  The  remonstrants  did  not  want  to  leave 
the  impression,  however,  that  their  loud  and  frequent  complaints  precluded 
their  hearty  support  and  co-operation  with  the  Federal  Government,  in 
any  efforts  to  redress  their  grievances.  They  declared  "that  we  will  to 
the  utmost  of  our  abilities,  and  in  any  mode  that  can  be  devised,  support 
the  general  government,  in  the  firmest  and  most  effective  measures,  to 
obtain  full  satisfaction  for  all  our  wrongs."  ^ 

The  distrust  that  was  held  in  the  West  toward  the  sincerity  of  the 
Federal  Government  in  its  supposed  efforts  to  solve  western  problems 
was  honest  and  widespread.  Evidence  to  this  effect  arises  on  all  sides. 
The  members  of  the  Democratic  societies,  with  all  their  radicalism,  were 
just  as  honest  in  their  distrust.  In  the  meeting  of  the  Lexington  society 
held  on  August  ii,  1794,  a  committee  of  three  was  appointed  to  prepare 
a  list  of  questions  to  be  put  to  John  Edwards,  one  of  the  state's  United 
States  senators.  A  long  and  comprehensive  list  was  drawn  up,  which 
showed  in  every  sentence  a  slant  of  distrust  of  the  sincerity  of  the  United 
States  in  its  negotiations  with  Spain.  Among  the  questions  asked  were 
these : 

"Do  you  believe  it  to  be  the  earnest  wish  and  desire  of  the  Northern 
&  Eastern  politicians  in  Congress,  that  we  should  be  invested  with  this 
right  [the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi]  ?" 

"Do  they  in  short  view  the  rising  importance  of  Western  America 
with  the  eye  of  patriotic  liberality,  or  with  the  spirit  of  Jealousy  &  dis- 
affection ?" 

"In  short,  from  your  whole  knowledge  of  this  subject  are  you  of 
opinion,  that  we  have  a  right  to  ground  any  solid  expectations  in  the 
present  negotiations?"  "^ 

Through  the  French  enterprise,  resolutions  and  addresses  of  Dem- 
ocratic societies,  and  the  vigorous  expressions  of  opinion  written  and 
spoken  by  the  leaders  of  affairs,  Kentucky  began  to  assume  in  the  eyes 
of  many  Easterners  a  position  scarcely  less  menacing  than  that  of  the 
French,  British,  or  Spaniards.  An  eastern  friend  wrote  John  Breckin- 
ridge that  opinions  in  the  East  on  the  activities  of  the  Democratic  societies 
"are  very  different  some  suppose  your  language  is  too  pointed  or  rather 

8  "Correspoiuleiice  of  Clark  and  Genet,"   1058-1060. 

^This  list  of  questions  with  Edward's  answers  is  in  Breckinridge  MSS.   (1794). 


350  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

arrogant  to  the  supreme  legislative  Body  of  the  United  States  others  think 
you  only  s{)eak  with  that  manly  firmness  which  ought  always  to  char- 
acterize a  re])ublican  people  when  in  quest  of  their  undoubted  rights."  '" 
John  Breckinridge,  who  as  before  noted,  was  a  mighty  force  in  this 
western  discontent.  As  chairman  of  the  Kentucky  Democratic  Society, 
he  was  generally  responsible  for  the  language  of  the  resolutions  and 
addresses  issued.  He  received  numerous  letters  from  former  associates  in 
the  Eiist  advising  him  of  their  fear  that  he  might  be  carrying  matters 
too  far.  John  Nicholas  wrote  him  shortly  after  the  thirteen  resolutions 
had  been  issued,  "I  must  tell  you  that  your  old  friends  to  the  Eastward 
condemn  you  a  little  for  your  warmth,  while  they  approve  of  j-our 
republican  disposition."  ^^  Another  Easterner  wrote  of  the  tmenviable 
reputation  Kentucky  was  establishing  for  herself:  "little  else  on  political 
subjects  is  now  talked  of  except  the  conduct  of  the  Kentuckians,  this 
has  excited  much  speculative  conversation  and  none  has  yet  ventured  to 
say  what  they  suppose  their  object  certainly  is."  He  declared  that  some 
reports  were  circulating  to  the  effect  that  the  Kentuckians  were  contem- 
plating an  alliance  with  Great  Britain.  The  causes  of  such  a  reputation  in 
the  East  were  the  "want  of  a  ]jro])er  temper,  proper  respect  to  the  General 
Government,  party  spirit,  and  sinister  views.  *  *  *"  He  added  that 
Kentucky  should  weigh  the  consequences  of  her  actions  that  might  lead 
to  the  dismemberment  of  the  Union  and  ultimate  war.*-  In  answer  to 
these  charges  and  others  that  had  been  circulating  in  the  East  to  the 
detriment  of  the  standing  of  Kentucky  in  the  Union,  John  Breckinridge 
wrote  to  Samuel  Hopkins  a  stronge  defense  interspersed  with  satire  and 
biting  sarcasm:  "Nature  has  done  every  thing  for  us;  Government  every 
thing  against  us.  I  must  confess,  however,  that  the  present  state  of  Mis- 
sissippi Business,  produces  serious  and  distressing  reflections  in  the  minds 
of  every  thinking  man  here.  That  it  will  not  long  remain  in  its  present 
state,  is  beyond  all  doubt.  No  human  policy,  chicane  tricks,  or  promises, 
can  much  longer  assure  the  people  here.  They  have  for  some  time 
considered  themselves  as  being  deluded  by  Govt.,  and  sacrificed  to  the 
narrow  local  policy  of  the  Eastern  States.  You  could  not  persuade  a 
man  here  (unless  an  excise  officer  perhajis)  that  the  Eastern  States  would 
not  yield  the  whole  commerce  and  with  it  the  TTapjjiness  of  all  Western 
America,  for  some  little  commercial  advantage  to  them,  were  it  only  in  the 
cod-fish  or  molasses  trade."  Tie  declared  that  the  Kentuckians  were 
shocked  when  they  heard  that  John  Jay  had  been  appointed  to  negotiate 
with  Great  Britain. 

"We  have  sat  down  with  patience  to  wait  the  Event  of  his  negotiations 
&  God  send,  they  may  not  show  us  that  we  may  fight  or  negotiate  for 
ourselves. 

"I  am  sorry  to  learn  from  my  \'irga.  friends  that  false  reports  are 
propogated  there  respecting  our  desire  to  separate  from  the  Union,  or 
to  negotiate  with  the  British  or  .'Spaniards.  Be  assured  both  suggestions 
do  us  injustice.  The  latter  are  too  contemptible  to  become  allies,  and  even 
the  name  of  the  former  is  odious  here  as  it  was  with  you  in  '76.  I  wish 
the  Rulers  of  Ama.  revered  the  British  as  little  as  we  do.  Neither  their 
policy  nor  their  guineas,  are  current  here.  Our  statesmen  here  have  not 
yet  learnt,  how  to  draw  from  them  those  materials,  which  brighten  both 
their  ideas  &  their  pocketts.  Unassisted  common  sense  &  common  honesty 
tell  us,  it  is  as  criminal  &  treacherous  in  a  British  .Subject  to  hire  an  Indian 
to  murder  our  wives  and  children,  as  if  he  had  committed  the  act,  himself, 
and  that  the  deed  is  no  less  attrocious  because  perpetuated  on  the  IVcxt 

^'^  Breckinridge  MSS.  (1794).  Alexander  Stuart  to  John  Breckinridge,  no  date, 
no  place. 

"  Ibid.,  dated  July  IS,  1794- 

^'^Breckinridge  MSS.    (1794).     J.   Preston  to  Jolni  Breckinridge,  Aug.  5,   1794. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  351 

side  of  the  Alleghany.  But  we  may  be  wrong  for  we  are  too  distant  from 
the  grand  seat  of  information,  and  all  too  much  hackneyed  in  old  fashioned 
principles  of  1776,  to  receive  much  light,  from  the  banking,  funding  & 
other  new  fashioned  systems  and  schemes  of  policy  which  are  the  offspring 
and  ornament  of  the  present  administration.  As  distant  as  our  thoughts 
may  be  from  a  connection  with  the  British  or  Spanish,  at  the  present  time, 
let  Government  take  care  they  do  not  drive  us  to  it.  The  Missi.  we  zmll 
have.  If  Government  will  not  procure  it  for  us,  we  must  procure  it 
for  ourselves.  Whether  that  will  be  done  by  the  sword  or  by  negotiations 
is  yet  to  scan.  The  moment  we  certainly  dispair  of  not  procuring  it 
through  the  General  Government,  from  thence  will  our  efforts  begin, 
and  let  them  take  what  direction  they  will ;  Congress  must  take  them  as 
they  find  them.  This  is  my  opinion  respecting  the  temper  &  sentiments 
of  the  people  here."  ^^ 

This  was  the  mature  reflection  of  a  Western  leader,  the  attorney  general 
of  the  commonwealth,  the  chairman  of  the  Kentucky  Democratic  Society, 
and  a  competent  observer  whose  estimate  of  Western  sentiment  was 
trustworthy. 

But  not  all  opinion  east  of  the  mountains  held  the  Kentuckians  blame- 
worthy of  too  much  radicalism  in  seeking  their  rights.  One  Eastern 
well-wisher  believed  that  the  seaboard  states  were  fearful  of  the  West 
taking  their  trade  away  from  them,  should  the  Mississippi  be  opened. 
He  continued:  "I  think  then  I  may  safely  join  my  opinion  to  others 
&  say  that  the  people  who  live  in  the  Countries  watered  by  the  streams 
of  the  great  River,  neglect  a  duty  to  themselves  and  to  their  prosperity, 
if  they  do  not  make  every  exertion  in  their  power,  consistent  with  the 
principles  of  the  federal  constitution,  the  treaties  and  laws,  thereon  depend- 
ing and  their  own  unalienable  Right  to  procure  the  freedom  thereof."  ^^ 

The  quest  for  information  on  what  the  national  government  had  done, 
was  doing,  or  expected  to  do  toward  opening  the  Mississippi  was  not 
confined  to  private  individuals  and  groups  of  them  in  such  bodies  as 
Democratic  clubs.  The  state  government  was  scarcely  organized  before 
it  began  to  put  forth  the  same  efforts.  On  December  16,  1793,  a  petition 
"of  sundry  Inhabitants  of  this  Commonwealth"  was  read  in  the  House 
setting  forth  the  fact  that  the  Mississippi  was  still  under  the  control  of 
a  foreign  power  and  wanting  to  know  "the  feeble  attempts,  if  any,  which 
have  been  made  by  the  Federal  Government,  to  obtain  it."  Reciting  the 
fact  that  this  want  of  an  outlet  had  a  tendency  "to  throw  a  damp  on  the 
industry  of  the  present  Inhabitants  of  our  infant  Country,  to  prevent  the 
emigration  of  industrious  Citizens  from  other  parts,"  the  petitioners 
requested  "that  the  Legislature  would  take  such  measures,  by  instructing 
our  Representatives  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  and  otherwise,  to 
obtain  the  free  use  and  navigation  of  that  river ;  and  also  require  from 
them,  information  of  the  measures,  if  any,  which  have  been  taken  by 
Government  for  that  purpose."  Four  days  later  as  a  result  of  this 
petition,  a  resolution  was  passed  by  both  the  House  and  Senate,  requesting 
the  Kentucky  senators  in  the  United  States  Senate  "to  demand  an  account 
of  what  measures  have  been  taken"  to  open  the  Mississippi,  "and  to 
transmit  such  information,  from  time  to  time,  to  the  Executive  of  this 
State,  as  they  shall  receive."  ^^ 

Although  this  was  in  the  midst  of  the  French  enterprise,  the  Federal 
Government  was  not  stampeded  into  giving  out  the  secrets  of  diplomatic 
procedure  and  negotiations.    It  was  undoubtedly  due  to  this  resolution  that 

''^Breckinridge   MSS.    (1794).     John   Breckinridge   to   Samuel   Hopkins,    Sept. 

13,   1704- 

1*  Ibid.,  John  Rhea  to  John  Breckinridge,  Sept.  lo,  1794. 

'^  MS.  Journal  of  the  House  of  Represenlativcs,  179.3,  145,  146,  167,  173,  174. 
quoted  in  Wilson,  .4  Review,  47,  48. 


352  TIISTDRY  OF  KRXTUCKY 

Secretary  of  State  Randolph  in  liis  letter  to  Shelby  of  March  29,  1794, 
gave  certain  information  on  the  Spanish  nej,'otiations.  He  said  "But  as  it 
may  not  be  known  that  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  has  occupied  the 
earliest  labours  of  the  executive,  and  has  been  pursued  with  an  unremitting 
sincerity,  I  will  lay  before  you  such  a  sketch  of  the  pending  negotiations, 
as  may  be  comnninicated,  consistently  with  the  respect  due  to  the  nation 
in  treaty  with  us,  and  the  rules  observed  in  such  cases."  He  then  referred 
to  Carmichaers  mission  and  to  the  fact  that  his  instructions  were  vigorous 
and  that  if  they  might  be  divulged,  "I  should  cx]iect  with  certainty,  that 
those  wdio  are  the  most  ardent  for  the  main  object  would  pronounce 
that  the  executive  has  been  deficient  neither  in  vigilance  nor  exertions."  *'■ 

Congress  was  becoming  somewhat  alarmed  in  the  fact  of  the  exagger- 
ated reports  of  French  operations  in  Kentucky  and  the  demand  of  that 
state  for  information  on  the  Mississi])pi  River  question.  Aided  by  these 
forces,  the  United  States  Senators  from  Kentucky  were  able  to  bring  the 
Senate  to  act  in  May,  1794.  A  resolution  w;is  reported  on  the  14th 
declaring  that  although  Congress  did  not  want  to  embarrass  the  Executive 
in  any  way  in  the  present  unfuiished  state  of  the  Spanish  negotiations, 
still  "in  order  to  .satisfy  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  more  immediately 
interested  in  the  event  of  this  negotiation,  that  the  United  States  have 
uniformly  asserted  their  right  to  the  free  use  of  the  navigation  of  the 
river  Mississippi,  and  have  em])loyed,  and  will  continue  to  pursue  such 
measures  as  are  best  ada|)tcd  to  obtain  the  enjoyment  of  this  important 
territorial  right.  *  *  *  ^\-^f,  President  of  the  L'nitcd  States  be,  and 
he  hereby  is,  requested  to  cause  to  be  communicated  to  the  Executive 
of  the  State  of  Kentucky,  such  part  of  the  existing  negotiation  between 
the  United  States  and  Sjiain,  relative  to  this  subject,  as  he  may  deem 
advisable  and  consistent  with  the  course  of  negotiations."  '" 

Governor  Shelby,  one  of  whose  chief  characteristics  was  honesty  of  pur- 
pose and  openness  in  his  dealings,  was  unable  to  understand  in  the  light  of 
the  seriousness  of  the  Western  situation  why  the  Federal  Government 
did  not  openly  and  at  once  satisf\'  the  peo[)le  on  what  was  being  done. 
And  even  after  Randol|ih  had  given  as  much  information  as  he  well  could, 
and  had  hinted  that  it  was  only  diplomatic  usage  and  necessity  that  pre- 
vented him  from  giving  more,  Shelby  still  felt  far  from  satisfied.  In 
June  he  wrote  his  attorney-general,  John  Breckinridge,  enclosing  a  copy 
(if  Rando!])h's  letter  of  March  29th,  with  the  remark  that  "you  will 
readily  discover  that  Mr.  Secretary  has  not  given  that  information  on  the 
subject  of  the  treaty  for  the  Navigation  of  that  river  as  you  had  reason  to 
expect."  '* 

Shelby  furthered  this  early  protest  against  secret  dijiloniacy  as  well 
as  showed  his  lack  of  high  consideration  for  the  Secretary  of  State  by 
refraining  from  any  further  correspondence  with  him.  Back  of  this  there 
was  undoubtedly  also  the  game  that  Shelby  afterwards  referred  to  as 
having  worked  on  the  Natif)nal  Government,  and  which  John  Breckinridge 
had  previously  suggested  to  him  as  workable.'"  This  delay  at  least  pro- 
duced an  uneasy  feeling  in  the  councils  of  the  nation,  and  on  August  15 
(1794),  Secretary  Randolph  wrote  (Jovernor  Shelby,  again,  declaring 
at  the  outset  that  he  had  "not  been  able  to  learn  except  by  an  uncertain 
report"  w^hether  his  letter  of  March  29,  had  ever  reached  him  or  not. 
He  said  that  the  negotiations  with  Spain  were  not  yet  concluded  but  as 
to  the  "views  and  dispositions  of  the  general  government,"  the  President 
had   thought   it    wise   to    send   a   commissioner    wlm    "may    frankly   and 

^<^  American  SUilc  I'ufi'rs,  Vorcign  Rchitions,  I.  .156,  .157;  Marsliall,  History  of 
Kentucky,  II.    151,   I.S2. 

''  Kenlucl;\'  Gacette.  Marcli  M,  1795;  Butler,  History  of  Kentucky.  256,  257. 
'"  I!rcck'inrid!/e  MSS.   (1794)-     LcUer  tlatctl  June   10,  1794. 
'«  Ante. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  353 

explicitly  lay  them  before  the  legislature  and  Executive  of  your  State." 
He  then  informed  Shelby  that  such  a  commissioner  would  be  sent  forward 
as  soon  as  possible  and  that  he  hoped  every  facility  would  be  extended 
to  this  agent  in  getting  his  message  before  the  legislature.  He  concluded 
with  the  assurance  that  "In  this  step  your  excellency  will  discern  a  further 
proof  of  the  anxiety  of  the  President  to  remove  all  grounds  of  dis- 
satisfaction :  And  indeed,  sir,  I  cannot  pass  by  this  occasion  of  oiTering 
my  persuasion,  that  after  the  most  ample  disclosure  of  the  public  conduct 
respecting  the  Mississippi  you  will  find  that  nothing  has  been  left  un- 
attempted  by  him,  which  his  powers,  his  exertions,  and  the  situation  of 
our  country  would  permit."  "'^ 

Mindful  of  its  previous  call  for  infonnation,  the  House  early  in  the 
November-December  session  of  1794,  resolved  that  as  "it  is  probable,  that 
the  Governor  of  this  State  hath  before  this  time  received  communications," 
he  was  "requested  to  lay  before  this  house,  such  information  as  he  may 
have  received  from  the  Senators  of  this  State  in  Congress,  or  from  any 
department  of  the  General  Government.  *  *  *"  21  ggon  thereafter, 
Governor  Shelby  laid  before  the  House  the  correspondence  he  had  had 
with  the  Secretary  of  State,  and  of  War,  heretofore  noted.22  But  the 
information  contained  in  these  letters  was  of  little  value  in  allaying  the 
anxieties  of  the  Legislature  and  of  the  people  generally.  Actuated  by  no 
desire  to  embarrass  the  Federal  Government  in  its  Spanish  negotiations 
the  General  Assembly  again,  on  December  20  (1794),  instructed  its 
Senators  in  Congress  to  find  out  from  the  President  what  had  been  done 
and  to  send  the  information  to  the  Governor  of  Kentucky.  It  took  this 
course  as  "it  appears  to  the  general  assembly,  that  the  commissioner  who 
was  appointed  by  the  president  of  the  United  States,  in  order  to  be  sent 
to  this  state,  with  communications  on  the  subject  of  the  negotiations 
relative  to  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  has  not  arrived ;  and  probably 
will  not  during  the  present  session."  Clauses  were  included  calling  for 
the  repeal  of  the  excise  tax  on  distilled  spirits,  and  demanding  that  the 
British  be  made  to  get  out  of  the  Northwest  posts.  But  the  spirit  of 
conciliation  and  co-operation  was  present  to  an  unusual  degree  in  these 
resolutions.  It  was  resolved :  "That  we  consider  it  a  duty  which  we  owe 
to  ourselves  and  constituents,  to  pursue  such  measures  as  may  have  a 
tendency  to  preserve  mutual  harmony,  confidence,  and  good  will,  between 
the  citizens  of  this  state,  and  the  other  component  parts  of  the  general 
government,  in  every  constitutional  effort  for  obtaining  and  securing  to 
the  citizens  of  this,  and  other  states,  their  several  rights  and  privileges; 
and  should  the  peaceable  measures  pursued  by  congress  for  the  attainment 
of  the  western  posts,  and  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  fail  of  success, 
we  consider  it  the  duty  of  the  Kentucky  people  to  use  every  necessary 
exertion  on  their  part,  in  concert  with,  and  to  render  efifectual  any  other 
measures,  which  may  be  adopted  by  the  general  government,  for  obtaining 
those  interesting  objects."  ^s 

This  was  an  explicit  and  direct  expression  of  the  improved  feeling  that 
had  come  over  the  general  assembly.  It  was  not  only  the  result  of  the 
President's  unusual  consideration  in  appointing  a  personal  representative 
to  lay  certain  information  before  that  body,  in  person,  but  also  a  direct 
outcome  of  "Mad  Anthony"  Wayne's  successful  campaign  against  the 
Indians  north  of  the  Ohio.    Kentucky  felt  a  special  pride  in  this  campaign 

'"  Kentucky  Gaccttc,  March  14,  1795. 

21  MS.  Journals  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  1794,  39,  40,  quoted  in  Wilson, 
■4  Review,  49.    Date  of  resolution,  Nov.  12,  1794. 

^^  Ibid.,  50,  quoted  in  Wilson,  A  Review,  50.  Date  of  Shelby's  reply,  Nov  is 
1794. 

=3  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  159,  160;  Kentucky  Gazette,  Feb.  7,  1795. 
These  resolutions  were  passed  by  a  large  majority — 21  to  5. 

Vol.  1—27 


354  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

as  her  own  General  Charles  Scott  with  sixteen  hundred  Kentucky  vol- 
unteers had  {greatly  contributed  to  the  victory  at  Fallen  Timbers.  There 
is  little  wonder,  then,  that  the  customary  complaint  of  a  lack  of  protection 
for  the  frontier,  was  not  to  be  found  among  this  set  of  resolutions.  But 
the  most  surprising  manifestation  of  a  changed  attitude  was  the  election  of 
Humphrey  Marshall  to  be  a  United  States  senator.  Marshall  had  been 
a  long  and  consistent  critic  of  the  Democratic  leaders  of  the  state  and 
of  all  that  they  stood  for;  and  had  as  uniformly  upheld  the  Federal 
administration.  His  opponent  for  the  senatorship  was  John  Breckinridge, 
who  was  the  outstanding  leader  of  Kentucky  democracy  at  this  time. 
But  Breckinridge  had  for  the  past  year  been  the  mouthpiece  of  Kentucky 
discontent  and  criticism  of  the  Federal  administration ;  Marshall  had 
assumed  the  opposite  role.-'* 

Washington  appointed  as  his  agent  to  Kentucky,  James  Innes,  a 
brother  of  Judge  Harry  Innes  of  the  Federal  District  Court  for  Kentucky. 
It  was  Washington's  intention  and  expectation  that  Innes  would  reach 
Kentucky  in  time  to  present  his  information  to  the  session  of  the  general 
assembly  meeting  in  November,  1794.  But  in  this  Innes  failed.  In  a 
letter  of  January  10,  1795,  he  stated  that  "A  series  of  untoward  events, 
prevented  my  arrival  into  Kentucky,  at  an  earlier  period."  -''  The  legisla- 
ture had  adjourned  late  in  the  previous  December.  Continuing  in  this 
letter,  written  from  Frankfort,  he  informed  Shelby  that  he  had  been 
appointed  "a  Special  Commissioner  to  detail  a  faithful  history  of  the 
negotiations  pending  between  the  United  States  and  the  Court  of  Madrid 
respecting  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi,"  and  that  he  hoped  he  would 
make  use  of  the  information  to  quiet  the  people  "by  unfolding  to  them, 
the  undisguised  state  of  a  negotiation,  in  the  issue  of  which,  altlio  they 
from  local  considerations,  may  feel  themselves  more  immediately  involved, 
yet  in  truth,  is  the  whole  American  republic,  materially  concerned." 
Eleven  days  later,  Shelby  writing  from  his  home  in  Lincoln  County,  in  a 
happy  vein,  declared  he  would  be  glad  to  make  the  report  public.  He 
expressed  the  feeling  that  was  common  throughout  the  state :  "All  we 
ask  of  the  General  Government  is,  that  we  shall  be  considered  as  making 
a  part  of  the  people,  and  one  government,  and  the  same  care  should  be 
taken  of  the  acknowledged  rights  of  any  other  part  of  the  United 
States."-"  Innes  then  on  the  15th  of  February  proceeded  to  give  a  long 
and  detailed  account  of  the  difficulties  with  Spain  and  the  negotiations  up 
to  that  time.  He  told  of  Thomas  Pinckney's  appointment  to  the  Court 
of  Madrid  and  of  the  instructions  that  had  been  given  him.  He  noted 
particularly  the  point  the  President  had  made  that  he  would  enter  into  no 
commercial  arrangements  with  Spain  "until  our  right  to  the  free  use  of 
the  Mississippi  shall  be  most  unequivocally  acknowledged  and  established, 
on  principles  never  hereg^fter  to  be  drawn  into  contestation."  Of  course, 
Innes  was  unable  to  give  any  results  of  this  mission,  as  Pinckney  did 
not  arrive  at  Madrid  until  the  following  June.  Shelby  answered  immedi- 
ately telling  of  his  great  satisfaction  at  knowing  now  that  the  Federal 
administration  was  trying  to  secure  their  rights  ;  but  he  added  in  a  chidding 
tone :  "The  proper  cominunieatinns  now  made  by  you,  sir,  on  this  occasion, 
and  the  general  satisfaction  which  I  have  no  doubt  will  be  the  consequence 
of  those  communications,  will,  I  hope,  sufficiently  prove,  that  a  more  early 
communication  of  the  kind  would  have  prevented  all  uneasiness  and  dis- 
content in  this  country  on  this  subject."     He  concluded  with  a  defence 


-^  M.irsliall,  History  of  Kcniucky,  II,  161. 

-'■  Marshall  imputed  bad  motives  to  James  Innes'  delay.    He  charged  that  Innes 
had  purposely  delayed  his  report  until  after  the  legislature  adjourned.     See  Ibid., 

170.  171. 

'''^Kentucky  Gascltc,  March  14,  1795.     This  correspondence  is  published  in  full 
there,  taking  up  three  of  the  four  pages. 


HISTORY  DF  KENTUCKY  355 

of  Kentucky:  "I  flatter  myself  also,  in  saying  that  the  citizens  of  this 
country,  are  as  warmly  attached  to  the  American  union  as  the  inhabitants 
of  any  part  of  the  continent,  and  that  they  possess  too  much  understanding 
and  independence  to  be  deceived  'by  the  wicked  machinations  of  mad  and 
deluded  ambition.'  " 

At  the  next  meeting  of  the  legislature,  in  November  of  1795,  Gov- 
ernor Shelby  laid  before  it  the  correspondence  that  had  passed  between 
himself  and  James  Innes.  This  was  not,  however,  the  first  knowledge  the 
public  had  of  the  mission,  as  it  was  published  in  the  Kentucky  Gazette, 
directly  after  Innes  had  concluded  his  task.-"  But  as  Pinckney's  negotia- 
tions moved  slowly  in  Spain,  and  no  further  information  followed  Innes' 
report,  Shelby  again  became  impatient  and  doubts  and  misgivings  began 
to  spring  up.  In  his  message  to  this  general  assembly  he  said  that  he  had 
heard  nothing  since  Innes  had  left  "and  that  from  the  late  encroachments 
made  by  the  Spaniards  on  the  territory  of  the  United  States,  there  is 
(I  fear)  little  or  not  hope  for  a  successful  termination  of  that  negotia- 
tion." 2*  This  impatience  was  also  shared  in  by  the  legislature,  which 
passed  its  customary  resolutions  calling  for  information,  with  this  latest 
series  made  somewhat  more  vigorous  by  its  growing  concern  and  anxiety. 
On  November  19th  (1795),  resolutions  were  passed  calling  on  the  Ken- 
tucky Senators  at  the  national  capitol  "to  take  the  most  speedy  and 
effectual  measures,  to  obtain  information  respecting  the  situation  of  the 
negotiation  with  the  Court  of  Spain,  respecting  the  navigation  of  the 
Mississippi.     *     *     *"  29 

But  all  these  resolutions  for  information  and  statements  of  impatience 
and  anxiety,  would  have  been  left  unthought  of  and  unwritten  had 
Kentucky  known  that  Pinckney  signed  with  Spain  the  treaty  of  San 
Lorenzo,  on  the  preceding  October.  This  treaty  apparently  secured  all  of 
those  rights  to  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  that  the  Western  settlers 
had  been  contending  for  since  the  end  of  the  Revolution.  Navigation 
was  now  opened  to  the  Americans  and  New  Orleans  was  given  them  as 
a  place  of  deposit  for  three  years  with  the  right  to  send  their  goods  out 
free  of  duty.  And  in  the  words  of  the  treaty,  "His  Majesty  promises 
either  to  continue  this  permission,  if  he  finds  during  that  time  that  it  is 
not  prejudicial  to  the  interests  of  Spain,  or  if  he  should  not  agree  to 
continue  it  there,  he  will  assign  to  them  on  another  part  of  the  banks  of 
the  Mississippi  an  equivalent  establishment."  ^^ 

When  the  news  reached  Kentucky,  she  felt  a  considerable  relief  from 
her  dozen  years  of  strife  and  agitation  for  this  principle;  but  this  joy  and 
comfort  was  considerably  tempered  by  certain  violent  dislikes  on  another 
question  that  was  being  loudly  expressed  at  this  time.  This  was  the 
settlement  with  England  so  long  put  off  but  which  Jay  had  finally  secured. 

Although  England  had  won  for  herself  a  secure  place  among  the 
abominations  of  the  Kentuckians,  still  the  first  place  had  long  been  filled 
by  Spain.  Therefore,  when  renewed  efforts  were  made  to  settle  her 
international  difficulties,  the  United  States  picked  England  to  receive 
first  attention;  and  Kentucky  was,  thereby,  given  one  more  reason  for 

-''  Marshall  erroneously  says  this  correspondence  was  "withheld  from  the 
public"  until  Shelby  made  it  public  by  officially  presenting  it  to  the  legislature. 
Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  170.  Doubtless  on  account  of  too  close  a  re- 
liance on  Marshall,  Butler  said,  "It  is  to  be  regretted  that  Governor  Shelby  should 
not  have  felt  himself  at  liberty,  to  have  laid  these  communications  before  the 
public,  in  order  to  tranqualize  their  apprehensions  and  suspicions."  Butler,  History 
of  Kentucky,  256.  Both,  thus,  ignored  or  were  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  the  whole 
correspondence  was  published  immediately  after  its  conclusion  in  the  Kentucky 
Gasette. 

2*  Kentucky  Gasette,  Nov.  28,  1795. 

2i>  Innes  MSS._,  Vol.  19,  No.  60. 

3°  Fish,  American  Diplomacy,  124.     The  exact  date  was  Oct.  27,  1795. 


356  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

feeling  discontented.  The  more  pressing  problem  with  Spain  was  allowed 
to  wait,  perchance,  because  the  trouble  with  England  touched  more  closely 
the  interests  of  the  Easterners.  But  no  better  method  could  have  been 
chosen  to  add  insult  to  neglect  than  by  choosing  John  Jay,  the  declared 
enemy  of  the  W'est,  to  conduct  those  negotiations.  Kentuckians  never 
could  forget  that  it  was  Jay  who  had  once  offered  to  barter  away  the 
welfare  and  happiness  of  the  West  for  some  commercial  arrangements 
advantageous  to  Easterners  only.  It  was  therefore  entirely  befitting 
that  the  Kentucky  Democratic  Society  in  its  meeting  in  Lexington  on 
May  24,  1794,  should  allot  one  of  its  famous  thirteen  resolutions  to  Jay. 
The  ninth  resolution  declared,  "That  the  recent  appointment  of  the  enemy 
of  the  Western  country  to  negotiate  with  that  nation  [Great  Britain], 
and  the  tame  submission  of  the  general  government,  when  we  alone  were 
injured  by  Great  Britain,  make  it  highly  necessary,  that  we  should  at 
this  time  state  our  just  demands  to  the  President  and  Congress."  ^^ 

The  twenty-fourth  of  May  was  for  another  reason  an  important  day  in 
Lexington  history,  as,  indeed,  that  of  Kentucky.  On  this  day  Lexington 
was  the  storm-center  of  Kentucky  discontent,  and  here  were  gathered 
together  representatives  from  throughout  the  state.  This  day  was  ap- 
pointed by  the  Democratic  Society  of  Kentucky,  and  all  proceedings  were 
either  in  its  name  or  under  its  influence.  Apart  from  the  meeting  and 
proceedings  of  the  Democratic  Society,  the  remainder  of  the  day  was 
devoted  to  a  carnival  of  ridicule  and  contempt  for  John  Jay.  The  appoint- 
ment of  this  "enemy  of  the  Western  Country"  so  vividly  recalled  to  its 
inhabitants  "his  former  iniquitous  attempt  to  barter  away  their  most 
valued  right,  that  they  could  not  refrain  from  openly  testifying  their 
abhorrence  of  the  man  whose  appointment  at  this  critical  period  of  their 
afifairs  they  consider  as  tragically  ominous."  As  the  crowds  gathered  and 
their  anger  began  to  arise  and  be  communicated  to  one  another,  a  mode 
of  procedure  soon  began  to  crystallize  with  the  result  that  they  "ordered 
a  likeness  of  this  Evil  Genius  of  Western  America  to  be  made  which  was 
soon  well  executed."  It  was  then  "Ushered  forth  from  a  barber's  shop, 
amidst  the  shouts  of  the  people,  dressed  in  a  courtly  manner,  and  placed 
erect  on  the  platform  of  the  pillory.  In  his  right  hand  he  held  uplifted  a 
rod  of  iron.  In  his  left  he  held  extended,  Swift's  late  speech  in  Congress 
on  the  subject  of  British  depredation;  on  one  side  of  which  was  written: 
Nemo  repcnte  fuit  turpissimus. — Juv.,  Sat.,  2,  V.  p.  33'.  No  man  ever 
reached  the  heights  of  vice  at  first.  And  on  the  other — Non  deficit  alter. 
Virg.,  Aen.,  6.  A  second  is  not  wanting."  Hanging  to  his  neck  sus- 
pended by  a  hempen  string  was  "Adam's  defence  of  the  American  Con- 
stitution;  on  the  cover  of  which  was  written:  Scribcre  jussit  auram. — 
Ov.,  Ep.     God  made  me  write  it." 

After  being  subjected  to  the  jibes  and  jeers  of  the  crowd,  it  was  taken 
down  and  guillotined.  It  was  then  set  on  fire,  and  having  previously 
been  filled  with  powder,  it  "produced  such  a  explosion  that  after  it  there 
was  scarcely  to  be  found  a  particle  of  the  Dejecti  membra  Plcnipo."  ^^ 

Jay's  appointment  had  been  an  unwelcomed  surprise  in  other  parts  of 
the  nation  also.  However,  he  was  soon  on  his  way  to  England,  and  after 
meeting  many  difficulties  and  showing  considerable  diplomatic  skill,  he  was 
finally  able  to  conclude  a  treaty  with  England,  which  was  signed  on  Novem- 
ber 19,  1794.  It  was  a  comprehensive  document,  including  a  settlement 
of  numerous  points  of  dispute  and  principles  of  international  law.  The 
part  that  directly  afTected  Kentucky,  was  the  clause  in  which   England 

"'  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  1057. 

"2  Tlie  description  in  MS.  is  in  Brcckinridfjc  MSS.  (1794).  This  was  most 
likely  the  copy  for  the  account  which  appeared  in  tlie  Kentucl^y  Gacctte,  May  31, 
1794.  A  copy  from  the  Gazelle  is  in  McEIroy,  Kciituchy  in  Ihc  Nation's  History, 
188,  190. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  357 

promised  to  evacuate  the  Northwest  posts  on  or  before  June  i,  1796.  The 
treaty  did  not  arrive  in  America  until  June,  1795,  when  it  was  immediately 
sent  to  the  Senate  for  secret  discussion  and  ratification.  On  June  24th, 
it  was  ratified  with  certain  exceptions.  The  secrecy  that  surrounded  the 
contents  of  the  treaty  as  well  as  the  proceedings  concerning  it  was  soon 
broken  by  Senator  Mason  of  Virginia,  who  furnished  a  copy  to  the  press. 
Immediately  there  followed  a  storm  of  indignation  throughout  the  country. 
Public  speakers  who  were  hardy  enough  to  defend  it  were  hissed  and 
jeered  at  and  sometimes  even  stoned  from  the  platform. 

The  storm  burst  in  Kentucky  with  great  fury.  The  full  text  of  the 
treaty  appeared  in  the  Koittichy  Gazette  of  August  i,  1795 ;  and  from  then 
on  its  columns  were  filled  with  denunciation  of  the  treaty  and  of  those  who 
voted  for  it.  As  Humphrey  Marshall  was  the  only  Kentucky  senator  so 
voting,  he  immediately  was  made  the  object  of  attack  and  abuse.  The 
treaty  itself  was  opposed  to  a  large  extent  because  it  had  been  negotiated 
by  Jay  and  because  it  was  a  Federalist  measure.  John  Brown  declared 
that  no  credit  for  securing  the  evacuation  of  the  Western  posts  could  be 
claimed  by  Jay.  as  it  was  really  the  French  victories  over  England  on 
European  battlefields  that  got  for  him  this  concession.^s 

This  general  western  opposition  to  the  treaty  and  to  all  who  had  any- 
thing to  do  with  it  was  well  set  forth  in  the  "Political  Creed  of  Western 
America,"  which  appeared  in  the  Kentucky  Gacctte.  ■  Among  the  tenets 
of  this  creed  were  these:  "I  believe  that  the  treaty  formed  by  Jay  and  the 
British  King,  is  the  offspring  of  a  vile  aristocratic  few,  who  are  enemies 
to  the  equality  of  man,  friends  to  no  government,  but  that  whose  funds 
they  can  convert  to  their  private  emolument."  "T  believe  the  political 
dotage  of  our  good  old  American  Chief  has  arrived.  *  *  *"  And  as 
for  Humphrey  Marshall.  "I  do  sincerely  believe  (from  a  knowledge  of  the 
man),  that  the  .Senator  from  Kentucky,  who  voted  in  favor  of  the  treaty, 
was  actuated  by  motives  the  most  dishonorable  *  *  *  that  he  is  a 
stranger  to  virtue,  either  private  or  public,  and  that  he  would  sell  his 
country  for  a  price,  easily  to  be  told.  "I  do  also  believe  that  Kentucky 
has  as  little  reason  to  complain  on  this  important  occasion,  as  any  of  her 
sister  States;  as  she  had  a  perfect  knowledge  of  the  character  of  the  man 
she  delegated  to  represent  her,  knew  that  he  possessed  a  soul  incapable  of 
good,  and  sentiment  opposed  to  her  interest."  ^* 

Marshall  beat  back  at  his  political  opponents,  which  was  almost  synon- 
ymous with  personal  enemies,  using  the  Kentucky  Gazette  as  his  chief 
mode  of  expression. ^^  Some  issues  of  the  paper  were  almost  wholly 
taken  up  by  his  long  defense  of  the  treaty.  The  other  newspaper  published 
in  Lexington,  the  Lexington  Herald,  refused  to  accept  Marshall's  long 
letters,  giving  as  its  reason  that  it  would  not  be  fair  to  the  subscribers 
to  crowd  out  all  the  news  of  the  times  in  order  to  give  currency  to  one 
man's  arguments  on  the  treaty.''*'  TJie  Gazette  accepted  and  published 
them  only  after  it  was  assured  that  it  would  be  "paid  for  printing  them. 
as  for  articles  of  a  private  nature."  ^' 

Public  indignation  also  flared  up  in  numerous  meetings  throughout  the 
state.  A  meeting  of  citizens  in  Clark  County  sent  a  remonstrance  to  the 
President  in  the  hope  of  preventing  him  from  signing  the  treaty.  They 
declared,  "Should  you,  sir!  concur  with  the  Senate  in  the  signature  of 
that  treaty,  our  prognostication  is,  that  Western  America  is  gone  forever 
*     *     ♦     lost  to  the  Union,  and  grasped  by  the  voracious  clutches  of  that 


33  Inncs  MSS.,  Vol.  19,  No.  19.    Brown  to  Harry  Innes,  July  31,  1795. 
^*KentucIiy  Gaaetie,  Sept.  16,  1795.    Quoted  in  part  in  McElroy,  Kentucky  in  the 
Nation's  History,  193,  194. 

35  These  arguments  ran  through  the  issues  of  October,  1795. 

^^Kentuclzy  Gazette,  Oct.  3,   179S- 

8'  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  173. 


358  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

insatiable  and  iniquitous  George,  the  Third,  of  Britain."  3*  A  meeting 
at  Harrodsburg  declared  that  Marshall  in  voting  for  the  Jay  treaty  "had 
betrayed  the  trust  reposed  in  him,"  that  if  it  ever  came  up  for  vote  again 
he  should  vote  against  it,  and  that  he  should  vote  for  no  other  treaty  with 
England  "which  shall  sacrifice  the  honor,  the  faith,  the  independence,  the 
just  privileges,  or  the  true  interest  of  the  United  States."  As  a  direct 
slap  at  Marshall,  resolutions  were  passed  declaring  that  six  years  was  too 
long  for  a  United  States  senator  to  hold  office,  and  calling  on  the  legislature 
to  instruct  the  Kentucky  representatives  in  Congress  to  propose  a  con- 
stitutional amendment  reducing  the  term,  and  also  to  allow  a  recall  of  a 
senator  if  demanded  by  a  two-thirds  majority  of  the  state  legislature. ^^ 
A  meeting  of  protest  was  also  held  in  Lexington,  which  the  supporters 
of  the  treaty  declared  had  been  reported  to  be  much  larger  in  numbers  and 
greater  in  influence  than  it  really  was.''" 

When  the  legislature  met  in  November  it  soon  took  note  of  the  ])opular 
clamor  throughout  the  state  by  attempting  to  instruct  Marshall  by  name  to 
vote  against  the  treaty  slioukl  it  come  uyi  again.  It  was  later  modified  so 
as  to  demand  that  Kentucky's  "senators"  vote  against  the  treaty,  despite 
the  fact  that  John  Brown,  the  other  senator,  had  voted  against  it.  Marshall 
declared  that  as  the  British  government  accepted  the  modifications  made 
by  the  Senate,*!  the  treaty  did  not  come  before  the  Senate  again,  "which 
saved  tjie  erratic  senator,  from  another  offence:  For  certain  it  is,  that 
with  the  impressions,  under  the  influence  of  which  he  acted,  he  should  have 
disobeyed  the  instructions."  *^ 

In  his  message  to  the  legislature.  Governor  Shelby  gave  his  views  in 
no  uncertain  tones.  He  declared  he  would  not  be  discharging  the  duty 
he  owed  his  country  if  he  did  not  call  the  attention  of  the  legislature  to 
the  "treaty  lately  concluded  between  America  and  Great  Britain."  He 
continued,  "If  this  treaty  contained  stipulations  which  were  only  contrary 
to  good  policy,  although  it  would  be  the  undoubted  right  of  the  State 
Legislatures  to  express  their  opinions  of  those  stipulations,  it  might  be  a 
matter  of  doubt  whether  it  would  be  expedient  for  them  to  do  so.  But 
as  many  stipulations  contained  in  this  treaty  are  evidently  contrary  to 
the  Constitution  of  the  General  Government,  I  consider  it  as  the  indis- 
pensable duty  of  the  State  Legislature  to  exjjress  their  sentiments  upon 
such  parts  of  the  treaty  as  are  unconstitutional,  with  the  firmness  and 
decency  becoming  the  representatives  of  freemen.  If  you  view  this 
important  question  in  the  same  light  that  I  do,  I  have  no  doubt  that  you 
will  act  ui)on  it,  in  such  a  manner  as  will  do  honor  to  yourselves  and  our 
constituents."  '"^ 

With  the  lapse  of  time  and  the  evacuation  of  the  jiosts  by  the  liritish 
the  opposition  of  the  Kentuckians  died  down.  Their  hatred  of  England, 
however,  suffered  little  diminution,  as  evidences  were  not  lacking  that 
the  Briti.sh  were  continuing  to  incite  the  Indians  against  the  Western 
frontiers.  A  second  war  was  destined  to  be  fought  with  that  nation 
before  this  and  other  perplexing  questions  were  finally  settled. 

But  in  the  settlement  with  Spain  in  1795,  the  rights  sup])()se(lly  secured 
were  yet  to  be  contested  again,  but  a  final  solution  was  secin"e<l  long  before 
difificulties  with  England  were  adjudicated. 

^'*  Kentucky  Gazette,  Sept.  19,  1795.  Quoted  in  McElroy,  Kentucky  in  the 
Nation's  History,  193. 

^0  Kentucky  'Gazette,  Oct.  3,  1795. 

■">  ItiiJ..  Sept,  19,  1795. 

*'  Jay  had  made  the  inexcusable  blunder  of  agreeiuR  to  give  u])  tbc  right  of 
tlie  United  .States  to  export  cotton  and  certain  otlier  products  in  American  vessels, 
in  return  for  the  freedom  of  trading  witli  the  West  Indies  in  vessels  of  not  over 
seventy  tons'  burden.     See  Fish,  .hnerican  Diplomacy,  118,  iKj. 

■•=  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  172. 

■•"  Text  in  Kentucky  Gazelle,  Nov.  28,  1795.  Sec  also  McMaster,  History  of 
the  People  of  the  United  States,  II,  256. 


CHAPTER  XXXII 

SPAIN  AND  THE  GENET  EPISODE:  FURTHER  SPANISH 

PLOTS 

During  the  period  of  Genet's  activities  in  the  West,  other  nations 
were  also  watchful  for  whatever  they  might  secure  for  themselves  in  this 
time  of  uncertainty.  In  the  minds  of  the  various  foreign  agents  that 
were  honeycombing  this  region,  no  rumor  or  plot  seemed  too  wild  for 
belief  or  investigation.  In  their  estimation  Kentucky's  allegiance  was  open 
to  the  highest  bidder.  Lord  Dorchester  in  Canada  was  still  hopeful  that 
by  fishing  in  the  troubled  waters,  he  might  yet  secure  something  for  Great 
Britain.  Although  he  had  no  active  plans  for  building  up  British  senti- 
ment in  Kentucky  owing  to  an  almost  universal  detestation  in  that  state 
for  all  things  British,  nevertheless  he  did  not  cease  to  be  actively  watch- 
ful and  interested.  If  he  could  not  win  advantages  for  his  country  by 
friendship,  he  would  at  least  not  allow  the  powerful  weapon  of  Indian 
hostility  to  remain  idle.  This  policy  of  stirring  up  the  Indians  against 
the  Western  settlers  had  been  so  persisted  in  that  the  United  States  was 
forced  to  deal  with  the  situation  in  the  three  important  Indian  campaigns 
of  Harmar,  St.  Clair,  and  Wayne.  Not  until  the  last  named  had  dis- 
astrously defeated  the  Indians  and  defied  the  British  garrison  in  Fort 
Miami,  was  the  power  of  the  Western  tribes  broken  and  the  influence  of 
English  agents  largely  nullified.  The  evacuation  of  all  the  Northwest 
posts  in  1796  completed  for  a  time  the  destruction  of  the  British  ascendency 
over  the  Indians.  Not  until  the  preliminaries  of  the  second  war  for 
American  independence  had  been  ushered  in,  did  the  Indians  again  under 
British  influence  take  the  warpath  against  the  Western  frontiers. 

The  nation  that  was  now  most  concerned  in  what  was  happening  in 
the  West,  and  had  long  been  so,  was  Spain.  With  her  vast  possessions 
lying  to  the  westward  and  southward,  she  was  constantly  in  a  fearful 
and  panicky  mood.  To  her  the  regions  west  of  the  Alleghanies  was  a 
sphere  of  influence  all  her  own.  In  her  own  possessions  her  authority 
must  be  supreme  and  unchallenged ;  and  in  the  territories  of  the  Ameri- 
cans her  exclusive  right  to  plot  and  intrigue  must  be  recognized  and 
respected  by  other  nations.  It  was,  therefore,  with  indignation,  as  well 
as  fear,  that  she  beheld  the  French  not  only  winning  and  welding  the 
sympathies  of  the  Kentuckians,  but  actually  planning  to  attack  Spanish 
possessions  for  the  purpose  of  wresting  them  forever  from  the  control 
of  Spain. 

Spanish  agents  and  French  traitors  succeeded  in  keeping  the  .Spanish 
authorities  in  a  panic  over  Genet's  projected  expedition  against  Louisiana. 
Intelligence  of  the  plans  of  the  French  was  usually  in  the  hands  of  the 
Spaniards  as  soon  as  the  plan  was  matured.  The  grandiloquent  dreams 
of  Genet  were  greatly  magnified  by  the  time  they  reached  the  Spaniards, 
with  the  result  that  the  latter  were  constantly  possessed  with  a  nightmare 
of  swarms  of  hostile  Frenchmen  and  Kentuckians  bearing  down  upon 
them. 

On  the  last  of  Augiist,  1793,  Baron  de  la  Carondolet,  governor  of 
Louisiana,  wrote  the  Dul<^  de  la  Alcudia,  the  First  Spanish  Secretary  of 
State,  informing  him  of  the  defenseless  state  of  the  country,  that  it  was 

/  359 


MO  HISTORY  UF  KENTUCKY 

beset  by  internal  foes  as  well  as  external,  and  that  he  feared  it  wuuld 
be  lost  to  Spain  if  aid  were  not  sent.  He  declared  that  the  I'Vench  in- 
habitants of  Louisiana  were  ready  to  rise  up  in  favor  of  France  at  the 
first  opijortunity :  'Tt  is  whispered  by  some  that  within  a  few  months  the 
French  wlil  be  here.  For  my  part,  I  can  affirm  that  if  (which  may  God 
forbid)  the  armies  of  Spain  and  of  her  allies  were  to  suffer  any  draw- 
back, or  if  some  four  frigates  were  to  present  themselves  here  with  1200 
French  troops,  there  would  arise  a  faction  in  this  city  (New  Orleans)  in 
favor  of  the  Convention  which  would  cause  great  havoc  and  i)erhaps  the 
loss  of  the  province."  He  called  attention  to  the  additional  "fears  in- 
spired in  us  by  the  very  disquieting  movements  of  the  Americans,  settled 
in  the  West,  against  whom  I  cannot  ojjpose  sufficient  forces  in.  case  of 
any  hostility  from  them."  ' 

The  Spanish  agents  in  Philadelphia  on  August  27,  1793,  brought 
the  attention  of  Secretary  of  State  Jefferson  to  an  expedition  they  claimed 
was  being  fitted  out  by  Genet  against  Louisiana.  Two  days  later  the 
latter  replied  that  he  had  informed  the  President  of  the  charges  and 
that  he  was  "authorized  tt)  assure  you  that  the  President  will  emj^loy  all 
his  power  to  restrain  the  citizens  of  the  United  Stales  from  the  enterprise 
of  the  sort  *  *  *  jjy  preventing  in  general  their  sharing  in  any 
hostility  by  land  or  sea  against  the  subjects  of  Spain  or  its  (U^minions." 
Jefferson  also  informed  the  Spanish  agents  that  he  had  called  the  attention 
of  the  governor  of  Kentucky  to  the  matter  "With  instructions  to  watch 
with  the  strictest  caution  over  any  attempts  that  may  be  made  there  to  in- 
cite the  citizens  of  that  state  to  take  i)art  in  that  enterprise  or  any  other, 
making  use  of  whatever  ineans  are  in  bis  power  to  prevent  this."  ^  The 
United  States  all  along  showed  its  desire  to  preserve  a  strict  neutrality 
between  Spain  and  France,  with  the  result  that  it  incurred  the  bitter 
hostility  of  Kentucky.  The  President  was  trying  to  negotiate  a  treaty 
with  Spain  during  this  period,  and  any  other  course  than  neutrality  would 
have  been  fatal  to  the  success  of  the  negotiations. 

But  Jefferson's  assurances  to  the  Spanish  agents,  of  a  correct  attitude 
on  the  i)art  of  the  United  States,  did  not  serve  long  to  (juiet  the  apprehen- 
sions of  the  S])aniards  in  the  face  of  alarming  rumors  and  reports  that 
were  coming  in  every  day.  On  October  ist,  one  of  the  F'rench  agents 
who  had  turned  traitor,  informed  the  .Spanish  Ambassador  that  LaChaise, 
De  Pauw,  and  Matluu-in  were  "the  three  men  chosen  and  invested  with 
authority  for  the  expedition,  which  aims  at  nothing  else  than  the  destruc- 
tion and  devastation  of  the  prosperity  that  reigns  here."  He  declared 
that  they  were  to  solicit  the  sympathy  and  support  of  the  dispossessed 
French  and  of  the  Americans  living  on  the  borders  of  the  country  and 
that  Mathurin  was  "to  Iniild  carriages  for  the  transiiortation  of  the 
artillerj%  which  are  to  serve  also  to  set  fire  to  the  vessels  in  the  different 
ports  of  the  country."  He  then  imfolded  a  wily  scheme  he  declared 
LaChaise  intended  to  work.  It  was  the  purpose  of  the  latter,  he  declared, 
to  get  an  introduction  to  "the  governor  of  the  city"  to  inform  him  "that 
he  had  been  misled  in  following  the  spirit  of  the  French  Revolution;  that 
he  has  today  absolutely  changed ;  that  he  hopes  still  to  find  in  his  country 
the  consideration  that  will  be  due  to  the  conduct  which  he  will  observe 
there."  Having  thus  wormed  himself  into  the  favor  and  coniidence  of 
the  Spanish  offices,  and  thereby  destroyed  all  suspicion?,  of  his  true 
character,  LaChaise,  according  to  the  I-'rench  informer,  would  then  in 
the  early  spring  (1794),  if  not  .sooner,  organize  an  exjiedition  to  attack 
the  outposts  of  New  Orleans  "and  when  once  these  are  taken,  he  is  to 
fire  with  hot  shot  ujion  the  city,  as  he  has  told  me  and  to  bombard  it  in 

'  "Corrcspoiulciicc  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  996-999. 

2  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  1005.  As  licrctofore  noted,  Jefferson 
wrote  Shelby  on  Ang.  29,   1793. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  361 

case  he  does  not  succeed  in  setting  it  on  fire  or  in  case  the  inhabitants 
refuse  to  yield  to  his  will."  * 

As  Clark  and  Genet  continued  their  plans  for  the  Louisiana  expedition, 
the  Spanish  authorities  accepted  at  face  value  the  visionary  schemes  of 
the  French  enthusiasts.  The  Spanish  agents  acting  as  spies  in  New 
York  City  had  little  difficulty  in  learning  what  the  French  were  planning. 
They  assured  Las  Casas,  the  Captain-General  of  Cuba,  under  whose 
jurisdiction  Louisiana  came  "that  we  are  always  on  the  alert  to  discover 
the  wicked  plots  which  our  enemies  are  at  every  moment  concocting  here, 
and  we  will  try  to  advise  your  Excellency  on  time  as  well  as  the  other 
heads  of  the  possessions  of  the  King  against  whom  they  are  directed,"  ^ 
But  with  all  of  their  system  of  espionage,  the  Spaniards  never  knew  just 
what  to  expect  or  when  and  where  to  expect  it.  Their  agents  in  New 
York  believed  the  main  danger  was  to  be  looked  for  from  the  expedition 
which  they  believed  was  forming  to  float  down  the  Mississippi.  They 
recommended  as  the  most  efficacious  means  of  opposing  the  evil  designs 
of  the  French  "and  the  one  which  they  fear  most,  would  be  for  the 
Governor  of  Louisiana  to  send  up  the  river  a  small  armed  boat  to  cruise 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  and  its  vicinity  and  to  arrest  them  on  descending 
the  Misisipi."  They  especially  hoped  by  this  method  to  succeed  in 
laying  hold  of  the  leaders,  a  description  of  whom  the  French  denunciator 
had  supplied.-'  But  the  fear  of  the  Mississippi  River  expedition  subsided 
for  a  time  as  it  became  overshadowed  by  the  supposedly  impending  attack 
on  Louisiana  by  a  French  squadron,  from  the  sea.  In  their  dilemma  of 
uncertainties,  the  Spaniards  began  to  doubt  the  supposed  French  traitor, 
in  his  last  revelation,  in  which  he  stated  that  the  French  squadron  was 
bent  on  other  errands  and  that  it  would  not  attack  Louisiana.  Carondolet 
believed  that  this  Frenchman  might  be  in  the  pay  of  Genet  after  all  and 
that  he  was  trying  to  deceive  the  Spaniards  into  believing  that  the  French 
naval  vessels  would  not  attack  Louisiana  "so  as  to  induce  us  to  withdraw 
part  of  our  galleys  which  guard  the  entry  of  the  Misisipi.  *  *  *" 
His  doubts  in  the  Frenchman  were  further  increased  by  his  insignificance 
and  even  more  so  since  he  "is  satisfied  with  thirty-two  dollars"  for  making 
certain  hazardous  journeys.^  For  these  reasons,  the  Spaniards  in  the  fall 
of  1793,  looked  for  the  main  French  attack  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 
For  the  time  being  they  would  take  care  of  the  up-river  dangers  by 
dispatching  a  well-armed  galley  which  should  cruise  "between  Nogales 
and  Arkansas,  which  shall  carefully  inspect  the  flat-boats  and  barks  it  may 
meet"  and  imprison  any  French  emissaries  who  might  fall  into  its  hands. 

The  fears  of  the  Spaniards  vacillated  between  the  French  squadron 
attacking  from  the  sea  and  the  expedition  of  Kentuckians  and  Frenchmen 
floating  down  the  Mississippi.  By  the  beginning  of  1794,  they  had  again 
turned  their  attention  up  the  river,  as  being  the  quarter  from  which  the 
attack  would  surely  come.  Gayoso,  the  governor  of  Natchez,  had  visions 
of  a  force  of  500  men  led  by  George  Rogers  Clark,  marching  down  on 
Louisiana  and  sweeping  everything  before  them.  Carondolet  declared 
that  "If  the  project  planned  by  the  enemy  is  carried  into  eflfect,  the  whole 
of  upper  Louisiana  from  San  Luis  de  Illinoa  as  far  as  Nogales  (\'icks- 
burg),  that  is,  an  extent  of  380  leagues,  will  fall  into  the  hands  of  the 
enemies  in  Spring,  since  the  forces  that  can  be  collected  for  the  defense 
of  the  forts  of  San  Luis  de  Illinoa  and  of  New  Madrid  do  not  amount 

3  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  1002,  1003.  Pis-Gignouse  to  Spanish 
Ambassador,  Oct.  i,  1793. 

*  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  1004,  1005.  Viar  and  Jaudenes  to  Las 
Casas,  Oct.  r,  1793. 

5  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  1005,  1006.  Jaudenes  and  Viar  to  Las 
Casas,  Oct.  i,  1793. 

«  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  1020.  Carondolet  to  Gayoso,  Oct.  29, 
1793- 


362  HISTORY  UK  KENTUCKY 

to  90  men  of  regular  troops  and  200  militia;  and  even  these  can  be  but 
little  trusted."  The  fears  of  the  Spaniards  made  the  expedition  seem 
as  easy  for  their  enemies  as  the  enthusiasm  of  the  Kentuckians  and  French 
had  pictured  it.  Carondolet  fought  out  the  successful  cam])aign  in  his 
imagination:  "The  project  of  the  enemy  is  to  profit  by  the  artillery 
found  in  both  forts  to  besiege  Nogales  next,  and  after  taking  it  to  fall 
ujion  this  capital  with  all  their  forces  and  more  than  40  pieces  of  canon 
which  they  will  have  taken  from  us  on  the  upper  river."  Not  content 
with  imagining  the  French  in  possession  of  Louisiana,  his  flight  of 
prophesy  carried  the  conquering  I'Venclmien  westward  into  the  interior 
provinces.  He  declared  to  Alcudia  that  "the  enemy  extend  their  views 
much  farther  than  the  conquest  of  Louisiana,  and  hope  soon  to  arrive 
at  Santa  Fe,  having  learned  that  they  will  not  require  more  than  22  days 
to  march  from  San  Luis  de  Illinoa  to  that  city  of  the  interior  Provinces; 
I  do  not  doubt  their  success,  if  helped  by  the  inhabitants  of  upper  Louisiana 
and  their  Indians,  who  are  well  affected  toward  the  I'^rcnch." " 

Gayoso  was  informed,  he  declared,  that  the  French  had  projected  a 
fund  of  $1,000,000  to  carry  the  expedition  to  a  successful  completion. 
He  also  had  information  to  the  effect  that  artillery  was  to  be  smuggled 
over  the  Alleghanies  in  barrels.  But  the  more  practical  Gayoso  predicted 
the  success  of  the  French  project  upon  a  number  of  contingencies:  "That 
the  transportation  of  artillery  be  feasible;  that  the  sum  of  a  million 
dollars  be  realized ;  that  the  uneasiness  of  the  American  Government  be 
not  sufficient  to  obstruct  this  enterprise ;"  and  that  certain  differences 
among  the  leaders  should  not  come  to  the  point  of  disrupting  the  ex- 
peditions.* 

Beset  with  their  fears,  the  Spaniards  had  recourse  to  a  number  of 
methods  of  warding  off  their  impending  dangers.  As  has  been  noted  they 
made  representations  to  the  United  States  government  to  stop  the  war- 
like Kentuckians.  Jefferson  in  different  communications  to  Shelb)'  re- 
ferred to  the  charges  the  .Spaniards  had  made,  and  warned  the  governor 
against  allowing  the  Kentuckians  to  go  against  Spain.  But  the  Spaniards 
were  not  willing  to  trust  wholly  in  the  good  intentions  expressed  by  the 
American  Government.  Since  one  of  the  chief  sources  of  Kentucky  oppo- 
sition to  the  Spaniards  was  the  restrictions  they  had  placed  on  the  naviga- 
tion of  the  Mississippi,  they  decided  that  in  this  stress  of  Kentucky  anger 
and  exasperation,  they  should  best  relieve  it  by  relaxing  their  restraints. 
Out  of  this  fear  alone,  Carondolet  removed  the  customary  15%  duty:  In 
a  later  dispatch  to  Alcudia,  he  declared  that  events  had  shown  the  wisdom 
of  this  action,  the  fact  of  which  "woidd  have  hastened  the  hostile  deter- 
minations of  the  same  (Western  settlements),  inducing  them  perhaps  to 
unite  and  hcl[)  the  French  expedition  of  Gen.  Clark  which  he  tried  to  form 
on  the  Ohio,  and  which  our  partisans  among  the  Kentuckians  succeeded  in 
dispersing.""  Another  course,  however,  had  previously  suggested  itself, 
and  was  more  truly  in  line  with  the  Spanish  method  of  dealing  with  such 
situations.  This  was  secret  intrigue,  a  fundamental  part  of  Spanish  policy 
in  the  West,  as  well  as  a  specific  remedy  in  this  instance. 

And  when  it  came  to  looking  for  the  master-hand,  they  naturally  and 
instinctively  turned  to  James  Wilkinson,  who  had  done  valiant  service 
for  them  previously.  The  fact  that  he  was  now  a  high  officer  in  the 
American  Army  was  an  added  inducement  to  secure  him  as  a  principal 
agent.  This  same  fact  was  of  no  consequence  to  Wilkinson  except  as 
it  might  make  him  more  sought  after  on  account  of  the  valuable  informa- 


'  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  1027-1029.    Carondolet  to  Alcudia,  Jan. 

',  1794. 

"Ibid..  1029,  1032.     Gayoso  to  Carondolet,  Dec.  23,  1703. 

"  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  1070.     Carondolet  to  Alcudia,  July  30, 
1794. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  363 

tion  he  could  give  and  as  it  would  thereby  place  a  higher  price  on  his 
services.  For  the  past  few  years  beginning  with  the  success  of  the 
statehood  movement  in  Kentucky  which  put  an  end  temporarily  to  Spanish 
hopes,  Wilkinson's  services  as  an  intriguer  had  been  largely  dispensed 
with.  But  mindful  of  his  past  efforts,  even  if  they  had  not  been  successful, 
the  Spaniards  now  turned  to  the  man  whom  they  knew  was  able  to  serve 
them  best.  It  is  doubtful  whether  the  Spaniards  had  ever  severed  their 
relations  with  him  entirely.  They  knew  the  West  well  enough  to  know 
that  conditions  were  not  so  stable  there,  but  that  more  secret  intriguing 
would  be  necessary  for  Spain  to  realize  her  full  ambitions,  or,  indeed,  for 
that  matter,  to  successfully  hold  what  she  claimed  as  her  own.  At  any 
rate  in  the  early  stages  of  the  French  preparations  in  Kentucky  for  a 
descent  on  Louisiana  (October,  1793),  Carondolet  wrote  Gayoso  to  get 
into  communication  with  Wilkinson  and  ask  "him  to  advise  us  promptly 
by  safe  messenger  of  whatever  may  be  concocted,  either  in  Kentucky  or 
in  Cumberland,  contrary  to  the  interests  of  Spain."  ^^  Carondolet  prom- 
ised also  to  write  Wilkinson  to  the  same  effect.  Wilkinson  was  at  the  head 
of  whatever  influence  and  following  the  Spaniards  had  in  Kentucky.  His 
suave  bearing  and  engaging  personality  had  stood  him  in  good  stead  in 
the  days  of  Kentucky's  struggle  for  statehood  when  he  had  built  up  a 
powerful  following,  unstable  though  it  was.  Statehood  had  largely  dissi- 
pated any  pure  and  steadfast  Spanish  party.  But  Wilkinson  was  still  a 
person  of  influence  among  a  certain  class  in  the  state,  and  a  power  not  to 
be  lightly  turned  aside.  The  French  at  the  beginning  of  their  project  had 
recognized  his  influence  there  and  had  counted  on  winning  him  over  to 
their  side."  The  Spaniards  professed  to  believe  that  they  could  control 
a  large  and  substantial  element  of  the  Kentuckians.  Gayoso  wrote  Al- 
cudia,  after  referring  to  certain  advances  Wilkinson  had  made  that  "Many 
individuals  of  the  highest  repute  in  Kentucky  have  likewise  written  me 
regarding  this  same  subject,  to  which  in  general  the  sounder  part  of  that 
country  is  favorable."  ^-  Humphrey  Marshall,  a  bitter  partisan  of  the 
day  and  an  inveterate  enemy  of  all  foreign  intrigues,  placed  the  "Spanish 
Party"  as  one  of  the  three  party  groups  into  which  he  divided  the  state. 
He  declared  it  was  "a  small  but  persevering  bond,  like  moles  working  in 
the  dark ;  joining  the  Jefferson  faction,  the  more  effectually  to  oppose  the 
Federalists,  and  to  identify  themselves  with  the  infatuated  multitude;  who 
they  were  to  have  on  their  side,  should  they  succeed."  ^^  If  by  the  term, 
Spanish  Party,  it  is  to  be  understood  as  meaning  a  group  of  people  willing 
to  work  for  the  separation  of  Kentucky  from  the  American  Union  and 
its  incorporation  with  the  Spanish  possessions,  as  a  recognition  of  the 
genius  of  the  people  for  such  an  arrangement,  then  such  a  party  was  non- 
existent in  the  state ;  for  no  American  was  so  dead  to  political  liberty  and 
civic  pride  as  to  wish  to  submerge  his  political  organization  into  Spanish 
tyranny  and  incapacity.  That  there  were  a  few  Kentuckians  who  were  will- 
ing to  sell  their  honor  for  Spanish  gold  and  in  return  make  the  Spaniards 
believe  they  could  accomplish  the  impossible  also  cannot  be  doubted.  But 
the  vast  majority  of  those  who  might  be  called  the  Spanish  party  were 
merely  Kentuckians  who  were  willing  to  use  Spain  as  a  tool  to  secure  by 
one  way  or  another,  rights  that  they  claimed  were  theirs  by  nature  and 
by  compact.  They  were  working  for  nothing  more  than  were  the  great 
body  of  Kentuckians  led  by  Governor  Isaac  Shelby,  and  with  equal 
propriety   designated   as  a   French    Party.      As   before    intimated,    those 


'"  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  1020.  Carondolet  to  Gayoso,  Oct.  29, 
1793- 

11  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  948,  952.  Plan  for  Revolution  in 
Louisiana. 

^^  Ibid.,  1081.     Gavoso  to  Alcudia,  Sept.  19,  1794. 

"  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,   188. 


364  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

who  fed  at  the  Spanish  treasury  cannot  be  so  considered.  It  should  also 
be  noted  that  the  two  parties  never  joined  forces,  or  worked  together 
in  any  way.  The  Spaniards,  themselves,  believed  that  the  French  enthusi- 
asts in  the  Genet  scheme  had  been  largely  frustrated  by  the  Spanish  ad- 
herents in  the  state.'* 

Regardless  of  the  impossibility  of  accomplishing  their  task,  the 
.Spaniards  moved  forward  in  their  attempts  to  sei)arate  Kentucky  from 
the  Union.  This  second  active  movement  for  such  a  purpose  seems  to 
I  have  been  suggested  at  least  in  part  by  Wilkinson,  himself.  After  the 
Spaniards  hacl  seen  with  joy  the  collapse  of  the  French  enterprise  they 
were  now  willing  to  listen  to  any  scheme  that  might  further  their  interests 
in  the  Mississippi  Valley.     On  July  30,  i/i^,  Carondolet  wrote  Alcudia, 

"If  W [undoubtedly  meaning  WilkinsonJ  comes  down  at  the  end 

of  November  next,  with  two  or  three  men  of  the  highest  consideration  to 
this  capital,  as  he  promises,  I  will  negotiate  a  treaty  with  them  whose  basis 
will  be  the  separation  of  the  Western  States  from  the  Atlantic  States. 
*  *  +"  15  This  desire  of  the  Spaniards  to  negotiate  with  the  Ken- 
tuckians  was  hastened  by  the  fear  they  felt  from  reports  that  were  coming 
down  the  river.  They  believed  the  time  had  come  when  they  nuist  either 
win  over  the  Kentuckians  or  be  forced  to  fight  them.  The  news  of  the 
famous  thirteen  resolutions  passed  at  Lexington  on  the  24th  of  Maj',  had 
reached  them  and  gave  rise  to  disquieting  forebodings.  Governor 
Carondolet  declared  that  the  "circumstances  are  urgent,  as  I  do  not  doubt 
that  they  will  begin  hostilities  at  the  end  of  the  year,  in  case  we  have  not 
them  made  a  friendly  agreement."  '" 

Wilkinson  was  soon  deep  in  his  old  game  of  intrigue.  Events  were 
playing  into  his  hands  again,  all  of  which  gave  him  added  influence  with 
Spanish  officials  in  Natchez  and  New  Orleans.  In  the  fall  of  1794,  he 
had  largely  seized  the  initiative,  urging  an  accord  with  the  Kentuckians 
at  once.  In  pursuance  of  this  i)lot  he  "recently  has  sent  two  confidential ' 
envoys  proposing  to  Baron  Carondolet  to  renew  the  old  negociation  for 
establishing  a  connection  between  Kentucky  and  this  province  [Louisiana] 
which  Baron  de  Carondolet  has  accepted,  sending  him  12,000  dollars  as  a 
beginning  of  said  negociations  since  it  is  the  only  means  of  ensuring  the 
peace  of  this  province,  and  even  of  the  kingdom  of  Mexico,  with  many 
advantages  which  such  an  alliance  offers."  '^  According  to  this  statement 
of  Gayoso,  Wilkinson  was  being  ])aid  for  services  he  was  rendering  Spain 
as  a  spy  and  intriguer,  and  not  for  old  tobacco  shipments  as  has  been 
claimed.'*  That  he  was  willing  to  betray  the  movements  of  the  United 
.States  army,  or  at  least  lead  the  Spaniards  to  believe  he  would,  appears 
in  this  statement  of  Carondolet  to  the  Captain-General :  "However,  I 
shall  watch  all  movements  which  the  army  of  General  Wayne,  reduced  to 

about  800  men,  may  undertake,  whereof  W [undoubtedly  referring 

to  Wilkinson  I  will  punctually  inform  me,  as  I  have  just  had  a  letter  from 
him  on  this  snljject  in  which  he  assures  me  that  he  will  be  informed  of  all 
that  may  be  done  relative  to  the  same  object."  '" 

An  event  took  place  about  this  time  which   throws  light  on  certain 
ramifications  of  the  Spanish  dealings  with   Wilkinson.     Carondolet   en- 


'••  See  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  934.     .'Mso  Ibid.,  1070,  Carondolet 
to  Alcudia,  July  30,  1794. 

"■'  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  1060.     Carondolet  to  Alcudia,  July  30, 

'794- 

1"  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  1069.    Carondolet  to  Alcudia,  July  30, 

1794- 

''  "Correspondence  of   Clark  and   Genet,"   1081.     Gayoso  to  Alcudia,   Sept.   19, 

1794. 

"*  Brown,  Ccitleiinial  of  I'rankfort,  17. 

"  "Correspondence  of  Clark  and  Genet,"  1091.    Carondolet  to  Alcudia,  Nov.  i, 
I79S- 


X 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  365 

trusted  the  $12,000,  he  had  promised  Wilkinson  to  two  agents,  Collins  and 
Owens,  to  carry  to  him.  The  former  conveyed  part  of  it  by  seE(^to  New  ^ 
York  and  succeeded  in  delivering  it  to  Wilkinson  in  1795.  Owens  pro- 
ceeded with  about  $6000  of  the  amount  up  the  Mississippi  on  a  Spanish 
galley  to  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio.  There  he  transferred  it  to  a  pirogue, 
manned  by  a  crew  of  six  Spaniards,  and  proceeded  with  it  up  the  Ohio. 
The  cupidity  of  the  Spaniards  soon  led  them  to  murder  Owens  and  seize 
the  money.^"  One  of  the  crew  who  refused  to  take  part  in  the  crime 
made  his  way  back  to  New  Madrid,  where  he  reported  the  murder.  News 
of  what  had  happened  soon  filtered  into  Kentucky,  with  the  result  that 
three  of  the  guilty  five  were  arrested.  They  were  taken  before  Harry 
Innes,  the  Federal  district  judge,  for  trial.  Innes  showed  considerable 
reluctance  in  having  anything  to  do  with  them.  He  declared  they  were 
Spanish  subjects  and  that  since  the  crime  had  been  committed  on  the  Ohio 
River  outside  the  jurisdiction  of  Kentucky,  he  did  not  have  the  right 
to  try  them.2i  He  disposed  of  the  matter  by  sending  them  to  Wilkinson 
at  Fort  Washington  (Cincinnati)  with  the  understanding  that  they  would 
be  sent  back  to  the  Spanish  authorities  for  trial  or  most  likely  immediate 
execution.  Wilkinson  was  naturally  desirous  of  getting  rid  of  them  im- 
mediately, as  the  situation  held  the  danger  of  exposing  his  intrigues. 
He  dispatched  them  under  military  guard  to  New  Madrid,  where  he 
expected  the  Spanish  officers  would  promptly  suppress  all  risk  of  exposure. 
When  they  reached  Fort  Massac,  an  effort  was  made  by  the  commander 
there  to  determine  the  character  of  the  prisoners.  Unable  to  substantiate 
any  of  his  suspicions,  he  discharged  them.^^ 

The  attitude  of  Innes  in  dealing  with  the  prisoners  shows  that  he 
must  have  had  some  knowledge  of  Wilkinson's  intrigues  with  the 
Spaniards.  It  does,  not.  however,  show  that  Innes,  himself,  was  impli- 
cated in  the  business.  Should  the  trial  have  been  held  in  Frankfort  the  1 
result  could  not  have  been  otherwise  than  a  complete  exposure  of  Wilkin- ( 
son's  latest  Spanish  dealings.  And  blame  may  be  attached  to  Innes  for 
not  bringing  this  about.  Perhaps  the  most  that  can  be  said  against  him 
was  that  he  shielded  Wilkinson,  and  showed  that  he,  himself,  knew  much 
of  what  was  going  on.  That  he  was  guilty  of  receiving  a  Spanish  pension 
as  was  later  charged  and  not  proved,  cannot  be  substantiated.  On  the 
contrary  the  character  and  reputation  he  has  left  would  largely  vitiate 
any  such  charges. 

During  the  winter  of  1794-1795,  as  heretofore  set  forth,  the  United 
States  Government  had  been  busied  in  trying  to  conclude  a  treaty  with 
Spain,  which  would  settle  among  other  points,  the  question  of  the  naviga- 
tion of  the  Mississippi.  Washington  had  also  informed  the  Kentuckians 
through  the  mission  of  James  Innes  to  Governor  Shelby,  of  the  status 
of  the  negotiations.  But  the  traditional  policy  of  delay  of  the  Court  of 
Madrid  had  caused  the  transactions  to  move  slowlv,  so  slowly  that  the 
Kentuckians  were  again  becoming  impatient  and  exasperated  at  the  Fed- 
eral administration,  which  they  were  too  prone  to  blame.  Added  to  this 
were  certain  economic  causes  that  were  working  with  full  force  about 
this  time.  It  happened  that  the  crops  were  exceptionally  good  during  the 
year  of  1795,  and  amidst  the  blessings  of  a  full  harvest  the  unhappy  con- 
dition of  the  people  became  more  evident.  According  to  Harry  Innes,  "in 
the  fall  of  that  year,  a  general  murmur  pervaded  the  people  of  this  country 
respecting  their  crops,  on  account  of  having  no  opportunity  of  exporting 
their  produce  the  ensuing  season."  ^3     Despite  the  fact  that  the  Home 

2"  Innes  MSS.,  Vol.   18,  No.  36.     Numerous  affidavits  on  this  affair  are  pre- 
served in  this  volume.     Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  154,  155. 
21  Innes  MSS..  Vol.   18,  No.  39- 
=2  Roosevelt,  JVwnin(j  of  the  West,  IV,  203,  204. 
23  The  Report  of  the  Select  Committee  to  Whom  Was  Referred  the  Informa- 


366  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

Government  was  at  last  seriously  engaged  in  negotiating  a  treaty  with 
the  United  States  which  must  undoubtedly  include  a  settlement  of  the 
Mississippi  River  question,  the  Spanish  authorities  in  Louisiana  seized 
upon  the  time  as  proiiitious  for  making  a  determined  effort  to  use  this 
question  as  a  lever,  before  it  should  be  lost,  in  detaching  Kentucky  from 
the  Union.  The  negotiations  tliat  had  recently  been  started  with  Wilkin- 
son, while  important,  were  not  likely  to  lead  to  quick  results,  as  his 
commission  in  the  American  army  removed  him  from  the  center  of  affairs 
in  Kentucky.  It  was,  therefore,  necessary  that  they  throw  out  other  lines 
immediately. 

Realizing  this  necessity  Carondolet  in  June,  1795,  addressed  a  com- 
munication to  Benjamin  Sebastian,  who  was  at  this  time  one  of  the  judges 
of  the  Kentucky  Court  of  Appeals,  in  which  he  broached  the  subject  of 
new  negotiations  concerning  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi.  He 
promised  to  send  Gayoso  to  New  Madrid  to  meet  any  representatives 
Sebastian  might  designate.^^  Carondolet  was  so  anxious  to  avoid  every 
delay  in  setting  the  movement  going  that  he  wrote  Sebastian  again,  before 
his  first  letter  had  been  received,  in  which  he  stated  that  Gayoso  would 
be  in  New  Madrid  by  October,  ready  to  begin  the  negotiations.  He  paid 
his  compliments  to  Sebastian  in  the  beginning  of  the  letter  in  a  rather 
incriminating  manner:  "'J"he  predecessor.  Brigadier  General  Miro,  and 
your  former  correspondence  with  him,  have  induced  me  to  make  a  com- 
munication to  you  highly  interesting  to  the  country  in  which  you  live 
and  to  Louisiana."  He  then  set  forth  the  nature  of  the  treaty  he  would 
have  made.  There  was  no  mention  of  a  desire  to  separate  Kentucky  from 
the  Union  but  merely  the  fact  that  "His,  Majesty,  being  willing  to  open 
the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  to  the  people  of  the  western  country, 
and  being  also  desirous  to  establish  certain  regulations,  reciprocally  bene- 
ficial to  the  commerce  of  both  countries,  has  ordered  me  to  proceed  on 
the  business,  and  to  effect,  in  a  way  the  most  satisfactory  to  the  people 
of  the  Western  country,  his  benevolent  designs."  On  the  face  of  such  a 
communication  nothing  but  good  will  and  altruism  seemed  to  stand  out. 
Had  Spain  completely  revived  her  long-standing  policy,  and  was  she  now 
suddenly  offering  to  give  everything  and  receive  nothing  in  return?  There 
might  have  been  an  element  of  sincerity  in  the  face  value  of  this  supposedly 
generous  offer,  due  to  the  fear  lately  aroused  in  the  Spaniards  by  the 
French  enterprise  and  the  war-like  attitude  assumed  by  the  Kentuckians. 
But  most  likely  the  true  significance  was  to  be  seen  in  this  as  merely  a 
bait  to  a  more  deep  laid  intrigue,  as  indeed  appeared  two  }ears  later. 
Carondolet,  in  closing  his  letter,  declared  he  was  well  acquainted  by  in- 
formation "with  the  character  of  some  of  the  most  respectable  inhabitants 
of  Kentucky,  particularly  of  Innes,  Nicholas,  and  Murray,  to  whom  T 
wish  you  to  communicate  the  purport  of  this  address  ;  and,  should  3'ou  and 
those  gentlemen  think  the  object  of  it  as  important  as  I  do,  you  will  doubt- 
less accede,  without  hesitation,  to  the  proposition  I  have  of  sending  a 
delegation  of  your  countrymen,  sufficiently  authorized  to  treat  on  a  sub- 
ject which  so  deeply  involves  the  interest  of  both  our  countries."  -•'' 

Sebastian  immediately  brought  this  information  to  the  attention  of 
the  Kentuckians  mentioned,  all  of  whom  agreed  with  him  "That,  from  the 
situation  of  the  pending  treaty  between  the  United  States  and  Spain,  of 
which  no  communication  had  been  received  for  nearly  twelve  months, 
and  the  uncertainty  when  it  would  terminate ;  that,  it  was  a  subject  in 

lion  Commimicalcd  to  Ihe  House  of  Rcprcscntalivcs  chorging  Benjamin  Sebastian, 
one  of  the  Judges  of  the  Court  of  Appeals  of  Kentuckx,  zvith  having  Received  a 
Pension  from  the  Spanish  Government.  (Frankfort,  1806.)  This  is  a  pamphlet 
of  27  paKOs  in  Innes  MSS.,  Vol.  18,  pp.  7,  8. 

2' Justice  Winsor,  The  Westward  Movement  (Boston,  1897),  S53- 
"■American  State  Papers,  Miscellaneous,  Vol.   XX,   Pt.    i,  926.     Letter   dated 
July  16,  1795. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  367 

which  all  the  Western  people  were  greatly  interested;  that,  as  it  had 
excited  great  heat  in  the  minds  of  the  people  of  this  country ;  that,  as  we 
had  no  power  to  appoint  agents,  to  meet  Colonel  Gayoso,  as  was  requested ; 
that,  under  their  existing  circumstances,  it  would  not  be  prudent  to  com- 
municate the  subject  matter  of  the  letter;  yet  that  it  was  advisable  to  know 
what  was  the  object  of  the  Spanish  Government  upon  that  important 
subject."  20  The  implication  was,  thus,  left  that  in  seizing  the  opportunity, 
they  were  not  actually  making  a  treaty  but  were  intent  on  satisfying 
their  curiosity  as  to  what  the  Spaniards  were  about.  As  the  letter  was 
addressed  to  Sebastian  it  was  declared  that  he  was  the  proper  person  to  go 
to  New  Madrid. 

In  this  same  period  a  certain  renegade  Irishman,  Thomas  Power,  a 
master  of  the  English,  French  and  Spanish  languages,  a  naturalized 
citizen  of  Spain  and  now  passing  as  a  wandering  naturalist,  appeared  in 
Louisville.  He  had  also  spent  the  most  of  the  winter  of  1793-4  here.^" 
In  this,  his  latest  visit,  he  was  posing  as  a  person  deeply  interested  in 
bringing  the  Spanish  murderers  of  Owen  to  justice.  He  was  well  known 
to  Sebastian,  and  he  was  possibly  preparing  the  way  for  Carondolet's 
advances.  Sebastian  on  April  7,  1795,  wrote  John  Breckinridge,  who  was 
the  attorney-general  of  the  state,  enquiring  into  the  possibility  of  his 
employing  Power  in  the  case,  a  gentleman,  "who  resides  at  New  Madrid, 
who  speaks  the  Spanish  language  fluently  *  *  *  and  who  will  will- 
ingly do  eveiything  in  his  power  to  have  them  [the  murderers]  brought 
to_  punishment,  provided  he  is  legally  called  on.  As  Mr.  Power  came  to 
this  Country  for  no  other  purpose  but  to  contribute  his  assistance  toward 
their  condemnation,  and  as  he  is  now  living  at  considerable  expense  in 
Louisville,  he  wishes  to  know,  by  the  earliest  opportunity,  whether  his 
services  &  attendance  will  be  necessary."  -^  This  may  have  been  a  feeler 
thrown  out  to  Breckinridge  to  determine  his  attitude  toward  possible 
Spanish  dealing.    If  so,  it  never  came  to  anything. 

^  But  if  Power  was  not  now  acting  directly  in  connection  with  Carondo- 
let's contemplated  negotiations,  he  soon  after  assumed  that  role;  for  he 
appeared  in  New  Madrid  in  the  fall  of  1795  with  Sebastian. 

Within  a  few  weeks  after  arriving  Sebastian  had  secured  an  amazing- 
ly liberal  treaty  from  Gayoso.  It  was  wholly  commercial  in  its  outward 
aspect,  with  no  intimation  of  a  political  connection  of  any  sort.  But  the 
unusual  attitude  of  the  Spaniards  expressed  in  this  treaty  was  an  insidious 
move  to  later  bring  about  a  political  accord  with  the  Westerners  and 
ultimate  separation  and  probable  union  with  Spain.  The  treaty  began 
with  the  statement  that  "His  Catholic  Majesty  having  taken  into  con- 
sideration the  relative  situation  of  his  province  of  Louisiana  and  its  de- 
pendencies, and  that  part  of  the  United  States  of  America  lying  west  of 
the  Appalachian  Mountains,  and  being  of  opinion  that  a  commercial  in- 
tercourse between  the  two  countries  will  be  productive  of  the  harmony 
and  reciprocal  interest  thereof,  has  been  pleased  to  concede  to  the  people 
of  said  Western  country,  during  his  pleasure,  the  following  priveleges." 
Then  under  five  articles  the  provisions  of  the  treaty  were  enumerated. 
The  first  question  to  be  dealt  with  was  the  one  of  greatest  importance 
to  the  Kentuckians,  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  River.  This  was 
fully  and  freely  granted  in  the  following  clause:  "The  people  of  the 
Western  country  shall  henceforth  freely  use,  and  exclusively  enjoy,  for 
the  purposes  of  commerce,  the  navigation  of  the  river  Mississippi,  and 
all  the  ports  and  places  thereon  under  the  Government  of  His  Catholic 
Majesty,  subject  to  the  same  regulations,  and  no  other  by  which  the 

^^  American  State  Patters,  Miscellaneous,  XX,  Pt.  I,  926.  Affidavit  of  Harry 
Innes,  given   in   1806. 

-■  Innes  MSS..  Vol.   19.  No.  46. 
-''Breckinridge  MSS.   (1795). 


368  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

commerce  of  the  subject  of  His  Catholic  Majesty  is  now  governed." 
There  was  one  exception  to  this  full  enjoyment :  that  instead  of  having 
to  |)ay  a  6%  ad  valorem  duty  on  all  goods  imjjorted  into  Louisiana  and 
a  similar  duty  on  all  goods  exported,  the  Western  settlers  were  to  pay  one 
duty  of  4%  ad  valorem  whether  the  goods  were  disposed  of  in  Louisiana 
or  reshijjped  to  foreign  markets.  This  concession  was  made  because  His 
Majesty  was  "willing  to  remove  every  obstacle  to  that  friendly  intercourse 
which  he  is  desirous  to  establish  and  maintain  with  the  said  Western 
people." 

In  the  next  article  an  effort  was  made  to  forestall  all  hostile  attempts 
against  Spanish  territory  as  well  as  to  attract  settlers  there  by  throwing 
open  the  whole  regions  west  of  the  Mississippi  to  immigrants  on  equal 
terms  in  every  respect  with  the  Spaniards.  By  the  third  article  it  was 
provided  that  when  the  Westerners  could  not  "get  a  satisfactory  market 
for  their  products  in  the  province  of  Louisiana  or  its  dependencies"  tliey 
should  be  allowed  to  export  them  to  any  ports  of  the  Spanish  dominions 
beyond  the  seas,  without  the  payment  of  further  duties  beyond  the 
initial  4%. 

To  make  sure  that  none  except  the  inhabitants  of  the  Western  regions 
should  enjoy  these  concessions,  and  to  drive  in  a  wedge  that  would  sejiarate 
the  East  and  the  West  still  more  in  sentiment  and  economic  independence, 
article  four  stated  that  "it  is  explicitly  declared  that  the  importation  of 
all  articles  of  commerce,  of  what  nature  or  descrijition  whatsoever  which 
are  not  actually  the  production  of  the  said  Western  country,  is  absolutely 
prohibited;  and  if  any  jjersons  shall  hereafter  attempt,  under  any  pretext 
whatsoever,  to  introduce  into  the  province  of  Louisiana  and  its  de- 
pendencies down  the  Mississippi,  the  products  or  manufactures  of  any 
other  country  (unless  specially  i)ermilted  by  the  Government),  the  same 
are  hereby  declared  to  be  contraband,  and  liable  to  seizure."  To  cement 
still  more  strongly  this  inter-regional  economic  dejiendence,  the  last  article 
declared  that  His  Majesty  would  "cause  a  jireference  to  always  be  given 
in  his  markets  to  the  products  of  the  \\'estern  Country,  and  therefore 
expects  that  the  people  of  the  said  W'estern  Country,  acting  under  the 
influence  of  the  same  principle,  will,  in  the  purchase  of  such  articles 
of  commerce  as  they  may  need,  whether  foreign  or  domestic,  prefer  his 
market  to  any  other.  And,  as  a  further  inducement  thereto.  His  Majesty, 
contrary  to  a  long  established  rule  of  his  Government,  does  henceforth 
permit  the  people  of  the  said  Western  Country  to  carry  out  of  his 
doiuinions  whatever  money  may  reiriain  to  them  after  coni])leting  their 
purchase,  free  f roiu  any  duty  or  impost  whatsoever."  -" 

The  success  in  securing  such  liberal  concessions  must  have  been  an 
agreeable  surprise  to  Sebastian.  It  at  least  showed  him  how  eager  the 
.Spaniards  were  to  come  to  an  understanding  with  the  ICentuckians,  and 
emboldened  him  to  deiuand  certain  changes.  As  long  as  there  was  any 
hindrance  to  the  trade  down  the  Mississippi  at  all,  he  felt  that  to  that 
extent  he  would  in  the  eyes  of  the  Kentuckians  fall  short  of  their  just 
expectations.  He  tlierefore,  strongly  objected  to  the  remaining  4%  duty 
that  the  Spaniards  wished  to  retain.  Gayoso  resolutely  refused  to  reiuove 
it ;  and  so  in  order  to  settle  the  question  they  agreed  to  go  to  New  Orleans 
to  submit  their  differences  to  Carondolet.  Shortly  after  arriving  Sebastian 
was  given  a  conference  with  the  Spanish  governor,  which  resulted  in  a 
reversal  of  Gayoso's  position.  Another  meeting  was  arranged  to  complete 
the  business;  but  before  this  took  place,  news  was  brought  from  Havana 
of  the  conclusion  of  a  treaty  between  tlie  United  Stales  and  Spain.  This 
put  an  end  to  further  action  as  the  duplicity  of  the  Spaniards  so  persistently 
practiced  up  to  this  time,  could  not  now  be  successfully  carried  further. 

^»  American  Stale  Papers,  Miscellaneous,  XX,  Pt.  i,  026,  927.  Innes  MSS.,  Vol. 
18,  Sebastian  Report,  g-ll. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  369 

But  Spain  was  willing  to  pay  for  past  services  and  well  as  for  future 
good  will,  and  so  at  the  instance  of  the  Spanish  king  a  pension  of  $2000 
a  year  was  settled  on  Sebastian. ^^ 

Accompanied  by  Power  he  sailed  in  the  spring  of  1796  for  Philadelphia. 
Feeling  the  sting  of  defeat  for  his  high  hopes  he,  without  calling  on  any 
of  the  Kentucky  delegation  in  Congress,  continued  his  journey  back  to 
Frankfort. ^1 

In  the  meantime  Wilkinson  had  been  playing  a  minor  and  rather  \ 
inconspicuous  part  in  this  movement.  His  chief  contribution  was  a 
letter  to  Carondolet  containing  certain  advice  that  he  would  have  followed. 
He  believed  Spain  should  immediately  revive  the  commerce  on  the 
Mississippi  as  the  best  means  of  restoring  confidence ;  that  it  should 
establish  a  post  at  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  against  a  possible  attack  of  the 
English  from  Canada ;  that  in  order  to  get  a  stronger  hold  on  Kentucky 
it  should  provide  the  capital  for  setting  up  a  bank  in  that  state  with  Amer- 
ican directors,  who  would  allay  suspicions :  and  that  it  should  give  George 
Rogers  Clark  and  his  adventurers  employment  in  the  Spanish  service. ^•- 

The  knowledge  that  Jay  had  recently  concluded  a  treaty  with  England, 
must  have  played  an  important  part  in  causing  Spain  to  suddenly  agree  to 
a  treaty  which  she  had  been  delaying  for  years.  She  had  the  strong 
suspicion  and  fear  that  the  Jay  treaty  concluded  an  alliance  between  the 
two  countries  which  might  soon  be  followed  by  a  joint  declaration  of  war 
against  France  and  .Spain.  W'hen  the  fear  of  this  danger  had  been  some- 
what dissipated,  the  Spaniards  began  systematically  to  prevent  the  provi- 
sions of  the  treaty  of  San  Lorenzo  from  being  carried  out.  Gayoso 
boasted  that  the  Spaniards  would  never  carry  out  the  treaty,  and  Governor 
Carondolet  soon  seconded  this  sentiment  by  actions.  The  provisions  on 
which  the  Spaniards  would  rise  or  fall  in  their  efforts  to  block  the  treaty 
concerned  the  evacuation  of  the  post  of  Natchez  and  the  fixing  of  the 
boundary  on  the  Thirty-first  parallel. 

In  the  fall  of  1796  Andrew  Ellicott.  a  famous  mathematician  of  his 
day,  who  had  been  appointed  to  run  the  boundary  line,  started  down  the 
Ohio  with  his  equipment.  After  being  stopped  by  the  Spaniards  at  New 
Madrid,  Chickasaw  Bluffs,  and  Walnut  Hills  (Vicksburg),  he  finally 
reached  Natchez.  Gayoso  refused  on  one  pretext  and  another  to  give  up 
the  fort,  and  for  a  time  trouble  was  imminent.  Finally  in  the  spring  of 
1797,  the  post  was  surrendered  and  a  beginning  made  toward  running  the 
boundary  line.^* 

In  the  meantime  Carondolet,  while  busy  trying  to  thwart  the  treaty 
of  San  Lorenzo,  turned  his  attention  to  Kentucky  again  as  a  last  hope 
to  stay  the  progress  of  the  United  States.  Thomas  Power  was  again 
made  the  medium  through  which  the  negotiations  were  to  be  carried  on. 
In  the  summer  of  1797  he  arrived  in  Louisville  "with  a  pack  horse  or 
Pack  horses,  and  the  general  impression  was  that  he  had  money  for 
Sebastian  &  ^\^ilkinson."  Believing  that  he  was  a  spv,  two  persons 
followed  him  on  his  departure,  and  when  outside  the  city  demanded  of 
him  to  see  his  papers.  This  he  readilv  complied  with,  showing  them 
some  documents  written  in  French  and  Spanish,  which  neither  one  of  his 
pursuers  could  read.  They,  however,  ran  across  a  record  in  English 
of  his  arrest  and  trial  as  a  spy  in  Tennessee  and  his  acquittal.^*  Being 
unable  to  satisfy  suspicions,  they  allowed  him  to  depart.    But  he  succeeded 

'•"American  Stafc  Papers.  Miscellaneous,  XX,  Pt.  i.  Q32.  Affidavit  of  Thomas 
Todd,  in   1806. 

'1  Ibid..  031.  Affidavit  of  John  Brown,  in  1806.  Gayarre,  History  of  Louisiana, 
in,  .l=;8-364. 

32  Winsor,   IVesln'ard  Movement,  553,  554. 

■■'^Winsor,   West7vard  Movement,  564,  567. 

s*  Innes  MSS.,  Vol.  19,  No.  47.  Letter  from  D.  Fitzbiirgh  to  Harry  Innes,  Dec. 
II,  1807. 

Vol.  1—28 


:i7()  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

in  carrying  out  his  main  jnirpose,  which  was  to  dehver  to  Sebastian  a  new 
set  of  propositions. 

These  proposals  were  as  daring  as  the  former  treaty  with  Sebastian 
had  been  generous.  Power  in  jjresenting  them  stated  tliat  Carondolet 
having  communications  of  ini[)()rtance  to  Kentucky  and  the  Western 
country  in  general  "to  make  to  its  inhaliitants,  through  the  medium  of  the 
inllucntial  characters  in  this  country,  and  judging  it,  in  the  [jresent 
uncertain  and  critical  attitude  of  policies,  highly  imprudent  and  dangerous 
to  lay  them  on  paper,  has  expressly  commissioned  and  authorized  me  to 
submit  the  following  proposals  to  the  considerations  of  Messrs.  S.  N.  I. 
and  M.  [Sebastian,  Nicholas,  Junes,  and  Murray]  and  also  of  such  other 
gentlemen  as  may  be  pointed  out  by  them,  and  to  receive  from  them  their 
sentiments  and  determinations  on  the  subject."  lie  then  immediately 
developed  plans  for  Kentucky  se|)aration  from  the  Union.  The  above- 
mentioned  men  were  to  ''immediately  exert  all  their  influence  in  impressing 
on  the  minds  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Western  country  a  conviction  of 
a  necessity  of  their  withdrawing  and  separating  themselves  from  the 
Federal  Union,  and  forming  an  independent  Government  wholly  un- 
connected with  that  of  the  Atlantic  States.  To  prepare  and  dispose  the 
people  for  such  an  event,  it  will  be  necessary  that  the  most  ]X)inilar  and 
eloquent  writers  in  this  State  should,  in  well-timed  ])ublications,  expose, 
in  the  most  striking  point  of  view,  the  inconveniences  and  disadvantages 
that  a  longer  connection  with,  and  dejiendence  on,  the  Atlantic  States 
must  inevitably  draw  ujmu  them,  and  the  great  and  innumerable  difficulties 
in  which  they  will  projjably  be  entangled  if  they  do  not  speedily  recede 
from  the  Union ;  the  benefits  they  will  certainly  reap  from  a  secession 
ought  to  be  pointed  out  in  the  most  forcible  and  powerful  manner;  and 
the  danger  of  permitting  the  federal  troops  to  take  possession  of  the  posts 
in  the  Mississippi ;  and  thus  forming  a  cardon  of  fortified  places  around 
them,  must  be  particularly  expatriated  upon."  In  consideration  "of  the 
time  and  talent"  of  the  supposed  propagandists.  Carondolet  promised  to 
appropriate  the  sum  of  $100,000.  And  as  an  additional  inducement,  should 
any  of  the  persons  promotitng  this  plot  and  holding  a  public  office  "and 
in  consequence  of  taking  an  active  part  in  indeavoring  to  effect  a  secession, 
shall  lose  their  employments,  a  compensation,  equal  at  least  to  the  emolu- 
ment of  their  office,  shall  be  made  to  them  by  His  Catholic  Majestv,  let 
their  efTorts  be  crowned  with  success,  or  terminate  in  disappointment." 

Having  in  his  mind  thus  led  Kentucky  out  of  the  Union,  Carondolet 
expected  the  new  government  to  asstmie  an  active  and  belligerent  attitude 
toward  the  United  States,  by  immediately  seizing  Fort  Massac  and  holding 
it.  To  assume  the  success  of  this  move  .Spain  would  furnish  the  Ken- 
tuckians  "without  loss  of  time,  with  twenty  field  pieces,  with  their  carriages 
and  neces.sary  appendage,  including  powder,  balls,  iS:c.,  together  with  a 
number  of  small  arms  and  ammunition  sufficient  to  equip  the  troops  that 
it  shall  be  judged  expedient  to  raise."  For  the  jiurpose  of  raising  and 
maintaining  these  troops,  another  sum  of  $100,000  was  to  be  set  aside. 

In  the  third  article  one  of  the  main  inirjioses  of  Spain  became  evident. 
The  Kentuckians  were  to  agree  to  the  boundary  of  West  b'lorida  contended 
for  by  Spain  heretofore  in  her  negotiations  with  the  United  States  but 
relinquished  in  the  treaty  of  San  Lorenzo,  viz.:  the  parallel  of  32°  28' 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Yazoo  to  the  Tombigbee.  But  should  there  be 
Spanish  posts  north  of  this  line,  then  the  boundary  .should  begin  at  the 
same  point  on  the  Mississippi  but  "drawn  in  such  a  direction  as  to  meet 
the  river  Confederation  or  Tombigbee,  six  miles  to  the  nortli  of  the  most 
northern  Spanish  fort,  post,  or  settlement  on  the  said  river."  I'or  thus 
generously  agreeing  to  a  breach  of  .Spain's  treaty  with  the  United  .States, 
the  Kentuckians  were  to  he  allowed  all  the  territory  north  of  this  line 
except  a  siuall  tract  at  the  Chickasaw  I'lufifs.     In  this  way  .Spain   would 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  371 

greatly  strengthen  her  new  ally  in  the  west,  adding  Tennessee,  and  the 
northern  parts  of  the  territory  later  becoming  the  state  of  Mississippi 
and  Alabama,  with  the  above  mentioned  exception. 

With  the  example  of  such  arrogant  audacity  nothing  hereafter 
suggested  should  be  surprising.  The  fourth  proposition  embraced  a 
promise  to  betray  the  Indians  south  of  the  Ohio  with  whom  Ga>x)so 
had  lately  made  treaties  of  alliance  and  friendships,  provided  they  should 
ever  cortimit  hostilities  against  Kentucky,  or  even  if  the  new  government 
should  at  some  future  time  want  to  extend  its  laws  and  authority  over 
them. 

The  final  article  of  these  propositions  was  a  disclaimer  of  the  Spaniards 
to  unduly  influence  the  new  government.  It  declared  that  "His  Catholic 
Majesty  will  not  either  directly  or  indirectly  interfere  in  the  framing  of 
the  constitution  or  laws  which  the  new  Government  shall  think  fit  to 
adopt,  nor  will  he  at  any  time,  by  any  means  whatever,  attempt  to  lessen 
the  independence  of  the  said  Government,  or  indeavor  to  acquire  an  undue 
influence  in  it,  but  will,  in  the  manner  that  shall  hereafter  be  stipulated  by 
treaty  defend  and  support  it  in  preserving  its  independence." 

Power  stated  that  these  propositions  were  the  outlines  of  a  provisional 
treaty  which  Carondolet  would  like  to  enter  into  with  the  people  of  the 
Western  country,  and  that  if  they  were  not  agreeable  in  ever\-  particular, 
he  would  be  glad  to  carry  back  a  copy  of  their  objections  to  New  Orleans. 
As  to  the  late  treaty  between  Spain  and  the  United  States  it  had  so 
convulsed  and  upset  politics  not  only  in  Spain  but  elsewhere  "causing  a 
collision  of  interests  between  nations  formerly  living  in  the  most  perfect 
union  and  harmony,  and  directing  the  political  views  of  some  States 
towards  objects  the  most  remote  from  their  former  pursuits," — in  short, 
the  treaty  was  so  mischievous,  that  he  could  confidently  assert,  without 
any  danger  of  presuming  too  much,  that  His  Catholic  Majesty  would 
never  carry  it  out.  He  was  quick  to  add  the  assurance  that  the  knowledge 
he  had  of  the  disposition  of  the  Spanish  Government  justified  him  "in 
saying  that  so  far  from  it  being  His  Majesty's  wish  to  exclude  the  inhabi- 
tants of  this  Western  country  from  the  free  navigation  of  the  Mississippi, 
or  to  withhold  from  them  any  of  the  benefits  stipulated  for  them  by  the 
treaty,  it  is  positively  his  intention,  so  soon  as  they  shall  put  it  in  his 
power  to  treat  with  them,  by  declaring  themselves  independent  of  the 
Federal  Government,  and  establishing  one  of  their  own,  to  grant  them 
privileges  far  more  extensive,  give  them  a  decided  preference  over  the 
Atlantic  States  in  his  commercial  connexions  with  them,  and  place  them  in 
a  situation  infinitely  more  advantageous  in  every  point  of  view,  than  that 
m  which  they  would  find  themselves  were  the  treatv  to  be  carried  into 
effect."  33 

Soon  after  receiving  this  remarkable  document,  Sebastian  began  to 
sound  out  the  other  Kentuckians  who  were  designated  in  the  proposals. 
Murray  was  not  consulted,  as  he  had  recently  fallen  from  Spanish  graces. 
It  was  also  at  first  decided  upon  to  consult  others,  not  specifically  men- 
tioned in  Power's  communication,  including  Todd  and  Breckinridge;  but 
this  was  not  done.^"  The  first  direct  move  of  Sebastian  was  to  take  a 
copy  of  the  proposition  to  Innes'  home  to  confer  with  him  on  the  action 
that  should  be  taken.  Innes  gave  it  as  his  opinion  "that  it  was  a  dangerous 
project,  and  ought  not  to  be  countenanced,  as  the  Western  people  had 
now  obtained  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  by  which  all  of  their  wishes 


"5  Copies  of  this  letter  and  propositions,  dated  July  19,  1797,  may  be  found 
in  American  Stale  Papers.  Miscellaneous,  XX,  Pt.  i,  928;  Innes  MS'S.,  Vol.  10, 
No.  42,  which  was  an  original  draft;  Sebastian  Report,  pp.  12-14,  '"  Innes  MSS., 
Vol.  18;  and  in  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  219,  223. 

=>«  Power's  Report ;  Ibid.,  227. 


372  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

were  gratified."  ^'  Sebastian  agreed  with  Innes,  but  observed  tiiat  it 
would  be  proper  to  find  out  what  Nicholas  thought  about  it,  and  that  he 
would  concur  in  whatever  decision  was  made.  Innes  a  few  days  later 
called  on  him  and  was  given  the  immediate  answer  that  the  prop(jsition 
was  disgusting  and  abhorrent.  Nicholas  at  once  prepared  an  answer  which 
was  to  be  forwarded  to  Sebastian  for  delivery  to  Power.** 

The  answer  follows : 

"Sir,  We  have  seen  the  conmnniicatidn  niadc  by  \nu  tn  Mr.  Seijaslian. 

'"In  answer  thereto  we  declare  luiequivocall}'  thai  we  will  not  lie 
cimcerned  either  directly  or  indirectly  in  any  attempt  that  may  be  made 
to  separate  the  Western  Country  from  the  L'nited  States.  That  vvhatever 
])art  we  may  at  any  time  he  induced  to  take  in  the  politics  of  our  country 
that  her  welfare  will  be  our  only  inducement  and  that  we  will  never 
receive  any  pecuniary  or  other  reward  for  any  personal  exertion  made  by 
us  to  ])romote  that  welfare. 

"The  free  navigation  will  always  be  the  favorite  object  with  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  Western  Country:  but  if  this  should  not  he  the  case,  it  appears 
to  us  that  it  nnist  be  the  ])olicy  oi  S]>ain  to  encourage  by  every  possible 
means  the  free  intercourse  with  the  inhabitants  of  the  Western  Country. 
As  this  will  be  the  most  effectual  means  to  conciliate  their  good  will :  and  to 
obtain  without  hazard  and  at  reduced  ])rices  those  su])plies  which  are 
indispensably  necessary  to  the  .Spanish  government  and  its  subjects."  ■'''■' 

Power  expected  also  to  obtain  valuab'e  aid  and  support  from  Wilkinson 
who  had  succeeded  to  the  command  of  the  United  States  .Army  in  the 
^^'est  on  the  death  of  Wayne,  and  after  his  conversations  with  Sebastian 
he  proceeded  on  to  Detroit  for  a  conference.  It  was  believed  at  the  time 
that  he  had  a  considerable  amount  of  money  in  his  possession;  and  the 
charge  was  later  made  that  Wilkinson  received  $10,000,  which  had  been 
brought  up  the  Mississippi  concealed  in  sugar  barrels  and  colTce  bags.'"' 

Power  attem])ted  to  make  a  strong  plea  to  his  ambitions  and  pride. 
He  told  of  how  the  West  was  built  by  one  vexation  and  another,  chief 
among  which  was  the  hated  excise  taxes  and  threw  out  the  rhetorical 
question :  "Can  a  man  of  your  superior  genius  prefer  a  subordinate  and 
contracted  position  as  the  commander  of  the  small  and  insignificant  army 
of  the  United  Slates,  to  the  glory  of  being  the  founder  of  an  empire — the 
liberator  of  so  mauN-  millions  nf  liis  countrvnien — the  Washington  of  the 
West?"" 
I  lUit  Wilkinson  had  become  fearful  of  the  exposure  of  his  duplicity. 
lie  seemed  to  be  greatly  annoyed  at  Power's  visit,  and  received  him  coolly. 
He,  according  to  Power,  "exclaimed  very  bitterly,  'we  are  both  lost,  with- 
out being  able  to  derive  any  advantages  from  your  journey.'  "  Wilkin.son 
then  declared  that  the  governor  of  the  Northwest  territory  had  lately 
received  orders  to  arrest  him,  and  that  the  only  way  for  him  to  escape 
was  to  permit  himself  to  be  hurried  away  to  New  Madrid.  .\s  to  the 
proposals  made  to  .Sebastian,  Wilkinson  declared  that  they  were  chimerical, 
and  that  the  West  had  already  obtained  what  it  wanted  and  was  satislied. 
He  declared  that  sentiment  in  the  West  was  more  likely  to  demand  an 
attack  on  the  .Spaniards  rather  than  a  friendly  accord  with  them,  lint 
Wilkinson's  petulance  and  impatience  with  Power  was  not  due  to  a  stroke 
of  true  patriotism  for  his  own  country,  but  rather  to  the  fact  tliat  he  con- 
sidered the  lime  ill-chosen  for  their  new  projKjsals.     He  stood  true  to  his 


3"  Innes'  Aflulavit   (180(1).  i"  ■tnu-rican  SUilr  I'd/'iTs,  M isccllaiwoiii.  XX,  Pt.   I, 

"'^  .'Ml'idavil  of  James  Morrison  (1806).     Ibid..  0-13- 

•'"The  original  copy  in  the  liandwritinK  of  Nicholas  is  preserved  in  liiiu\<  .MSS., 
Vol.  19,  No.  41.  Copies  are  also  in  American  Slate  Papers.  .Mi.^cellaiieou.t,  XX,  Pt. 
I,  9JO.  and  ill  Marsliall,  Hi.slnry  of  Kenlitchy,  II,  223,  224. 

'"(iayarre.  Ilislorv  of  l.oiii.uaua.  Ill,  364,  36,^. 

■"  Ihid..  364,  365. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  [  373 

past  record  by  stating  that  he  expected  to  be  appointed  governor  of 
Natchez  shortly,  and  that  then  he  would  be  in  a  better  position  to  renew 
the  negotiations.''^ 

In  his  position  at  that  time  he  was  the  commander  of  an  army  which 
was  imbued  with  the  honor  and  patriotism  of  its  late  commander,  Wayne, 
and  no  doubt  for  this  reason,  also,  Wilkinson  was  deterred  from  further 
action  at  this  time. 

Rebuffed  on  all  sides  Power  concluded  that  the  days  of  further  intrigue 
with  Kentucky  were  past.  He  reported  to  the  Spanish  officials  of  Louisi- 
ana that  the  very  actions  of  Spain  had  destroyed  the  confidence  of  the 
Kentuckians  in  her,  that  they  had  no  assurances  that  while  they  might  be 
making  our  treaty,  the  cabinet  in  Madrid  might  be  making  another  "very 
different  from  what  they  may  have  agreed  to  here."  "Experience,"  he 
declared,  "has  taught  them  to  their  misfortune,  that  this  is  not  a  mere 
conjecture."  *^ 

It  is  true,  indeed,  that  Kentucky  had  now  grown  out  of  that  stage  of 
discontent  and  fancied  neglect  in  which  plots  and  intrigues  could  thrive. 
This  last  attempt  never  commanded  the  slightest  possibility  of  success, 
and  the  fact  that  it  was  made  at  all,  shows  how  obtuse  the  Spaniards 
were  to  the  real  sentiments  in  the  West.  The  reaction  of  Innes,  as  well  as 
of  Nicholas,  had  been  so  clear  and  decisive  that  neither  one  was  seen  by 
Power.*^  This  had  its  effect  on  Sebastian.  He  advised  Power  to  imme- 
diately leave  the  state.'*^  Nicholas  had,  after  dictating  the  answer  to  Power, 
declared  that  the  Spanish  Government  had  been  misinformed  as  to  the 
"views,  disposition,  and  intentions  of  the  citizens  of  Kentucky"  and  that 
he  believed  that  the  answer  given  "would  prevent  a  similar  application; 
but  that  should  he  be  mistaken,  he  was  determined  to  have  Power,  or  any 
other  person  who  might  again  be  sent  by  the  Spanish  Governor,  appre- 
hended and  detained  as  a  prisoner,  until  the  Executive  was  fully  apprized 
of  all  the  circumstances ;  and  that  he  had  taken  care  Power  should  be 
correctly  informed  of  such  determination."  *'^ 

Wilkinson's  attitude  as  heretofore  noted  was  based  entirely  on  the  i 
inopportune  times,  which  he  believed  might  so  change  later  as  to  make 
it  possible  to  revive  the  intrigue.  But  from  now  on  he  gradually  drifts 
away  from  Kentucky  affairs,  ceasing  to  try  to  involve  that  state  further 
in  Spanish  plots.  However,  he  found  it  impossible  to  break  away  from 
the  lure  of  Spanish  gold  and  intrigue.  He  played  a  double  role  in  the  Burr 
scheme,  and  engaged  in  other  mysterious  dealings,  which  brought  on 
investigations  from  the  Federal  Government.  He  was,  however,  never 
proved  guilty  of  his  long  career  of  conspiracies  and  double-dealings;  and 
died  many  years  (1825)  later  in  a  land  befitting  the  life  he  had  led, 
Mexico  City.*^ 

The  changing  alliances  in  Europe  with  their  fears  and  aspirations 
made  out  of  the  West  during  this  period  (1796  and  1797)  a  power  which 
successive  nations  tried  to  secure.  The  Jay  Treaty  had  not  only  left 
Spain  uneasy,  but  it  also  set  France  to  thinking  and  plotting.  Events  were 
now  gradually  drawing  these  two  nations  together,  chiefly  on  account 
of  the  fact  that  they  were  about  to  become  common  enemies  of  England. 
Fauchet  had  in  February,  1795,  declared  that  the  only  way  to  offset  the 
Jay  Treaty  was  to  acquire  Louisiana.     But  this  was  not  to  be  done  as 

■"-  Power's  Report  in  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  226. 

■•^  Power's  Report  in  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  227. 

"  hiiies  MSS.,  Vol.  19,  No.  49.  Letter  from  E.  Randolph  to  Gary  Nicholas, 
Oct.  19,  1807. 

■'•'■■  Ibid.,  No.  81.     Letter  from  J.  Fowler  to  Harry  Innes,  Jan.  4,  1808. 

^"Affidavit  of  James  Morrison  (1806),  in  American  State  Papers,  Miscellaneous 
XX,  Pt.  I,  934. 

■«'For  a  short  sketch  of  Iiis  life,  see  National  Cyclopaedia  of  American 
Biography,  I,  56,  57. 


374  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

Genet  had  previously  attempted ;  rather  Spain  was  to  be  convinced  that 
it  was  to  the  coinmon  interest  to  cede  it  to  France.^*  In  the  spring  of 
1796,  Adet,  who  had  succeeded  Fauchet  as  French  minister  to  the  United 
States,  sent  as  his  chief  as,'eiit  into  the  West,  General  Collot.  This  was 
another  effort  to  detach  the  people  west  of  the  AUegheiiies  from  the 
United  States  with  the  uhiniate  hope  of  joining  ihem  to  Louisiana  under 
l~rance.  Me  was  instructed  In  call  to  the  attention  of  the  Western  leaders 
again  the  fact  "that  the  interests  of  the  eastern  and  western  parts  of  the 
United  States  were  in  collision,  that  the  period  was  not  distant  when  a 
separation  must  take  i)lace,  and  the  range  of  mountains  on  this  side  of  the 
Ohio  was  the  natural  boundary  of  the  new  government,  and  that  in  the 
event  of  separation  the  western  people  ought  to  look  to  France  as  their 
natural  ally  and  ])rotcctor."  "•"  Collot  was  also  to  make  a  military  recon- 
naissance, and  while  doing  so  to  influence  the  peo])le  as  much  as  possible 
by  advocating  the  election  of  Jefferson  to  the  presidency.  He  passed  into 
Kentucky  and  saw  John  Breckinridge  and  others,  iiut  the  United  States 
issued  orders  to  Governor  St.  Clair  of  the  Northwest  Territory  to  arrest 
Collot  and  any  other  spies  he  could. ^'"  Collot's  adventure  never  produced 
any  tangible  results. 

In  October,  1796,  Spain  declared  war  on  England,  and  immediately 
the  jjrotection  of  Louisiana  became  the  concern  of  the  Spanish  ofticials. 
For  a  time  they  feared  that  a  British  expedition  might  march  down  from 
Canada,  and  it  was  partly  due  to  this  fear  that  Spain  had  refused  to  carry 
out  her  treaty  obligations  to  the  United  States,  liy  evacuating  the  post 
of   Natchez. 

To  add  another  element  to  the  criss-cross  of  intrigue  going  on  in  the 
West  at  this  time,  William  Blount  of  Tennessee,  and  others,  including 
a  Colonel  Whitley  of  Kentucky,  were  plotting  with  the  Cherokee  Indians 
to  attack  New  Orleans  in  the  interests  of  the  British  who  were  to  send 
a  fleet  up  the  Mississippi  to  subjugate  Louisiana. ''i  This  plot  was  soon 
exposed  and  Blount  was  expelled  from  the  United  States  Senate. 

With  the  failure  of  their  different  schemes,  the  various  foreign 
nations  largely  ceased  their  efforts  at  further  interference  with  the  terri- 
torial integrity  of  the  United  States.  Proof  indisputable  was  gradually 
dawning  upon  them  that  the  West  was  now  past  the  stage  when  such 
things  were  possible.  Washington,  in  his  Farewell  Address  in  September, 
1796,  offered  the  West  wise  counsel.  He  recalled  to  the  East  that  it  "had 
good  markets  in  the  West  for  the  commodities  which  it  brings  from  abroad 
or  manufactures  at  home.  The  West  derives  from  the  Hast  supplies 
requisite  to  its  growth  and  comfort,  and,  what  is  pcrba])s  of  still  greater 
consequence,  it  must  of  necessity  owe  the  secure  enjoyment  of  indispens- 
able outlets,  for  its  own  productions  to  the  weight,  influence  and  the  future 
maritime  strength  of  the  .\tlantic  side  of  the  Union,  directed  by  an  in- 
dissoluble community  of  interest  as  o)ic  nation.  Any  other  tenure  by 
which  the  West  can  hold  this  essential  advantage,  whether  derived  ivom  its 
own  sejjarate  strength,  or  from  an  apostate  or  lumatural  connection  with 
any   foreign   power,   nntst   be  intrinsically   precarious.'' 

He  declared  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  Western  country  bad  seen  "in 
the  negotiation  by  the  Executive,  and  in  the  unanimous  ratification  by  the 
Senate,  of  the  treaty  with  Spain,  and  in  the  universal  satisfaction  at  that 
event,  throughout  the  United  States,  a  decisive  proof  how  unfounded  were 
the  suspicions  propagated  among  them  of  a  policy  in  the  General  Govern- 
ment and  in  the  Atlantic  States  unfriendly  to  their  interests  in  regard  to 
the  Mississippi;  they  have  been  witnesses  to  the  formation  of  two  treaties, 

••"  Fish,  American   Diplomacy,   130. 
■"'Fish,  American  Diplomacy,  131. 
•'•"Winsor,  Westward  Movement,  560,  565. 
01  Winsor,  Westward  Movement,  568. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  375 

that  with  Great  Britain,  and  that  with  Spain,  which  secure  to  them  every 
thing  they  could  desire,  in  respect  to  our  foreign  relations,  towards  con- 
firming their  prosperity.  Will  it  not  be  their  wisdom  to  rely  for  the 
preservation  of  these  advantages  on  the  Union  by  which  they  were  pro- 
cured? Will  they  not  henceforth  be  deaf  to  those  advisers,  if  such  they 
are,  who  would  sever  them  from  their  brethren  and  connect  them  with 
aliens?"  52 

Kentucky  was  yet  to  have  more  excitements  on  Western  rights  and 
territory,  and  was  still  to  run  the  hazards  of  another  grandiloquent  West- 
ern Scheme ;  but  the  danger  that  Washington's  sound  advice,  which  was 
largely  unnecessary,  would  be  disregarded  was  small. -'^ 

■'■- Si)ark,   U'ritint/s  uf  W'ashiniiton,  XII,  219,  221. 

53  Thus  it  will  be  seen,  in  all  the  Spanish  intrigues,  Kentucky  was  made  the 
pivot  around  which  all  their  plots  revolved.  There  was  no  political  entity  west 
of  the  Alleghanies  with  which  they  would  deal,  or  which  possessed  such  a  com- 
manding influence,  and  to  the  firm  position  taken  by  the  Kentucky  leaders  may  be 
credited  that  solidarity  that  marked  the  first  years  of  our  National  existence. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII 

CONQUERING  THE  NORTHWEST  INDIANS:  THE  CAM- 
PAIGNS OK  HAR-MAR,  ST.  CLAIR,  AND  WAYNE 

The  influx  of  settlers  into  the  West  carried  with  it  a  thousand  possibil- 
ities for  hostilities  between  the  whites  and  Indians.  The  recent  campaigns 
of  Clark,  Logan,  and  others,  instead  of  having  settled  anything,  had  in 
fact  aggravated  the  situation.  Hostilities  had  never  ceased  from  the  days 
of  the  Revolution ;  the  indulging  animosities  were  those  that  grew  out  of 
two  ijeoples  attcmijting  to  possess  themselves  of  the  same  country.  The 
immediate  causes  and  course  of  tliis  intermittent  warfare  varied  little 
throughout  the  whole  period.  A  marauiling  band  of  Indians  attacked 
a  cabin  or  a  small  group  of  settlers,  and  carried  away  a  few  scalps,  a 
prisoner  or  two,  and  drove  away  all  the  horses  they  could  secure.  The 
news  spread,  and  soon  a  small  company  of  frontiersmen  were  on  their 
trail.  Often  they  were  overtaken,  a  fight  ensued  with  the  result  that  a 
few  Indians  were  made  to  pay  with  their  lives,  and  the  horses  and  prison- 
ers generally  recovered.  This  led  to  a  retaliation,  and  thus  the  process 
continued. 

These  raids  came  from  the  South  as  well  as  from  the  North.  The 
Cherokees  made  forays  into  Kentucky  in  the  Southeastern  mountains, 
where  they  waylaid  the  immigrants  coming  in  over  the  Wilderness  Road. 
The  greatest  dangers,  however,  lay  in  the  regions  north  of  the  Ohio. 
The  Kentuckians  in  1787  engaged  in  no  less  than  four  punitive  expeditions 
against  the  various  tribes  of  Indians:  John  Logan  went  against  the  Chic- 
aniaugas  into  Tennessee ;  Colonel  Robert  Todd  marched  on  the  Scioto 
tribes;  Major  Oldham  led  a  com])any  up  the  Wabash;  and  Cajitain  Hardin 
engaged  tribes  in  other  regions.'  Such  ex])editions  were  generally  the 
result  of  spontaneous  uprisings  of  incensed  settlers;  and  hence  were  little 
different  from  private  warfare.  And  even  when  they  had  the  aid  and 
official  sanction  of  the  county  lieutenants,  their  character  was  little  changed 
in  the  eyes  of  the  Virginia  government  and  of  the  United  States.  The 
impetuosity  and  efTectiveness  of  the  Kentuckians  in  their  counter  raids 
brought  forth  rc|)riman(ls  and  criticisms  from  both  of  these  sources. 

In  1787,  luhnund  Randolph,  Governor  of  Mrginia,  wrote  Harry  Innes 
tiie  attorney-general  for  the  District,  that  he  "had  reason  to  believe  that 
the  late  Hostilities  committed  upon  the  Indians,  have  roused  their  resent- 
ment. It  is  the  duty  of  Government  to  prevent  and  punish,  if  possible  all 
unjust  violences.  I  beg  leave  therefore  to  urge  you  to  institute  the  proper 
legal  inquiries  for  vindicating  the  infractions  of  peace."  ^  Innes  and 
other  Kentuckians  had  jireviously  shown  their  attitude  on  the  subject  in 
connection  with  the  demand  from  \'irginia  that  Clark  should  be  ])unished 
for  his  expedition  against  the  Wabash  tribes  in  the  previous  year.  It  was 
dilTicult  for  the  Kentuckians  to  understand  why  they  were  not  to  be 
allowed  to  protect  themselves,  esjjecially  so  since  Virginia  and  the  National 
Government  in  their  belief  showed  little  interest  in  affording  that  protec- 
tion. 


'  Green,  Sfmiislt  Ciinspiracy,  84,  85.     Harry  Junes  to   I-'clniiiiid   Randolpli,  July 
21,   1787. 

-Innes  MSS..  Vol.  19.  No.  30.     Dated  May   i. 

376 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  377 

But  reprimands  and  demands  for  punisliing  the  offenders  had  little 
effect.  An  Indian  attack  south  of  the  Ohio  almost  invariably  carried  with 
it  a  return  visit  from  the  Kentuckians.  In  1790,  the  Governor  of  Virginia, 
Beverly  Randolph,  addressed  the  county  lieutenants  of  Nelson  County, 
declaring  that  news  had  reached  him  of  an  invasion  carried  on  against  the 
friendly  tribes  north  of  the  Ohio.  "As  conduct  like  this  is  highly  dis- 
honorable to  our  national  Character,  and  will,  eventually,  draw  upon 
individual  delinquents,  the  punishment  due  to  such  offenses,  it  becomes  our 
duty  to  enjoin  you,  to  exert  your  Authority  to  prevent  any  attempts  of 
this  kind  in  the  future."  He  gave  explicit  instructions  that  under  no 
circumstances  should  another  expedition  be  carried  into  the  regions  north 
of  the  Ohio.* 

The  Federal  Government  had  been  lately  exerting  itself  toward  com- 
posing the  Indian  difficulties,  and  it  was  with  considerable  impatience 
that  it  saw  the  Kentuckians  upsetting  all  of  its  plans.  In  July,  1787, 
Congress  ordered  the  Superintendent  of  Indian  Aft'airs  or  Harmar  to 
repair  to  the  Indian  country  and  find  out  the  difficulties  between  the 
Wabash  Indians,  Shawnees,  and  other  tribes  with  the  Kentuckians,  and 
to  conclude  a  treaty  if  possible.  It  also  ordered  a  strategic  grouping  of 
United  States  troops  on  the  frontier,  and  called  for  one  thousand  Kentucky 
militia  to  join  the  regulars.^  This  make-shift  of  concluding  treaties  with 
the  Indians  was  kept  up  for  almost  a  hundred  years  to  follow,  before 
the  Federal  Government  was  persuaded  that  the  policy  would  not  work. 
Outside  of  the  practice  of  treaty-making,  the  United  States  Government 
had  no  Indian  policy  then  or  for  many  years  afterwards.  Plans  and 
policies  were  various ;  and  whatever  so-called  policy  existing  at  any  given 
time  was  not  likely  to  last  long.  In  1790,  John  Brown  wrote  Innes  of  a 
plan  that  had  been  suggested  to  him.  In  the  first  place  the  United  States 
should  increase  its  power  and  prestige  in  the  eyes  of  the  Indians  as  well 
as  the  Western  settlers  by  increasing  the  number  of  military  posts  and 
regular  troops  along  the  Ohio.  Persistent  efforts  should  be  made  to  bring 
all  of  the  Indian  tribes  into  treaty  relations  with  the  Federal  Government. 
Then  trade  should  be  established  with  them  "under  proper  regulations 
&  upon  such  liberal  principles  as  to  supply  them  with  goods  &  upon  better 
terms  than  they  can  procure  from  the  British  or  Spaniards  &  thus  estab- 
lish peace  upon  the  foundation  of  Interest  and  friendly  intercourse."  ^ 

The  feeling  of  the  Federal  Government  and  of  Kentucky  on  the  ques- 
tion of  protection  from  the  Indians  had  long  been  divergent — even  from 
the  end  of  the  Revolution.  To  the  Kentuckians  the  reminiscences  of  the 
former  in  affording  that  protection  was  proof  sufficient  that  it  would 
retard  the  development  of  the  West  as  much  as  possible.®  The  lack  of 
protection  from  Virginia,  as  before  noted,  had  been  one  of  the  major 
complaints  of  the  Kentuckians  against  the  Virginia  authorities,  and  a 
principal  cause  for  their  desire  for  separation.  In  1787,  the  Virginia 
governor  was  informed  by  his  attorney-general  for  the  District  of  Ken- 
tucky, Innes,  that  the  Indians  were  so  intolerable  that  Kentucky  would 
likely  revolt  and  become  independent,  "for,  under  the  present  system,  we 
can  not  exert  our  strength,  neither  does  Congress  seem  disposed  to  protect 
us."^ 

Innes,  who  was  the  chief  spokesman  for  Kentucky  on  the  question 
of  Indian  protection,  was  a  bitter  critic  of  the  policy  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment was  pursuing.     In  a  communication  to  John  Brown  in  1788,  who 

'  liincs  MSS.,  Vol.  19,  No.  112.     Dated  March  10. 

••  Iniics  MSS.,  Vol.  19,  No.  109. 

=  Jnfics  MSS..  Vol.  19,  No.  6.     Dated  April  27. 

"On  this  subject  see  K.  W.  Calgrove,  The  Attitude  of  Congress  toward  the 
Pioneers  of  the  West  from  17S9  to  1820  (N.  MP.,  N.  D.),  89,  114.  Also  see  Innes 
to  John  Breckinridge,  Dec.  7,  1787,  in  Innes  MSS.,  Vol.  28. 

'Green.  Spctnisli   Conspiracy,  85.     Dated  July  21. 


378  HISTURV  OF  KENTUCKY 

was  at  this  time  Kentucky's  representative  in  Congress,  he  spoke  of  the 
feeble  efforts  of  the  United  States  in  protecting  the  frontier,  whicli  con- 
sisted chiefly  of  paper  promises.  "Do  these  resohitions  &  instructions  on 
paper  secure  the  Hves  and  property  of  our  citizens — ,"  lie  asked.  "Doth 
the  sending  of  those  official  papers  afTord  us  Protection — Hath  any 
measures  been  adopted  by  Congress  since  the  Peace  with  Great  Britain 
to  restrain  the  merciless  savages?"  He  declared  that  the  lives  of  hundreds 
of  people  had  been  lost  and  thousands  of  pounds  of  ]5roperty  destroyed. 
"The  first  principle  of  Society  is  mutual  protection.  This  we  have  never 
received  from  any  quarter — Not  even  an  aiding  hand  from  Congress  the 
Supreme  Executive  of  the  Union,  whose  troops  under  projier  regulations 
might  have  secured  to  us,  Peace  and  Ilajipiness,  &  incurred  no  more 
expense  than  they  now  daily  do  lying  in  idleness  in  detached  posts  on  the 
Ohio.  The  position  of  troops  on  the  Ohio,  and  the  conduct  of  the  com- 
mander seem  only  to  evince  to  us  that  those  troops  never  were  intended 
for  our  protection,  but  to  prevent  Settlements  on  the  Federal  lands."  * 

The  Federal  authorities  were  not  slow  in  blaming  the  Kentuckians 
as  being  the  chief  offenders.  This  attitude  was  largely  based  on  reports 
from  the  United  States  Indian  agents  who  were  accused  by  the  Ken- 
tuckians of  being  notoriously  unjust  and  hostile  to  the  Western  settlers, 
dealing  in  misinformation  from  every  angle.-'  The  Indians,  themselves, 
also  told  their  "Great  Father"  stories  of  the  ferocious  Kentuckians,  whom 
they  feared  above  all  other  frontiersmen.  The  chief  of  the  Wabash  and 
Illinois  Indians  informed  Jefferson  that  "Your  people  of  Kentucky  are 
like  mosquitos,  and  try  to  destroy  the  red  men.  The  red  men  are  like 
mosquitos  also,  and  try  to  injure  the  people  of  Kentucky."  Some  time 
later  the  same  tribes  referred  again  to  their  fears  of  the  Kentuckians  in 
one  of  their  "talks" :  "Father, — We  fear  the  Kentuckians.  They  are 
not  content  to  come  on  our  lands  to  hunt  on  them,  to  steal  and  destroy 
our  stocks,  as  the  Shawnees  and  the  Delawares  do,  but  they  go  further, 
and  abuse  our  persons.    Forbid  them  to  do  so."  '" 

Supplied  with  charges  both  from  the  Indians  as  well  as  from  the 
Indian  agents  the  Federal  authorities  were  inclined  to  side  against  the 
Kentuckians,  esjjecially  in  the  case  of  the  Wabash  tribes.  Secretary 
Knox  informed  Washington  in  i/Sg  that  there  had  been  no  peace  between 
these  tribes  and  the  Kentuckians  since  the  end  of  the  Revolution.  He 
charged  that  "The  injuries  and  murders  have  been  so  reciprocal,  that  it 
would  be  a  point  of  critical  investigation  to  know  on  which  side  they 
have  been  the  greatest."  Fie  accused  the  Kentuckians  of  making  no 
distinction  between  friendly  Indians  and  hostile  ones.  "Some  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Kentucky,"  he  declared,  "during  the  year  past,  roused  by 
recents  injuries,  made  an  incursion  into  the  Wabash  coimtry,  and,  [posses- 
sing an  equal  aversion  to  all  bearing  the  name  Indians,  they  destroyed  a 
nunilier  of  peaceable  Piankeshaws,  who  prided  themselves  in  their  attach- 
ment to  the  United  States."  '' 

It  cannot  be  said  that  all  Kentuckians  held  that  the  Indians  had  no 
rights  to  lands,  and  that  they  should  be  dealt  with  best  by  being  extirjjated. 
The  Danville  Political  Club  debated  in  the  very  midst  of  these  Indian 
hostilities:  "Is  the  exclusive  right  of  the  Indian  tribes  to  the  extent  of 
territory  claimed  by  them  founded  on  the  laws  of  nature  and  of  nations, 
and  can  they  consistent  with  said  laws  be  divested  of  such  right  without 
their  consent?"     This  group  of   Kentucky   statesmen   declared   that   the 

»Iiiiies  MSS.,  Vol.  10,  No.  I.     Dated  April  4. 

"  Letter  from  Iiincs  to  Henry  Knox,  Secretary  of  War,  July  9,  1790,  Ibid., 
No.  114. 

^"The  Writings  of  Thomas  Jefferson  (Library  Edition),  XVI,  379.  Dated 
Feb.  I,  1701,  and  Feb.  i,  1793,  respcctivelv. 

^^  /Imcrican  Stale  Papers.  Indian  Affairs,  I,  i.^.  Dated  June  15.  Doubtless  a 
reference  to  Hardin's  expedition  in  the  summer  of  178S  up  tlic  Wabash. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  379 

Indians  were  secured  in  their  riglits  and  that  they  could  not  be  divested 
of  them  without  their  own  consent. i- 

Since  the  end  of  the  RevoUnion,  Virginia  had  not  been  very  active  in 
giving  aid  for  the  defense  of  the  District  of  Kentucky.  It  was  a  heavy 
drain  on  her  impoverished  finances  to  give  what  httle  support  she  actually 
did  afford.  Being  merely  so  many  counties  of  Virginia,  Kentucky  had  her 
county  lieutenants,  who  were  at  the  head  of  the  local  militia  companies, 
and  who  were  supposed  to  give  the  ordinary  protection  that  any  other 
part  of  the  state  enjoyed.  But  Kentucky  was  the  most  exposed  part  of  the 
commonwealth,  and  had  a  right  to  expect  additional  protection.  The 
county  militias  were  frequently  called  out  for  short  terms,  as  for  instance 
when  two  companies  were  sent  in  February,  1787,  to  defend  Limestone 
on  the  Ohio  and  certain  exposed  frontiers  of  Fayette  County.  When 
longer  terms  of  services  were  required,  it  was  made  most  difficult  to  supply 
the  want,  due  to  the  inherent  distaste  of  the  frontiersman  for  garrison 
duty  and  other  prolonged  periods  of  military  life.  In  order  to  keep  a 
constant  force  for  the  defense  of  the  Cumberland  Gap  and  the  Wilderness 
Trail,  the  plan  was  hit  upon  of  alternating  a  force  of  thirty  men  among 
the  counties  of  Mercer,  Madison,  and  Lincoln. ^-^  In  1788,  conditions 
were  so  perilous  that  366  men  were  called  out  for  an  indefinite  period  and 
a  special  force  of  66  for  scout  duty. 

Kentucky's  exposed  position  was  recognized  by  Virginia  to  a  certain 
extent  in  the  organization  of  a  permanent  body  of  scouts  to  patrol  the 
diiTerent  counties.  Muter  and  Innes  wanted  a  further  recognition  through 
the  appointment  of  a  board  of  four  Indian  Commissioners  who  would 
have  oversight  of  the  Indian  relations  of  Kentucky.  But  nothing  ever 
came  of  this  proposition  due  to  the  Governor's  refusal  to  act.  In  fact 
Virginia  was  so  anxious  to  be  relieved  of  the  expense  and  trouble  of 
protecting  Kentucky  that  immediately  on  the  the  Federal  Constitution 
going  into  effect,  she  ordered  the  county  lieutenants  to  disband  the  organi- 
zation of  scouts  and  rangers,  and  in  case  of  further  Indian  troubles  to 
"give  as  early  information  of  them  as  possible  to  the  officer  commanding 
the  Continental  post  on  the  Ohio,  nearest  the  point  of  attack."  ^*  But 
this  did  not  prove  satisfactory,  and  in  order  to  meet  the  clamor  of  the 
Kentuckians,  the  Federal  Government  restored  the  scout  service  in  1790, 
allowing  four  to  a  county  and  bearing  the  expense  of  the  service.  The 
Kentuckians  apparently  convinced  Secretary  of  War  Knox  that  this  was 
insufficient  protection,  for  in  July  of  the  same  year  he  issued  an  order 
to  the  county  lieutenants  allowing  them  in  times  of  great  danger,  to  call 
out  not  over  fifteen  men  to  the  county,  the  expense  of  which  was  to  be 
borne  by  the  United  States. i'  After  a  short  while  the  scouts  or  rangers 
were  finally  disbanded  by  St.  Clair. 

With  all  these  changes  of  responsibility  and  military  organization  in 
the  West,  there  was  no  improvement  in  Indian  relations  or  in  the  con- 
stantly growing  signs  of  Indian  Hostility. 

As  previously  stated,  Innes  was  constantly  reminding  the  Federal 
Government  of  the  endless  succession  of  Indian  outrages  the  Kentuckians 
were  suffering.  In  a  letter  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  Knox,  in  the  summer 
of  1790,  he  estimated  that  since  the  end  of  the  Revolution  over  1500  people 
had  been  killed  by  the  Indians  in  Kentucky  or  on  their  way  thence,  that 
20,000  horses  had  been  stolen  and  other  property  plundered  and  destroyed 

12  Speed,  Politicid  Club,  118,   120. 

^^Cottcrill.  Pioneer  History  of  Kentucky.  224,  227. 

"  Copy  of  order  in  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  I,  352,  353.  Eyen  after 
Kentucky  had  become  a  state,  certain  of  her  citizens  e,\pected  protection  from 
Virginia,  and  so  petitioned,  claiming  that  the  Federal  Government  was  impotent 
to  afford  aid.     Virginia  State  Papers,  IV,  iv. 

'^^  American  State  Papers,  Indian  Affairs,  I,  102.  103.  Dated  July  17;  Inncs  MSS., 
Vol.  19,  No.  III. 


380  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

to  the  value  of  £15,000.  He  gave  the  Federal  Government  to  clearly 
understand  that  Kentucky's  patience  was  almost  to  an  end.  He  predicted 
that  "Volunteer  expeditions  will  be  carried  on  into  the  Indian  countries 
upon  the  principle  of  revenge,  protection,  and  self-preservation,  and  Gov- 
ernment will  not  be  able  to  counteract  thcin;  and  the  volunteers  *  ♦  * 
will  not  discriminate  between  the  Indians  who  are  hostile  and  those  who 
have  treated."  All  of  which,  he  declared,  would  destroy  the  former  efforts 
and  accomplishments  of  the  Federal  Government  in  arriving  at  a  peaceful 
accord  with  the  Indians.'"  About  the  same  time  the  county  lieutenants 
of  Fayette,  Woodford,  and  Mercer  counties  in  a  joint  communication  to 
the  Secretary  of  War  declared.  "We  almost  every  day  receive  accounts  of 
their  [IndiansJ  horrid  murders  on  our  defenceless  frontiers  (which 
entirely  surrounds  us),  and  the  taking  of  horses  and  other  property  to 
the  ruin  of  a  number  of  families.'" 

Indian  depredations  were  not  only  taking  place  in  Kentucky,  but 
hostilities  were  becoming  more  frequent  throughout  the  Ohio  Valley.  The 
course  of  this  river  from  Pittsburg  to  the  Mississippi  was  beset  by  the 
marauding  bands.  The  British  were  keeping  a  close  connection  with  the 
Northwest  Indians  and  it  was  generally  believed  that  they  were  inciting 
the  hostilities.  Often  boats  filled  with  settlers,  floating  down  the  river, 
were  attacked  from  ambush ;  and  in  some  instances  the  Indians  swarmed 
out  in  their  canoes  to  grajile  with  their  prey.  A  ruse  worked  on  the  un- 
wary and  unsuspecting  immigrants  was  to  entice  them  to  steer  to  the  bank 
to  take  on  a  white  who  in  distress  beckoned  to  them  from  the  shore. 
This  person  was  most  likely  a  prisoner  of  the  savages  made  to  assume 
this  attitude  while  they  lay  in  ambush ;  and  when  the  unsusjiecting  boat- 
men reached  shore  they  were  either  killed  or  made  prisoners  and  jjlundered 
of  all  their  belongings. '«  For  the  better  protection  of  travel  on  the  river, 
a  considerable  number  of  liatboats,  popularly  known  as  "Kentucky  boats," 
would  band  together  and  proceed  as  a  flotilla.  The  women  and  children 
occupied  the  boats  in  the  center  of  the  formation,  while  the  men  filled  the 
outer  ones  for  defense.'* 

Conditions  were  becoming  so  intolerable  that  even  the  Federal 
authorities  in  the  West  began  to  suggest  a  campaign  as  the  only  remedy. 
The  main  sources  of  disturbance  were  Indians  on  the  Wabash  and  on 
the  Maumee.  Governor  St.  Clair,  in  speaking  of  the  former,  stated  in  a 
communication  to  President  Washington  that  the  constant  hostilities  be- 
tween these  tribes  and  the  Kentuckians  created  embarrassing  circumstances 
to  the  Government  of  the  Northwest  Territory,  and  that  he  should  like 
the  Federal  (iovcrnment  to  take  the  matter  into  consideration,  and  inform 
him  what  course  he  should  pursue.  He  then  portrayed  the  situation: 
"It  is  not  to  be  expected,  Sir,  that  the  Kentucky  peoj^le  will  or  can  submit 
patiently  to  the  cruelties  and  dejM-edations  of  the  savages — they  are  in  the 
habit  of  retaliation,  jierhaps  without  attending  jM-ecisely  to  the  nations 
froin  which  the  injuries  are  received,  'i'hey  will  continue  to  retaliate, 
or  they  will  a])ply  to  the  Governor  of  the  Western  Coimtry  (through  which 
the  Indians  must  pass  to  attack  them)  for  redress;  if  he  cannot  redress 
them  (and  in  the  present  circumstances  he  cannot),  they  also  will  march 
through  that  country  to  redress  themselves,  and  the  Government  will  be 
laid  prostrate."  He  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  treaties  had  recently 
been  made  with  several  of  the  nations,  and  that  if  the  Kentuckians  should 
fall  ui)on  them,  "which  is  likely  enough  to  ha]ipen,  very  bad  consequences 
may  follow ;  for  it  must  appear  to  them  that  tiic  United  States  either  pay 

^"American  Stale  Pal'cis,  Indian  Affairs,  I,  8S.     Dated  July  7. 
'''Ibid.,  87,  passim.     Dated  April   14,   1790. 

"*  Roosevelt,  IVinniiu/  of  the  West,  I'art  III  in  the  Works  of  Theodore  Roose- 
velt, 396,  397. 

"Roosevelt,  U'inninti  of  the  West,  III,  3S0.     (Works  of  Theodore  Roosevelt.) 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  381 

no  regard  to  their  treaties,  or  they  are  unable  or  unwilHng  to  carry  their 
engagements  into  effect,"  and  he  predicted  the  result  would  be  that  these 
nations  would  join  the  hostile  ones  as  "prudently  preferring  open  war 
to  a  delusive  and  uncertain  peace."  20 

In  response  to  this  continual  clamor  of  the  West  for  protection  Wash- 
ington sent  a  message  to  Congress  in  September,  1789,  advising  that  pro- 
vision be  made  "for  calling  forth  the  militia  of  the  United  States  for 
the  purpose  stated  in  the  constitution,  which  would  embrace  the  cases 
apprehended  by  the  Governor  of  the  Western  Territory."  These  re- 
assurances quieted  the  Kentuckians  for  a  time;  but,  they  in  the  mean- 
time began  to  make  preparations  on  their  own  account.  Secretary  Knox 
was  not  greatly  moved  by  the  pleas  of  the  Westerners.  He  was  not 
nearly  so  sympathetic  to  the  views  and  problems  of  the  frontiersmen  as 
was  Washington.  In  January,  1790,  he  agreed  with  the  President  that 
Kentucky  should  be  protected;  but  he  suggested  that  "as  there  seems  to 
have  been  such  a  prevalence  of  hostilities  as  to  render  it  uncertain  who 
are  right  and  who  are  wrong,"  efforts  should  first  be  made  toward  bring- 
ing them  to  reasonable  terras  before  a  war  of  extermination  be  begun  on 
them."  21 

Events  were  fast  leading  toward  a  climax.  In  the  early  part  of  1790 
a  band  of  fifty-four  Indians,  principally  Shawnees  and  Cherokees, 
established  a  camp  at  the  mouth  of  the  Scioto.  From  this  point  of  vantage 
they  carried  on  attacks  against  the  settlers.  There  was  a  high  rock  on 
the  Kentucky  side  of  the  river  which  was  used  by  them  to  scan  the  river 
in  both  directions.  Besides  hanging  along  the  river,  they  soon  fell  upon 
a  newly-built  station,  about  twenty  miles  from  Maysville.  and  captured 
or  killed  all  the  occupants  to  the  number  of  fifteen.22  The  Kentuckians 
became  greatly  aroused  at  this  nest  of  pirates  and  marauders,  and  were 
soon  begging  liarmar  to  march  against  them.  In  April  (1790),  he  set 
out  with  one  hundred  regulars,  joined  by  two  hundred  and  thirty  Kentucky 
volunteers  under  General  Charles  Scott,  and  was  soon  in  the  Scioto 
country.  But  his  movements  soon  became  known  to  the  Indians,  who 
fled  before  his  approach.  A  part  of  Scott's  forces  ran  across  a  straggling 
band,  and  succeeded  in  killing  four  of  thenL^s  Outside  of  this  encounter, 
little  else  was  accomplished  and  virtually  no  effect  was  produced  on  the 
Indians. 

A  more  general  movement  had  already  been  in  contemplation.  Toward 
the  end  of  1789,  Washington  had  instructed  Governor  St.  Clair  to  call 
upon  Virginia  for  a  thousand  militia  and  upon  Pennsylvania  for  five 
hundred.  Contemplating  a  wide  area  of  hostilities,  St.  Clair  ordered  the 
militia  in  Western  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia  to  protect  the  upper  Ohio, 
while  General  Harmar  marched  up  the  Miami  against  the  Maumee  settle- 
ments. Major  Hamtramck  at  Vincennes  was  ordered  to  go  against  the 
Wabash  tribes. 

The  main  expedition  under  General  Harmar  was  soon  made  ready. 
A  nucleus  of  regular  troops  consisting  of  three  hundred  and  twenty  men 
began  in  the  middle  of  September  preparations  to  march.  They  were 
soon  joined  by  one  thousand  one  hundred  and  thirty-three  militiamen 
from  Pennsylvania  and  Kentucky.  The  Governor  of  the  former  state 
was  somewhat  slow  in  furnishing  his  quota.  The  Kentucky  militia  more 
than  doubled  the  number  from  Pennsylvania.  This  was  in  fact  largely 
a  Kentucky  expedition.  Her  military  leaders  were  highly  regarded  by 
the   Federal    authorities.      At   the   outset   of    the   preparations    Secretary 

-"  .liiicricaii  Slate  Pa/u-rs.  liidicin  Affairs,  I,  58.     Dated  Sept.  14,  1789. 
-'  American  Slate  Papers.  Indian  Affairs,  I,  60.     Dated  January  4. 
^-American  Slate  Papers.  Indian  Affairs,  I,  87.  88,  91. 

2'5  Roosevelt,  Winning  of  lite  West  (Works  of  Theodore  Roosevelt),  396,  398; 
Collins,  History  of  Keulneky,  I,  22. 


382  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

Knox  advised  Harmar  to  try  to  induce  if  possible  Benjamin  Logan  and 
Isaac  Shelby  to  accom])any  the  expedition  as  volunteers,  as  "they  would 
have  a  powerful  intluence  over  the  militia."  He  also  suggested  to  Harmar 
that  he  "treat  them  with  great  cordiality."  -^ 

There  was  a  fear  generally  with  the  War  Department  that  the  Western 
militiamen  were  rather  untrustworthy  and  likely  to  prove  unruly.  This 
fear  was  borne  out  in  this  instance  in  the  very  beginning.  The  militia 
demanded  the  right  to  choose  their  own  leader,  and  threatened  mutiny 
if  their  wishes  were  not  granted.  Undoubtedly  the  logical  officer  was 
Colonel  John  Hardin,  a  Kentuckian  of  more  than  local  fame  as  a 
military  leader.  But  the  militia  would  have  none  otlier  than  Colonel 
Trotter,  a  less  able  fighter.  Harmar  yielded.  Misgivings  could  not  help 
but  arise  when  he  looked  at  his  motley  army,  amply  large  enough  for 
its  purpose,  but  composed  of  many  ineffectives,  beardless  youths,  who 
knew  not  even  the  mechanism  of  their  firelocks,  and  old  men  tottering  on 
their  last  legs.  This  was  particularly  true  of  the  Pennsylvania.-'''  Of 
course,  the  regular  troops  were  up  to  the  standards  of  the  day.  But  the 
character  and  efficiency  of  the  United  States  troops  had  been  lowered  on 
account  fif  the  neglect  and  niggardly  policy  pursued  by  the  (jovernment.-" 

By  the  end  of  Se|>tenil)er,  Harmar,  was  ready  to  jirocced  with  his 
forces  from  Fort  Washington,  where  his  preparations  had  been  carried 
on.  The  British  in  Canada  were  ill  at  ease  in  viewing  this  movement, 
which  they  interpreted  as  perhaps  an  effort  that  had  as  its  ultimate  purpose 
the  seizure  of  the  Northwest  posts.  Despite  the  disclaimer  made  by  the 
United  States,  Lord  Dorchester  still  had  his  doubts  and  fears  and  urgently 
called  on  his  home  government  for  four  thousand  additional  troops.-' 
I  larmar  began  his  march  rather  leisurely,  with  the  main  result  that  the 
Indians  learned  of  his  appoach  long  before  he  arrived.  Finally  on 
October  17th  he  reached  their  villages  at  the  forks  of  the  St.  Mary  and 
St.  Joseph  rivers,  where  they  form  the  Maumee  (or  Miami  of  the  Lakes.) 
These  towns  consisted  of  about  three  hundred  huts  and  wigwams,  sur- 
rounded by  gardens  and  corn  fields.  Filtering  upon  tliese  deserted  huts, 
Harmar  ordered  their  destruction,  together  with  twenty  thousand  bushels 
of  corn  that  was  found  stored  away. 

(^n  the  following  day  Colonel  Trotter  was  given  a  command  of 
three  hundred  men  and  ordered  to  explore  the  regions  around  about. 
He  soon  ran  upon  two  Indians  who  were  killed  by  the  advanced  horse- 
men, but  during  the  process  of  the  operation  the  militia  officers  created 
considerable  confusion.  Angered  at  this,  Harmar  relieved  Trotter  of  his 
command  and  gave  it  to  Hardin. 

The  next  day  Hardin  started  out  with  about  two  hundred  militia, 
most  of  them  Kentuckians,  and  thirty  regulars.  The  militiamen  liecame 
sulky,  and  about  half  of  them  deserted  and  returned  to  camp.  With  the 
remainder  he  continued  the  march,  and  within  a  short  time  ran  into  a 
body  of  a  few  hundred  Indians,  who  ready  and  expecting  the  invaders, 
opened  fire.  The  militia  was  thrown  into  consternation,  and  fled,  Hardin 
with  them,  without  offering  resistance.  The  regulars  with  a  few  militia, 
who  chose  to  fight  received  the  full  force  of  the  attack.  Only  two  officers 
and  half  df)zen  jirivales  escajied. 

This  defeat  greatly  dispirited  Harmar's  forces,  who  had  now  begun 
their  march  back  to  Fort  Washington.  lUit  Hardin,  still  believing  that 
he  could  defeat  the  Indians,  begged  to  be  given  another  force  to  try  again. 
Hoping  to  have  .some  victory  to  report,  he  allowed  a  detachment  of  four 

'-'  American  Slate  Papers,  Indian  Affairs,  I,   loi.     Dated   Sept.  3,   1790. 
-•'■  McMaster,  Hislorv  of  the  People  of  the  United  States,  I,  598. 
■-"  Hall,  Sketches  of  'the  West,  II,  141,  150. 

-'  Wiiisor,  Wcstivard  Movement,  418,  419.  The  I'ritisli  greatly  exaggerated 
Harmar's  forces. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  38i> 

hundred  men,  sixty  of  whom  were  regulars,  commanded  by  Major  Wyllys 
and  Colonel  Hardin,  to  return  for  a  fresh  attempt.  In  the  confusion  of 
the  fight  that  soon  followed  upon  an  encounter  with  the  Indians,  the 
regulars,  who  were  marching  in  a  separate  column,  were  fallen  upon  by 
the  savages,  and  almost  annihilated.  In  the  meantime  the  militia,  in  dis- 
regard of  orders,  had  followed  a  smaller  party  of  warriors,  and  had 
killed  or  scattered  them.  Hardin  now  led  back  his  victorious  militia, 
after  having  beat  off  an  attack  of  the  main  body  of  Indians  following 
their  victory  over  the  regulars.  Still  belieying  in  his  ability  to  deal  with 
the  enemy,  he  tried  to  persuade  Harmar  to  allow  him  to  try  his  fortunes 
again,  but  without  avail. -* 

Harmar  now  marched  back  to  Fort  "Washington  with  little  but  defeat 
to  report.  He  had  lost  seventy-five  regulars  and  one  hundred  and  eight 
militia  killed  or  missing.  In  the  meantime,  Hamtramck  had  ravaged 
some  Indian  villages  on  the  Wabash  but  had  encountered  no  Indians.  This 
campaign  was  a  failure  all  around  in  respect  to  solving  the  Indian  dif- 
ficulties. No  advantage  had  been  gained  which  could  be  used  in  making 
a  treaty,  and  Harmar,  by  not  following  the  desires  of  Secretary  Knox 
to  build  and  garrison  forts  in  the  Indian  country,  had  lost  whatever 
benefit  that  would  have  come  from  occupation.  A  treaty  in  this  stage 
of  the  process  of  subjugating  the  Indians  would  have  been  futile,  for  as 
Hamtramck  wrote  St.  Clair:  "The  people  of  our  frontiers  will  certainly 
be  the  first  to  break  any  treaty.  The  people  of  Kentucky  will  carry  on 
private_  expeditions  and  kill  Indians  wherever  they  meet  them,  and  I  do 
not  believe  there  is  a  jury  in  all  Kentucky  that  would  punish  a  man  for 
it."  29 

On  account  of  their  failures,  which  seemed  due  to  bad  management, 
Harmar  and  Hardin  were  given  a  hearing  before  a  court-martial  which, 
however,  honorably  acquitted  both.  The  former,  conscious  of  his  lack 
of  success,  soon  resigned  from  the  army ;  the  latter  went  back  to  Kentucky 
where  he  was  received  as  a  "brave  and  active  officer."  The  prevailing 
opinion  here  was  that  the  militia  had  acted  well  its  part,  and  that  failure 
was  largely  due  to  ineffective  leadership.  In  fact.  Washington,  himself, 
has  favorably  commented  on  the  Kentucky  militia,  declaring  that  their 
"enterprise,  intrepidity  and  good  conduct  are  entitled  to  peculiar  com- 
mendation." 30  There  was  a  feeling  among  many  of  the  Kentuckians 
that  they  knew  best  western  conditions  and  methods  of  fighting  the 
Indians,  and  that  they  ought  to  be  given  special  recognition  of  this  fact. 
In  line  with  this,  they  sent  a  petition  to  President  Washington  demanding 
that  regular  officers  should  not  be  sent  to  command  in  the  West.  Innes 
in  the  summer  preceding  Harmar's  campaign  voiced  the  sentiment  that 
Kentuckians  were  not  being  given  a  fair  chance.  He  wrote  Knox :  "The 
people  say  they  have  long  groaned  under  their  misfortunes,  they  see  no 
prospect  of  relief,  they  are  the  strength  and  wealth  of  the  Western  coun- 
try;  all  uneasiness  which  have  been  attempted,  are  placed  (for  execution) 
•in  the  hands  of  strangers,  who  have  no  interest  among  them;  they  are 
the  general  sufferers  and  yet  have  no  voice  in  the  business;  they  are 
accused  as  the  aggressors,  and  have  no  representative  to  justify,  these 
are  the  general  sentiments  of  the  people,  and  they  begin  to  want  faith  in 
the  Government.     *     *     *"  3i 

Washington,   who   always   had   a    sympathetic    understanding   of    the 

^'For  accounts  of  campaign  see  .liiirricaii  S'alr  Papers.  Indian  Affairs  I 
passim.:  Roosevelt,  Wivninii  of  the  Jl'cst  (Works  of  Theodore  Roosevelt).  Ill,  399] 
407;  Wmsor,  IVcstward  Movement.  ^15,  421  ;  and  McMastcr,  History  of  the  People 
of  the  United  Slates.  I,  598-600. 

2'' Winsor,  Jl'estzvard  Movement.  420.  421. 

30  Rjchprdson.  Message  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents,  I.  104.  Third  Annual 
Address,  Oct.  25,   1791. 

="  American  Slate  Papers.  Indian  Relations,  I,  88.     Dated  July  7.   1790 


384  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

West,  discussed  tlie  situation  witli  Secretary  Knox  of  the  War  Depart- 
ment, and  John  Brown,  the  Kentucky  representative.  The  desire  of 
the  Kentuckians  that  virtual  authority  he  rehnquished  hy  the  management 
of  the  mihtary  affairs  in  the  West  manifestly  could  not  be  satisfied.  A 
compromise  was  made  by  which  a  Board  of  War  was  to  be  appointed, 
which  should  have  the  power  to  call  out  the  local  militia  for  warfare 
ajjainst  the  Indians,  and  to  act  in  conjunction  with  regular  troops.  This 
board  was  composed  of  Shelby,  Lt)gan.  Scott,  Innes  and  Brown,  an 
excellent  combination  of  civilians  and  soldiers.-'-  To  be  commander  of 
the  United  States  Army  of  the  West,  Governor  .Krthur  St.  Clair  was 
appointed  over  the  ])rotests  of   Brown  and  many  other  Kentuckians. 

The  Kentucky  \Var  Board  soon  began  to  make  use  of  its  authority, 
which  amounted  in  fact  to  a  right  to  do  those  very  things  the  Federal 
authorities  knew  the  Kentuckians  would  do  whether  they  were  allowed 
to  or  not.  It  ordered  an  invasion  of  the  territories  of  the  Wabash 
tribes,  whom  Kentucky  had  long  contended  witli  and  whom  Ilamtramck's 
recent  ex])edition  had  affected  little  more  than  to  exasperate.  In  this 
action  there  was  the  evident  desire  and  expectation  of  .showing  the  I~ederal 
Government  what  the  militia  under  Kentucky  management  could  do  in 
comparison  with  Harmar's  defeat.  This  expedition  was  agreed  to  by 
Knox,  who  .saw  in  it  a  division  against  the  Kickajioos  and  other  Wabash 
tribes,  while  St.  Clair  was  pre]iaring  for  a  major  campaign.  In  May,  1791, 
a  call  was  made  for  volunteers,  and  eight  hundred  mounted  men  were 
I  soon  ready,  under  the  command  of  Scott  and  Wilkinson,  to  march  u]) 
the  Wabash.  Reports  of  the  expedition  had  caused  many  of  the  Indians 
to  escape;  but  there  was  considerable  skirmishing,  in  which  a  few  dozen 
Indians  were  killed  and  a  somewhat  larger  number  made  prisoners.  After 
burning  the  villages,  Scott  retreated  southward  and  crossed  the  Ohio  at 
Louisville,  having  been  gone  about  a  month,  and  having  lost  not  a  single 
man  at  the  hands  of  the  enemy. •'•'  Kentucky  was  greatly  elated  over 
this  success,  and  the  wish  was  e.xpressed  that  the  weather  had  permitted 
terror  and  desolation  to  be  carried  to  the  very  head  of  the  Wabash. 

Having  succeeded  in  their  first  war  move,  the  Kentucky  board  decided 
to  send  another  expedition  into  the  Wabash  country.  Wilkinson  was 
given  the  command,  and  with  over  five  hundred  mounted  Kentuckians,  he 
set  out  on  August  i,  (1791),  from  Fort  Washington,  after  having 
received  on  the  preceding  instructions  from  St.  Clair.  He  marched 
northwest  to  the  Eel  River  region,  burned  several  villages,  one  of  which 
had  one  hundred  and  twenty  houses,  cut  down  four  hundred  and  thirty 
acres  of  corn,  and  otherwise  harried  the  Indian  country.-'^ 

These  more  or  less  desultory  forays  of  Scott  and  Wilkinson  were 
mere  details  of  the  main  campaign,  which  St.  Clair  was  preparing.  The 
National  Government,  after  Harmar's  defeat,  seemed  determined  to  cnish 
the  Indians  and  force  a  peace  with  them  that  would  secure  much  of  the 
Northwest  country  for  settlement.  Congress  ordered  the  enlisting  of  two 
thou.sand  men  for  six  months'  service  at  the  ridiculously  small  pay  of  $2.10 
a  inonth.  The  result  was  that  a  worthless  class  of  ])eople  was  attracted 
into  the  ranks;  and  this  at  a  very  slow  rate.  St.  Clair  was  also  instructed 
to  build  forts  as  he  jjrogressed  in  order  to  secure  the  country  permanently, 
and  to  supjily  them  with  garrisons.  It  was  the  expectation  of  the  Govern- 
ment that  three  thousand  troops  would  be  ready  at  Fort  Washington  early 
in  July. 

A  call  was  made  on  Kentucky  for  a  thousand  men.  But  the  Ken- 
tuckians were  by  no  means  enthusiastic.  They  had  developed  a  strong 
aversion  against  the  leadership  of   Federal   commanders ;   and   St.   Clair 

■""^  Collins,  Ilislory  of  Kciilin-h'y,  I,  22.  273. 

•■'•■' Wiiisor,  H'cslward  Mcwcmcnt,  a^A;  Collin.s,  History  of  Kentucky.  I,  22. 

^*  Ibid.,  23;  W'insor,   IVcstiijard   Movement,  427. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  385 

was  especially  unpopular  among  them.  They  were  also  not  in  favor  of 
this  large-scale  campaign ;  but  rather  trusted  in  the  quick  forays,  such  as 
Scott  and  Wilkinson  had  been  making.  The  result  was  that  no  volunteers 
came  forward.  Christopher  Greenup  expressed  to  the  Kentucky  War 
Board  the  opinion  that  the  attempt  to  enforce  a  draft  would  be  a  failure, 
as  the  Virginia  militia  law  had  been  repealed  in  Kentucky,  and  the  Federal 
Government  had  enacted  none.  For  these  reasons,  he  believed,  the  people 
who  were  ordered  out,  could  not  be  punished  for  disobedience,  and  "if 
they  cannot  it  will  be  in  vain  to  attempt  a  Draught."  ^s 

The  preparations  at  Fort  Washington  went  on  slowly.  The  levies 
from  the  upper  Ohio  regions  were  late  in  arriving,  and  the  collecting  of 
munitions  and  provisions  sufifered  delay.  As  the  raw  troops  arrived, 
they  were  sent  to  Fort  Hamilton,  which  was  begun  in  September,  and  to 
which  St.  Clair  moved  his  headquarters.  But  the  time  that  should  have 
been  given  to  training,  had  almost  elapsed ;  as  the  expedition  was  already 
long  behind  the  schedule.    The  start  was  finally  begun  in  early  October. 

The  Indians  were  bold  and  cunning.  During  the  year  they  had  at- 
tacked and  wiped  out  the  settlement  at  Big  Bottom,  about  forty  miles  up 
the  Muskingum  from  Marietta;  and  had  even  dared  to  attack  the  town 
of  Cincinnati  under  the  very  walls  of  Fort  Washington.  Alexander 
McKee,  a  British  agent,  had  assembled  the  various  tribes  in  July  and 
advised  them  to  make  peace  with  the  Americans  only  upon  the  terms  con- 
sistent with  their  honor  and  interest. 

With  St.  Clair's  forces  slowly  laboring  along  through  the  wilderness 
at  the  rate  of  five  or  six  miles  a  day,  the  Indians  kept  themselves  well 
informed  as  to  their  movements.  On  the  13th  (of  October)  a  halt  was 
made  for  the  erection  of  another  fort,  which  was  named  in  honor  of 
Jefiferson.  Difficulties  beset  St.  Clair  on  every  side.  He  himself  was 
too  sick  and  infirm  to  properly  direct  affairs,  and  General  Richard  Butler, 
his  second  in  command,  was  little  better.  The  six-months  men,  whose 
enlistments  dated  from  various  times,  were  thinning  every  day  as  the  term 
of  their  service  expired.  The  Kentuckians,  who  had  been  forced  into 
the  service,  were  sullen  and  disobedient,  and  kept  up  a  steady  stream  of 
desertions.  Finally  on  the  last  day  of  October,  when  deep  in  the  Indian 
country  sixty  Kentuckians  deserted  in  a  body.  Such  defections  could  not 
go  without  attention ;  St.  Clair  dispatched  one  of  his  two  regiments  of 
regulars  under  Hamtramck  to  keep  the  deserters  from  at  least  interfering 
with  his  baggage  and  provision  train.  To  add  to  these  unfortunate  happen- 
ings, St.  Clair  in  direct  disregard  of  Washington's  anxious  orders  and 
warnings  to  guard  against  surprise,  advanced  with  practically  no  scouting 
service.  The  thought  seemed  not  to  have  entered  his  mind  that  he  might 
be  attacked. 

On  the  3rd  of  November,  he  reached  a  small  tributary  of  the  Wabash, 
and  pitched  his  camp  for  the  night.  His  force  had  now  been  reduced  to 
about  fourteeen  hundred  men,  due  to  desertions  and  to  his  unfortunate 
diversion  of  the  regiment  of  regulars  under  Hamtramck.  The  great  ma- 
jority of  the  Kentuckians  who  had  begun  the  march  had  by  this  time 
quit. 8"  The  following  morning,  before  sunrise,  an  undetermined  number 
of  Indians  suddenly  attacked  an  out-lying  group  of  militia,  driving  them 
in  upon  the  main  forces.  Support  was  immediately  organized,  but  the 
Indian  fire  became  so  general  from  every  direction  that  soon  utter  con- 
fusion reigned.  The  Indians  carried  on  an  incessant  fire  from  behind 
the  trees  and  dense  growth  that  surrounded  the  camp.  St.  Clair  showed 
great  bravery  in  passing  up  and  down  the  lines  urging  his  men  to  the 
attack.     His  forces  fought  at  times  with  conspicuous  bravery,  delivering 

^^' Inufs  MSS..  Vol.  19,  No.  123.     To  Innes,  Slielby,  and  Logan,  June  22,  T791. 
'"  Only  two  hundred  and  fifty  remained  out  of  the  thousand  drafted.     Collins, 
History  of  Kentucky,  I,  273.  274. 

Vol.  1—29 


386  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

n  heavy  fire  from  flint-lock  and  cannon;  but  their  fire  was  ineffective  as 
the  enemy  was  well  protected  behind  trees  and  logs,  and  the  smoke  of 
battle  soon  made  accurate  aim  impossible.  The  Indians  took  special  pains 
to  pick  off  every  cannoneer,  and  as  the  battle  line  swayed  back  and 
forth,  they  at  times  held  possession  of  the  cannon.  The  Americans  de- 
livered bayonet  charges  against  the  Indians  when  they  appeared  in  the 
open,  which  sent  them  scurrying  back  to  cover  only  to  renew  their 
deadly  fire. 

St.  Clair  soon  seeing  that  the  day  was  lost  ordered  his  troops  to 
cut  their  way  out  of  the  deadly  circle  for  the  purpose  of  beginning  a 
retreat.  The  attack  was  so  spirited  that  the  Indians  momentarily  stood 
non-plusscd,  and  the  move  was  a  success.  The  retreat  now  became  a 
rout.  The  Indians  followed  for  about  four  miles,  and  then  returned  to 
the  battle-field  to  pillage  and  scalp.  St.  Clair  reached  Fort  Jefferson  the 
same  day,  a  distance  that  had  required  ten  days  on  the  outward  march. 

The  defeat  was  crushing  and  complete.  Out  of  the  fourteen  hundred 
troops  engaged,  almost  half  were  killed  and  only  a  very  few  remained 
unhurt.  General  Butler  and  Colonel  Oldham,  who  led  the  Kentucky 
militia,  were  among  the  slain.  General  St.  Clair  had  horses  repeatedly 
shot  from  under  him,  and  his  clothing  was  pierced  in  eight  different 
places,  without  his  body  being  touched.  The  effect  of  this  disastrous 
defeat  was  profound.  When  St.  Clair's  messenger  reached  Washington 
with  the  official  report  the  President  went  into  a  spasm  of  rage  and  fury. 
He  paced  up  and  down  the  room  bitterly  criticizing  St.  Clair  and  blaming 
him  for  not  properly  protecting  his  force  by  scouts.  "He  went  off  with 
that  last  solemn  warning  thrown  into  his  ears,"  exclaimed  the  President ; 
"and  yet  to  suffer  that  army  to  be  cut  to  pieces,  hacked,  butchered,  toma- 
hawked, by  a  surprise,  the  very  thing  I  guarded  him  against !  O  God. 
O  God,  he's  worse  than  a  murderer !  How  can  he  answer  to  his  coun- 
try."87 

In  January  of  the  following  year  Wilkinson  with  a  hundred  and  fifty 
mounted  men  went  to  the  scene  of  St.  Clair's  defeat,  and  gatiiered  up 
the  remains  of  the  dead  and  buried  them.  The  sight  was  still  gruesome, 
as  the  Indians  after  their  scalping  and  plundering  had  left  the  field  to 
wild  animals  and  the  elements. 

Washington  had  considerable  difficulty  in  choosing  a  successor  to  St. 
Qair.  After  some  time  he  decided  upon  "^Tad  Anthony"  Wayne,  whom 
he  considered  more  daring  than  cautious.  Wayne  took  up  his  first  head- 
quarters near  Pittsburg,  where  he  set  about  systematically  training  the 
raw  levies  that  were  being  raised  in  different  parts  of  the  country.  As 
they  were  of  the  same  class  that  had  made  up  St.  Clair's  army,  Wayne 
determined  that  much  training  would  be  necessary  before  they  should  be 
ready  for  service.  The  British  had  noted  with  considerable  trepidation 
Wayne's  appointment,  knowing  his  nature  and  remembering  his  record 
in  the  Revolution.  They  had  the  fear,  not  wliolly  idle,  that  he  might 
carry  the  war  against  the  posts  occupied  by  the  British  in  the  Northwest 
and  thereby  precipitate  a  general  war  between  the  two  countries. 

The  Federal  Government,  although  preparing  for  a  vigorous  campaign 
against  the  Indians  if  absolute  necessity  demanded  it,  was  intent  on  making 
peace  if  possible.  In  the  spring  of  1792,  Colonel  John  Hardin  accompanied 
by  Major  Alexander  Trueman  was  sent  out  to  arrange  a  treaty.  But 
they  had  not  gone  far  into  the  hostile  country,  before  they  fell  upon  some 
Indians  who  savagely  murdered  these  messengers  of  peace  despite  the 

"For  the  St.  Clair  cainpaign  sec  VVinsor,  Wcslrvard  Movement,  427-430;  Mc- 
\fastcr.  History  of  the  People  of  the  United  Stales.  II,  68  pages;  Collins.  History 
nf  h'eiiluchy,  I,  23,  273,  274;  Roosevelt,  IVInninri  of  the  IVest  (Works  of  Tlicodorc 
Roosevelt'),  IV,  41-74;  St.  Clair  Papers,  II,  286,  passim.,  American  Stale  Papers, 
Indian  .Iffairs,  passim. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  387 

fact  that  they  had  made  their  intentions  known  and  had  displayed  a  white 
flag.38  In  the  face  of  this  treachery,  the  attempt  was  not  given  up  to 
conclude  a  peace.  In  the  following  fall  (1792),  Rufus  Putnam  succeeded 
in  making  a  treaty  with  the  Wabash  and  Illinois  tribes.  In  May  of  1793 
further  attempts  were  made  to  conclude  a  peace  with  all  the  Northwest 
tribes  and  the  Six  Nations.  But  Brant,  the  Iroquois  chief,  with  his  British 
advisers,  counselled  the  Indians  against  such  a  course.  The  attitude  of 
the  British  as  shown  in  the  character  of  their  influence  over  the  Indians, 
was  making  the  situation  very  dangerous,  with  little  possibility  of  war 
being  averted.  Lord  Dorchester,  the  Governor  of  Canada,  made  his 
celebrated  speech  to  the  Indians,  in  which  he,  while  speaking  of  the 
boundary,  said:  "Children,  since  my  return  I  find  no  appearance  of  a 
boundary  remains ;  and  from  the  manner  in  which  the  people  of  the 
United  States  push  on  and  act  and  talk  *  *  *  j  shall  not  be  sur- 
prised if  we  are  not  at  war  with  them  in  the  course  of  the  present  year; 
and  if  so  a  line  must  then  be  drawn  by  the  warriors."  He  declared  they 
had  "acted  in  the  most  peaceable  manner  and  borne  the  language  and 
conduct  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  with  patience;  but  I  believe 
our  patience  is  almost  exhausted."  ^^  In  the  face  of  such  advice,  peace 
was  impossible. 

But  still  the  United  States  was  not  of  one  mind  in  making  war.  The 
West  yet  had  its  distrust  and  criticism  of  the  Federal  commanders,  and 
many  of  the  Easterners  were  willing  to  let  the  West  fight  its  own  wars 
without  further  impoverishing  the  already  depleted  treasury.  Oliver 
Wolcott  had  declared  "These  western  people  are  a  violent  and  unjust  race 
in  many  respects,  unrestrained  by  law  and  consideration  of  public 
policy."  " 

In  May,  1793,  Wayne  moved  his  headquarters  down  the  Ohio  to  Fort 
Washington  and  established  his  camp  nearby.  He  brought  with  him 
twenty-five  hundred  regulars  who  had  gone  through  with  valuable  training 
during  the  past  winter.  In  fact,  before  accepting  the  command  Wayne 
had  made  it  a  point  that  he  be  given  time  for  properly  training  his  forces. 
As  it  now  seemed  possible  that  the  march  might  be  made  against  the 
hostile  tribes  before  winter,  a  requisition  was  made  on  Governor  Shelby 
for  a  thousand  mounted  riflemen.  The  Kentuckians  were  still  actuated 
with  very  little  enthusiasm  for  this  expedition,  and  so  it  was  impossible  to 
fill  the  quota  with  volunteers.  A  draft  produced  the  required  number, 
which  marched  for  Fort  Washington,  reaching  there  in  October.  But 
as  the  season  had  advanced  too  far  for  a  campaign  that  year,  the 
Kentuckians  were  dismissed  until  the  following  spring. 

In  the  winter  of  1793,  Wayne  moved  his  army  to  a  point  about  eighty 
miles  above  Fort  Washington  and  set  up  a  post  which  he  called  Fort 
Greenville.  Soon  after  this  fort  had  been  established  as  an  outpost  in  the 
Indian  country,  a  detachment  of  ninety  regulars  was  surprised  by  a  party 
of  Indians  and  scattered,  with  about  a  dozen  captured.  As  spring  ap- 
proached, Wayne  made  preparations  for  a  general  advance  hoping  to 
bring  on  a  general  engagement  with  the  Indians.  He  was  delayed  for 
a  long  time  on  account  of  the  late  arrival  of  the  necessary  provisions.  In 
July  the  mounted  Kentuckians  who  had  been  dismissed  for  the  winter 
arrived  under  their  commander.  General  Charles  Scott.  Among  the  regu- 
lar troops  was  Captain  William  Clark,  a  brother  of  George  Rogers  Clark,  , 
who  was  afterwards  to  lead  the  exploring  expedition  to  the  Pacific  with 
Captain  Lewis.    Wilkinson  also  held  a  command. 

38  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  I,  23;  Roosevelt,  Winning  of  the  West  (Works 
of  Theodore  Roosevelt),  IV,  76. 

2"  Roosevelt,  Winning  of  the  West  (Works  of  Theodore  Roosevelt),  IV,  86; 
Fish,  American  Diplomacy,  83. 

*"  Winsor,  Wcsttvard  Movement,  435. 


388  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

During  the  latter  part  of  June  the  Indians  made  a  determined  attack 
upon  Fort  Recovery,  which  Wayne  had  recently  built  as  an  outpost  on 
the  very  field  where  St.  Qair  had  suffered  his  defeat.  After  considerable 
fighting  they  were  beaten  off  by  the  garrison,  consisting  of  about  two 
hundred  men.  This  defeat  in  which  at  least  twenty-five  had  been  killed, 
discouraged  the  Indians  and  tended  to  cause  their  forces  to  disintegrate. 
Wayne's  mode  of  marching  also  gave  them  little  comfort.  His  troops 
progressed  with  due  caution  against  a  surpri.se,  protected  by  an  adequate 
scout  service. 

\\"ayne  pushed  on  down  the  Maumee  to  the  point  where  the  Au  Glaize 
empties  into  it,  and  there  ran  into  the  hostile  Indian  villages.  The  popu- 
lation fled  without  offering  opposition.  Wayne  now  secured  his  advantages 
by  constructing  Fort  Defiance  not  far  from  a  British  fort  on  the  rapids 
which  had  been  recently  set  up  there  without  the  slightest  regard  for  the 
rights  of  the  United  States.  From  his  point  of  vantage,  Wayne  now  sent 
a  final  offer  of  peace  to  the  Indians.  The  warriors  dressed  in  their  war 
regalia  showed  no  strong  disposition  to  treat ;  and  their  request  for  Wayne 
to  delay  his  march  for  ten  days  proved  to  him  their  desire  not  to  treat 
but  to  gain  an  advantage. 

Wayne  discreetly  declined  to  be  drawn  out  thus,  and  ordered  his 
troops  to  advance  to  within  a  few  miles  of  the  British  fort.  On  August 
20,  with  about  three  thousand  regulars  and  militia  Wayne  gave  battle  to 
between  fifteen  hundred  and  two  thousand  Indian  warriors  composed  of 
contingents  from  the  various  Northwestern  tribes  and  of  certain  French, 
English  and  renegade  Americans.  The  scene  of  the  conflict  had  been 
in  time  past  visited  by  a  cyclone,  which  had  torn  and  twisted  the  trees  in 
great  confusion  over  the  ground.  Wayne  so  deployed  his  troops  as  to 
make  best  use  of  the  surroundings.  He  also  made  effective  use  of  his 
cavalry,  even  on  such  unfavorable  ground.  The  Indians  were  early 
thrown  into  confusion,  and  within  forty  minutes  they  were  fleeing  for  the 
protection  of  the  British  fort.  So  quick  was  the  action  that  only  the  first 
line  troops  succeeded  in  getting  into  the  fight,  and  in  fact  less  than  a 
thousand  of  the  Americans  all  told  were  engaged.  Wayne  lost  thirty- 
three  killed  and  about  a  hundred  wounded ;  the  Indian  losses  were  at  least 
two  or  three  times  as  heavy.  The  Americans  had  won  a  signal  victory 
at  Fallen  Timbers,  as  the  battle  came  to  be  called. 

Wayne  followed  the  Indians  almost  to  the  gates  of  the  British  fort, 
which,  however,  offered  no  succor  to  the  fleeing  savages.  He  had  no 
great  amount  of  patience  with  the  British  who  had  had  the  audacity  to 
set  up  this  fort  in  American  territory.  In  fact  Secretary  of  War  Knox 
had  written  Wayne  that  if  in  the  course  of  his  "operations  against  the 
Indian  enemy,  it  should  become  necessary  to  dislodge  the  party  at  the 
rapids  of  the  Miami  [of  tlie  Lakes]  you  are  hereby  authorized,  in  the 
name  of  the  President  of  the  United  States,  to  do  it."  •*!  Backed  up  with 
such  orders  Wayne  was  in  no  mood  to  dally  with  the  British.  The  day 
after  the  battle  Major  Campbell,  who  was  in  charge  of  the  fort,  sent  a 
messenger  to  enquire  what  was  meant  by  this  carrying  on  the  fight  under 
the  very  shadows  of  his  Majesty's  flag.  Wayne  gave  a  spirited  reoly 
in  which  he  declared  that  he  thought  the  battle  spoke  for  itself;  and  in 
turn,  he  enquired  of  Campbell  why  the  British  were  building  forts  and 
otherwise  encroaching  on  American  territory.  He  closed  his  reply  by 
demanding  that  the  British  surrender  the  post.  Campbell  answered  with 
the  explanation  that  he  could  do  that  only  through  orders  from  his 
superior  and  with  the  threat  that  if  the  Americans  continued  to  insult  the 

■"  Fish,  /Imerican  Diplomacy,  83,  84.  On  Wayne's  Campaign,  .see  Winsor, 
IVcstzvard  Movement,  434-460;  Roo.sevclt,  IViniiiiip  of  Ihc  West  (Works  of 
Theodore  Roosevelt),  IV,  75-126;  American  Slate  Papers,  Indian  Affairs,  passim., 
Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  I,  24,  280,  281. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  389 

British  flag  and  should  come  within  the  range  of  his  guns  he  would  fire 
upon  them.  Wayne  showed  his  contempt  by  consuming  three  days  in 
ravaging  the  country  and  burning  the  trading  posts  up  to  the  very  walls 
of  the  fort.  He  then  began  his  march  up  the  river,  sweeping  the  country 
for  miles  on  each  side  of  the  stream. 

The  Indians  were  now  so  completely  subdued  in  their  spirit  and 
ardor  for  more  warfare  that  despite  the  efforts  of  the  British  agents  to 
dissuade  them  from  making  a  treaty  with  Wayne,  they  began  to  long  for 
peace.  Wayne  marched  back  to  Fort  Defiance  where  he  remained  for 
a  few  weeks  and  then  continud  to  the  junction  of  the  St.  Mary  and  St. 
Joseph  rivers,  where  he  destroyed  the  Indian  villages  and  cornfields  and 
built  another  fort  which  was  named  for  himself.  Here  the  Kentuckians, 
who  had  become  dissatisfied  after  the  fighting  seemed  to  be  over,  were 
mustered  out  as  their  term  of  service  had  expired.  Leaving  a  garrison 
in  the  new  fort,  Wayne  marched  to  Fort  Greenville  where  he  took  up 
winter  quarters,  and  awaited  the  arrival  of  the  Indian  chiefs  for  a  treaty. 
The  hostile  tribes  had  come  to  largely  distrust  their  British  allies,  who  had 
made  many  promises,  but  had  never  fulfilled  them.  In  November  the 
Wyandots  sent  a  representative  and  during  the  following  January  am- 
bassadors from  the  various  other  tribes  arrived.  There  were  some 
difficulties  at  first  in  beginning  the  negotiations,  as  small  bands  of 
Kentuckians  were  still  slipping  across  the  Ohio  and  carrying  out  forays 
against  the  Indians.  At  length  in  the  summer  of  1795,  the  formal  treaty 
of  Greenville  was  definitely  agreed  upon.  The  Indians  gave  up  about 
twenty-five  thousand  square  miles  of  territory  north  of  the  Ohio  lying 
north  and  east  of  the  mouth  of  the  Kentucky  River. 

The  rapid  expansion  of  the  settlements  in  the  Northwest  was  now 
assured.  The  name  of  "Mad  Anthony"  Wayne  carried  a  wholesome  fear 
and  respect  with  the  Indians  for  years  to  come,  and  they  dared  not  break 
the  peace  in  a  large  fashion  until  the  preliminaries  of  the  second  war 
with  Great  Britain  ushered  in  hostilities  with  Tecumseh.  The  part  Ken- 
tucky had  been  playing  in  the  development  and  defence  of  the  West  was 
signally  recognized  by  President  Washington  in  giving  Governor  Shelby 
complete  control  over  the  defensive  protection  of  the  state.^^  fhe  heroic 
period  in  Kentucky  frontier  history  had  come  to  an  end  for  a  period; 
and  Indian  battles  and  campaigns  were  fought  at  the  firesides  with  a 
generation  which  knew  as  yet  little  of  the  actualities  of  warfare,  but  was 
destined  to  repeat  deeds  of  daring  in  finally  crushing  the  hostile  tribes 
east  of  the  Mississippi  and  removing  forever  the  disturbing  elements  of 
British  agents  and  ambitions. 

■•2  Knox  to  Shelby,  May,  1795:  "Gen.  Wayne  has  been  written  to  not  interfere 
with  the  defensive  protection  of  Kentucky,  which  is  hereby,  in  the  name  of  the 
president  of  the  United  States,  confided  to  your  excellency.  ..."  Collins,  History 
of  Kentucky,   II,   719. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV 
THE  SECOND  CONSTITUTION 

The  elements  that  entered  into  the  general  poinilatiun  of  the  state 
were  varied.  Classes  ranged  from  the  large  plantation  owners  to  tenants 
and  slavery.  In  a  new  population  gathered  from  many  quarters,  as  this 
was,  solidifying  influences  and  processes  had  not  yet  gone  far.  Differing 
in  wealth,  origin,  and  status  in  society,  Kentuckians  must  of  necessity 
have  differed  in  their  views  of  the  irower  and  duty  of  the  state  govern- 
ment on  which  each  looked  as  a  source  of  material  advantages.  Govern- 
ment must  not  only  enihrace  proper  political  theories  but  it  must  also 
produce  tangible  results  profitable  to  the  individual.  In  so  far  as  the 
government  failed  in  these  things,  it  fell  that  far  short  of  individual  ex- 
pectation and  consequently  gave  rise  to  dissatisfaction.  Liberties  fought 
for  and  won,  but  which  were  expressed  only  in  high-sounding  phrases 
and  political  axioms,  were  not  often  all  liberties  worth  while.  Govern- 
ment must  be  practical  if  valuable. 

There  was  early  a  feeling  that  the  Kentucky  government  was  not  meet- 
ing the  real  needs  of  the  people  generally,  that  it  was  in  the  hands  of  the 
few,  and  that  it  was  principally  run  for  their  benefit.  The  cry  of 
aristocracy  arose  in  many  places.  Among  a  certain  class,  the  constitution 
had  never  been  popular,  and  so  from  the  very  beginning  the  voice  of  dis- 
content was  heard.  The  convention  that  framed  the  document  was 
attacked  for  engaging  in  the  work  of  legislating.  It  was  claimed  that  by 
setting  forth  in  the  constitution  the  mcUiod  of  selecting  the  permanent 
capital,  the  convention  had  improperly  taken  upon  itself  the  ])rerogative 
and  duty  of  the  legislature.  The  constitution  generally,  it  was  argued, 
was  too  aristocratic  in  its  tendencies.  The  governor  owed  his  election 
not  to  the  people  directly  but  to  a  group  of  electors  who  were  aristocrats. 
The  senate  was  elected  in  the  same  way,  and  was  a  stronghold  of  aris- 
tocracy. The  people  had  been  hoodwinked  into  believing  that  tliey  were 
the  rulers  and  that  all  of  their  rights  and  liberties  had  been  scciu-ed  in  a 
bill  of  rights  attached  to  the  constitution ;  but,  in  fact,  the  document 
proper  largely  nullified  these  theoretical  liberties.' 

The  senate  was  attacked  as  being  far  from  the  people  and  wholly  out 
of  sympathy  with  them.  In  connection  with  the  body  of  electors  who  had 
given  it  its  being,  it  was  developing  into  a  dangerous  Oligarchy.  It  often 
rewarded  electors  by  appointment  to  office,  thus  tending  to  perpetrate 
the  power  of  each  group.  The  authority  possessed  by  the  senate  of  electing 
its  own  speaker  was  nothing  more  or  less  than  the  right  to  elect  the 
governor  of  the  state,  one  degree  removed;  for  did  not  the  si)eaker  of 
the  senate  succeed  to  the  governorship  upon  the  death  or  incapacity  of 
the  incumbent.  Such  ])owcr  lodged  in  the  upper  branch  of  the  law-making 
body  was  declared  to  be  dangerous.  Too  often  had  this  body  of  aristocrats 
shown  its  contempt  for  the  people  at  large  and  their  welfare.  It  had 
time  and  again  opposed  the  calling  of  a  constitutional  convention,  which 
might  i)0ssibly  take  away  some  of  its  intrenched  powers ;  and  it  had  also 
steadily  refused  to  pass  bills  enacted  by  the  house  whose  purpose  was  to 

'  Arguments  of  "A  Plain  Republican,"  in  Kentucky  Gazette,  June  8,  1793. 

390 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  391 

'  alleviate  the  hard  condition  of  the  Green  River  settlers.  On  the  contrary, 
though,  it  had  passed  a  bill,  fortunately  killed  by  the  house,  which  would 
have  robbed  the  people  of  Green  River  lands,  by  selling  them  outright 
to  a  group  of  speculators  for  $250,000.2 

The  constitution  was  not  only  clearly  bad  in  many  of  its  parts,  it  was 
argued,  but  it  was  in  fact  dangerous  in  places  because  of  its  obscurities. 
The  recent  disputed  election  for  the  governorship,  which  was  the  very 
first  time  the  part  of  the  constitution  concerning  that  subject  was  tested, 
came  near  bringing  on  great  confusion  and  disorder,  solely  because  the 
factions  could  not  agree  as  to  the  meaning  of  the  document  on  that 
subject.  These  dangerous  obscurities  should  be  cleared  away,  and  to 
bring  this  about,  a  convention  should  be  called  to  remake  the  constitution 
from  beginning  to  end.  It  must  be  liberalized ;  the  direct  power  of  the 
people  over  their  government  must  be  increased ;  and  the  spirit  of  progress 
which  was  so  evident  in  other  fields  must  be  given  a  chance  in  constitutional 
development. 

The  first  constitutional  convention  had  shown  the  feeling  that  its  work 
was  in  a  way  experimental.  It  had  therefore  provided  that  the  people 
should  vote  in  1797  and  again  in  1798,  and  if  a  majority  were  found  in 
favor  of  a  convention,  then,  the  legislature  should  call  one  in  1799.  But 
at  any  time  two-thirds  of  the  house  senate  could  call  a  convention  without 
the  necessity  of  the  people  voting  on  the  subject.  The  demand  for  a 
convention  arose  in  some  quarters  almost  as  soon  as  the  constitution  had 
gone  into  effect ;  and  little  regard  was  shown  to  the  constitutional  pro- 
visions regarding  the  subject.  In  1794  the  Democratic  Society  of  Bourbon 
County  stopped  discussing  the  Mississippi  River  question  long  enough  to 
issue  a  bitter  denunciation  of  the  senate  and  of  the  constitution  in  general 
and  to  recommend  to  the  voters  that  they  vote  for  a  convention  at  the  next 
election,  despite  the  fact  that  no  such  jjower  was  to  be  found  in  the  con- 
stitution or  in  the  laws  of  the  legislature.*  The  house,  it  is  true,  had 
passed  a  bill  during  the  preceding  session  allowing  the  people  to  express 
their  opinion  on  the  expediency  of  a  convention  at  the  next  election,  but 
the  senate  had  refused  to  concur  in  it.  Arguments  soon  appeared  in  which 
it  was  claimed  that  the  house  alone  represented  the  people,  and  that  the 
vote  should  be  taken  regardless  of  what  the  senate  should  do  or  refuse 
to  do.  One  enthusiastic  supporter  of  a  new  convention  advised  the  people 
to  write  "For  Convention"  on  their  ballot,  and  expressed  the  hope  "that 
the  sheriffs  will  prove  more  faithful  and  friendly  to  their  country  than  a 
self-created  body  of  men,  who  perhaps,  are  different  of  losing  power  they 
may  not  again  possess:"'* 

As  time  went  on  the  movement  became  more  persistent  and  widespread. 
It  gathered  up  all  the  discontented  elements,  regardless  of  what  the 
source  of  their  complaint  was.  The  more  conservative  classes  began  to 
take  fright  and  to  imagine  that  an  attack  was  forming  against  the  very 
fundamental  principles  of  government.  Many  people  believed  that  there 
was  danger  of  the  mob  capturing  the  convention,  should  one  be  held,  and 
proceeding  to  interfere  with  the  rights  to  private  property  by  dividing 
up  the  large  estates  and  by  emancipating  all  the  slaves.  John  Breckin- 
ridge, who  had  amassed  a  small  fortune  since  he  had  come  to  the  state, 
became  one  of  the  principle  protagonists  of  the  conservative  party.  In 
answering  a  "Voter"  who  had  been  trying  to  bring  on  the  convention, 
he  declared  it  was  all  an  attempt  to  confiscate  the  large  estates  and  to  free 
the  slaves;  that  it  was  an  effort  to  destroy  the  so-called  "aristocracy."  He 
puts  the  query,  "Are  you  a  large  land  holder?"  and  answered  it  "I  sus- 

2  Butler,   History   of  Kentucky,   262;    Marshall,   History   of  Kentucky    II,    182, 
183. 

^Kentucky  Gazette,  April   12,   179-t. 

*  Reuben  Searchy,  in  Kentucky  Gazette,  March  i,  1794. 


392  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

pect  not,  or  you  would  scarcely  be  willing  to  endanger  them  in  an  attempt 
to  rescind  our  compact  with  Virginia."  He  continued,  "Are  you  a  slave 
holder?  No,  I  will  give  you  my  right  hand  if  you  are.  This  is  the 
Canker  that  i)reys  upon  you.  This  is  what  produces  all  your  bellowings 
about  conventions,  conventions.  This  is  what  stirs  up  your  envy,  wounds 
your  pride  and  makes  you  cry  out  aristocracy.  *  *  *  And  where  is 
the  diiTerence,  whether  1  am  robbed  of  my  house  by  a  highwayman,  or 
of  my  slaves  by  a  set  of  people  called  a  convention."  ° 

In  answer  to  the  arguments  of  the  conservatives  against  a  convention, 
Breckinridge's  antagonist,  "A  Voter,"  attempted  to  allay  their  fears.  "The 
man  of  landed  property  is  told,  he  declared,  "that  agrarian  lazvs  will  be 
passed;  and  the  slave  holder  is  alarmed  by  the  fear  of  immediate  emanci- 
pation." He  pronounced  all  such  fears  as  senseless  and  only  trumped 
up  to  becloud  the  real  issue  of  necessary  reform.  He  asked  whether  any 
citizen  had  "brought  forward  a  proposition  for  emanci])ation."  Does 
any  rational  man  or  men  of  iniluence,  wish  for  an  immediate  liberation 
of  the  slaves.  If  there  are  some  (and  doubtless  there  are  many)  who 
think  slavery  a  crime;  who  think  it  contrary  to  the  laws  of  nature,  and 
to  those  principles  for  which  we  contended  in  the  late  glorious  revolution ; 
they  are  sensible  that  it  ought  and  must  be  gradually  removed.  *  *  *" 
He  strongly  resented  the  idea  which  some  enemies  of  reform  had  advanced 
that  the  people  generally  had  not  the  sense  and  understanding  necessary  for 
making  a  constitution.  "By  whom  was  the  jjresent  constitution  made? 
By  yourselves.  Ilave  any  of  the  enlightened  few  by  whom  this  system 
was  formed,  abandoned  your  country?""  William  Warfield  declared 
to  Breckinridge  that  the  foregoing  subtle  propaganda  was  "an  artful  and 
uncandid  jjiece,  and  well  calculated,  I  fear,  to  execute  a  foment  in  the 
minds  of  those  who  have  hitherto  been  lukewarm  in  respect  to  the  calling 
of  a  convention." '' 

A  veritable  war  of  hand-bills  and  pamphlets  raged  during  the  years 
of  1798  and  1799.  The  Kentucky  Gazette  and  the  Kentucky  Herald 
were  crowded  with  articles  from  both  parties.  Almost  all  other  discussion 
during  these  years  was  subordinated  to  the  arguments  for  and  against  the 
convention.  As  the  battle  of  words  continued  and  w.-ixed  hotter,  the  fears 
of  the  conservatives  increased.  John  lireckinridge  wrote  Lsaac  Shelby, 
"If  the  envious,  the  discontented  or  the  needy,  can,  at  any  lime  they 
may  take  a  fancy  to  any  of  the  jiroperty  of  their  felk)w-citizens ;  or  envy 
their  situation  &  wish  to  reduce  them  in  point  of  [jropcrty  to  a  level  with 
themselves,  jirotiuce  a  ferment  and  assemble  a  convention,  and  under  it, 
perpetrate  acts  of  Injustice,  there  is  an  end  to  all  good  Govt.*  *  *  If 
they  can  by  one  experiment  emancipate  our  slaves,  the  .same  i)rinciple 
pursued  will  enable  them  at  a  second  experiment  to  extinguish  our  land 
title,  for  both  are  held  by  rights  equally  sacred.     *     *     *"  ^ 

A  handbill  signed  by  "Keiling"  sought  to  answer  with  ridicule  an 
ojjposing  argument  that  had  rocenlly  ajipeared  in  which  the  latter  attenii)ted 
to  show  that  a  convention  would  tend  to  move  Kentuckv  closer  to  the 
Atlantic  .States  in  their  ways  of  (loini,^  things.  "Keiling"  ])le(lged  himself 
"that  the  most  sanguine  conventionalist  has  never  thought  of  moving 
Kentucky  one  inch  nearer  the  Atlantic — and  should  a  future  convention 
be  mad  enough  to  altem])t  it,  I  hope  the  people,  who  no  doubt,  are  pleased 
with  their  situation,  will  exercise  their  power  to  prevent  them  from  carry- 
ing it  into  cfTect."  He  fm-ther  declared  that  the  ]iresent  constitution  ivas 
faulty  and  bad  notwithstanding  laborious  arguments  ])n)duced  by  the 
enemies  of  reform  to  the  contrary.     "Your  constitution  has  existed   for 

'■Original  copy   in   lircckinridiic  MSS.    (1708).     Dated   .April   20,   171JH. 

"Srcii'orCv  Kentucky  Herald,  .-Xpril   17,   1708. 

'  Brccliwridge  MSS.   (i7(J8).     Dated  April  22,   1798. 

^  Durrett  MSS.     Dated  March  11,  1798. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  393 

six  years,  and  this  is  only  the  second  time  it  has  by  its  ambiguity  thrown 
you  into  a  state  of  fermentation."  ^ 

As  typical  of  the  flood  of  handbills  spread  out  by  the  conservatives  m 
their  efforts  to  stop  the  movement  that  was  becoming  stronger  every 
day.  The  following  quotations  and  arguments  are  given  from  one  dated 
April  30,  1798: 

"To  Messrs.  Voter,  Grocchus,  Scazmla,  Kciling  and  others  Insfnred 
Penmen,  ivho  have  wrote  in  favor  of  a  Convention.  We  acknowledge  our 
ignorance ;  confess  that  we  are  not  capable  of  thinking  for  ourselves ;  and 
feel  the  most  grateful  sensations  toward  you,  for  your  extreme  con- 
descensions in  communicating  to  us  your  bright  ideas,  on  a  subject  ni 
which  we  are  so  deeply  interested ;  for  awakening  us,  from  our  lethargic, 
stupid  state ;  for  pointing  out  the  necessity  for  innovation  in  our  affairs ; 
for  your  willingness  to  judge  for  us,  and  your  desire  to  establish  a  perfect 
system  of  government."  The  suggestion  is  then  thrown  out  that  the 
conservatives  would  rather  do  those  things  for  themselves.  As  to  the 
much-talked  of  evils  in  the  constitution,  they  existed  only  in  the  imagina- 
tion of  agitators.  "We  have  felt  no  oppression — we  have  experienced 
no  real  injuries — there  have  been  no  infringement  on  our  rights — our 
persons  and  property  are  well  secured  under  our  present  constitution, 
why  then  be  discontented !"  ^'^ 

The  question  of  slavery  early  entered  into  the  discussion  and  did  more 
than  any  other  thing  to  arouse  the  fears  and  apprehensions  of  the  con- 
servatives. The  religious  denominations,  especially,  were  agitating  for 
gradual  emancipation,  and  although  at  times  desires  were  expressed  for 
immediate  freedom  for  the  slaves,  no  persons  of  any  responsibility  stood 
championing  such  ideas.  The  arguments  against  this  institution  were 
generally  based  on  economic  reasons.  A  handbill,  signed  by  "Franklin" 
argued  that  slavery  was  bad  economically  for  the  individual  as  well  as 
for  the  state,  that  it  corrupted  the  country,  retarded  the  progress  of 
knowledge,  that  religion  suffered,  and  that  now  was  the  time  to  act  "be- 
cause it  is  probable  we  shall  not  revise  the  constitution  for  fifty  years ; 
because  the  longer  we  permit  the  evil  to  continue,  the  more  difficult  it 
will  be  to  remedy,  as  it  is  daily  increasing  by  the  importation  of  slaves 
from  the  other  states,  and  because,  if  not  remedied  may  be  attended  with 
a  dreadful  and  destructive  convulsion."  It  called  upon  the  people  to 
work  for  emancipation  as  a  primary  object  in  the  convention. i* 

A  clever  as  well  as  biting  satire  on  those  standing  for  emancipation 
appeared  in  what  purported  to  be  the  minutes  and  constitution  of  a 
fictitious  anti-slavery  society  formed  in  Lexington  in  1798.  No  person 
who  owned  slaves  was  permitted  to  become  a  member,  "except  he  be 
a  teacher  of  the  Gospel"  in  which  case  having  to  preach,  he  would  have 
no  time  to  work,  and  hence  might  have  slaves  to  labor  for  him.  The 
ministers  had  drawn  upon  themselves  much  criticism  for  their  emanci- 
pationist ideas  as  here  indicated.  Also  no  person  owning  over  one  hun- 
dred acres  of  land  was  eligible  unless  they  should  acquire  more  through 
the  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  slaves;  but  on  the  other  hand  any  persons  who 
"never  owned  a  slave  or  slaves  worth  [one  thousand  dollars]  &  who  by 
his  course  of  life  will  in  all  probability  ever  remain  so,"  was  to  be  received 
without  further  question.  Further  limitations  on  membership  were,  that 
no  colored  persons  except  those  about  to  receive  freedom  and  not  more 
than  one  lawyer  should  be  admitted. 

The  oath  required  of  all  members  was  "I  do  solemnly  swear,  that  I 
could  not  in  justice  to  my  conscience  own  a  single  slave  were  I  ever  so 

"One  of  these  handbills  is  preserved  in  Breckinridge  MSS.   (1798). 
1"  One  of  these  handbills  may  be   found  in  Breckinridge  MSS.    (1798). 
"Handbill  in  Breckinridge  MSS.   (1798). 


394  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

poor;  and  if  one  dozen  were  given  to  me  as  a  present  I  would  immediately 
emancipate  tliem."  The  main  object  of  the  society  was  then  stated  as 
"not  what  the  society  would  do  if  they  had  slaves,  but  what  the  people 
ought  to  do,  who  own  them."  It  then  continued  with  these  further  pro- 
visions: "All  persons  opposed  to  an  immediate  call  of  a  convention,  would 
more  easily  find  their  way  into  Heaven,  than  into  this  society."  "Of 
course,  all  persons  who  are  for  tearing  down  the  old  const,  to  the  founda- 
tion &  building  up  a  new  one,  shall  be  entitled  to  a  seat,  altho  they  may 
own  a  slave  or  so;  because,  as  emancipation  will  be  the  certain  consequence 
of  a  convention,  if  the  convention  is  judiciously  selected,  the  presumption 
IS,  that  all  who  are  for  a  convention,  altho  they  will  lose  their  slaves ;  yet 
they  expect  also  that  in  the  general  shuffle,  they  will  gain  on  some  other 
score  more  than  they  would  loose  at  that."  Another  clause  was  marked, 
"This  is  a  secret  article."  ^- 

There  was  much  solid  opposition  to  slavery  from  men  of  vision  who 
put  the  interests  of  the  commonwealth  ahead  of  their  own.  They  foresaw 
the  blighting  effects  of  human  bondage  and  firmly  believed  that  tlie  growth 
should  be  ni])i)ed  in  the  bud.  Henry  Clay,  a  young  attorney  who  had  just 
arrived  from  Virginia,  and  although  only  twenty-one  years  of  age, 
entered  vigorously  into  the  discussion.  In  the  very  jjeginning  he  assumed 
the  position  which  he  ever  afterwards  held,  and  which  corresponded  with 
the  most  sane  and  enlightened  sentiment  throughout  the  bitter  struggle 
up  to  the  Civil  War.  He  published  a  number  of  articles  for  gradual 
emancipation.  Immediate  emancipation  never  entered  into  his  plan ;  he 
always  held  that  that  would  be  a  greater  evil  than  slavery  itself.  He 
believed  that  the  institution  was  detrimental  to  all  concerned.  "All  Amer- 
ica," he  declared  at  this  time,  "acknowledges  the  existence  of  slavery 
to  be  an  evil  which,  while  it  deprives  the  slaves  of  the  best  gifts  of  Heaven, 
in  the  end  injures  the  master,  too,  by  laying  waste  his  lands,  enabling 
him  to  live  indolently,  and  thus  contracting  all  the  vices  generated  by 
a  state  of  idleness."  i^  But  Clay  was  far  ahead  of  the  leadership  of 
the  commonwealth  at  this  time.  As  sound  as  his  position  was,  it  suf- 
fered from  bad  company,  misrepresentation,  and  groundless  fear.  Here 
and  there  were  heard  rumors  of  immediate  emancipation,  and  the  con- 
sequent upsetting  of  social  and  economic  relationships.  The  inevitable 
result  was  that  the  great  majority  of  the  propertied  class  took  fright, 
and  failed  to  separate  the  sounder  sentiment  based  on  a  proper  apprecia- 
tion of  actual  conditions  from  tlie  radical  demands  that  slavery  be  up- 
lifted root  and  branch  immediately. 

But  the  fears  generally  held,  that  if  a  constitutional  convention  were 
called,  slavery  would  be  tampered  with,  were  not  sufficiently  strong  to 
suppress  the  movement.  There  was  a  certain  amount  of  genuine  dis- 
content that  would  be  satisfied  in  no  other  way.  The  first  constitution 
apparently  made  a  vote  in  1797  and  in  1798  automatic.  According  to 
this  inter[)retation  no  action  from  the  legislature  seemed  necessary.  How- 
ever, the  conservatives  had  argued  that  the  constitution  simply  allowed 
a  vote  but  did  not  make  it  mandatory,  and  that,  therefore,  some  action 
on  the  part  of  the  legislature  was  necessary.  Much  discussion  had  taken 
place  along  this  line,  with  the  result  that  the  senate  had  blocked  all  action 
in  the  house  looking  toward  a  convention.  However,  a  vote  was  taken 
in  the  general  elections,  May,  1797,  which  was  irregular  and  inconclusive. 
The  constitution  required  that  a  majority  of  the  votes  cast  at  the  election 
must  favor  a  convention  in  order  that  a  vote  might  be  taken  at  the  1798 
election.     But  of  the  twenty-one  counties  now  composing  the  state  only 


'"  Tlic  MS.  of  this  satire  may  be  found  in  Brcckinridiic  MSS.   (1798). 
"A.  E.  Martin,  The  Anti-Slavery  Movement  in  Kentucky  prior  to  1S30  (Louis- 
ville, 1918),  27-32. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  395 

sixteen  made  returns  of  the  total  numbers  who  voted  at  the  election. 
Two  of  the  missing  counties  sent  in  returns  of  the  number  voting  for 
and  against  the  convention,  but  not  the  total  number  of  votes  cast  in 
the  whole  election.  Although  there  was  no  provision  or  reason  for  cast- 
ing votes  against  a  convention  (since  all  voters  not  voting  at  all  on  the 
question  were  counted  as  being  against  the  movement),  still  nine  counties 
cast  440  votes  "against  convention."  According  to  votes  cast  on  all  ques- 
tions in  the  general  election,  5,446  were  for  a  convention.  Despite  the 
majority  in  favor  of  a  convention,  the  sentiment  seemed  to  be  largely 
concentrated  in  a  few  counties  where  the  agitation  had  centered.  In 
Fayette  County,  the  seat  of  two  newspapers,  out  of  a  total  of  813  votes 
cast,  560  were  for  a  convention.  Bourbon,  Clark,  Hardin,  Madison, 
Montgomery,  Shelby,  and  Washington  were  the  other  counties  favoring 
a  convention.  In  the  remaining  counties  making  returns,  Bullitt,  Camp- 
bell, Franklin,  Jefferson,  Mason,  Nelson,  Scott,  and  Woodford,  the  votes 
cast  for  a  convention  were  not  majorities. i* 

Although  the  vote  was  not  conclusive  and  strictly  regular  according 
to  the  constitution,  it  had  showed  a  demand  for  a  convention  that  could 
not  be  ignored.  As  the  time  for  the  general  election  of  1798  drew  near, 
the  discussions  became  more  intensive.  The  Legislature  had  taken  up 
the  question  of  the  legality  of  a  vote  being  taken  since  the  first  one  was 
irregular.  The  senate,  the  seat  of  conservatism,  again  tried  to  stay  the 
movement,  by  refusing  to  agree  with  the  house  in  calling  for  a  new  vote.^s 
In  this  action  it  succeeded  only  in  drawing  down  upon  itself  further 
denunciations.  The  conservatives  made  determined  efforts  to  prevent  a 
second  vote  from  succeeding.  Meetings  sprang  up  in  various  places  and 
lengthly  resolutions  were  passed.  In  April,  1798,  just  preceding  the  elec- 
tion, a  large  rneeting  of  farmers  and  planters  of  Fayette  County  was 
held  at  Big  Springs.    The  following  resolutions  were  unanimously  adopted : 

"ist  Resolved,  That  the  publications,  squibs,  handbills,  and  bellow- 
ings  in  favor  of  a  convention,  did  not  one  of  them  originate  among  us 
the  people  of  the  country  (as  we  do  not  covet  each  others  property) ; 
but  had  their  being  very  near  the  Printing  Offices. 

"2nd  Resolved,  That  we  are  determined  not  to  give  up  any  part  of 
either  our  lands  or  slaves,  to  these  convention  folks,  let  them  be  ever 
so  poor  or  covet  them  ever  so  much;  although  it  has  been  thought  by 
some,  it  would  be  good  policy  in  us  to  do  so,  to  keep  them  quiet. 

"3rd  Resolved,  That  the  custom  of  the  country  in  giving  one-half  to 
save  the  other,  is  too  large  a  fee  to  give  to  these  political  lawyers ;  and 
moreover  does  not  apply  to  our  slaves  at  any  rate;  as  we  consider  our 
claim  to  them  to  be  very  special. 

"4th  Resolved,  That  we  have  offices  and  officers  enough  already  among 
us;_and  therefore  shall  oppose  all  attempts  to  throw  the  state  into  con- 
fusion; not  knowing  but  in  the  general  shuffle,  those  who  now  are  at 
the  bottom,  will  rise  uppermost. 

"5th  Resolved,  lastly.  That  if  it  ever  shall  become  necessary  to  amend 
the  constitution  (which,  however,  we  do  not  believe  to  be  the  case), 
we  will  take  special  care,  that  we  will  not  to  these  kind  of  gentry,  confide 
a  trust  which  involves  in  its  existence,  our  properties,  and  every  other 
thing  which  is  dear  to  us."  i^ 

These  determined  efforts  to  stem  the  tide  of  reform  were  met  by 
the  progressives  with  equal  vigor.  They  not  only  showed  the  necessity 
for  certain  changes  but  also  spent  much  time  in  removing  misrepresenta- 
tions as  to  their  actual  position.    In  April,  1798,  a  handbill  signed  "Grac- 

"  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  233,  236;  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky, 
I,  24. 

15  Handbill  in  Breckinridge  MSS.   (1798). 

1*  Handbill  account  in  Breckinridge  MSS.    (1798). 


396  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

chus"  and  entitled  "Shall  there  be  a  Convention,"  made  a  strong  appeal 
along  these  lines.  He  set  forth  the  necessity  for  immediate  action,  de- 
claring that  if  the  people  failed  to  take  a  vote  in  the  election  the  following 
month,  they  would  lose  the  advantage  they  had  already  won;  for  here- 
after a  Convention  could  be  called  only  upon  the  demand  of  two-thirds 
of  both  houses  of  the  legislature.  And  so  tyrannical  was  the  record  of 
the  senate  that  it  could  never  he  expected  that  two-thirds  of  that  body 
would  ever  vote  for  a  convention.  There  was  no  necessity  to  wait,  he 
declared,  "till  the  iron  hand  of  power  shall  have  deprived  one  jjart  of 
the  community  of  the  ability  *  *  *  ^o  murmur  at  corruption  and 
make  a  manly  stand  against  oppression."  The  state  must  progress  in 
its  political  and  legal  development  as  well  as  along  other  lines.  He  then 
proceeded  to  show  how  senseless  were  the  professed  fears  of  certain 
people  that  agrarian  laws  would  be  passed  and  that  private  rights  to 
property  and  the  ancient  liberties  of  the  people  would  be  interfered  with.'^ 
In  May  (1798)  the  question  of  calling  a  convention  was  voted  on 
for  a  second  time.  Again  the  returns  were  irregular,  and  according 
to  the  constitution  could  not  be  conclusive.  But  of  the  twenty-four 
counties  that  composed  the  commonwealth,  ten  failed  to  make  returns 
of  the  whole  number  of  votes  cast  in  the  election,  and  of  these  eight 
gave  no  account  of  any  votes  having  been  cast  at  all  on  the  question 
of  the  convention.  But  a  year's  discussion  had  greatly  increased  the 
interest  of  the  people.  The  total  number  of  votes  reported  was  11,853 
and  of  these  8,804  were  for  a  convention.  In  Fayette  County  the  total 
number  of  votes  cast  increased  from  813  in  1797  to  2,247  in  1798,  while 
the  votes  for  a  convention  increased  from  560  to  1,357.  Bourbon,  Clark, 
Jefferson,  Madison  and  Montgomery  counties  were  also  strongholds  for 
the  convention.^* 

On  the  meeting  of  the  legislature  the  question  immediately  arose  as 
to  whetlier  a  constitutional  convention  should  be  called.  Neither  vote 
had  been  carried  out  strictly  according  to  the  constitution.  The  con- 
servatives made  a  last  effort  to  prevent  a  convention  by  opposing  the 
law  authorizing  the  election  of  delegates.  But  regardless  of  the  fact 
that  the  two  elections  had  not  been  regular,  it  was  evident  that  a  majority 
of  the  people  wanted  a  convention,  and  many  of  the  conservatives  seemed 
willing  to  recognize  the  situation.  Samuel  Hopkins  wrote  John  Breck- 
inridge in  December,  1798,  "I  hear  the  assembly  are  ripe  for  a  conven- 
tion— what  pity  ])eo])le  will  be  so  foolish — the  best  that  can  be  done  if 
the  measure  is  carried  will  be  for  the  most  indejicndent  &  princijjled 
men  among  us  to  Stej)  forward  &  prevent  mischief."  ''••  The  Legislature 
finally  agreed  to  disregard  irregularities — the  returns  and  to  call  for  an 
election  of  delegates.  Much  opposition  to  dealing  with  the  Constitutional 
convention  question  now  was  due  to  the  fact  that  Kentucky  was  at  this 
time  in  the  very  midst  of  her  struggle  with  Congress  which  produced 
the  famous  resolutions  of  this  year.  It  was  felt  that  constitutional  re- 
form with  all  the  heated  argument  engendered  by  it  should  not  be  in- 
fused into  the  serious  contest  with  the  national  government.  Kentucky 
now  of  all  times  should  produce  a  united  front.  Caleb  W'allace,  of  the 
Court  of  Appeals,  wrote  John  Breckinridge  that  he  wished  "the  con- 
vention business  to  be  carried  if  possible.  Besides  my  general  fears 
relative  to  that  case,  I  dread  the  consequences  of  the  Heats  of  Factions 
which  may  arise  on  this  question  at  a  time  when  other  great  political 
considerations  require  unanimity     *     *     *     in  the  Legislature  and  I  fear 

"Copy   in  Brcckinridyc  MSS.    (1798). 

'"  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  252. 

^^  Breckinridyc  MSS.   (1798).     Dated  Dec.  8. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  397 

nothing  can  avoid  the  mischief  but  postponing  the  question  concerning 
a  convention."  ^^ 

But  despite  the  conditions  of  the  times  and  the  arguments  the  Legis- 
lature did  not  feel  that  the  question  should  be  further  delayed.  The 
times  seemed  doubly  serious  to  many.  Besides  the  dangers  from  Federal 
usurpations,  they  saw  their  own  state  government  thrown  into  the  hands 
of  irresponsible  people  who  were  bent  on  the  destruction  of  private  rights 
and  liberties,  the  reward  and  heritage  of  years  of  toil.  These  fears 
although  groundless  were  nevertheless  sincere.  John  Mclntiere  wrote 
John  Breckinridge,  "I  feel  very  serious  on  the  Occasion  to  think  our 
Liberties  and  property  are  likely  to  be  exposed  to  Ignorant  &  designing 
men,  who  never  will  be  satisfied  to  live  under  any  Government  unless 
they  can  be  continually  changing  the  Same  agreeable  to  their  humors 
and  notions  at  the  expense  of  the  Individuals  of  the  State."  -^ 

Having  lost  in  the  Legislature  in  their  efiforts  to  prevent  a  conven- 
tion, the  conservatives  now  transferred  the  efforts  to  securing  as  many 
delegates  to  the  convention  as  possible.  If  they  could  control  the  con- 
vention, there  would  of  course,  be  no  danger  in  holding  it.  To  this 
end,  plans  for  the  campaign  were  soon  formulated.  A  meeting  was 
held  at  Bryant's  Station  on  January  28,  1798,  for  the  purpose  of  for- 
mulating resolutions  setting  forth  the  program  that  should  be  adhered 
to  by  the  convention  and  to  provide  means  for  selecting  proper  candi- 
dates. Resolutions  were  passed  declaring  for  representation  according 
to  population  and  not  by  counties ;  against  the  interference  with  private 
property;  for  a  Legislature  of  two  houses;  for  the  independence  of  the 
courts  and  judges;  for  a  continuation  of  the  compact  with  Virginia; 
and  against  the  right  of  Legislature  to  emancipate  slaves.  No  candi- 
date would  be  supported  who  did  not  agree  to  this  program  in  its  entirety. 
Candidates  were  to  be  selected  by  a  general  committee  composed  of  two 
representatives  from  each  of  the  religious  denominations,  and  of  two 
representatives  elected  from  each  of  the  militia  districts  by  all  males  over 
twenty-one  years  of  age.^^  'Yhis  general  committee  was  called  to  meet 
on  the  third  Saturday  in  March.  Forty-four  delegates  gathered  at  this 
time  and  nominated  a  conservative  ticket  of  six;  included  among  whom 
were  John  Breckinridge  and  John  McDowell.^s 

The  fear  was  widespread  that  when  once  the  convention  should  meet, 
it  would  be  likely  to  take  up  the  most  radical  and  dangerous  line  of 
procedure,  that  being  a  sovereign  body  it  could  abolish  the  most  funda- 
mental principles  of  government  and  melt  down  the  crystallized  principles 
of  liberties  set  up  through  hundreds  of  years  of  vigilance  and  strife. 
There  was  no  let-up  in  the  efforts  to  settle  the  questions  that  should  be 
discussed  in  the  convention,  by  formulating  programs  which  all  candi- 
dates were  pledged  to  support  in  the  convention.  A  correspondent  to 
the  Palladium  suggested  that  the  captain  of  each  militia  company  of  the 
county  appoint  five  representatives  to  hold  a  county  meeting  for  the  pur- 
pose of  formulating  a  program  for  the  convention  to  follow.  These 
county  committees  should  then  select  one  of  their  number  to  go  to  Frank- 
fort with  the  county  program  there  to  compose  a  state-wide  committee 
which  should  compose  the  different  county  programs  and  draw  up  a  plan 
of  action  to  be  presented  to  the  convention.^*  By  these  methods  it  was 
believed  that  as  little  initiative  and  power  of  mischief  as  possible  would 
be  left  to  the  convention. 

In  the  meanwhile  the  friends  of  reform  were  not  slumbering.    About 

">  Breckinridfje  MSS.  (1798).     Dated  Nov.  13,  1798. 

"  Breckinridric  MSS.  (1799).    Dated  Feb.  10,  1799. 

^^  Palladium.  Feb.  5,  1799.     Handbill  account  in  Durrett  MSS. 

23  Palladium,  March  28,  1799. 

2*  Palladium,  June  20,  1799. 


398 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 


the  same  time  as  the  Brj'ant's  Station  meeting,  they  met  in  Lexington 
and  passed  resolutions  declaring  among  other  things  for  gradual  eman- 
cipation. A  meeting  was  called  for  the  April  court  day  for  nominating, 
candidates. 2'  The  methods  and  plans  of  the  conservatives  were  attacked 
by  the  progressives  as  designated  to  thwart  the  reforms  demanded  by 
the  people.    They  especially  objected  to  the  control  that  the  conservatives 


Law  Office  ok  John  Breckinkidge  at  Cauell's  Dale 


would  secure  and  exercise  through  the  militia  companies.*"  As  the  elec- 
tion drew  near,  the  progressives  professed  to  fear  that  a  plot  had  been 
concocted  to  put  a  property  qualification  on  the  right  to  vote,  and  that 
this  was  part  of  the  conservative  program  in  the  convention.  Hand- 
bills were  scattered  in  which  this  danger  was  pointed  out :  "Turn  out, 
therefore,  on  the  day  of  election,  and  snatch  your  dear-bought  liberty 

"•  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  292. 
^<' Breckinridge  MSS.  (1799)- 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  399 

from  the  devouring  jaws  of  despotic  power.  There  is  a  secret  conspiracy 
now  forming  to  deprive  you  of  the  inestimable  right  of  suffrage,  deep 
laid,  and  like  a  threatening  cloud,  ready  to  burst  over  your  devoted 
heads."  It  was  suggested  that  John  Bradford,  William  Barber,  Robert 
Todd,  and  certain  others  be  supported  as  they  "are  in  favor  of  emancipa- 
tion, and  in  favor  of  free  suffrage."  ^^ 

There  was  another  side  to  the  movement  for  constitutional  reform 
that  gave  considerable  concern  to  many  Kentuckians.  In  viewing  the 
numerous  accessions  to  their  populations  from  the  East,  they  had  come 
to  look  upon  their  commonwealth  as  holding  the  shining  torch  of  liberty 
high,  showing  the  way  to  a  land  of  applied  democracy,  an  ultimate  refuge 
for  the  down-trodden  of  the  Eastern  states.  It  thus  behooved  Ken- 
tuckians to  protect  the  reputation  they  had  already  established  and  to 
enhance  it  by  sane  constitutional  reform.  Samuel  Hopkins  wrote  John 
Breckinridge,  "Kentucky  has  now  her  all  at  stake — &  must  be  cautious 
— My  letters  from  Virginia  inform  me,  this  State  is  considered  as  the 
ultimate  refuge  of  those  in  the  Atlantic  States  who  will  not  submit  to 
the  Oppression  &  Tyranny  which  must  be  the  Result  of  Federal  Meas- 
ures. A  Constitution  rightly  framed  will  be  the  strongest  incentive  to 
expedite  their  resolutions."  "* 

Kentuckians  were  willing  to  profit  from  outside  advice  in  making 
their  new  constitution  conform  to  safe  principles.  Harry  Innes  sought  the 
counsel  of  John  Taylor  of  Carolina  as  to  what  changes  should  be  made 
in  the  old  Constitution.  Taylor  sent  a  long  exposition  of  his  views. 
The  Senate  and  the  governor,  in  his  estimation  occupied  a  place  too  far 
removed  from  the  people  and  the  power  of  appointment  in  the  hands 
of  the  latter  was  too  great.  "In  addition  to  this  great  loss  of  political 
weight  taken  from  the  people,  the  constitution  endows  military  men  with 
a  tenure  in  office,  equivalent  to  a  sort  of  nobility  for  life."  He  observed 
that  this  was  the  case  only  in  Kentucky  and  Virginia.  The  Senate  should 
be  elected  annually  for  "whenever  annual  elections  cease,  there  tyranny 
begins."  "The  judicial  power  *  *  *  is  in  my  opinion  the  most 
compleat  and  beautiful  system  of  the  kind,  which  I  ever  contemplated. 
By  placing  the  judge  in  the  situation,  from  which  he  cannot  be  removed 
except  by  a  real  cause;  and  yet  liable  to  a  removal  by  a  remedy  which 
may  even  reach  causes,  of  compleat  sufficiency,  tho'  no  wise  connected 
with  ill  behaviour,  the  exact  state  of  judicial  independence  seems  to  be 
acquired,  which  will  insure  an  upright  and  informed  administration  of 
justice."  He  urged  that  Kentucky  in  her  new  constitution  make  strong 
and  specific  guarantees  of  freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press.  "If 
Kentucky  should  revise  her  constitution,  she  will  have  the  honor  of  being 
the  first  country  in  the  world,  which  will  have  the  opportunity  of  placing 
the  dagger  of  precision  in  the  heart  of  evasion,  upon  a  point,  which  if 
lost  by  liberty,  forebodes  her  own  death."  On  the  principle  of  represen- 
tation he  declared  that  if  the  present  basis  of  numbers  were  exchanged 
for  county  units,  "an  error  will  be  introduced  knowingly  into  your  system 
of  government,  which  an  old  custom  imposed  upon  us,  and  which  has 
ever  been  the  cause  of  vexation — distrust— and  intrigue  in  Virginia. 
*  *  *  This  will  be  a  dreadful  error  should  you  fall  into  it."  He 
hoped  Kentucky  would  not  revoke  the  compact  with  Virginia,  which 
was  "one  of  the  most  liberal  actions  from  a  parent  country,  which  history 
has  commemorated.  And  it  also  seems  to  me,  that  the  two  states  are 
united  by  some  national  ties  and  certain  political  interests."  "The  un- 
fortunate controversy  about  your  slaves,  will  I  fear  obstruct  those  dis- 
passionate eflForts  to  secure  your  own  liberties,  which  only  have  a  chance 

"  Copy  in  Durrctt  MSS. 

^^Breckinridge  MSS.  (1799).     Dated  July  15,  1799. 


400  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

for  success."  He  states,  however,  as  his  belief  that  gradual  emancipation 
was  the  only  solution  to  the  question.*' 

The  convention  met  on  July  22  (1799),  and  twenty-seven  days  later 
adopted  a  new  constitution.  Alexander  S.  Bullitt  was  made  chairman 
and  Thomas  Todd,  clerk,  a  position  he  had  tilled  in  practically  every 
convention  in  Kentucky  from  the  first  assembly  for  statehood.  The 
.sessions  were  made  i)uljlic,  and  the  rules  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
were  adopted.  The  convention  itself  attracted  less  attention  than  the 
movement  leading  u])  to  it,  and  according  to  Humjjhrey  Marshall  the 
proceedings  were  "in  all  respects  so  similar  to  those  of  the  legislature, 
that  *  *  *  to  notice  the  difTerent  propositions,  or  debates,  but  little 
that  is  either  useful,  or  amusing,  could  be  extracted  from  them."  '■^^ 

The  text  of  the  new  constitution  in  the  main  followed  the  old  one. 
The  numerous  fears  that  had  been  ])reviously  expressed  found  no  basis 
in  the  proceedings  of  the  convention  and  its  results.  The  direct  trend 
was  toward  greater  democracy ;  but  no  radical  departures  were  taken. 
In  a  few  instances,  the  conservatives  succeeded  in  incorporating  more 
reactionary  provisions. ^i 

The  most  important  reform  was  in  the  election  of  the  governor  and 
the  Senate.  The  electoral  college  was  abolished,  and  the  commonwealth 
now  fell  in  line  with  the  other  states,  in  electing  these  officers  by  a  direct 
vote  of  the  people.  The  new  office  of  lieutenant-governor  was  created 
and  made  elective  in  the  same  manner.  The  terms  of  the  governor  and 
of  the  senators  were  four  years,  and  of  the  representatives,  one  year. 
The  governor  was  made  ineligible  for  re-election  for  the  succeeding  seven 
vears  after  the  expiration  of  the  time  for  which  he  was  elected.  For 
the  purpose  of  apportioning  representation  a  census  of  all  males  over 
twenty-one  years  of  age  was  ordered  to  be  taken  in  1803  and  every 
fourth  year  thereafter.  The  lieutenant-governor  was  by  virtue  of  his 
office  speaker  of  the  Senate,  and  had  the  right  while  that  body  was  in 
committee  of  the  whole  to  debate  and  vote  on  all  subjects,  and  to  cast 
the  deciding  vote  in  case  of  a  tie. 

Military  service  was  required  of  all  freemen  except  negroes,  mulattoes, 
and  Indians.  However,  those  who  had  conscientious  scruples  again  bear- 
ing arms  were  excused  upon  payment  of  "an  equivalent  for  personal 
service." 

As  to  the  judiciary,  the  Court  of  Appeals,  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
land,  was  established  by  direct  provision  and  was  given  appellate  juris- 
diction only.  Inferior  courts  were  to  be  set  up  by  legislative  action. 
Judges  were  made  appointive  by  the  governor  with  the  advice  and  con- 
sent of  the  Senate  and  given  time  of  office  during  good  behavior.  They 
were  subject  to  impeachment,  and  for  reasonable  cause  insufficient  for 
this  way  they  could  be  removed  by  the  address  of  two-thirds  of  each 
House  of  the  General  Assembly.  A  thrust  at  the  complete  independence 
of  the  judiciary  was  taken  in  the  clause  concerning  salaries.  According 
to  this  provision  the  judges  "shall  at  stated  times  receive  for  their  serv- 
ices an  adequate  compensation,  to  be  fixed  by  law."  These  were  the 
identical  words  used  in  the  first  constitution,  but  the  omission  of  the 
following  clause  and  in  the  first  constitution  is  significant:  "which  shall 
not  be  deminished  during  their  continuance  in  office."  The  first  edu- 
cational requirement  for  office  ever  exacted  by  an  .Vmerican  state  was 
made  by  this  constitution.  Each  court  in  appointing  its  clerk  was  re- 
quired to  see  that   "no  person   shall  be  appointed     *     *     *     -who   shall 


2»/ii)iM  MSS..  \'oI.  21,  Nn.  58.     Dati-ci  .April  .'5.  I7f)(). 

'"  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  20.1. 

•'"  A  copy  of  tlic  cciiistitution  may  be  found  in  Kentucky  Statutes  (stli  Edition), 
V'ol.  I  ;  .Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II;  ronrc.  l-ederal  and  State  Constitutions; 
Thorpe,  A^ncrican  Charters,  Constitutions,  and  Original  Laws. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  401 

not  produce  to  the  court  appointing  him,  a  certificate  from  a  majority 
of  the  judges  of  the  Court  of  Appeals,  that  he  had  been  examined  by 
their  clerk  in  their  presence,  and  under  their  direction,  and  that  they 
judge  him  to  be  well  qualified  to  execute  the  office  of  clerk  of  any  court 
of  the  same  dignity  with  that  for  which  he  offers  himself."  ^^ 

Provision  was  made  for  the  settlement  of  cases  outside  of  court. 
From  early  times  there  had  been  a  rather  widespread  feeling  that  every 
man  should  be  his  own  lawyer,  and  that  legal  procedure  should  be  made 
so  simple  as  to  allow  this.  The  arbitration  clause  follows:  "It  shall 
be  the  duty  of  the  General  Assembly  to  pass  such  laws  as  shall  be  neces- 
sary and  proper  to  decide  differences  by  arbitrators,  to  be  appointed  by 
the  parties  who  may  choose  that  summary  mode  of  adjustment. 

Certain  reactionary  tendencies  appear  in  the  proceedings  of  the  con- 
vention and  in  the  finished  constitution.  An  unsuccessful  effort  was 
made  to  fix  a  property  qualification  for  voting,  which  should  be  an 
"annual  tax  equal  to  the  tax  on  500  acres  of  first  rate  land."  This 
amendment  was  voted  down  41  to  ii.^^  Sheriffs  who  had  heretofore 
been  elected  by  a  popular  vote  were  now  appointed  by  the  governor. 
The  system  of  voting  by  ballot  established  by  the  first  constitution  was 
replaced  by  oral  voting. 

The  clause  on  slavery  in  the  first  constitution  was  repeated  identically. 
A  clause  was  added  providing  that  action  by  a  grand  jury  should  not 
be  necessary  in  the  prosecution  of  slaves  for  felonies,  and  that  the  pro- 
cedure should  be  regulated  by  law,  but  that  the  General  Assembly  should 
have  no  right  "to  deprive  them  of  the  privilege  of  an  impartial  trial 
by  a  petit  jury." 

The  conservatives  won  another  victory  in  the  provisions  which  made 
it  almost  impossible  to  amend  the  Constitution.  This  was  an  effective 
answer  to  those  who  would  tamper  with  slavery  or  threaten  the  funda- 
mental law  along  any  other  lines.  According  to  this  clause,  "When 
experience  shall  point  out  the  necessity  of  amending  this  constitution" 
and  when  a  majority  of  those  elected  to  each  House  should  within  the 
first  twenty  days  of  the  session  pass  a  law  for  taking  the  sense  of  the 
people  on  the  expediency  of  calling  a  convention,  it  should  be  the  duty 
of  the  election  officials  to  open  the  polls  at  the  next  general  election 
for  such  a  vote.  If  a  majority  was  found  in  favor  of  a  convention,  then, 
the  General  Assembly  should  direct  that  a  similar  poll  should  be  taken 
the  next  year;  "and  if  thereupon  it  shall  appear  that  a  majority  of  all 
the  citizens  of  this  state  entitled  to  vote  for  representatives,  have  voted 
for  a  convention,  the  general  assembly  shall  at  their  next  session  call 
a  convention,  to  consist  of  as  many  members  as  there  shall  be  in  the 
house  of  representatives,  and  no  more :  to  be  chosen  in  the  same  manner 
and  proportion,  at  the  same  places,  and  at  the  same  time,  that  repre- 
sentatives are,  by  citizens  entitled  to  vote  for  representatives ;  and  to 
meet  within  three  months  after  the  said  election,  for  the  purpose  of 
re-adopting,  amending,  or  changing  this  constitution.  But  if  it  should 
appear  by  the  votes  of  either  year  as  aforesaid,  that  a  majority  of  all 
the  citizens  entitled  to  vote  for  representatives,  did  not  vote  for  a  con- 
vention, a  convention  shall  not  be  called." 

George  Nicholas,  who  had  so  much  to  do  with  the  making  of  the 
first  constitution,  was  replaced  in  this  capacity  by  John  Breckinridge. 
The  latter  had  led  the  forces  of  conservatism,  as  that  term  was  under- 
stood in  a  land  of  applied  democracy,  in  the  movement  which  produced 
the  convention,  and  had  been  one  of  the  alarmists  as  to  what  radicalism 


32  Article  IV,  Section   10.     See  report  of  the  American  Historical  Association, 
1899,  Vol.  I,  133,  134- 

^3  Reporter,  July  9,  1808. 


Vol.  1—30 


402  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

might  do.  But  judged  from  the  ])roceedings  of  the  convention  and  from 
its  final  work,  the  fears  of  agrarian  laws  and  other  interference  with 
private  property  were  groundless.  This  constitution  went  into  effect  on 
June  I,  1800,  and  for  almost  half  a  century  successfully  resisted  the 
onslaught  of  the  discontent  which  early  expressed  itself  and  almost  con- 
tinuouslj-  clamored  for  a  revision. 


CHAPTER  XXXV 

FEDERAL  RELATIONS:   THE  RESOLUTIONS   OF   1798  AND 

1799 

It  was  the  misfortune  of  the  United  States  for  her  early  political 
parties  to  be  grounded  in  the  likes  and  dislikes  of  foreign  countries  more 
than  in  domestic  policies.  The  followers  of  Jefferson  grew  up  around 
French  sympathies,  whereas  their  opponents  clung  together  on  the  prin- 
ciple of  hatred  of  the  French  if  not  admiration  for  things  English.  As 
our  foreign  relations  became  strained  with  England  or  France,  the 
political  parties  developed  more  strongly  in  their  opposition  to  each  other. 
When  the  Federalist  administration  succeeded  in  composing  our  diffi- 
culties with  England  temporarily  in  negotiating  the  Jay  Treaty  and  forc- 
ing it  through  the  Senate,  the  West  as  well  as  many  other  parts  of  the 
country,  actuated  by  hostility  to  England  and  sympathy  for  France,  bit- 
terly opposed  the  settlement. 

France,  herself,  was  as  little  pleased  with  this  treaty.  Our  Proclama- 
tion of  Neutrality  in  1793,  which  had  greeted  Genet  on  his  arrival  at 
Philadelphia,  had  been  deeply  resented  by  the  French  Government  and 
had  led  that  nation  to  take  a  deliberately  unfriendly  course  toward  the 
Federal  Government,  which  it  believed  did  not  represent  the  American 
people.  There  was,  in  fact,  considerable  reason  for  this  belief.  Jefferson 
had  argued  in  support  of  the  obligations  which  we  owed  to  France  in 
fulfillment  of  the  French  treaty  of  1778.  Many  Americans  agreed  with 
him,  and  were  greatly  surprised  and  chagrined  when  the  National  Ad- 
ministration announced  its  policy  of  neutrality  in  the  war  that  had  arisen 
between  France  and  Great  Britain.  In  this  titanic  struggle  neither  nation 
was  very  considerate  of  the  rights  of  neutral  America.  The  Jeft'erson 
democrats  had  little  difficulty  in  excusing  the  injuries  from  the  French 
as  being  in  fact  provoked  by  the  Federal  Government ;  whereas  they  saw 
in  the  actions  of  Great  Britain  indignities  unbearable. 

But  our  most  pressing  difficulties  had  been  composed  by  the  Jay 
Treaty,  whereas  our  relations  with  France,  protected  by  no  treaty,  grew 
steadily  worse.  By  1798,  affairs  had  drifted  so  far  that  President  Adams 
declared  in  his  message  to  Congress  that  he  would  "never  send  another 
minister  to  France  without  assurance  that  he  will  be  received,  respected, 
and  honored  as  the  representative  of  a  great,  free,  powerful  and  inde- 
pendent nation."  France  had  in  fact  so  far  overstepped  the  limits  of  en- 
durance on  the  part  of  many  a  Jeffersonian  democrat  that  a  reversion 
of  feeling  followed.  Preparations  for  v/ar  were  immediately  made  by 
Congress  with  the  country  generally  in  agreement  with  that  policy.  The 
three  frigates,  United  States,  Constitution,  and  Constellation  were 
hurriedly  completed ;  the  President  was  given  authority  to  call  out  80,000 
militia,  and  the  coast  defences  were  ordered  strengthened.  George  Wash- 
ington was  given  command  of  the  army,  with  Alexander  Hamilton 
directly  under  him.  Although  war  was  never  declared,  hostilities  were, 
nevertheless,  carried  on  upon  the  sea.  Naval  duels  were  fought  between 
the  men-of-war  of  the  two  nations,  and  at  least  eighty-four  French 
vessels  were  taken,  mostly  by  our  privateers.  The  early  enthusiasm  for 
war  soon  blew  over,  and  recruiting  for  the  army  became  increasingly 

403 


u 
o 
O 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 


405 


slow.  Discontent  and  resultant  criticisms  soon  made  the  whole  venture 
very  unpopular.  Within  a  short  time  the  large  standing  army,  which  was 
in  the  slow  process  of  formation,  was  used  as  an  important  argument 
against  the  Federalists. 

The  mingled  feelings  of  rising  patriotism  in  the  face  of  a  foreign 
attack  and  of  lingering  sympathy  for  an  old  friend  put  the  Kentuckians 
in  a  dilemma.  But  their  long  experience  with  the  rule  of  the  Federalist 
Administration  placed  them  in  no  state  of  enthusiasm  for  Federalist 
leadership  in  this  crisis  of  French  relations.  In  order  to  give  the  proper 
setting  to  the  sentiments  of  the  average  Kentuckians  at  this  time,  it  is 
necessary  to  notice  his  former  attitude  toward  the  Federalist  regime. 

The  feeling  had  long  been  widespread  that  the  Federalist  Administra- 
tion was  largely  responsible  for  the  rivalry,  distrust,  and  misrepresenta- 
tion that  the  East  had  been  holding  toward  the  West.  One  of  the  very 
first  acts  of  the  National  Administration  had  been  the  passage  of  the 
hated  excise  taxes,  and  especially  the  taxes  on  liquors.     The  violence  of 


H.'^LLWAY   OF  THE   OlD   CapITOL 


the  "Whisky  Boys"  in  Pennsylvania  culminating  in  the  Whisky  Re- 
bellion was  looked  upon  by  Kentuckians  as  the  logical  outcome  of  the 
policy  pursued  by  the  Federal  Government.  The  excise  taxes  were  often 
made  the  subject  of  resolutions  of  protest.  In  1793  a  meeting  was 
called  in  Lexington  which  issued  an  address  to  the  people  and  promised 
to  memorialize  both  the  State  Legislature  and  Congress.  It  attacked 
especially  the  provisions  that  the  taxes  should  be  paid  in  specie,  declar- 
ing that  it  operated  unequally  between  the  Atlantic  States  and  the  West, 
since  the  Mississippi  River  remained  closed  and  the  West  thereby  was 
deprived  of  its  markets.  It  offered  as  a  partial  solution  the  payment  of 
taxes  in  the  products  of  the  country.^ 

The  calling  out  of  15,000  troops  to  crush  the  whisky  rebellion  served 
only  to  increase  the  hostility  and  distrust  toward  the  Federalist  regime. 
Though  Kentuckians  looked  upon  this  show  of  force  as  a  direct  threat 
at  themselves,  and  came  to  believe  that  the  Federal  Government  was  only 
looking  for  an  excuse  to  invade  the  country.  Isaac  Shelby  declared  that 
he  believed  "the  Executive  of  the  United  States  was  disposed,  upon 
slight  pretext,  to  send  an  army  into  this  state  to  drive  the  citizens  thereof 

1  Kentucky  Gazette,  August  10,  1793. 


406  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

into  submission  of  the  excise  law  and  to  quell  a  disorderly  spirit  which 
had  been  represented  to  exist  in  our  citizens  with  respect  to  the  dislike 
of  the  British  Treaty  and  other  obnoxious  acts  of  the  Government." 
He  said  a  Congressman  had  confirmed  him  in  this  impression.-  As  long 
as  Washington  was  President  the  confidence  reposed  in  him  had  largely 
allayed  the  people's  fears ;  but  when  Adams  came  into  power  their  appre- 
hensions were  greatly  increased. 

Harry  Innes  declared  that  he  lived  in  daily  fear  of  an  invasion  of 
the  state  by  Federal  troops  and  John  Taylor  of  Caroline  observed  "That 
Judge  Inncs'  suspicions  were  in  his  opinion  well  founded  as  to  Adams' 
views  &  policy  to  send  an  army  into  the  Western  Country  on  any  favor- 
able pretext  presenting  itself."  "  Caleb  Wallace  also  labored  under  the 
same  impression  as  to  the  intentions  of  the  Federalists.  In  his  opinion 
from  the  beginning  of  the  whisky  rebellion  "it  was  apprehended  by 
several  of  the  most  respectable  &  intelligent  of  my  acquaintances,  that 
the  Federal  government  wished  for  a  pretext  to  send  an  army  into  this 
country  to  awe  the  people,  and  enable  it  to  punish  those,  who  by  speaking, 
writing,  or  otherwise,  should  oppose  such  of  its  measures  as  were  thought 
to  be  unconstitutional  or  rigorous."  He  declared  there  was  much  excite- 
ment over  the  various  l-'ederal  measures  inimical  to  the  interests  of  the 
West.  "And  I  concurred  in  opinion  with  those  I  conversed  with  on  the 
subject,  that  any  army  which  thot  Government  was  able  to  support,  for 
the  purpose  I  have  mentioned,  could  only  excite  resentment  and  disgust, 
and  might  produce  what  it  was  meant  to  prevent."  * 

The  plot  of  the  Spaniards  in  1796  and  1797,  which  Power  and 
Corondolet  sought  to  entice  Kentucky  from  the  Union,  was  not  com- 
numicated  to  the  Federal  Government  by  Innes,  Nicholas,  and  the  other 
Kentuckians  who  knew  about  it,  because  they  distrusted  the  Federal 
Government  and  not  on  account  of  any  sympathies  for  what  the  Span- 
iards had  proposed.  Innes  declared  in  an  affidavit  that  "the  reason  why 
he  and  Colonel  Nicholas  did  not  communicate  the  subject  to  the  president 
of  the  United  States  were  these : 

"ist.  That  it  was  well  known  that  neither  of  us  approved  of  Mr. 
Adams'  administration,  and  that  we  believed  he  kept  a  watchful  eye  over 
our  actions;  that  the  communication  must  depend  upon  his  opinion  of 
our  veracity ;  and  it  would  have  the  appearance  of  courting  his  favour. 

"2nd.  That  we  both  had  reason,  and  did  believe,  that  the  then  ad- 
ministration were  disposed  upon  the  slightest  pretext  to  send  an  army 
to  this  state ;  which  we  conceived  would  be  a  grievance  upon  the  people ; 
and  therefore  declined  making  any  communication  on  the  subject,  as 
we  apprehended  no  danger  from  the  Spanish  government."  ^  John 
Taylor  of  Caroline,  from  the  prospective  opinion  "that  had  a  communi- 
cation been  made  by  Innes  or  Nicholas  of  the  proposition  of  Power  it 
would  have  offered  one  [pretext]  that  probably  would  have  been  taken 
advantage  of  by  the  then  Administration."  " 

James  Morrison  in  an  affidavit  given  in  1806  set  forth  the  reason 
Nicholas  gave  for  not  informing  the  Federal  Government  on  the  Spanish 
plot:  "He  then  went  on,  in  consequence  of  some  questions  which  I 
asked,  to  state  the  reasons  which  had  prevented  him  from  giving  the 
Executive  information  of  the  hostile  disposition  of  the  Spanish  Govern- 
ment. Amongst  others,  he  observed  that  the  General  Government  was 
leaning  strongly  in  favor  of  monarchical  principles;  that  the  Executive 
was  deeply  prejudiced  against  the  leading  men  in  our  State;  that  he 
would  lay  hold  of  the  information  with  pleasure  and  avidity,  and  make 

2  Innes  MSS.,  Vol.  19,  No.  70.    Shelby  to  Innes,  October  S,  1808. 

s  Ibid,  No.  76. 

*  Inncs  MSS.,  Vol.  19,  No.  50.    Wallace  to  Innes,  June  6,  1807. 

»  Mar.sliall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  224,  225. 

« limes  MSS..  Vol.  19,  No.  76. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  407 

it  the  basis  for  increasing  the  army,  and  thereby  strengthen  the  hands 
of  those  who  were  opposed  to  our  repubHcan  form  of  Government;  that 
the  means  of  discharging  the  pubhc  debt  would  thereby  be  completely 
prevented ;  that  our  citizens  would  be  saddled  with  troops,  and  burdened 
with  taxes  for  the  support  of  Government;  and  that  he  was  well  assured, 
from  information  which  he  could  not  well  disbelieve,  that  the  Executive 
was  thirsting  for  a  plausible  pretext  to  send  an  army  into  our  country, 
as  he  had  declared,  not  only  to  curb  the  licentiousness  of  the  press,  but 
to  check  a  daring  disposition  in  our  citizens  to  intermeddle  with  the 
afifairs  of  the  General  Government.  *  *  *  He  said  he  had  no  doubt 
but  that  our  Government  was  already  possessed  of  imperfect  informa- 
tion on  the  subject ;  and  that  the  motives  of  a  communication  from  him 
would  probably  be  misconstrued,  and  considered  as  a  dereliction  of  the 
republican  principles  which  he  had  avowed ;  and  for  which  he  knew  he 
was  denounced  by  the  Executive."  '^ 

Angered  by  the  bitter  attacks  of  the  democrats  and  especially  as 
many  of  thein  were  aliens,  and  emboldened  by  the  general  reversion  of 
sentiment  in  their  favor,  the  Federalists  in  the  session  of  Congress,  in 
1798,  passed  four  laws  designed  to  curb  their  enemies,  later  grouped  to- 
gether and  popularly  known  as  the  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws.  The  first 
one  related  to  naturalization.  By  this  law  the  term  of  residence  neces- 
sary for  citizenship  was  increased  from  five  to  fourteen  years.  In  this 
way  it  was  hoped  that  a  restraint  might  be  placed  on  the  influx  of  foreign- 
ers who  almost  invariably  were  added  to  the  democratic  ranks. 

The  second  law  dealt  with  aliens  in  time  of  peace.  The  President  was 
empowered  by  this  act  to  order  out  of  the  country  any  alien  deemed 
dangerous  to  the  public  welfare  and  was  given  the  additional  power 
to  inflict  the  penalty  of  three  years  imprisonment  for  disobedience. 

For  the  better  handling  of  aliens  in  time  of  war,  another  act  gave  the 
President  power  to  order  out  of  the  country  any  alien  or  to  imprison  him 
for  any  length  of  time  desired.  This  act  was  designed  to  operate  only 
during  the  period  of  a  war. 

The  most  important  of  the  four  acts  was  the  one  known  as  the 
Sedition  Law.  It  was  made  a  high  misdemeanor  with  a  penalty  of  not 
more  than  five  years  imprisonment  or  not  over  $5000  fine  "for  any  per- 
sons unlawfully  to  combine  and  conspire  together  with  intent  to  oppose 
any  measure  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States  *  *  *  ^^^  jq 
impede  the  operation  of  any  law  of  the  United  States,  or  to  intimidate 
persons  from  taking  or  holding  public  office,  or  to  commit,  advise  or 
attempt  to  procure  any  insurrection,  riot,  or  unlawful  assembly."  It  was 
also  made  a  misdemeanor  with  a  less  severe  punishment  for  any  persons 
who  "should  write,  print,  utter,  or  publish,  any  false,  scandalous,  and  ma- 
licious, writing  or  writings,  against  the  government  of  the  United  States, 
or  the  president  of  the  United  States,  or  either  house  of  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States,  with  intent  to  defame  the  said  government  or 
either  house  of  the  said  Congress,  or  the  said  president,  or  to  bring 
them,  or  either  of  them,  into  contempt  or  disrepute,  or  to  excite  against 
them,  or  either  of  them,  the  hatred  of  the  good  people  of  the  United 
States,  or  to  stir  up  sedition,  or  with  intent  to  excite  any  unlawful 
combination"  against  the  execution  of  any  laws  of  the  United  States  or 
acts  of  the  president,  or  to  "aid,  abet,  or  encourage,  any  hostile  design 
of  any  foreign  nation  against  the  United  States."  The  fact  that  the 
truth  of  the  charge  or  accusation  was  admitted  as  evidence  did  not 
greatly  lessen  the  rigors  of  the  law. 

These  laws  immediately  became  the  objects  of  bitter  attacks  through- 
out the  country.    The  Sedition  Law  was  singled  out  for  special  attention 

^American  State  Papers,  Miscellaneous,  Vol.  XX,  Pt.  i,  934.  For  the  wild  fears 
of  even  a  man  of  the  standing  of  Jefferson,  see  his  famous  letter  to  Mazzei. 


408  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

as  it  was  a  direct  attack  on  the  frcecloni  of  the  press  and  was  the  only 
one  actually  made  use  of.  Kentucky  considered  these  laws  to  be  the 
crowning  infamy  of  the  I'ederalist  regime.  Meetings  sprang  up  in  many 
parts  of  the  state  in  tlie  summer  of  1798  directly  following  the  passage  of 
the  laws.  'J'hc  ])eo])le  had  long  considered  it  an  unquestionable  right 
(if  theirs  to  publish  their  opinions  on  matters  of  a  public  as  well  as  a 
private  nature,  and  tlie  Kciitmky  Gazette  had  for  a  decade  given  them 
excellent  training  and  a  ready  outlet. 

A  meeting  of  citizens  of  Clark  County  was  called  to  protest  against 
the  usuri)ations  of  the  Federal  Administration,  and  among  other  resolu- 
tions passed  the  following  on  the  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws : 

"Resolved,  That  every  officer  of  the  Federal  Government,  whether 
legislative,  executive,  or  judicial,  is  the  servant  of  the  people,  and  is 
amenable  and  accountable  to  them :  That  being  so,  it  becomes  the  people 
to  watch  o\er  their  conduct  with  vigilance,  and  to  censure  and  remove 
them  as  they  may  judge  expedient.     *     *     * 

"Resolved,  That  the  Alien  bill  is  unconstitutional,  impolitic,  unjust 
and  disgraceful  to  the  American  character. 

"Resolved,  That  the  privilege  of  printing  and  publishing  our  senti- 
ments on  all  public  questions  is  inestimable,  and  that  it  is  unequivocally 
acknowledged  and  secured  to  us  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States ; 
That  all  the  laws  made  to  impair  or  destroy  it  are  void,  and  that  we  will 
exercise  and  assert  our  just  right  in  o])position  to  any  law  that  may  be 
passed  to  deprive  us  of  it. 

"Resolved,  That  the  bill  which  is  said  to  be  now  before  Congress, 
defining  the  crime  of  treason  and  sedition,  and  prescribing  the  punish- 
ment therefor,  as  it  has  been  presented  to  the  public,  is  the  most  abomin- 
able that  was  ever  attempted  to  be  imposed  upon  a  nation  of  free  men. 

"Resolved,  That  there  is  a  sufficient  reason  to  believe,  and  we  do 
believe,  that  our  liberties  are  in  danger;  and  we  pledge  ourselves  to  each 
other  and  to  our  country,  that  we  will  defend  them  against  all  unconstitu- 
tional attacks  that  may  be  made  upon  them." 

It  was  also  resolved  that  the  proceedings  of  this  meeting  should  be 
sent  to  the  House  of  Representatives  and  to  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  to  the  President,  and  that  they  be  published  in  the  Kentucky 
Gazette."  « 

Many  other  meetings  were  held  throughout  the  state.  Among  these 
were  assemblies  at  Lexington,  Frankfort  and  Paris  and  in  Lincoln, 
Woodford  and  Madison  counties.  Militia  companies  in  Bracken,  Mason 
and  other  counties  also  held  meetings  of  protest."  A  Woodford  County 
assembly  denounced  the  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws,  declaring,  "That  for 
the  servants  of  the  people  to  tell  those  who  created  them,  that  they 
shall  not  at  their  peril  examine  into  the  conduct,  nor  censure  those 
servants  for  the  abuse  of  power  committed  to  them  is  tyranny  more 
insufferable  than  Asiatic."'"     A  meeting  in  Madi.son  County  resolved. 


*  Kentucky  Gaselte,  August  i,  1798.  These  are  quoted  in  McElroy,  Kcnluct;y  m 
the  Nation's  Histiry,  220,  222.  Tlie  following  satire  on  this  meeting  appeared  in 
Porcupine's  Gasctte,  Septemlier  12,  1798,  (pioted  in  K.  D.  Warficld,  Tlie  Kcnluclcy 
h'csotutions  of  179S  [New  York,  1887  |,  46,  47,  and  copied  in  Mcl'^Iroy,  Krnlucky  in 
the  Nation's  History,  222:  "At  Lexington,  a  mob  assembled  on  the  24tli  of  July 
with  a  fellow  of  the  name  of  Fishback  at  their  head;  they  got  pen,  ink,  and  paper, 
and  to  work  tliey  went,  drawing  up  resolves  to  the  number  of  ten,  among  which  is 
the  following  one,  which,  for  sentiment  as  well  as  orthography,  is  unequalled  even  in 
the  Annals  of  An  American  Democracy. 

"  'Resolved,  that  thar  es  sufishunt  rescn  lo  belccv,  and  wee  doe  belccv,  that  our 
leeberte  es  in  daingur,  and  wee  plege  ourselves  too  eche  other,  and  too  oner  country, 
that  wee  will  defendc  um  against  aul  unconstetushonal  ataks  that  mey  bee  mede  upon 
uni.'  " 

^Palladium,  August-December,  1798. 

^^  Ibid.,  August  9,  1798. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  409 

"That  the  bills,  called  the  alien  and  sedition  bills,  are  infringements  of 
the  constitution  and  of  natural  right;  and  that  we  cannot  approve  or 
submit  to  them."  *' 

Just  as  the  biting  criticisms  of  the  Federal  Administration  in  the 
newspapers  of  the  day  had  brought  on  the  hated  Sedition  Law,  so  in 
the  same  place  bold  assaults  were  made  on  the  law  itself.  One  satirical 
writer  declared  in  speaking  of  the  session  of  Congress  that  passed  the 
Alien  and  Sedition  Laws,  "Had  the  session  continued  much  longer,  we 
had  every  reason  to  expect,  in  a  post  or  two,  to  have  heard  of  a  bill 
interdicting  the  liberty  of  thinking  with  an  exterminating  clause  by  Mr. 
Tracy,  of  every  man,  woman,  and  child,  who  dared  to  think  at  all,  with- 
out a  license  from  the  President,  those  thought  to  be  interpreted  by 
officers,  appointed  by  the  President,  with  a  handsome  salary  annexed  to 
their  office."  ^^  The  Federalists  were  not  without  their  defenders,  even 
in  democratic  Kentucky.  A  correspondent  to  the  Palladium,  a  news- 
paper published  in  Frankfort,  signing  himself  "Pericles,"  contributed  a 
series  of  articles  in  support  of  the  Federalist  measures.  He  declared 
that  "Congress  has  not  ceased  to  deserve  well  of  their  country,"  and 
that  with  regard  to  foreign  sympathies  the  tyrannies  of  France  should 
be  no  less  opposed  than  those  of  England.  "Would  you  then  O !  Ken- 
tuckians,"  he  exclaimed,  "have  gathered  together  to  crush  laws  made 
for  your  defence?  No,  you  would  not.  Why  then,  O!  why  do  the 
friends  of  Liberty  do  it  now?  Is  there  no  tyranny  odius  but  the  British? 
May  any  other  nation  trample  on  all  our  dear  bought  rights?"  '^ 

The  situation  was  doubly  complicated  and  aggrevated  on  account  of 
the  fact  that  the  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws  were  mainly  directed  against 
the  French  supporters  and  friends,  who  were  the  Jeffersonian  democrats 
generally.  The  undeclared  war  against  France  which  was  being  so  vigor- 
ously prosecuted  on  the  sea  and  preparations  for  which  were  attracting 
so  much  attention  on  land,  placed  the  Kentuckians,  as  well  as  other 
democrats,  in  a  dilemma.  They  dared  not  lay  themselves  open  to  the 
damning  charges  that  they  loved  a  foreign  country  more  than  their 
own ;  and  at  the  same  time  they  did  not  wish  to  defend  the  acts  of  the 
Federalists  which  they  believed  were  largely  responsible  for  the  strained 
relations  with  France.  The  fact  that  war  was  never  declared  saved  them 
from  being  charged  with  treason  by  their  political  enemies.  They  used 
every  opportunity  to  show  how  the  Federalists  had  mismanaged  our 
foreign  relations. 

The  meetings  called  to  express  their  condemnation  of  the  Alien 
and  Sedition  laws  generally  divided  their  resolutions  and  time  with  our 
foreign  relations.  The  Clark  County  meeting  declared  that  "war  with 
France  is  impolitic,  and  must  be  ruinous  to  America  in  her  present  situa- 
tion." It  believed  that  "an  alliance  with  Great  Britain"  (which  would 
seem  to  be  a  logical  outcome  of  a  war  with  France)  "would  be  danger- 
ous and  impolitic;  That  should  defensive  exertions  be  found  necessary, 
we  would  rather  support  the  burthen  of  them  alone  than  embark  our 
interests  and  happiness  with  the  corrupt  and  tottering  monarchy." 
Preparations  for  the  war  with  France  called  forth  the  resolution,  "That 
the  powers  given  to  the  President  to  raise  armies  when  he  may  judge 
necessary — without  restriction  as  to  number — and  to  borrow  money  to 
support  them,  without  limitation  as  to  the  sum  to  be  borrowed,  or  the 
quantum  of  interest  to  be  given  on  the  loans,  are  dangerous  and  un- 
constitutional." But  from  the  duties  rightfully  understood  "we  will,  at 
the  hazard  of  our  lives  and  fortunes,  support  the  Union,  the  independ- 
ence, the  Constitution,  and  the  liberty  of  the  L^nited  States,"'* 

11  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  11,  279. 

^^  Palladium,  August  27,  1798,    Article  signed  by  "Investigator." 

^^  Palladium,  September  i8,  1798. 

1*  See  footnote  8. 


410  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

A  Madison  County  assembly  saw  the  commercial  ambitions  of  the 
grasping  Easterners  as  one  of  the  underlying  causes  for  the  troubles  with 
France  and  it  believed  an  extension  of  commerce  had  been  "too  much 
an  object  with  Congress,  and  to  this  cause  is  to  be  attributed  the  present 
unhajipy  war  with  the  French  republic :  a  war  which  docs  not  offer  a 
single  rational  hope  of  compensation  to  those  citizens  who  have  been 
injured  by  French  depredations,  nor  of  reimbursing  the  expenses  which 
it  may  occasion."  It  also  saw  "the  powers  of  raising  armies,  and  of 
borrowing  money,  as  now  vested  in  the  president,"  to  be  "dangerous  and 
alarming."  ^^  A  meeting  of  Lexington  citizens  declared  that  the  war 
with  France  was  "impolitic,  unnecessary,  and  unjust,  inasmuch  as  the 
means  of  reconciliation  with  that  nation  have  not  been  unremittingly 
and  sincerely  pursued:  hostilities  having  been  authorized  against  it  by 
law,  while  a  negotiation  was  pending."  It  then  declared  that  an  American 
war  with  I'Vance  would  be  "necessary  and  proper"  only  "When  engaged 
in  for  the  defence  of  their  territory;  and  that  to  take  any  part  in  the 
present  political  conmiotion  of  Europe  will  endanger  our  liberty  and 
independence."  And  as  for  an  English  alliance,  it  resolved,  that  "an 
intimate  connection  with  the  corrupt  and  sinking  monarchy  of  Britain, 
ought  to  be  abhorred,  and  avoided." '" 

Another  county  meeting  declared  that  a  war  with  France  would  be 
the  "most  unfortunate  event  that  could  befall  us"  and  that  an  alliance 
with  England  would  be  unthinkable.^' 

I'erhaps  the  most  interesting,  if  not  significant,  speech  of  this  whole 
movement  was  made  by  the  young  Lexington  attorney,  Henry  Clay, 
lately  arrived  from  Virginia,  and  already  actively  interested  and  engaged 
in  the  campaign  for  constitutional  reform.  In  the  latter  part  of  July  a 
large  meeting  was  held  in  Lexington  for  the  purpose  of  discussing  the 
late  Federal  measures.  Although  presumably  open  to  any  speaker  who 
wished  to  expose  his  views,  it-  could  have  scarcely  have  been  otherwise 
than  an  overwhelmingly  anti-Federalist  gathering.  George  Nicholas  de- 
nounced the  Alien  and  Sedition  laws  and  other  Federal  usurpations  in 
a  l(jng  and  able  speech.  In  the  noise  and  confusion  that  followed  his 
speech  someone  shouted  for  Henry  Clay.  The  crowd  immediately  took 
up  the  cry,  and  the  young  orator  climbed  upon  a  wagon  that  served  as 
the  speaker's  platform.  lie  began  at  once  a  fervid  denunciation  of  the 
acts  of  the  Federalists,  and  by  his  personality  and  ability  as  an  orator, 
soon  had  the  crowd  under  his  spell.  A  contemporary,  who  was  present, 
declared,  "it  would  be  impossible  to  give  an  adequate  idea  of  the  effect 
produced."  He  had  so  stirred  the  gathering  and  expressed  its  senti- 
ments, that  it  would  hear  no  more.  Federalist  orators  who  attempted 
to  speak  were  refused  a  hearing  and  were  only  saved  from  bodily  harm 
by  the  more  discreet  members  of  the  audience.  After  thus  sunnnarily 
disposing  of  Federalist  orators  and  arguments,  the  crowd  hoisted  Clay 
and  Nicholas  ujjon  their  shoulders  and  bore  away  the  heroes  of  .he  day 
in  triumph.'* 


'=  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  279. 

i»  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  279. 

"Palladium,  August  9,  1798. 

1"  For  varying  accounts  of  the  day's  procedure  sec  Wnrfield,  Kentucky  Resolutions 
of  179S,  43,  ff.,  and  George  D.  Prentice,  Biotjraphy  of  Henry  Clay  [Martford,  1831], 
23,  24.  McElroy,  Kentucky  in  the  Nation's  History,  224-226  gives  an  account  tosed 
on  the  above  authorities.  An  account  of  the  meeting  was  reported  by  "A  respectable 
gentleman  of  Pittsburg"  for  the  Reading,  Pcnn.sylvania  Weekly  Advertlier,  which, 
however,  made  no  mention  of  Clay,  and  greatly  warped  the  facts  to  favor  the  Fed- 
eralists. The  account  follows:  "You  no  doubt  have  heard  of  the  commotions  in 
Kentucky.  If  not,  the  story  is  this:  Meetings  were  called  in  the  principal  towns  to 
consider  of,  or  rather,  abuse  the  measures  of  the  Government.  Seditious  si)eeches, 
violent  resolutions  entered  into,  and  a  flame  everywhere  kindled.  At  Lexington, 
George  Nicholas,  a  little,  indolent,  drunken  lawyer,  of  some  talents,  but  no  principle, 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  411 

In  the  heat  of  these  numerous  meetings  and  correspondence  to  the 
newspapers,  the  attitude  of  the  Kentuckians  stood  out  unmistakably 
against  war  with  France.  But  if  war  should  actually  be  declared  and  the 
French  should  attempt  to  invade  America  as  was  popularly  supposed,  the 
Kentuckians  would  not  hold  back  their  aid  and  support  in  repelling  the 
common  enemy.  George  Nicholas  expressed  their  view  when  he  declared 
that  "We  think  that  our  government  gave  the  first  real  cause  of  offence 
to  the  French  nation"  but  that  France  had  carried  her  resentment  too  far 
and  that  Kentucky  would  be  found  doing  her  part  in  supporting  the 
National  Administration. ^^ 

Humphrey  Marshall,  one  of  the  extreme  FederaHst  partisans  of  the 
times,  admitted  that  the  Kentuckians  had  no  desire  to  disrupt  their  coun- 
try in  aid  of  France  but  charged  rather  that  it  was  a  strategem  to  win 
support  for  the  Jeffersonian  party.  He  expressed  his  views  on  this  point, 
thus:  "The  leaders  of  popular  opinion  in  Kentucky  were  pre-engaged 
from  the  time  of  Genet,  and  democratic  societies,  to  say,  and  to  do,  what- 
soever they  should  deem  expedient,  to  render  the  federal  administration 
unpopular,  in  order  that  it  might  be  transferred  to  Mr.  Jefferson  and 
the  anti-federalists;  not  with  a  view  to  dismemberment — nor  absolutely 
to  deliver  the  country  over  to  France — but  to  aid  her  in  the  conquest  of 
England.  Whose  government  in  the  language  of  these  patriots  was  not 
only  corrupt,  tyrannical,  and  detestable,  but  tottering  on  its  rotten 
foundations  and  ready  to  fall,  by  dissoluted  fragments  into  the  hands 
of  the  English  people — or  of  France."  He  also  ventured  the  opinion  that 
the  Alien  and  Sedition  laws  were  universally  condemned  in  Kentucky: 
"That  the  people,  thus  deluded,  should  have  been  disaffected  was  a  thing 
of  course — it  was  what  those  who  misled  them  had  calculated  on;  and 
without  which,  disappointment  and  chagrin  would  have  accompanied 
their  loss  of  labour.  But  all  the  people  were  not  deceived — nor  were 
all  disaffected :  while  probably,  more  who  approved  of  the  two  laws, 
which  have  been  noticed;  as  the  more  ostensible  cause  of  public  discontent 
at  the  time."  20 

The  numerous  meetings  of  the  discontented  throughout  the  state  were 
not  without  their  rebound.  There  seems  to  have  been  a  concerted  action 
on  the  part  of  the  few  Federalist  leaders  in  the  state  to  call  meetings 
in  the  different  counties  for  the  purpose  of  passing  resolutions  in  support 
of  the  Federal  Administration  to  be  sent  to  President  Adams.  The  gen- 
eral content  of  these  sentiments  is  seen  in  the  following  address  from 
Mason  County:  "Sir:  We  have  seen,  with  the  anxiety  which  is  in- 
separable from  the  love  of  our  country,  the  situation  in  which  the  United 
States  are  placed  by  the  aggressions  committed  by  the  French  nation,  on 
our  commerce,  our  rights,  and  our  national  sovereignty. 

"Whilst  the  prospect  of  peace  was  in  practicable  view,  we  looked 
anxiously  toward  that  event,  but  we  expected  peace  upon  equitable  and 
honourable  terms;  we  fondly  hoped  that  the  constituted  powers  would 

loaded  with  British  debts,  and  an  elder  brother  of  Le  beau  Citoyen  Nicholas,  opened 
the  business  of  the  meeting.  He  spoke  for  hours  in  the  most  inflammatory  style — 
denounced  the  President  as  a  perjured  villain,  a  traitor,  etc.  Declared  it  as  his  inten- 
tion to  oppose  all  those  measures  of  the  executive  which  he  condemned — and  not  one 
escaped  his  condemnation — and  swore  if  he  could  not  say,  read  and  publish  as  he 
pleased  in  his  own  house — the  Government  of  the  United  States  should  procure 
him  another.  Mr.  Murray  and  Mr.  M'Lean  opposed  him  ably.  The  former  was 
heard  without  insult,  but  the  latter  was  forced  to  take  shelter  in  a  house  from  the 
mobility.  Upwards  of  1,000  persons  were  present  at  the  Lexington  meeting."  This 
was  copied  in  the  Kentucky  Gazette,  November  28,  1798. 

1°  A  letter  from  George  Nicholas  of  Kentucky,  to  His  Friend,  in  Virginia.  Jus- 
tifying the  Conduct  of  the  Citizens  of  Kentucky,  as  to  Some  of  the  Late  Measures 
of  the  General  Government;  and  Correcting  Certain  False  Statements  which  Have 
Been  Made  in  the  Different  States  of  the  Vieivs  and  Actions  of  the  People  of  Ken- 
tucky.    [Philadelphia,  1799],  Pamphlet  of  39  pp,  20,  21. 

2*  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  283. 


412  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

meet  our  envoys  on  the  just  and  liberal  terms  offered  by  them,  agreeable 
to  their  instructions;  but  although  proper  advances  have  been  made  on 
the  part  of  our  executive,  these  reasonable  expectations  have  been  dis- 
appointed. How  it  becomes  us,  as  citizens  of  an  independent  nation,  to 
act  in  this  crisis,  there  is  no  question ;  as  freemen,  and  Americans,  we  do 
not  hesitate;  we  will  rally  round  the  standard  of  our  country,  we  will 
support  the  constituted  authorities — an  insidious  enemy  shall  in  vain 
attempt  to  divide  us  from  the  government  of  the  United  States.  To  the 
sujjport  of  that  government  against  any  foreign  enemy,  we  pledge  our 
lives,  our  fortunes,  and  our  sacred  honour."  -^ 

President  Adams  replied  to  this  address  in  an  appreciative  vein: 
"Gentlemen :  I  have  received  an  ol)liging  address,  subscribed  with  a 
long  list  of  names,  of  your  respectable  inhabitants,  declaring  without 
hesitation,  their  determination  to  rally  round  the  standard  of  their  coun- 
try; and  pledging  their  lives,  their  fortunes,  and  their  sacred  honour,  to 
support  its  constituted  authorities.  An  address  so  decided,  and  patriotic, 
from  a  state  remote  from  the  seat  of  government,  and  the  first  of  the 
kind  from  the  state  of  Kentucky,  gave  me  great  pleasure.  It  is  a  proof 
of  a  truth  that  I  have  all  along  believed,  without  a  doubt,  that  wherever 
there  were  Americans,  there  such  sentiments,  would  sooner  or  later 
appear."  ^^ 

Among  other  meetings  of  support  that  were  held  was  one  in  Lexing- 
ton for  Fayette  County.  The  set  form  address  was  sent  to  the  President, 
who  replied  in  much  the  same  manner  as  to  the  Mason  County  address, 
declaring  that  their  proceedings  were  "expressive  of  every  patriotic 
sentiments  and  the  most  virtuous  resolutions."  -•' 

Despite  the  protestations  of  support  and  sympathy  for  the  position 
assumed  by  the  Federal  Administration,  unfavorable  reports  were  spread- 
ing in  the  East  concerning  Kentucky's  loyalty.  Governor  Garrard  in 
his  message  to  the  Legislature  in  November,  1798,  referred  to  the  French 
war  in  a  manner  that  was  not  reassuring.  He' declared,  "A  war,  horrible 
in  its  nature  and  ruinous  in  its  consequence,  hangs  over  us :  a  war  by 
which  we  cannot  possibly  gain  any  advantages — but  may  lose  everything 
that  is  valued  by  freemen:  and  if  by  our  united  exertions,  and  the  favour 
of  a  kind  providence,  we  may  be  so  fortunate  as  to  maintain  our  in- 
dependence ;  it  will  be  at  all  events  at  an  expense  under  which  we  and 
our  posterity  must  groan;  and  in  consequence  of  which  we  may  be  ren- 
dered unable  to  encounter  hereafter  more  formidable  evils  than  any  with 
which  we  are  at  present  threatened."  -'' 

After  dealing  thus  with  the  question  of  the  French  war  and  boldly 
criticizing  the  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws,  as  it  shall  presently  appear,  he 
turned  to  the  campaign  of  niisrcijresentation  that  was  being  waged  against 
the  state's  good  name.  He  declared  "That  the  ])eople  represented,  as,  if 
not  in  a  state  of  insurrection,  yet  utterly  disaffected  to  the  federal  gov- 
ernment, and  determined  to  afford  it  no  support ;  and  that  this  common- 
wealth waits  only  an  opportunity  to  with-draw  herself  from  the  Union." 
He  recommended  to  the  Legislature  that  it  declare  the  State's  attachment 
to  the  Union  and  its  determination  to  support  the  Federal  Government  in 
every  constitutional  measure. 

George  Nicholas  attempted  to  set  his  state  aright  in  the  eyes  of  tlie 
nation  in  an  open  letter,  dated  November  10,  1798,  and  published  in  a 
])aniphlet  of  thirty-nine  pages,  entitled,  A  Letter  From  George  Nicholas 
of  Kentucky,  to  his  friend,  in  Virginia.     Justifying  the  condition  of  the 

21  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  284. 

22  Marshall,   History  of  Kentucky,   II,   284.     The   President's   reply   was   dated 
December  3,  1798. 

^^  Palladium,  January  15,   1799.     President's  letter  dated  December  3,  1798. 
^*  Kentucky  Gazette,  November   14,   1798.     The  message  is  given  in   full  here. 
Also  in  Palladium,  November  13,  1798. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  413 

Citizens  of  Kentucky,  as  to  some  of  the  late  measures  of  the  Gen- 
eral Government ;  and  correcting  certain  false  statements  which  have 
been  made  in  the  different  states,  of  the  views  and  actions  of  the  People 
of  Kentucky.  He  stated  that  he  had  been  repeatedly  informed  of  reports 
going  abroad  that  Kentucky  was  planning  to  leave  the  Union.  "H  I 
understand  the  nature  of  the  charge,"  he  declared,  "it  is  not  founded  on  a 
supposition  that  we  have  not  understanding  sufficient  to  enable  us  to  com- 
prehend what  the  real  interest  of  our  country  is ;  but  that  we  are  wicked 
enough  to  wish  to  sacrifice  that  interest,  to  our  supposed  private  views."  ^s 

The  "Virginia  Friend"  was  typical  of  the  general  movement  of  in- 
nuendo and  aspersion,  when  in  speaking  of  our  foreign  relations  he  said, 
"We  entertain  no  apprehensions  of  danger  from  the  French,  and  the 
Spaniards,  the  cowardly  Spaniard,  is  too  much  afraid  of  us  to  give  us  the 
least  insult  in  future,  however  favorite,  he  may  be  in  Kentucky."  ^o  fo 
this  insinuation,  Nicholas  replied,  "As  to  the  Spaniards — so  far  from  our 
feeling  any  predilection  for  that  nation,  we  have  until  lately,  been  ac- 
customed to  view  her  with  very  unfriendly  eyes;  but  our _  resentment 
against  her  has  ceased  entirely,  since  she  had  done  us  justice,_and  we 
now  wish,  to  keep  up  with  her,  that  friendly  and  liberal  commercial  inter- 
course, which  is  so  obviously  to  the  interest  of  both  countries."  -''  As_  to 
foreign  sympathies  "We  have  no  improper  attachments  to  any  foreign 
nations — we  are  true  Americans,  having  no  political  objects  in  view,  but 
the  welfare,  independence,  and  liberty  of  our  country."  ^s  The  Ken- 
tuckians  were  charged  with  passing  resolutions  of  support  and  attach- 
ment to  the  Union  and  making  a  great  display  of  them,  and  then  secretly 
going  about  nullifying  them.  In  answer  to  such  charges,  Nicholas  pointed 
out  that  if  their  "Private  resolutions  have  contradicted  those  which  we 
have  made  in  public,  let  it  be  proved,  and  I  will  then  agree,  that  there  is 
sufficient  reason  to  believe  that  our  public  declarations  are  deceitful ;  but 
until  some  proof  of  this  kind  is  brought,  it  ought  to  be  supposed,  both 
from  our  real  interest  and  our  public  declarations,  that  we  really  are 
warmly  attached  both  to  the  constitution  and  the  union  of  the  United 
States."  29 

The  spirit  of  narrow  prejudice  and  of  a  cramped  understanding  had 
led  some  unreasoning  critics  to  belittle  the  commonwealth's  importance 
in  the  Union  and  to  cast  aspersions  on  its  brand  of  democracy.  The  same 
so  called  "Virginia  Friend"  had  said  that  Kentucky's  opinion  counted 
little  in  national  aflfairs,  "as  she  is  the  weakest  state  but  one,  and  the 
only  discontented  one."  Nicholas  indignantly  replied  that  he  had  often 
seen  the  people  referred  to  as  "the  ignorant  herd"  and  that  only  the 
wealthy  should  rule ;  "but  this  is  the  first  time,  as  far  as  I  know,  at  least, 
this  doctrine  hath  been  applied  to  any  of  the  sovereign  and  independent 
states,  which  make  a  part  of  the  union."  ^o 

Beset  by  what  she  believed  to  be  Federal  usurpations  and  misrepre- 
sented by  those  so  blind  who  would  not  see,  Kentucky  was  fast  assuming 
a  position  which  would  well  fit  into  a  scheme  whose  main  spring  of 
action  lay  east  of  the  mountains  and  whose  originator  was  a  mastermind. 
In  the  autumn  of  1798,  John  Breckinridge,  who  had  been  taking  an  active 
part  in  denouncing  the  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws,  went  to  Virginia  on  an 
extended  trip.  Apart  from  his  desire  to  visit  relatives  and  friends  in 
his  old  home,  there  must  have  been  other  reasons  for  this  trip.  At  least, 
it  cannot  be  said  that  he  was  removing  himself  from  a  close  touch  with 


-''  Nicholas  Letter,  21, 
="  Nicholas  Letter,  20. 
-T  Ibid.,  21. 

28  Mc/fo/ui  Letter,  2i. 

29  Ibid. 

3°  Nicholas  Letter,  25. 


414  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

affairs  in  Kentucky,  especially  relative  to  possible  action  concerning  the 
Alien  and  Sedition  Laws.^' 

Jefferson,  who  had  watched  with  alarm,  the  course  of  Federal  legis- 
lation, returned  to  \'irginia  with  plans  for  rousing  public  sentiment.  He 
saw  with  what  ease  the  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws  could  be  used  in  build- 
ing up  opposition  to  the  Federalists.  It  was  thus  with  a  double  purpose 
of  checking  a  dangerous  trend  in  public  affairs  and  of  using  an  evident 
blunder  of  the  enemy  to  advance  his  own  party  interests,  that  he  set 
about  a  series  of  conferences  with  his  fellow-leaders.  It  was  soon  de- 
cided that  resolutions  of  protest  should  be  introduced  in  certain  slate 
legislatures.  W.  C.  Nicholas,  Madison,  and  Breckinridge  are  certainly 
known  to  have  attended  conferences  for  discussing  the  matter.  Madison 
sketched  a  set  of  resolutions  which  were  destined  to  be  introduced  in  the 
Virginia  Legislature ;  while  Jefferson  drew  up  a  series  of  nine  which  it 
was  at  first  thought  should  be  introduced  to  the  North  Carolina  body, 
but  which  were  later  given  to  Breckinridge  for  the  Kentucky  Legislature. 

Years  later  (in  1821)  Jeffer.son  in  a  letter  to  J.  Cabell  Breckinridge, 
a  son  of  John  Breckinridge,  gave  an  account  of  the  conferences  resulting 
in  the  resolutions :  "Your  letter  of  Dec.  19  places  me  under  a  dilemma 
which  I  cannot  solve  but  by  an  exposition  of  the  naked  truth.  I  would 
have  wished  this  rather  to  have  remained  as  hitherto,  without  inquiry, 
but  your  inquiries  have  a  right  to  be  answered.  I  will  do  it  as  exactly  as 
the  great  lapse  of  time  and  a  waning  memory  will  enable  me.  I  may  mis- 
remember  indifferent  circumstances  but  can  be  right  in  substance.  At  the 
time  when  the  Republicans  of  our  country  were  so  much  alarmed  at 
the  proceedings  of  the  Federal  ascendency,  in  Congress  in  the  Executive 
and  the  Judiciary  departments  it  became  a  matter  of  serious  consideration 
how  head  could  be  made  against  their  enterprises  on  the  constitution.  The 
leading  republicans  in  Congress  found  themselves  of  no  use  there,  brow 
beaten  as  they  were  by  a  bold  and  overwhelming  majority.  They  con- 
cluded to  retire  from  that  field,  lake  a  stand  in  their  state  legislatures 
and  endeavor  there  to  arrest  their  progress.  The  Alien  and  Sedition  laws 
furnished  the  particular  occasion.  The  sympathy  between  Virginia  and 
Kentucky  was  more  cordial  &  more  intimately  confidential  than  between 
any  other  two  states  of  republican  policy.  Mr.  Madison  came  into  the 
Virginia  Legislature.  I  was  then  in  the  Vice-presidency,  and  could  not 
leave  my  station,  but  your  father.  Col.  W.  C.  Nicholas  and  myself  happen- 
ing to  be  together  the  engaging  the  co-operation  of  Kentucky  in  an  ener- 
getic protestation  against  the  constitutionality  of  those  laws  became  a 
subject  of  consultation.  Those  gentlemen  pressed  me  strongly  to  sketch 
resolutions  for  that  purpose,  your  father  undertaking  to  introduce  them 
to  that  legislature,  with  a  solemn  assurance,  which  I  strictly  required, 
that  it  should  not  be  known  from  what  quarter  they  came.  I  drew  and 
delivered  them  to  him,  and  in  keeping  their  origin  secret  he  fulfilled  his 
j)ledge  of  honor.  Some  years  after  this  Col.  Nicholas  asked  me  if  I  would 
have  any  objection  to  its  being  known  that  I  had  drawn  them.  I  positive- 
ly enjoined  that  it  should  not.  Whether  he  had  unguardedly  intimated 
it  before  to  any  one  I  know  not ;  but  I  afterwards  observed  in  the  pa|)ers 
repealed  imi)ulalions  of  them  to  me;  on  which,  as  has  been  my  practice 
on  all  occasions  of  imputation,  I  have  observed  entire  silence.  The 
question  indeed  has  before  been  |)ut  to  me,  nor  should  I  answer  it  to 
any  other  than  yourself,  seeing  no  good  end  to  be  proposed  by  it  and  the 
desire  of  tranquillity  inducing  with  me  a  wish  to  be  withdrawn  from 
public  notice.  Your  father's  zeal  and  talent  were  too  well  known  to 
derive  any  additional  distinction  from  the  penning  these  resolutions. 
The  circumstances,  surely,  w'as  of  far  less  merit  than  the  proposing  and 
carrying  them  through  the  legislature  of  his  State.    The  only  fact  in  this 

8'  Warfield,  Keiilucky  Resolutions  of  179S,  147,  148. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  415 

statement  on  which  my  memory  is  not  distinct  is  the  time  and  occasion 
of  the  consuhation  with  your  father  and  Mr.  Nicholas,  it  took  place  here 
I  know,  but  whether  any  other  person  was  present,  or  communicated  with 
is  my  doubt.  I  think  Mr.  Madison  was  either  with  us,  or  consulted,  but 
my  memory  is  uncertain  as  to  minute  details.     *     *     *''  '^' 

Carrying  the  resolutions  which  Jefferson  had  penned,  Breckinridge 
set  out  for  Kentucky  with  the  intention  of  introducing  them  in  the  Legis- 
lature. Governor  Garrard  in  his  message  on  November  7th  devoted 
much  time  to  Federal  usurpations  and  showed  that  he  had  either  con- 
sulted Breckinridge  before  writing  it,  or  that  he  and  Jefferson  were  think- 
ing in  much  the  same  terms.  He  said  that  Kentucky,  constituting  a  part 
of  the  Federal  Union  as  she  did,  was  thereby  subject  to  the  general 
prosperity  or  adversity,  "and,  being  deeply  interested  in  the  conduct  of 
the  National  Government,  must  have  a  right  to  applaud  or  to  censure 
that  Government,  when  applause  or  censure  becomes  its  due."  He  then 
called  attention  "to  sundry  acts  of  the  Federal  Legislature,  which  having 
violated  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States — which  having  vested  the 
President  with  high  and  dangerous  powers,  and  intrenched  upon  the 
perogatives  of  the  individual  State,  have  created  an  uncommon  agitation 
of  mind  in  different  parts  of  the  Union,  and  particularly  among  the 
citizens  of  this  Commonwealth. 

"The  Act  concerning  Aliens  is  calculated  to  produce  effects  most 
strongly  marked  with  injustice  and  oppression;  because  the  exercise  of 
the  power  given  therein  depends  upon  the  discretion,  or,  I  may  say,  the 
caprice  of  an  individual. 

"Nothing  but  a  general  prevalence  of  hypocrisy,  among  that  numerous 
class  of  persons  on  whom  this  law  is  meant  to  operate  can  prevent  conse- 
quences so  much  deprecated :  for  they  must  affect  an  approbation  of  all 
the  measures  of  Government,  whatever  be  their  genuine  sentiments 
concerning  them,  or,  by  an  honest  disclosure  of  their  real  opinion,  ex- 
pose themselves  to  be  ruined  by  banishment,  on  the  secret  representation 
of  some  interested  and  officious  informer,  and  without  enjoying  even  the 
shadow  of  that  trial  by  jury  so  dear  to  freemen. 

"Nor  can  the  same  law  be  regarded  as  anything  less  than  an  artful, 
though  effectual  evasion  of  the  provisions  of  that  article  of  the  Federal 
Constitution  which  withholds  from  Congress  the  power  of  prohibiting 
the  migration  as  well  as  importation  of  such  persons  as  the  States  then 
existing  should  think  proper  to  admit,  as  provision  of  the  highest  im- 
portance to  those  States  whose  population  is  not  full,  and  who  have  a 
strong  interest  in  welcoming  the  industrious  stranger  from  every  part 
of  the  world."  33 

As  for  the  Sedition  Law,  it  had,  the  governor  said,  "by  fencing  round 
the  different  branches  of  the  Government  in  their  official  capacity,  with 
penal  terrors,  in  a  manner  before  unknown  *  *  *  created  a  new 
crime  against  the  United  States,  in  a  case  where  an  interference  on  the 

^-Breckinridge  MSS.  [1821].  Written  at  Monticello,  December  11,  1821.  Ac- 
cording to  this  date,  the  letter  from  J.  C.  Breckinridge  could  not  have  been  received 
December  19.  Perhaps  November  was  meant.  Jefferson's  letter  was  postmarked 
December  13,  showing  that  the  date  December  11,  must  be  correct.  Due  to  an  inex- 
cusable blunder  this  letter  was  put  down  in  T.  S.  Randolph,  Memoir,  Correspondence, 
and  Miscellanies  of  Thomas  Jefferson  (Charlottsville,  1829)  as  directed  to  a  Nicholas, 
without  a  decision  as  to  which  one.  This  was  responsible  for  the  widespread  error 
that  George  Nicholas  was  the  mover  of  the  resolutions  in  the  Kentucky  Legislature. 
A  photostat  copy  of  the  letter  may  be  found  opposite  page  233  in  McElroy,  Kentucky 
in  the  National's  History.  Also  see  E.  D.  Warfield,  "The  Authorship  of  the  Ken- 
tucky Resolutions  of  1798"  in  Magazine  of  Western  History,  III,  374,  386. 

^'  This,  was,  of  course,  a  complete  revision  of  the  meaning  of  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution on  that  point.  It  can  scarcely  be  imagined  how  Garrard  could  have  been 
honestly  mistaken.  However,  it  should  be  noted  that  both  Breckinridge  and  Jefferson 
had  used  the  same  argument  in  the  resolutions,  which  seems  to  point  to  a  common 
origin. 


416  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

part  of  the  Legislature  was  rendered  unconstitutional  by  that  clause 
which  forbids  the  enacting  of  any  law  abridging  the  freedom  of  speech 
or  of  the  press." 

Action  was  necessary,  for  "any  violation  of  the  Constitution  acquiesced 
in  subverts  the  great  palladium  of  our  rights,  and  no  barrier  remains 
to  oppose  the  introduction  of  despotism."  •'' 

The  movement  which  had  been  running  its  course  in  the  state  for 
the  past  four  months  had  now  reached  a  climax.  It  had  been  suggested 
by  some  during  the  summer  that  the  proper  mode  of  procedure  would 
be  for  the  Legislature  to  act.  In  fact,  one  correspondent  to  the  Ken- 
tucky Gazette  suggested  immediate  action :  "My  plan  is  this :  Let  the 
Legislature  of  Kentucky  be  immediately  convened  by  the  Governor;  let 
them  pass  resolutions  jiraying  for  a  repeal  of  every  obnoxious  and  un- 
constitutional act  of  Congress."  •"'  So,  when  the  Legislature  met  in 
regular  session  and  was  given  a  lead  in  the  governor's  message,  events 
logically  pointed  to  quick  and  decisive  action. 

'Jhe  House  of  Representatives  answered  the  governor's  message  in 
an  address  of  strong  support.  It  also  noticed  the  criticisms  that  had  been 
leveled  against  the  state:  "If  the  want  of  a  blind  confidence  in  and 
attachment  to  those  who  at  present  administer  the  General  Government ; 
if  withholding  our  un([ualified  approbation  of  every  act  of  that  Govern- 
ment, however  impolitic,  destructive,  or  unconstitutional ;  if  a  refusal 
of  the  freemen  of  this  commonwealth  to  prostrate  themselves  before 
the  chief  Magistrate  and  not  only  approbate  (but  tender  their  persons 
and  i)r()])erty  for  the  ])urpose  of  carrying  on)  a  War  deemed  by  them 
ruinous  and  destructive;  if  conduct  like  this  be  censureable,  the  Citizens 
of  Kentucky  wait  censure."  *"' 

The  day  after  the  delivery  of  the  governor's  message  (November  8), 
John  lircckinridge,  who  was  chairman  of  the  committee  to  whom  the 
document  was  referred,  reported  a  series  of  resolutions  on  I''ederal 
relations,  consisting  of  nine  divisions.  These  resolutions  were  almost 
identically  the  same  which  Jefferson  had  drafted,  with  the  exception  of 
the  eighth  and  ninth  articles,  which  were  radically  different.  Breckin- 
ridge, in  ]jresenting  the  Jeifersonian  draft,  had  clone  so  because  they 
followed  exactly  his  ideas,  and  the  changes  he  made  in  the  last  two  reso- 
lutions were  dictated  by  the  same  independent  judgment.''" 

For  two  days  the  set  of  resolutions  was  debated  with  surprisingly 
little  acrimony  or  differences.  The  legislators  were  so  completely  in 
sym])athy  with  the  sentiments  that  few  cared  to  oppose  them.  William 
Murray,  of  Lexington,  made  the  only  important  speech  in  opposition, 
lie  set  down  with  strong  reasoning  the  position  of  the  state  in  the  Union 
and  the  relations  that  should  subsist  between  them — the  position  which 
is  today  unquestioned.  "Whilst  exclaiming  against  usurpation,  will  you 
yourselves  become  usurpers?  Because  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  has  been  violated,  will  you  violate  your  own  Constitution?  Where 
is  the  clause  which  has  given  you  the  censorship — where  is  the  clause 
which  has  authorized  you  to  repeal  or  declare  void  the  Laws  of  the 
United  States? 

"Jf  we  have  been  electcil  by  our  fcllnw  citizens  to  watch  over  the 
interests  of  our  Commonwealth,  shall  we  consume  our  time — shall  we 
direct  our  attention  from  the  objects  for  which  we  were  specifically  sent 
here,  in  fabricating  theories  of  government  and  pronouncing  void  the 
acts  of  Congress?"    He  drew  a  broad  distinction  between  the  great  body 


^*  Kentucky  Gazette,  November  14,  1798. 
^''Kentucky  Gazette,  August  22,  1798. 
'"'  The  Mirror,  November  30,  1798. 

^' See  Edward  Channing,  "Kentucky  Resolutions  of  1798"  in  American  Historical 
Revitw.  XX,  333-336. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  417 

of  the  American  people  and  the  state  legislatures.  It  was  only  the  peo- 
ple, he  declared,  who  had  a  right  to  inquire  whether  Congress  had  ex- 
ceeded its  powers,  and  not  the  state  legislatures.  To  the  General  As- 
sembly was  delegated  only  state  powers,  and  when  it  came  to  determin- 
ing whether  a  law  was  void  and  unconstitutional,  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court  alone  should  act.^* 

Breckinridge  made  the  principal  speech  in  defense  of  the  resolutions. 
He  said  that  he  considered  the  "Co-States"  alone  as  parties  to  the  Fed- 
eral compact,  that  they  alone  should  be  judges  of  the  powers  exercised 
under  the  compact,  and  that  Congress,  being  a  mere  creature  of  the 
compact,  should  be  subject,  "as  to  its  assumptions  of  power,  to  the  final 
judgment  of  those  by  whom  and  for  whose  use  itself  and  all  its  powers 
were  all  created.  I  do  not  consider  Congress,  therefore,  the  lords  and 
masters  of  the  State,  but  as  their  servants."  As  to  the  argument  that 
the  Supreme  Court  should  interpret  the  Federal  powers,  he  inquired 
who  the  court  was,  unless  the  creature  and  servants  of  the  people.  "And 
if  the  servants  of  the  people  have  a  right,  is  it  good  reasoning  to  say 
that  the  people,  by  whom  and  for  whose  benefit  both  they  and  the  Gov- 
ernment were  created,  are  destitute  of  that  right  ?  Or  that  the  people's 
representatives,  emanating  immediately  from  the  people,  have  nothing 
to  do  but  behold  in  silence  the  most  flagrant  violations  of  their  rights, 
and  bow  in  silence  to  any  power  that  may  attempt  to  oppress  them? 
What  line  of  conduct  then  does  the  Gentleman  recommend?  If  the 
states  be  already  reduced  to  that  deplorable  situation  that  they  have 
no  right  to  remonstrate  with  men  who  may  mediate  their  annihilation, 
it  is  time  that  we  should  retire  to  our  homes  and  mournfully  prepare 
for  a  fate  which  we  are  destined  to  submit  to." 

The  resolutions  were  passed  by  the  House  on  November  loth  almost 
unanimously.  They  were  then  sent  to  the  Senate  and  passed  without 
a  single  dissenting  vote,  and  were  on  the  i6th  signed  by  the  governor. 

The  first  resolution  laid  down  the  doctrine  that  the  Union  was  a  com- 
pact among  the  states,  that  all  Federal  powers  were  delegated  by  the 
states,  who  reserved  "the  residuary  mass  of  rights  to  their  own  self 
government,"  and  that,  "having  no  common  Judge,  each  party  has  an 
equal  right  to  judge  for  itself,  as  well  of  infractions  as  of  the  mode  and 
measure  of  redress." 

The  second  resolution,  after  enumerating  the  specific  crimes,  the  pun- 
ishment for  which  is  laid  down  in  the  Federal  Constitution,  declared  that 
the  "act  of  Congress  passed  on  the  14th  day  of  July,  1798,  and  entitled: 
'An  act  in  addition  to  the  act  entitled  an  act  for  the  punishment  of  cer- 
tain crimes  against  the  United  States,'  as  also  the  act  passed  by  them 
on  the  27th  day  of  June,  1798,  entitled:  'An  act  to  punish  frauds  com- 
mitted on  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  (and  all  other  [of]  their  acts 
which  assume  to  create,  define  or  punish  crimes  other  than  those  enumer- 
ated in  the  constitution),  are  altogether  void  and  of  no  force,  and  that 
the  power  to  create,  define  and  punish  such  other  crimes  is  reserved,  and 
of  right  appertains  solely  and  exclusively  to  the  respective  states,  each 
within  its  own  territory." 

The  Sedition  Law  (passed  July  14,  1798),  is  declared  in  the  third 
resolution  to  be  "not  law,  but  *  *  *  altogether  void  and  of  no  ef- 
fect," because  the  Federal  Constitution  specifically  reserves  to  the  states 
powers,  not  granted,  and  that  the  right  to  restrict  the  freedom  of  speech 
and  of  the  press  was  not  only  not  granted,  but  was  specifically  withheld. 

It  was  resolved  in  the  fourth  of  the  series  that  alien  friends  were 
"under  the  jurisdiction  and  protection  of  the  laws  of  the  state  wherein 
they  are;  that  no  power  over  them  has  been  delegated  to  the  United 
States,  nor  prohibited  to  the  individual  states,  distinct  from  their  power 

88  The  Mirror,  November  30,  1798. 
Vol.  1—31 


418  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

over  citizens,"  and  tiiat,  therefore,  the  act  passed  by  Congress  on  June 
22,  1798,  entitled  "An  act  concerning  ahens  *  *  *  is  not  law,  but 
is  altogether  void  and  of  no  force." 

The  fifth  resolution,  quoting  the  clause  in  the  Constitution  which 
prohibited  the  foreign  slave  trade  after  iiSoS.  interpreted  this  provision 
as  securing  the  right  of  aliens  to  migrate  to  the  states  and  that,  there- 
fore, the  act  against  aliens  was  a  violation  of  this  clause. 

In  the  sixth  resolution  it  was  argued  that  the  act  concerning  aliens 
violated  the  clauses  in  the  constitution  against  the  deprivation  of  liberty 
without  due  process  of  law  and  against  the  deprivation  of  the  right  to 
trial  by  jury  and  other  concomitant  privileges,  in  that  it  authorized  "the 
President  to  remove  a  person  out  of  the  United  States  who  is  under 
the  protection  of  the  Law,  on  his  own  suspicion,  without  accusation, 
without  jury,  without  public  trial,  without  confrontation  of  the  witnesses 
against  him,  without  having  witnesses  in  his  favour,  without  defence, 
without  counsel.  *  *  *"  It  was  furthermore  declared  that  in  trans- 
ferring these  powers  which  were  judicial  to  the  executive,  another  viola- 
tion of  the  Constitution  was  perpetrated. 

The  seventh  resolution  laid  down  the  strict  construction  views  of 
the  Constitution,  declaring  "That  words  meant  by  the  instrument  to  be 
subsidiary  only  to  the  execution  of  the  limited  powers  ought  not  to  be 
so  construed  as  themselves  to  give  imlimited  powers,  nor  a  part  so  to  be 
taken  as  to  destroy  the  whole  residue  of  the  instrument.     *     *     *" 

According  to  the  eighth  resolution,  the  whole  series  of  resolutions 
should  be  sent  to  the  state's  senators  and  representatives  in  Congress, 
"who  are  hereby  enjoined  to  present  the  saine  to  their  respective  Houses 
and  to  use  their  best  endeavors  to  procure  at  the  next  session  of  Con- 
gress a  repeal  of  the  aforesaid  unconstitutional  and  obnoxious  acts." 

The  ninth  and  final  resolution  was  an  essay  summing  up  the  views 
and  arguments  in  the  foregoing  resolutions,  appealing  to  the  other  states 
of  the  Union  for  sympathetic  action.  It  follows:  "Resolved  lastly,  that 
the  Governor  of  this  Commonwealth  be  and  is  hereby  authorized  and 
requested  to  communicate  the  preceding  Resolutions  to  the  Legislatures 
of  the  several  States,  to  assure  them  that  this  Commonwealth  considers 
Union  for  specified  National  purposes,  and  particularly  for  those  speci- 
fied in  their  late  Federal  Compact,  to  be  friendly  to  the  peace,  happiness 
and  prosperity  of  all  the  states;  that,  faithful  to  that  compact  according 
to  the  plain  intent  and  meaning  in  which  it  was  understood  and  acceded 
to  by  the  several  parties,  it  is  sincerely  anxious  for  its  preservation ;  that 
it  does  also  believe  that  to  take  from  the  states  all  the  powers  of  self 
government  and  transfer  them  to  a  general  and  consolidated  Govern- 
ment, without  regard  to  the  special  delegations  and  reservations  sol- 
emnly agreed  to  in  that  compact,  is  not  for  the  peace,  happiness  or 
prosperity  of  these  states:  .•\nd  that,  therefore,  this  Commonwealth  is 
determined,  as  it  doubts  not  its  Co-states  are,  tamely  to  subinit  to  undel- 
egated and  consequently  unlimited  powers  in  no  man  or  body  of  men 
on  earth:  That,  if  the  acts  before  specified  should  stand,  these  con- 
clusions would  flow  from  them ;  that  the  General  Government  may  place 
any  act  they  think  proper  on  the  list  of  crimes,  punish  it  themselves, 
whether  emmierated  or  not  enumerated  by  the  Constitution  as  cognizable 
by  them;  that  they  may  transfer  its  cognizance  to  the  President  or  any 
other  person  who  may  himself  be  accuser,  counsel,  judge  and  jury,  whose 
suspicious  may  be  the  evidence,  his  orders  the  sentence,  his  officer  the 
executioner,  and  his  breast  the  sole  record  of  the  transaction;  that  a 
very  numerous  and  valuable  description  of  the  inhabitants  of  these  states 
being  by  this  precedent  reduced  as  outlaws,  to  the  absolute  donn'nion  of 
one  man  and  the  barrier  of  the  Constitution  thus  swept  away  from  us 
all,  no  rampart  now  remains  against  the  passions  and  power  of  a  majority 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  419 

of  Congress  to  protect  from  a  like  exportation  or  other  more  grievous 
punishment  the  minority  of  the  same  body,  the  legislatures,  Judges, 
Governors  and  Counsellors  of  the  states,  nor  their  other  peaceable  inhab- 
itants who  may  venture  to  reclaim  the  constitutional  rights  and  liberties 
of  the  states  and  people,  or  who  for  other  causes,  good  or  bad,  may  be 
obnoxious  to  the  views  or  marked  by  the  suspicions  of  the  President,  or 
be  thought  dangerous  to  his  or  their  elections  or  other  interests,  public 
or  personal ;  that  the  friendless  alien  has  indeed  been  selected  as  the 
safest  subject  of  a  first  experiment.  But  the  citizen  will  soon  follow, 
or  rather  has  already  followed,  for  already  has  a  Sedition  Act  marked 
him  as  its  prey ;  that  these  and  successive  acts  of  the  same  character, 
unless  arrested  on  the  threshold,  may  tend  to  drive  these  states  into 
revolution  and  blood,  and  will  furnish  new  calamities  against  Republican 
Governments  and  new  pretexts  for  those  who  wish  it  to  be  believed  that 
man  cannot  be  governed  but  by  a  rod  of  iron ;  that  it  would  be  a  dan- 
gerous delusion  were  a  confidence  in  the  men  of  our  choice  to  silence 
our  fears  for  the  safety  of  our  rights ;  that  confidence  is  everywhere  the 
parent  of  despotism.  Free  government  is  founded  in  jealousy  and  not 
confidence  which  prescribes  limited  Constitutions  to  bind  down  those 
whom  we  are  obliged  to  trust  with  power;  that  our  Constitution  has 
accordingly  fixed  the  limits  to  which,  and  no  further,  our  confidence 
may  go;  and  let  the  honest  advocate  of  confidence  read  the  Alien  and 
Sedition  Acts  and  say  if  the  Constitution  has  not  been  wise  in  fixing 
limits  to  the  Government  it  created,  and  whether  we  snould  be  wise 
in  destroying  those  limits.  Let  him  say  what  the  Government  is  if  it 
be  not  a  tyranny  which  the  men  of  our  choice  have  conferred  on  the 
President,  and  the  President  of  our  choice  has  assented  to  and  accepted 
over  the  friendly  strangers,  to  whom  the  mild  spirit  of  our  Country  and 
its  laws  had  pledged  hospitality  and  protection :  that  the  men  of  our 
choice  have  more  respected  the  bare  suspicion  of  the  President  than  the 
solid  rights  of  innocence,  the  claims  of  justification,  the  sacred  force  of 
truth,  and  the  forms  &  substance  of  law  and  justice.  In  question  of 
power  then  let  no  more  be  heard  of  confidence  in  man,  but  bind  him 
down  from  mischief  by  the  chain  of  the  Constitution.  That  this  Com- 
monwealth does  therefore  call  on  its  Co-states  for  an  expression  of  their 
sentiments  on  the  acts  concerning  Aliens,  and  for  the  punishment  of 
certain  crimes  herein  before  specified,  plainly  declaring  whether  these 
acts  are  or  are  not  authorized  by  the  Federal  Compact?  And  it  doubts 
not  that  their  saner  view  will  be  so  announced  as  to  prove  their  attach- 
ment unaltered  to  limited  Government,  whether  general  or  particular, 
and  that  the  rights  and  liberties  of  their  Co-states  will  be  exposed  to 
no  dangers  by  remaining  embarked  on  a  common  bottom  with  their 
own :  That  they  will  concur  with  this  Commonwealth  in  considering  the 
acts  as  so  palpably  against  the  Constitution  as  to  amount  to  an  undisguised 
declaration,  that  the  Compact  is  not  meant  to  be  the  measure  of  the 
powers  of  the  General  Government,  but  that  it  will  proceed  in  the  exer- 
cise over  these  states  of  all  powers  whatsoever:  That  they  will  view 
this  as  seizing  the  rights  of  the  states  and  consolidating  them  in  the 
hands  of  the  General  Government  with  a  power  assumed  to  bind  the 
states  (not  merely  in  cases  made  federal)  but  in  all  cases  whatsoever, 
by  laws  made,  not  with  their  consent,  but  by  others  against  their  con- 
sent: That  this  would  be  to  surrender  the  form  of  Government  we  have 
chosen,  and  to  live  under  one  deriving  its  powers  from  its  own  will,  and 
not  from  our  authority ;  and  that  the  Co-states  recurring  to  their  natural 
right  in  cases  not  made  federal,  will  concur  in  declaring  these  acts  void 
and  of  no  force,  and  will  each  unite  with  this  Commonwealth  in  request- 
ing their  repeal  at  the  next  session  of  Congress."  ^^ 

^9  An  original  printed  copy  of  these  resolutions  is  preserved  in  Breckinridge  MSS. 
(1798). 


420  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

Thus  was  passed  and  set  going  to  the  various  states  of  the  Union  a 
series  of  resolutions  destined  to  become  the  foundation  and  inspiration 
of  the  doctrine  of  state  rights  for  many  years  to  come.  But  the  extreme 
doctrine  of  nullitication  of  federal  measures  by  indivitUial  slates  acting 
for  themselves  alone  is  nowhere  expressly  slated.  Rather,  than  sug- 
gestion of  secession,  the  idea  predominates  that  whatever  should  be  done, 
ougiit  to  be  done  through  the  united  action  of  the  states.  Direct  nulli- 
fication was,  moreover,  not  considered  to  be  a  first  remedy ;  the  states 
should  petition  Congress  to  repeal  the  obnoxious  laws,  and  if  that  body 
refused,  then,  according  to  Breckinridge,  "I  hesitate  not  to  declare  it  as 
my  opinion,  that  it  is  *  *  *  the  right  and  duty  of  the  several  States 
to  nullify  these  acts  and  to  protect  their  citizens  from  their  operation." 

These  resolutions  were  received  with  approbation  throughout  the 
state.  Samuel  Hopkins,  writing  from  Henderson  in  December,  told 
Breckinridge  that  "the  people  through  this  country  are  to  a  man  demo- 
cratic; they  have  given  an  almost  universal  plaudit  to  your  resolutions 
respecting  Congressional  Tyranny."  ^*' 

As  part  of  the  JefTersonian  program,  a  set  of  resolutions,  principally 
the  work  of  Madison,  was  in  December  passed  by  the  Legislature  of 
\'irginia.  These  resolutions  were  much  more  general  in  their  statements 
of  grievances  and  remedies  than  those  of  Kentucky,  but  were  in  general 
harmony  with  them.  As  the  case  of  Kentucky,  cojmcs  were  sent  to  the 
various  states  for  the  purpose  of  arousing  united  action. 

Within  a  short  time,  replies  from  the  states  began  to  arrive ;  and  it 
immediately  became  apparent  that  the  movement  would  result  in  direct 
failure  so  far  as  any  concerted  action  was  concerned.  There  could  have 
been  little  hope  from  the  beginning  that  the  Middle  and  New  England 
States,  strongholds  of  Federalism,  would  make  a  favorable  response. 
As  it  finally  turned  out,  every  state  north  of  the  Potomac  with  the  ex- 
ceptions of  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania,  sent  imfavorable  replies;  and 
the  remaining  states,  excepting  Virginia,  who  was  a  co-partner  in  the 
movement,  maintained  a  discreet  silence. 

Delaware  was  the  first  state  to  answer.  She  declared  pointedly  that 
Kentucky's  actions  constituted  "a  very  unjustifiable  interference  with 
the  General  Government,  and  constituted  authorities  of  the  United 
States,  and  of  dangerous  tendency,  and,  therefore,  not  fit  subjects  for 
further  consideration  of  this  General  Assembly." 

Massachusetts  was  more  studied  in  her  reply.  She  took  up  the 
gauntlet  and  argued  at  length  against  Kentucky's  position  and  in  favor 
of  the  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws. 

New  York  and  Connecticut,  both,  sent  uncompromising  replies,  in 
which  they  argued  for  the  support  of  the  National  Government. 

New  Hampshire  declared  with  considerable  indignation  and  force 
that  the  Federal  courts  alone  had  the  right  to  judge  of  the  constitution- 
ality of  Federal  laws  and  that  she  was  firmly  resolved  to  defend  the 
constitution  of  the  L^nited  States  "against  every  aggression,  either  foreign 
or  domestic." 

The  last  reply  came  from  Vermont,  and  was  much  like  the  com- 
munication from  the  other  states.  It  strongly  supported  the  position  of 
the  National  Government  and  deprecated  Kentucky's  action.'*' 

It  was  now  necessary  that  the  movers  in  this  program  take  action 
of  some  sort.  It  was  felt  that  to  remain  silent  was  to  admit  defeat. 
Jefferson,  who  had  been  watching  closely  and  directing  party  maneuvers 
in  the  recent  session  of  Congress,  suggested  in  early  September  (1799) 
the  desirability  of  Kentucky  and  \'irginia  adopting  a  new  set  of  resolu- 
tions as  a  reply  and  a  defense.     He  declared  that  they  should  answer 

*"  Breckinridqe  MSS.  (1798).    Dated  December  8.  1798. 

<»For  texts  of  replies  see  Elliot,  Debates  (1861  Ed.),  IV,  S32-S39. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  421 

"the  reasoning  of  such  of  the  States  as  have  ventured  into  the  field  of 
reason"  and  that  they  should  also  take  some  notice  "of  those  States  who 
have  either  not  answered  at  all.  or  answered  without  reasoning."  He 
believed,  however,  that  they  should  express  their  attachment  to  the 
Union  and  show  a  willingness  "to  look  on  with  indulgence,  and  wait 
with  patience,  till  those  passions  and  delusions  shall  have  passed  over, 
which  the  Federal  Government  have  artfully  excited  to  cover  its  own 
abuses,  and  conceal  its  designs;  fully  confident  that  the  good  sense  of 
the  American  people,  and  their  attachment  to  those  rights  which  we  are 
now  vindicating,  will,  before  it  shall  be  too  late,  rally  with  us,  round  the 
true  principles  of  our  Federal  compact.     *     *     *"  i2 

When  the  legislature  convened  in  November,  1799,  Breckinridge, 
who  was  elected  Speaker  of  the  House  at  the  beginning  of  the  session, 
introduced  a  resolution  as  a  reply  to  the  resolutions  of  the  various  states 
It  passed  the  House  without  a  dissenting  vote ;  but  in  the  Senate  opposi- 
tion was  encountered.  John  Pope,  who  was  later  to  play  an  important 
part  in  the  politics  of  the  state,  strongly  objected  to  the  use  of  the  word 
"nullification"  in  the  resolution.  He  introduced  an  amendment  to  use 
the  less  threatening  term  "remonstrating  and  protesting."  A  lively  de- 
bate developed,  which  came  near  a  victory  for  the  more  conservatively 
inclined  senators.  When  the  final  vote  was  taken  on  Pope's  amendment, 
it  was  defeated  by  a  majority  of  only  one.-*^ 

The  resolution  as  finally  passed  follows :  "The  representatives  of 
the  good  jjeople  of  this  commonwealth  in  general  assembly  convened, 
having  maturely  considered  the  answers  of  sundry  states  in  the  Union, 
to  their  resolutions  passed  at  the  la,st  session,  respecting  certain  un- 
contitutional  laws  of  Congress,  commonly  called  the  alien  and  sedition 
laws,  would  be  faithless  indeed  to  themselves,  and  to  those  they  represent, 
were  they  silently  to  acquiesce  in  the  principles  and  doctrines  attempted 
to  be  rnaintained  in  all  those  answers,  that  of  Virginia,  only  excepted. 
To  again  enter  the  field  of  argument,  and  attempt  more  fully  or  forcibly 
to  expose  the  unconstitutionality  of  those  obnoxious  laws  would,  it  is 
apprehended,  be  as  unnecessary  as  unavailing.  We  cannot  however  but 
lament,  that  in  the  discussion  of  tho.se  interesting  subjects,  by  sundry 
legislatures  of  our  sister  states,  unfounded  suggestions,  and  uncandid 
insinuations,  derogatory  of  the  true  character  and  principles  of  the  good 
people  of  this  commonwealth,  have  been  substituted  in  place  of  fair 
reasoning  and  sound  argument.  Our  opinions  on  those  alarming  mea- 
sures of  the  general  government,  together  with  our  reasons  for  those 
opinions,  ^yere  detailed  with  decency  &  with  temper,  and  submitted  to 
the  discussion  and  judgment  of  our  fellow  citizens  throughout  the  Union 
Whether  the  like  decency  and  temper  have  been  observed  in  the  answers 
of  most  of  those  States  who  have  denied  or  attempted  to  obviate  the 
great  truths  contained  in  those  resolutions,  we  have  now  only  to  submit 
to  a  candid  world.  Faithful  to  the  true  principles  of  the  federal  union, 
unconscious  of  any  design  to  disturb  the  harmony  of  that  union,  and 
anxious  only  to  escape  the  fangs  of  despotism,  the  good  people  of  this 
commonwealth  are  regardless  of  censure  or  calumniation.  Lest,  how- 
ever the  silence  of  the  commonwealth  should  be  construed  into  an 
acquiescence  in  the  doctrines  and  principles  advanced  and  attempted  to 
be  maintained  by  the  said  answers,  or  lest  those  of  our  fellow  citizens 
throughout  the  Union,  who  so  widely  dift'er  from  us  on  these  important 
subjects,  should  be  deluded  by  the  expectation  that  we  shall  be  deterred 
from  what  we  conceive  our  duty ;  or  shrink  from  the  principles  contained 
in  those  resolutions :  therefore 


*^  Warfield,  Kentucky  Resolutions  of  1798,  122,  123.    Jefferson  to  W.  C.  Nicholas, 
September  S,  1799. 

*' Butler,  History  of  Kentucky,  285,  289;  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  I,  25. 


422  illSTuRY  OF  KENTUCKY 

"Resolved,  Tliat  this  commonwealth  considers  the  federal  union,  upon 
the  terms  and  for  the  purposes  specified  in  the  late  compact,  as  conducive 
t(j  the  liberty  and  hapjjiness  of  the  se\eral  States:  That  it  does  now 
unequivocally  declare  its  attachment  to  the  Union,  and  to  that  compact, 
agreeable  to  its  obvious  and  real  intention,  and  will  be  among  the  last 
to  seek  its  dissolution:  That  if  those  who  administer  the  general  gov- 
ernment be  permitted  to  transgress  the  limits  fixed  by  that  compact,  by  a 
total  disregard  to  the  special  delegations  of  power  therein  contained,  an 
annihilation  of  the  state  governments  and  the  erection  upon  their  ruins, 
of  a  general  consolidated  government,  will  be  the  inevitable  consequence: 
That  the  ])rinciple  and  construction  contended  for  by  sundry  of  the  State 
legislatures,  that  the  general  government  is  the  exclusive  judge  of  the 
extent  of  the  powers  delegated  to  it,  stop  nothing  short  of  despotism; 
since  the  discretion  of  those' who  administer  the  government  and  not  the 
constitution  would  be  the  measure  of  their  powers:  That  the  several 
states  who  formed  that  instrument,  being  sovereign  and  independent, 
have  the  unquestionable  right  to  judge  of  its  infraction;  and  that  a 
nullification  by  those  sovereignties,  of  all  unauthorized  acts  done  under 
colour  of  that  instrument,  is  the  rightful  remedy:  That  this  common- 
wealth does  uiJon  the  most  deliberate  consideration  declare  that  the  said 
alien  and  sedition  laws  are,  in  their  opinion,  palpable  violations  of  the 
said  constitution;  and  however  cheerfully  it  may  be  (lisi)osed  to  surrender 
its  opinion  to  a  majority  of  its  sister  states  in  matters  of  ordinary  or 
doubtful  policy;  yet,  in  momentous  regulations  like  the  present,  which  so 
vitally  wound  the  best  rights  of  the  citizen,  it  would  consider  a  silent  ac- 
quiescence as  highly  criminal :  That  altho'  this  commonwealth,  as  a 
l)arty  to  the  federal  compact,  will  bow  to  the  laws  of  the  Union,  yet  it 
does  at  the  same  time  declare  that  it  will  not  now,  nor  ever  hereafter, 
cease  to  oppose  in  a  constitutional  manner  every  attempt,  from  what 
quarter  soever  offered,  to  violate  that  coni])act:  And  finally,  in  order 
that  no  pretexts  or  arguments  may  be  drawn  from  a  supposed  ac- 
quiescence on  the  part  of  this  commonwealth  in  the  constitutionality  of 
those  laws,  and  be  thereby  used  as  precedents  for  similar  future  viola- 
tions of  the  federal  com[)act ;  this  commonwealth  does  now  enter  against 
them,  its  solemn  protest."  ■" 

The  doctrine  of  nullification  was  clearly  ex])res,sed  in  this  resolution, 
which  represented  an  advance  over  the  resolution  of  the  preceding  year, 
but  which  was  evidently  provoked  by  the  discourteous  and  unsympathetic 
rei)lies  of  the  various  states.  Hut  it  should  be  noted  that  nullilication  by 
one  state  was  not  suggested.  The  idea  of  co-operation  among  a  group 
of  states,  which  later  occupied  a  large  place  in  the  policy  of  many  of 
the  Southern  States  was  clearly  indicated  as  the  method  by  which  nulli- 
fication should  be  carried  out. 

The  api)arein  contempt  showed  toward  Kentucky  leadershii)  and  ideas 
by  the  New  iMiglaiid  .'elates  in  their  replies,  served  to  increase  Kentucky 
resentment  toward  theni  and  toward  the  alleged  usurpations  of  the 
h'ederal  (iovernnient.  A  bill  was  introduced  in  this  session  of  the  Legisla- 
ture to  provide  severe  ])unishnient  for  any  one  who  should  attempt  to 
enforce  the  Alien  and  Sedition  laws  in  the  state.'"'  Although  defeated, 
it  was  largely  indicative  of  public  sentiment  generally. 

Although  no  definite  movement  toward  carrying  out  the  plans  and 
sentiments  of  the  resolutions  of  Kentucky  and  Virginia  resulted,  still 
the  jjurpose  toward  which  Jefferson,  Breckinridge,  Aladison  and  the  other 
deiiKJcratic  leaders  were  aiming,  was  accomplished.  The  unpopular  acts 
of  the  l'"ederalist  .Xdniinislration  were  kept  before  the  peo])le  and  were 
so  continuously  agitated  that  the   Federalist   Party  was  discredited  and 

**  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  I,  405,  406. 
•"■  Biiller,  History  of  Kentucky,  289. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  423 

defeated  by  the  democrats  in  1800;  and  in  bringing  about  this  victory, 
the  resolutions  of  Kentucky  and  Virginia  had  been  invaluable  campaign 
documents. 

It  has  been  questioned  as  to  whether  a  movement  would  ever  have 
sprung  up  in  Kentucky  sufficient  to  produce  the  resolutions  that  were 
passed,  without  the  working  of  the  master-hand  and  directing  power  of 
Jefferson.^"  It  is  true,  there  is  some  mystery  as  to  all  of  the  various 
conferences  held  by  JefTerson  in  the  summer  and  autumn  of  1798  and 
as  to  what  was  done  and  suggested  there.  Undoubtedly  he  did  what  he 
could  in  arousing  and  directing  public  sentiment  in  Kentucky;  but  it  is 
impossible  that  he  could  have  built  up  a  secret  organization  which  could 
have  produced  and  directed  the  agitation  in  Kentucky  that  began  as  soon 
as  the  objectionable  laws  were  enacted  and  continued  with  great  vigor 
until  the  resolutions  were  passed.  This  movement  had  all  the  evidences 
of  a  spontaneous  uprising  of  the  people  with  no  more  directing  power 
than  was  customary  and  to  be  expected.'' '^ 

Of  course  it  is  true  that  the  doctrines  in  the  resolutions  adopted  were 
practically  the  work  of  Jefferson;  but  there  can  scarcely  be  the  slightest 
doubt  that  resolutions  of  some  description  condemning  Federal  usurpa- 
tions would  have  been  adopted,  regardless  of  any  suggestion  or  influence 
from  east  of  the  mountains.  The  times  in  Kentucky  were  ripe  for  such  a 
measure,  the  people  were  aroused,  and  the  Legislature  they  elected  was 
bent  on  action. 


^o  See  Edward  Channing,  History  of  the  United  States,  IV,  224,  226. 
"  See  reference  to  article  substantiating  this   view   in  Report  of  the  American 
Historical  Association,  1907,  I,  23. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI 
KENTUCKY  AND  THE  LOUISIANA  PURCHASE 

1  lie  period  fulluwiiig  the  Sijanisli  Treaty  of  1795,  which  secured 
the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  for  the  West,  was  marked  hy  the  rapid 
economic  development  of  Kentucky.  There  was  no  artificial  limit  to 
the  amount  of  flour,  pork,  cider  and  tobacco  that  might  be  produced, 
for  the  river  was  free  and  the  markets  were  extensive.  The  social  and 
political  development  of  the  commonwealth  had  for  a  time  been  some- 
what retarded  in  the  agitation  for  reform;  but  the  new  constitution, 
which  went  into  effect  in  1800,  set  the  .state  on  the  high-road  of  progress. 
The  Alien  and  Sedition  acts  had  created  a  sudden  flurry,  only  to  show 
that  the  people  were,  on  most  fundamental  questions  of  politics  and 
federal  relations,  a  unit.  The  Resolutions  of  1798  and  of  1799  gave  an 
outlet  for  the  pent-up  anger  of  a  temporarily  dissatisfied  people;  and 
although  they  came  to  nothing  directly,  still  ultimately  they  led  to  a 
result,  which  was  entirely  pleasing  to  Kentuckians  generally. 

In  1800  the  JefYcrsonian  democrats  secured  control  of  the  National 
Government  never  again  to  relinquish  it  to  the  hated  federalists. 

So  at  the  dawn  of  the  Xineteeiith  Century,  the  outlook  in  Kentucky 
was  bright  and  encouraging.  She  was  a  rapidly  growing  common- 
wealth, contented  in  the  ])resent  and  satisfied  in  her  outlook  on  the 
future. 

James  iMorri.son  wrote  John  Creckinridge :  "Times  are  greatly 
changed,  and  I  am  really  happy  to  see  it."  ' 

But  Kentucky  was  not  a  community  living  unto  herself.  The  world 
around  about  her  was  vastly  important.  For  almost  a  quarter  of  a 
century  she  had  been  taking  notice  of  it.  .'^])ain  and  France,  and  even 
detested  luigland,  had  jilayed  their  ])art  in  Kentucky's  aspirations  and 
her  hopes  for  their  fullillment ;  and  especia'ly  the  first  and  last  had  not 
disdained  to  use  the  hostile  club,  when  subtle  ijersuasion  failed  to  pro- 
duce results.  As  long  as  foreign  nations  had  interests  in  the  same  things 
as  Kentucky,  there  was  always  the  danger  of  a  break  in  any  concord 
that  might  be  established.  l!ut  apparently  as  long  as  the  Spanish  Treaty 
of  1795  was  res])ected,  the  major  problems  of  Kentucky  would  remain 
settled. 

Louisiana,  however,  was  a  large  province,  which  reared  itself  as  an 
impassable  obstacle  to  all  American  expansions  beyond  the  Mississippi 
from  Canada  to  the  Cu'.f  of  Mexico;  and  it  bad  in  its  jiower  the  ultimate 
navigation  of  that  great  river  to  its  mouth.  The  prospect  was  not  only 
of  interest  to  those  Kentuckians  who  chose  to  look  into  the  future,  but 
it  abso  was  of  concern  to  the  nation  that  had  first  explored  it  and  later 
possessed  it.  France  in  giving  this  vast  domain  to  the  decadent  Spanish 
nation  in  1763,  did  not  give  up  the  hope  and  actual  expectation  of  some- 
time getting  it  back.  This  aspiration  seems  to  have  been  born  of  the 
French  ])eo])le;  for  it  continued  unabated  as  a  policy  of  the  goxcrnnienl. 
llioiigh  it  be  an  absolute  or  constitutional  monarchy,  republic,  or  reign  of 
terror.     Before  the  days  of  Genet  and  after,  France  coveted  Louisiana 

^Breckinridge  MSS.  (1802).    Dated  February  27,  1802,  from  Lexington.    Breck- 
inridge was  at  this  time  a  United  States  Senator. 

424 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  425 

and  plotted  for  it.  Her  policy  continued  unvaried,  whether  the  possessor, 
Spain,  were  friend  or  enemy.  If  a  friend  she  was  to  be  persuaded  it 
was  to  her  own  interest  to  cede  it  to  France;  if  an  enemy,  she  should 
expect  nothing  less  than  that  so  rich  a  jewel  would  be  seized. 

After  Napoleon  took  control  in  France,  he  soon  came  to  have  the 
same  desire  to  secure  Louisiana  which  his  predecessor  in  power  had  dis- 
played. His  ideas  of  world  conquest  and  dominion  were  forming,  and 
in  them  Louisiana  would  play  a  part.  With  this  arbiter  of  Europe,  plans 
were  made  to  be  executed.  Reluctant  Spain  was  inveigled  and  forced 
into  a  deal  by  the  astute  Napoleon,  in  which  she  should  give  up  the  whole 
of  Louisiana  for  a  small  principality  in  Italy,  held  by  no  right  but  that 
of  conquest.  True  enough.  Napoleon  promised  that  he  would  secure  the 
recognition  by  the  European  nations  of  Spain's  right  in  Italy,  and  that 
he  would  never  alienate  Louisiana;  but  these  were  incidental  to 
the  main  point  which  was  that  he  had  satisfied  an  old  longing  of  the 
French  people  and  had  more  especially  welded  a  link  in  his  world  policy. 
This  transfer  was  sealed  by  the  secret  treaty  of  San  Ildefonso  in  1800. 

In  bringing  about  this  transfer,  the  French  had  with  great  effect 
played  upon  the  fear  the  Spaniards  had  of  the  encroachments  of  the 
.\mericans  on  Louisiana.  The  French  held  up  the  forbidding  picture  of 
swarms  of  Kentucky  frontiersmen,  sweeping  across  the  Mississippi,  and 
seizing  the  country,  with  the  Spaniards  powerless  to  prevent  it.  _  It  was 
ihen  argued  that  the  only  way  by  which  the  rich  Spanish  provinces  of 
Mexico  and  the  Southwest  could  be  saved  ultimately  from  the  voracious 
Americans,  was  to  interpose  the  power  of  the  strong  French  nation  by 
ceding  Louisiana.  Talleyrand  wrote  on  this  point  in  1798:  "The  Court 
of  Madrid,  ever  blind  to  its  own  interests,  and  never  docile  to  the  lessons 
of  experience,  has  again  recently  adopted  a  measure  which  cannot  fail 
to  produce  the  worst  eflfects  upon  its  political  existence  and  on  the  preser- 
vation of  its  colonies.  The  United  States  has  been  put  in  possession  of 
the  forts  situated  along  the  Mississippi,  which  the  Spaniards  had  occupied 
as  posts  essential  to  arrest  the  progress  of  the  Americans  in  those  coun- 
tries." He  then  said  that  America  must  be  given  "the  limits  which 
nature  seems  to  have  traced  for  them," — only  the  Atlantic  seaboard  and 
the  mountains.  Then  coming  directly  to  the  point  he  declared  that  Spain 
should  "Yield  a  small  part  of  her  immense  domain  to  preserve  the  rest." 
He  would  have  Spain  to  cede  the  Floridas  and  Louisiana"  and  from  that 
moment  the  power  of  the  United  States  is  bounded  by  the  limits  which 
it  may  suit  the  interests  and  tranquillity  of  France  and  Spain  to  assign 
her."  2 

Although  the  greatest  secrecy  was  enjoined  on  all  in  making  this 
treaty,  the  United  States  diplomatic  agents  in  Europe  were  not  long  in 
sensing  something  unusual  in  the  relations  between  France  and  Spain. 
As  early  as  April,  1801,  John  Adams  had  gathered  certain  rumors  of  it  in 
Berlin.     The  next  year  a  copy  of  the  treaty  fell  into  our  hands. 

A  threatening  situation  was  now  fast  developing.  A  veritable  bomb- 
shell was  exploded  when  in  October,  1802,  Morales,  the  Spanish  Intend- 
ant,  in  New  Orleans,  declared  that  city  would  no  longer  be  allowed  as  a 
port  of  deposit  for  the  Americans. ^  The  certain  reasons  for  this  order 
are.  not  known.  It  was  done  perhaps  through  French  instigation,  as  a 
measure  preparing  the  way  for  Napoleon's  forces  to  later  take  possession. 
Or  it  may  have  been  done  for  just  the  opposite  reason :  viz.,  to  show  the 
Spanish  resentment  at  losing  Louisiana  and  by  stirring  up  the  warlike 
ardor  of  the  westerners,  to  make  it  difficult  for  the  French  to  possess  it. 
Whatever  may  have  been  the  reasons,  it  is  certain  they  did  not  meet 


2  Fish,  American  Diplomacy,  142,  143. 

3  Kentucky  Gazette,  November  30,  1802.     The  order  was  dated  October  16,  1802. 
A  copy  is  also  in  Breckinridge  MSS.  (1802). 


426  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

with  the  approval  of  tlie  Spanish  Governor  of  Louisiana,  Salcedo,  nor 
of  the  Spanish  Minister  at  Washington.  When  finally  apprised  of  the 
action  the  King  of  Spain,  himself,  disajiproved,  but  the  news  of  the  royal 
disapproval  was  so  long  in  reaching  Louisiana,  that  the  order  was  not 
revoked  until  the  Americans  were  about  to  take  possession  according  to 
treaty. 

The  Sjjanish  Intendant  was  careful  to  pro\ide  for  the  wide  publicity 
of  his  order.  Ilis  ])roclamation  ran:  "And  that  the  foregoing  ma^'  be 
pul)licly  known,  and  that  nobody  may  plead  ignorance,  I  order  it  to  be 
[)ublished  in  the  accustomed  places,  copies  to  be  posted  up  in  public,  and 
that  the  necessary  notice  be  given  of  it  to  the  Department  of  Finance. 
Royal  Custome  House,  and  others  that  may  be  thought  proper."  But 
there  was  little  need  for  the  Intendant  to  feel  that  the  information  might 
not  become  sufficiently  spread.  The  news  of  a  policy  of  so  tremendous 
consequences  to  Kcntuckians  could  never  have  been  suppressed.  James 
S])ced  wrote  a  letter  from  New  Orleans  to  (Icivernor  Ciarrard  immediately 
upon  the  posting  of  the  proclamation.  In  it  he  said:  "It  [the  proclama- 
tion] can  require  no  comment  from  me.  If  it  does  not  amount  to  a  dec- 
laration of  war,  with  the  worst  consequences  to  individuals,  none  of  us 
here  understand  it.  The  people  of  the  Mississippi  Territory  will  im- 
mediately feel  its  effects,  and  when  to  their  indignation  is  joined  that  of 
our  countrymen  in  the  Spring,  God  knows  how  it  may  be  possible  to 
prevent  hostilities.  W'e  all  hope,  however,  that  you  will  immediately 
concert  with  Mr.  Jefiferson  to  prevent  the  horrible  consequences  which 
we  apprehend,  and  be  assured  that  any  measure  you  may  adopt  to 
prevent  unnecessary  bloodshed,  and  at  the  same  time  preserve  the  dignity 
of  our  country,  will  be  warmly  su])p()rted  by  a  majority  of  our  country- 
men here.     *     *     *"  * 

This  was  a  staggering  blow  at  Kentucky's  prosperity.  The  state  faced 
an  almost  utter  collapse  of  its  commerce,  which  of  necessity  depended 
on  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi.  But  it  should  be  noted  that  no 
liindrances  were  placed  in  the  way  of  boats  navigating  the  river  to  the 
sea  without  sto])])ing.  In  this  sense  the  river  was  still  free.  How'ever, 
the  most  important  right  connected  with  this  navigation  was  withheld  : 
viz.,  to  land  goods  for  re-shiiJment  on  ocean  going  vessels.  Presumable, 
if  it  were  practicable,  flatboats  might  transfer  their  cargoes  out  in  the 
river;  but  in  any  instance,  a  duty  of  6%  was  to  be  exacted.''' 

The  action  of  the  Intendant  had  come  just  in  time  for  Governor 
Garrard  to  lay  the  information  before  the  session  of  the  Legislature, 
meeting  in  November,  1S02.  Kentucky  was  perturbed  and  greatly  upset; 
but  there  was  a  complete  absence  of  the  uncontrollable  impatience  that 
had  characterized  her  in  former  crises  of  a  like  nature.  The  Federal 
Government  should  be  informed  and  memorialized  on  this  new  prob- 
lem, but  not  in  the  terms  that  had  been  used  in  former  memorials  and 
resolutif)ns  on  the  Mississippi  River  question.  Then  the  distrusted 
h'ederalists  were  in  power;  now  their  own  chosen  party  held  control 
of  the  National  Government.  It  was  but  only  natural  that  they  should 
feel  differently:  It  was  not  only  the  case  of  not  wanting  to  embarrass 
the  Jeffersonian  Democrats,  but  also  the  fact  that  they  honestly  be- 
lieved and  with  much  reason  that  the  solution  of  the  question  would  be 
in  the  bands  of  those  who  sympathized  with  them  and  understood  them 
and  whom  they  could  trust.  The  resolutions  passed  liy  the  Legislature 
were,  therefore,  surjirisingly  moderate. 

They  were  passed  on  December  i ,  and  a  copy  follows : 

"Resolved,  That  the  proclamation  of  the  Intendant  of  the  port  of  New 


^  Kentucky  Gacctir,  Deccmlicr  7,  1802.     This  letter  was  laid  before  the  Legisla- 
ture in  the  November,  1802  session  in  connection  with  the  governor's  message. 
"  Kentucky  Gazette,  December  7,  1802. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  427 

Orleans,  of  the  i8th  of  October  last,  is  a  direct  infraction  of  the  treaty 
of  friendship,  limits  and  navigation,  concluded  in  October  1795,  between 
the  United  States  and  the  King  of  Spain,  in  this  particular  *  *  * 
that  by  the  said  proclamation,  American  citizens  are  forbidden  to  de- 
posit their  merchandizes  and  effects  in  the  port  of  New  Orleans,  without 
an  equivalent  establishment  having  been  assigned  to  the  United  States, 
on  another  part  of  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  conformably  to  the  pro- 
vision of  the  twenty-second  article  of  the  said  treaty. 

"Resolved,  that  the  Governor  be  requested  to  forward  the  memorial 
to  our  senators  and  representatives  in  Congress,  to  be  by  them  presented 
to  the  President  of  the  United  Stales,  the  Senate  and  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives in  Congress. 

"Having  on  a  former  occasion,  when  we  represented  the  obstructions 
to  the  navigation  of  the  river  Mississippi,  experienced  the  attention  and 
justice  of  the  General  Government,  in  providing  by  a  treaty  with  the 
Court  of  Spain,  not  only  for  the  free  navigation  of  that  river,  but  for 
what,  in  our  remote  situation  from  the  ocean  was  absolutely  necessary 
to  the  enjoyment  of  it,  a  place  of  deposit  for  our  produce, — we  deem 
it  necessary  barely  to  state  to  you,  that  by  an  infraction  of  that  treaty, 
we  are  deprived  of  those  advantages,  in  violation  of  the  treaty  between 
the  United  States  and  the  King  of  Spain,  concluded  at  San  Lorenzo  el 
Real,  in  October,  1795.  The  Intendant  of  the  port  of  New  Orleans  has 
by  a  proclamation  of  the  i8th  of  October  last,  forbidden  American  citi- 
zens to  deposit  their  merchandizes  and  effects  in  the  said  port,  without 
having  assigned  to  the  United  States  an  equivaJent  establishment  on 
another  part  of  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi. 

"We  rely  with  confidence  on  your  wisdom  and  justice,  and  pledge 
ourselves  to  support  at  the  expense  of  our  lives  and  fortunes,  such 
measures  as  the  honor,  and  interests  of  the  United  States  may  require."" 

Jefferson  acted  immediately  upon  receipt  of  their  resolutions.  On 
December  22nd,  he  sent  the  Intendant's  proclamation  together  with 
letters  from  Kentuckians  on  the  subject  to  Congress.  Unlike  the 
Federalists,  Jefferson  did  not  delay  so  long  as  to  arouse  suspicions  re- 
garding his  honesty  and  real  desire  to  find  a  solution ;  unlike  Washington, 
he  allowed  no  situation  to  develop  where  a  personal  mission  was  neces- 
sary to  prevent  the  possibility  of  a  disaffection  of  the  West.  He  at  once 
acknowledged  in  a  letter  to  Governor  Garrard,  the  receipt  of  the  resolu- 
tions and  promised  a  speedy  solution  of  the  question.  On  January  18, 
1803,  he  wrote  again  to  keep  the  Kentucky  governor  informed,  that 
negotiations  had  been  entered  into.  He  expressed  the  opinion  that  the 
action  of  the  Intendant  "was  an  act  merely  of  the  Intendant,  un- 
authorized by  his  Government,"  and  furthermore  he  stated  that  informa- 
tion "showing  that  this  act  of  the  Intendant  was  unauthorized  has 
strengthened  our  expectation  that  it  will  be  corrected."  But  "in  order 
*  *  *  to  provide  against  the  hazards  which  beset  our  interests  and 
peace  in  that  quarter,  I  have  determined,  with  the  approbation  of  the 
Senate,  to  send  James  Monroe  to  France  to  help  settle  the  whole  ques- 
tion with  that  country  and  with  Spain  in  such  a  way  as  may  effectually 
secure  our  rights  and  interests  in  the  Mississippi."  He  added  that 
Monroe  would  "depart  immediately."  " 

Jefferson's  purpose  was  to  buy  New  Orleans  and  the  Floridas  from 
the  French  and  Spaniards  if  possible;  but  if  this  were  impossible  he 
would  then  consider  other  methods  of  obtaining  them.  In  the  mean- 
time, he  would  not  be  stampeded  into  a  war — a  move  which  the  Federal- 
ists were  urging  in  the  hope  of  embarrassing  Jefferson  and  at  the  same 
time  building  up  support  for  their  discredited  party  in  the  West.     The 

« Kentucky  Gasette,  December  7,   1802. 
'  Kentucky  Gazette,  February  15,  1803. 


428  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

President  with  great  subtlety  set  about  instilling  into  the  French  the  fear 
that  the  United  States  would  resist  the  transfer  of  Louisiana  and  that  an 
alliance  with  England  would  be  made  for  the  certain  purposes.  On  this 
point  he  wrote,  "The  day  that  France  takes  possession  of  New  Orleans 
tixes  the  sentence  which  is  to  restrain  her  forever  within  her  low  water 
mark.  It  seals  the  union  of  two  nations,  which  in  conjunction  can  main- 
tain exclusive  possession  of  the  ocean.  From  that  moment  we  must 
marry  ourselves  to  the  British  fleet  and  nation."  ■'* 

Without  the  slightest  intimation  of  hostility  to  the  I-'ederal  Govern- 
ment or  distrust  of  it,  the  Kentuckians  immediately  upon  receipt  of  in- 
fcjrmation  on  the  closing  of  the  river,  turned  to  thoughts  of  war.  To 
them  the  first  solution  that  suggested  itself  was  to  boldly  march  upon 
New  Orleans,  seize  the  city,  and  unshackle  the  Western  trade.  Judge 
Samuel  McDowell  took  a  more  moderate  view  of  the  situation  in  a 
letter  to  John  Breckinridge,  who  was  now  United  States  Senator.  He 
stated  that  the  Sjjaniards  had  closed  the  port  of  New  Orleans  and  that 
it  "appears  to  us  Western  People  an  Evil.  But  how  we  are  to  help 
our.selves  I  know  not.  We  could  easily  take  Possession  of  New  Orleans 
but  how  could  we  keep  jt.  *  *  *  But  I  am  afraid  the  United  States 
are  too  Weak  to  attempt  anything  by  force,  therefore  I  .Suppose  some 
other  means  must  he  used.""  Another  letter  to  Breckinridge  about  the 
same  time  declared  that  the  closing  of  the  port  of  New  Orleans  "has 
occasioned  great  alarm  here.  Most  people  calculate  on  war.  I  hope  and 
believe  no  such  event  will  happen."  ^"  Apart  from  the  game  of  politics 
that  the  Federalists  were  playing  in  calling  for  war,  there  was  a  senti- 
ment in  Congress  expressive  of  the  West  which  demanded  the  same  thing. 
Senator  Ross  of  Pennsylvania  wanted  an  army  enlisted  to  go  against 
New  Orleans.  The  ardor  of  the  Kentuckians  was  so  great  volunteer 
com])anics  of  militia  were  organized. 

'i"he  narrow  prejudices  that  certain  element  in  the  East  had  long  liehl 
against  the  growing  West  cropped  out  again  at  this  time.  The  mild 
resolutions  that  Kentucky  had  sent  to  Congress  and  to  the  President 
were  completely  distorted  out  of  all  of  their  meaning  by  the  Neza  York 
Herald;  and  its  falsifications  were  widely  copied  by  the  other  Eastern 
papers.  It  was  re])resented  that  the  Kentucky  Legislature  had  sent  a 
set  of  resolutions  to  the  President  demanding  an  immediate  e-xjilanation 
of  what  steps  had  been  taken  to  o])en  the  Mississippi,  informing  him  that 
their  patience  was  at  an  end,  and  warning  him  that  this  was  their  fuial 
plea.  It  was  further  stated  that  the  Kentuckians  had  raised  by  subscrip- 
tion $50o,ocKj  and  that  15,000  men  had  already  enlisted,  had  armed  them- 
selves, had  already  been  in  camp  three  days,  and  were  only  awaiting  the 
signal  to  storm  the  stronghold  of  the  Spaniards."  11 

There  was  much  provocation  in  the  Intendant  action;  however,  Ken- 
tuckians were  now  jjcrfectly  contented  to  place  their  case  in  the  hands 
of  the  National  Governnienl.  The  disruption  of  their  commerce  was  by 
no  means  fancied.  The  proclamation  came  in  time  to  cut  off  from  market 
the  wheat  crop  of  1802.  The  conditions  were  so  uncertain  that  no  price 
could  be  set.  One  of  John  lireckinridge's  constituents  wrote  him  in 
January,  1803,  that  "no  price  has  yet  been  talked  of  for  wheat,  and  the 
quantity  on  hand  is  immense."  '^  Other  instances  were  not  lacking  of 
the  hardships  of  the  times.  A  consignment  of  goods  imported  from 
Philadelphia  was  charged  iio  duties  for  its  importation  through  the 
.S])anish  i\Iississi])pi.     One  Kentuckian  complained  that  the  action  of  the 

8  Fish,  Aiwrkan  Diplomacy,  144. 

^  BrcckimkUje  MSS.    (1802).     Dated  December   15,  1802. 
^°  Ibid.,  John  .Allen  to  John  Breckinridge,  December  18,  1802. 
"  Kentucky  Gazelle,  March  29,  1803. 

^''Breckinridge  MSS.   (1803).     Benjamin  Howard  to  Breckinridge,  January  12, 
1803,  Lexington. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  429 

Spaniards  had  "cast  a  damp  on  the  commercial  pursuits  of  this  once 
prosperous  land,"  and  assured  Senator  Breckinridge  that  the  people  stood 
squarely  back  of  the  resolutions  of  the  Legislature  and  hoped  that  Con- 
gress would  act  immediately.!  3 

With  the  American  agents  in  Europe  seeking  a  settlement,  the  Ken- 
tuckians  were  willing  to  await  results.  No  ill-timed  or  ill-tempered 
meetings  of  impatience,  demanding  a  speeding  up  of  negotiations,  were 
held.  A  writer  in  the  Kentucky  Gazette  could  exultantly  exclaim  "that 
not  a  single  meeting  of  the  citizens  to  remonstrate,  to  consult  or  advise, 
has  been  convoked  in  any  part  of  the  state."  '■» 

John  Allen  wrote  Breckinridge  in  February,  1803:  "Our  country 
is  in  a  state  of  perfect  tranquillity,  the  confidence  the  people  have  in  the 
president,  and  I  may  add  in  Congress,  too,  is  so  firmly  fixed  that  they 
will  not  move  in  any  direction  but  that  pointed  out  by  the  general  govern- 
ment." !=> 

But  should  recourse  not  succeed,  there  was  a  general  feeling  that 
"but  one  opinion  will  pervade  all  America.  We  shall  then  possess  one 
mind  and  one  arm.  *  *  *  Let  us  await  with  patience  his  return — 
with  that  silent  expectation,  which,  prepared  to  meet  with  joy  the  news 
of  a  happy  issue,  is  nevertheless,  if  disappointed,  ready  to  inflict  a  blow 
which  will  let  all  Europe  know,  that  although  difficult  to  be  aroused. 
America  acts  with  vigor  and  efifect."  ^^ 

Events  moved  fast  in  Europe.  Due  to  the  approach  of  a  general 
European  conflagration  with  the  possibility  of  many  unforeseen  results. 
Napoleon  through  his  agent,  Marbois,  on  April  11,  1803,  suddenly  otTered 
to  sell  not  only  New  Orleans  but  also  all  Louisiana.  Nineteen  days  later 
a  treaty  of  cession  was  signed. 

The  news  of  this  treaty  almost  astounded  the  country.  It  was  much 
more  than  had  been  asked  for  or  hoped  for ;  and  for  a  time  Jefferson  felt 
appalled  at  the  enormous  extent  of  territory  his  agents  had  bargained 
for.  But  he  had  always  appreciated  the  value  and  influence  of  western 
expansion,  and  he  was  now  willing  to  stretch  the  constitution  in  his 
opinion  in  order  to  secure  so  pleasing  a  result.  The  rage  of  the  New 
England  Federalists  was  brushed  aside  and  the  treaty  was  ratified. 

_  Great  satisfaction  was  immediately  manifested  in  Kentucky  on  re- 
ceipt of  the  news  of  the  cession.  In  anticipation  of  this  result  James 
Brown  wrote  John  Breckinridge  that  "We  who  have  long  been  from  our 
very  hearts  Western  men,  who  have  seen  our  country  grow,  and  have 
grown  with  our  country,  can  now  view  its  unforeseen  and  unparalleled 
prosperity  with  pleasure  and  with  pride;  and  perhaps  our  enjoyment  is 
not  a  little  heightened  by  a  recollection  of  the  part  we  took  in  favor  of 
our  country  at  an  early  period ;  and  of  the  immediate  consequences  of 
measures,  bold  I  admit,  and  proscribed  by  autocracy,  but  well  calculated 
to  alarm  an  unfriendly  administration  into  a  respect  for  our  neglected 
rights."!^  John  Breckinridge  was  overjoyed  at  the  successful  outcome 
of  the  difficulty.  He  predicted  the  new  country  would  be  settled  and 
that  not  remotely,  and  what  was  still  more  important,  it  would  be  settled 
by  Americans.  He  had  a  broad  vision  of  the  rapidly  expanding  West 
and  was  now  willing  to  let  the  East  rage  and  "calculate,  how  long  it  would 
be  before  they  would  be  forced  to  seperate,  or  travel  to  the  banks  of  the 
Ohio  to  legislate  for  the  Union."  1* 

In  the  midst   of   the  general   rejoicing,  a   considerable   flurry  in   the 

^^Breckinridge  MSS.  (1802).    F.  L.  Turner  to  John  Breckinridge,  December  8 
1802. 

^*  Kentucky  Gazette,  May  3,  1803.    Article  by  William  Littell. 

'^^Breckinridge  MSS.    (1803).     Dated  February   15,   1803. 

18  Ibid.,  March  8,  1803. 

^'•Breckinridge  MSS.  (1803).    Dated  January  13,  1803.    Lexington. 

^»  Breckinridge  MSS.  (1803).    To  Jefferson,  September  10,  1803. 


430  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

West  and  in  the  National  Administration  was  occasioned  by  the  attitude 
assumed  by  the  Spaniards,  who  were  still  holding  possession  of  Louisiana. 
The  Spanish  minister  to  the  United  States  in  the  fall  of  1803  protested 
against  the  transfer  of  Louisiana  as  it  had  been  promised  by  I'^rance  in 
the  Treaty  of  San  Ildefonso  that  the  province  would  never  be  alienated. 
The  Spanish  Minister  also  argued  that  Napoleon  had  not  carried  out 
other  parts  of  the  treaty,  es])ecially  that  he  had  not  obtained  the  recog- 
nition from  the  European  nations  in  the  transfer  of  the  Italian  provinces 
to  Spanish  sovereignty,  which  Napoleon  had  promised  in  exchange  for 
Louisiana.  For  a  time  it  looked  as  if  Spain  would  be  able  to  seriously 
jeopardize  the  treaty  between  the  United  States  and  France.  Jefferson 
resolutely  determined  that  the  victory  that  was  virtually  in  his  grasp 
should  never  be  lost,  even  at  the  expense  of  a  war.  He  showed  the 
Spaniards  too  plainly  his  intentions  when  he  began  active  preparations 
to  raise  an  army  to  march  upon  New  Orleans  and  forcibly  take  it  if 
necessary.  He  called  f)n  the  three  states  west  of  the  Alleghanies,  Ken- 
tucky, Tennessee  and  Ohio,  to  have  their  militia  in  readiness  to  descend 
the  Alississippi. 

The  governor  of  Kentucky  was  calleil  upon  to  have  4000  troops 
ready  by  December  20th.  To  stimulate  volunteering  the  Legislature  on 
November  25th,  passed  a  resolution  granting  150  acres  of  land  to  every 
officer  and  enlisted  man  "who  shall  voluntarily  enter  into  service  and 
actually  descend  the  river  Alississippi." '"  This  information  was  printed 
on  hand  bills  and  scattered  over  the  state.^"  The  people  throughout  the 
state  were  aroused  at  the  possibility  of  losing  the  object  of  their  dreams 
for  the  past  quarter  of  a  century.  Henry  Clay  wrote  John  Breckinridge 
on  November  21  (1803)  that  the  latest  move  of  the  Spaniards  "has  called 
the  public  attention  from  every  other  object  and  placed  it  on  this  great 
national  concern.  Armies,  Sieges,  and  Storms,  completely  engross  the 
public  mind,  and  the  first  interrogatory  put  on  every  occasion  is  Do  you 
go  to  New  Orleans?  If  all  who  answer  in  the  affirmative  should  really 
deign  to  go,  Government  would  find  it  necessary  to  restrain  the  ])ublic 
ardor,  instead  of  resorting  to  coercion  to  raise  the  4,000  called  for."  He 
stated  that  the  officers  had  already  lieen  appointed. -1  On  the  same  day 
James  Brown  wrote  Breckinridge  describing  the  situation  as  much  less 
enthusiastic.  The  pay  was  too  small  for  the  soldiers,  "and  the  martial 
character  of  our  people  is  nearly  effaced."  He  thought  that  a  draft 
would  be  necessary  to  raise  the  4000  quote.**  jiig  bounty  of  150  acres 
of  land  must  have  had  a  considerable  stimulating  effect. 

At  any  rate  soon  afterwards  Senator  Breckinridge  was  given  this 
glowing  account  of  the  enthusiasm  that  was  rampant  throughout  the 
state :  "There  is  nothing  now  in  the  mouths  of  your  constituents  here 
but  the  storming  of  New  Orleans :  the  tocsin  of  war  resounds  through 
the  State.  *  *  *  Such  is  the  fever  in  which  the  people  are  that  no 
private  business  can  be  done  with  any  satisfaction.  Ask  a  Sheriff  if  there 
are  any  taxes  due  on  your  land,  he  will  answer,  they  will  seize  the  Town 
of  Orleans  instanter  and  execute  the  rascals  without  bail.  *  *  ♦ 
Ask  a  Lawyer  to  prosecute  a  suit  for  you  &  he  will  answer  That  it  is 
doubtful  whether  it  is  better  to  make  a  forcible  entry  on  the  fort  or  take 
it  by  surprise.  Ask  a  Surveyor  whether  your  plntt  is  made  out.  He  will 
answer  that  it  is  a  cursed  f^lott  in  the  Spaniards  to  withhold  possession 
of  Orleans,  but  has  no  doubt  that  on  a  surz'ey  of  the  premises  such  courses 
will  be  pursued  as  to  effect  our  right."  '^ 

^^  Kentucky  Gazelle,  November  22,  1803. 

'"'Breckinridge  MSS.  (iSo-;).     One  of  the  handliills  is  preserved  here. 
^' Breclcinridoe  MSS.    (1803.) 
22  Ibid.,  Written  from  Paris,  Kentucky. 

-^  Breckinridtje  MSS.  (1803).  F.  Preston  to  John  Breckinridge,  November  29, 
1803. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  431 

The  necessity  for  troops  soon  passed  away,  for  Spain  seeing  the 
temper  of  Jefferson  decided  to  cease  her  opposition.  Soon  after  the 
ratification  of  the  treaty  of  purchase  by  the  United  States  Senate  on 
October  2ist,  the  Spaniards  surrendered  the  province  to  France.  Two 
months  later  the  Americans  were  given  control  by  the  French  and 
Louisiana  became  definitely  and  without  further  question  a  part  of  the 
domain  of  the  United  States.-'* 

This  was  the  most  momentous  event  for  the  West  that  has  ever 
happened  in  American  history;  and  the  Kentuckians  truly  appreciated 
what  had  taken  place.  Celebrations  were  held  widely  throughout  the 
state.  In  Lexington,  the  militia  companies  paraded  the  principal  street 
and  "after  going  through  various  evolutions"  partook  of  a  big  dinner 
prepared  by  the  town  and  countryside.  John  Breckinridge  and  Harry 
Innes  were  the  principal  speakers. -° 

This  vast  territory  appealed  to  the  imagination  of  many  young  lawyers, 
who  had  yet  their  career  to  make.  Breckinridge,  as  United  States 
Senator,  received  many  appeals  for  Federal  appointments  for  the  new 
country.-o  Governor  Greenup  in  his  message  to  the  Legislature  in 
November,  1804,  referred  to  Louisiana  as  a  land  of  vast  possibilities. 
The  commerce  of  the  West  was  now  destined  to  assume  large  proportions. 
The  governor  also  believed  this  immense  territory  would  become  the 
center  of  true  democracy  and  progress  and  a  refuge  for  free  men.-'' 

Kentucky  felt  happy.  Her  place  in  the  Union  was  now  secure;  and 
she  believed  that  henceforth  she  would  be  rated  at  her  true  worth.  Her 
influence  was  now  to  count  for  something.  The  Legislature  in  its  address 
to  the  governor  in  November,  1804,  declared  that  the  happy  outcome  of 
the  past  year  "secures  to  our  own  state  in  the  Federal  Union  that  eleva- 
tion to  which  she  is  entitled."  -^  The  actions  of  the  state  throughout  the 
period  of  the  crisis  had  been  above  reproach,  and  this  stood  her  in  good 
stead  in  the  eyes  of  the  nation.  Clay  said  in  this  regard,  "I  am  happy  to 
learn  that  the  conduct  of  Kentiicky  has  raised  her  in  the  estimation  of 
our  Eastern  friends."  ^9  The  days  when  foreign  nations  could  find 
supportfor  theirintrigues  in  the  state  were  over.  The  causes  that  made 
such  things  possible  were  now  removed.  Kentucky  was  now  satisfied 
with  the  Union  and  the  National  Government's  management  of  it.  From 
the  questionable  patriotism  of  preceding  years,  the  state  now  turned 
strongly  to  the  support  of  the  National  Government  and  the  Union ;  and 
within  a  few  years  there  was  no  state  which  could  surpass  her  in  her 
boundless  devotion  to  both. 

An  episode  growing  out  of  the  excitement  of  the  times  bears  eloquent 
proof  as  to  Kentucky's  position.  One  Francis  Flournoy,  signing  himself 
"Western  American"  wrote  an  article  appearing  in  the  Guardian  of  Free- 
dom, March  2,  1803,  a  newspaper  published  in  Frankfort,  in  which  he 
criticized  the  Federal  Government  and  advised  independent  action  for 
Kentucky.  His  article  was  in  fact  for  the  most  part  a  revival  of  senti- 
ments which  were  rather  generally  held  in  past  years.  He  declared  that 
the  United  States  had  deliberately  refused  to  secure  the  Isle  of  Orleans 
and  West  Florida  in  time  past  when  it  could  have  easily  been  done.    The 

2*  The  exact  date  of  transfer  was  December  21. 

^'^  Kentucky  Gazette,  May  IS,  1804.  When  in  1805  there  was  a  flurry  with  Spain 
on  the  southwestern  border  of  Louisiana,  Samuel  McDowell  wrote  Breckinridge : 
"Pray  tell  me  If  I  must  Rub  up  my  old  Sword,  and  gun,  as  I  am  determined  to 
live  and  die  Independent  of  all  the  world  but  America  (as  to  Government)."  He 
hoped  war  would  not  come  as  he  believed  the  United  States  was  fearfully  unprepared 
Breckinridge  MSS.    (1805). 

^^Breckinridge  MSS.  (1803,  1804),  passim. 

2' Copy  of  message  Ibid.,  (1803). 

28  Kentucky  Gacette.  November   13,  1804. 


1803, 


'^^Breckinridge  MSS.   (1803).     Henry  Clay  to  John  Breckinridge,  December  30, 


432  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

East  harbored  the  most  hostile  sentiments  against  the  West  and  had  long 
been  trying  to  destroy  its  prosperity.  It  was  now  time  to  act,  he  declared, 
and  if  it  should  be  necessary  "as  the  last  resort  (should  our  petitions  be 
spurned),  to  set  the  general  government  at  defiance  and  erect  ourselves 
into  an  independent,  distinct  Republic;  and  should  we  experience  any 
weakness  on  our  ])art  we  can  recollect  that  France  is  strong  and  we  can 
know  that  'tis  better  to  have  a  friend  as  a  master  (if  we  from  our  weak- 
ness must  be  mastered)  than  an  enemy."  It  had  now  become  more 
necessary,  he  believed,  "to  secede  from  the  Union  unless  she  abandoned 
her  politics,  than  it  was  for  the  United  States  to  revolt  from  Great 
I'ritain."  Rather  than  remain  in  the  Union  and  suffer  such  miseries 
"I  had  rather  bow  the  knee  to  the  Spanish  monarch,  wear  a  crucifix  and 
kiss  the  Pope's  face  than  to  be  any  longer  the  subject  of  Eastern  Amer- 
ica. *  *  *  I  am  attached  to  my  native  home,  but  have  very  little  for 
my  native  rulers,  the  Eastern  Americans,  as  I  conceive,  inimical  to  our 
prosperity  and  happiness.  I  do  despise  them  and  their  politics,  most  sin- 
cerely. They  have  hoodwinked  us  and  kept  us  in  such  ignorance  that 
they  have  hitherto  turned  our  enmity  toward  France  and  Spain,  instead 
of  themselves.  Hut  I  hope  we  being  [begin?]  to  get  a  little  more  en- 
lightened, and  when  the  western  thunder  begins  to  roll  wc  may  know 
where  to  direct  the  bolt."  ^^ 

The  Kentucky  Ga.-:cltc  in  its  issue  of  March  8th  strongly  deprecated 
the  "Western  American"  for  his  ill-timed  remarks,  which  it  declared, 
were  calculated  to  misrepresent  Kentucky  sentiment  in  the  East.  It  added 
that  Kentucky  was  entirely  satisfied  wi'.h  the  efforts  then  being  made 
to  secure  a  final  settlement  of  the  Mississip])i  River  question. ^^ 

In  Frankfort  on  the  ajipearance  of  Flournoy's  article,  a  number  of 
indignant  citizens  went  to  the  printer  of  the  Guardian  of  Freedom,  James 
M.  Bradford,  and  demanded  the  real  name  of  "Western  American." 
liradford  according  to  the  custom  of  the  day  refused  to  make  it  known. 
He  was  then  informed  that  he,  himself,  wou'.d  be  considered  the  author, 
if  he  still  refused.  This  threat  however,  failed  to  move  him.  About 
three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  attorney-general  of  the  Commonwealth 
accompanied  by  a  group  of  townsmen  went  to  the  printing  office  and 
demanded  in  the  name  of  the  State  of  Kentucky  the  identity  of  the 
author.     Before  this  array  Bradford  thought  best  to  yield. 

The  excitement  quickly  grew  throughout  the  town ;  and  by  nine 
o'clock  an  effigy  of  Flournoy  had  been  made  and  tarred  ready  for  the 
torch.  A  mob  dragged  it  through  the  principal  street  of  the  town  and 
then  set  fire  to  it  shouting,  "perpetuity  to  the  union,  confidence  in  the 
qnvernment,  and  the  free  nazngation  of  the  Mississippi.''  Then,  accord- 
ing to  the  account  of  the  day,  "The  citizens  *  *  *  repaired  in  peace 
and  tranquility  to  their  respective  dwellings,  happy  in  thus  having  an 
opportunity  of  publicly  expressing  their  indignation  at  any  attempt  thai 
may  be  made  to  make  impressions  unfriendly  to  them,  and  of  satisfying 
the  world  of  their  attachment  to  the  government  of  their  choice,  and 
their  determination  to  support  the  Union  of  the  states,  as  the  sheet  anchor 
of  our  peace  abroad  and  safety  at  home.''  ■'- 

In  the  United  .States  District  Court,  meeting  at  Frankfort  with 
Harry  Innes  presiding,  the  grand  jury  handed  df)wn  an  indictment  against 
Mournoy.  In  the  words  of  the  jury  "[we]  do  declare  that  we  received 
with  the  utmost  detestation  and  abhorrence  any  speeches,  writings,  or 
intimations   tending  to   excite   a   spirit   of   discord,   discontent   or   seism 

3"  A  copy  of  this  article  m.iy  be  found  in  LoVhvillc  Ez'Cmng  Post,  .\ngust  29, 
IQOO.  The  court  records  of  this  with  the  indictment  of  Flournoy  arc  still  preserved  in 
Frankfort. 

81  The  Kentucky  Gazette,  reported  in  the  issue  for  March  15,  tliat  it  understood 
the  author  of  the  article  was  Francis  Flournoy  of  Pendleton  County. 

'^■Kentucky  Gacetle,  March  15,  1803. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  433 

among  our  citizens  toward  the  government  of  the  Union ;  and  consider 
such  as  utter  or  make  the  same,  as  enemies  to  the  prosperity,  welfare 
and  peace  of  this  country,  and  wickedly  and  viciously  inclined  to  bring 
upon  us  the  heavy  curse  of  disunion  which  to  a  young  and  weak  country 
must  be  utterly  ruinous,  do  on  our  oaths  present  one  Francis  Flournoy, 
of  the  county  of  Pendleton,  in  said  district,  farmer,  for  unlawfully  com- 
mencing a  written  correspondence,  indirectly  with  the  government  of  the 
French  nation  *  *  *  with  the  intent  to  influence  the  measures  and 
conduct  of  the  said  government  of  the  French  nation  toward  the  United 
States."  33 

There  is  no  record  of  the  outcome  of  the  trial.  It  is,  however,  of 
interest  to  note  that  so  extraordinary  a  charge  should  be  brought,  and 
especially  that  it  should  be  brought  in  the  court  presided  over  by  Harry 
Innes.  who  himself  had  been  guilty  of  actual  correspondence  with  foreign 
nations,  instead  of  merely  addressing  an  open  communication  to  a  news- 
paper as  was  the  case  of  Flournoy.  But  times  had  changed;  and  that 
made  the  great  difference.  That  a  person  could  be  indicted  for  carrying 
on  indirectly  a  correspondence  with  a  foreign  government  by  means  of 
the  public  press  constituted  an  interpretation  of  law  and  patriotic  duty 
which  could  be  made  only  by  a  people  who  were  as  anxious  to  strengthen 
the  Union  and  forget  the  past  as  were  the  Kentuckians  now. 

Their  position  stands  out  still  more  forcibly  in  the  light  of  a  com- 
munication from  Jefferson,  to  Breckinridge  in  August,  1803,  in  which 
he  said,  "If  they  [westerners]  .see  their  interests  in  separation,  why 
should  we  take  sides  with  our  Atlantic  rather  than  our  ^Mississippi  de- 
scendants? It  is  the  elder  and  the  younger  brother  differing.  God  bless 
them  both,  and  keep  them  in  Union  if  it  be  for  their  good,  but  separate 
them,  if  it  be  better."  ** 

Kentucky  now  took  the  highroad  of  patriotic  support  of  the  National 
Government,  from  which  the  storms  of  Civil  war  a  half  century  later 
were  unable  to  turn  her. 


23  Kentucky  Gazette,  March  22,  1803 ;  Louijville  Evening  Post,  August  29,  1900. 
The  language  of  this  indictment  is  novel  in  composition  and  rare  in  the  phraseology 
of  legal  documents. 

3*  Beveridge,  Life  of  Marshall,  III,  283. 


Vol.  1—32 


CHAPTER  XXXVII 
AARON  BURR  IN  KENTUCKY 

The  excitement  incident  to  the  closure  of  the  Mississippi  River  and 
the  subsequent  purchase  of  Louisiana  had  scarcely  subsided  when  Ken- 
tucky was  thrown  into  tumult  again.  The  Burr  episode  was  to  be  the 
final  afHiction  to  be  visited  on  the  state,  growing  out  of  those  conditions 
and  from  the  general  atmosphere  which  had  made  ])ossible  the  long  course 
of  foreign  intrigues  and  conspiracies  that  had  beset  the  West  from  the 
days  of  the  Revolution.  This  test  of  loyalty  to  the  Union  and  stability 
in  political  aspirations  and  connections  was  to  prove  again  and  for  all 
time  that  the  satisfaction  and  contentment  of  the  people  relative  to  Fed- 
eral affairs,  lately  expressed,  still  held  and  that  no  will-o'-the-wisp  could 
lead  them  astray. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  characters  in  American  history  was  .'\aron 
Burr.  In  the  presidential  election  of  1800  he  had  come  within  one  vote 
of  being  elected  President  of  the  United  States.  This  work  of  the  fates 
awakened  in  him  new  and  unholy  ambitions.  The  struggle  in  Congress 
which  resulted  in  his  defeat  for  an  office  for  which  the  people  had  never 
intended  him  laid  the  beginnings  of  Burr's  subsequent  career.  Disliked 
and  neglected  by  Jefferson,  he  soon  fell  into  disrepute  with  a  majority 
of  his  own  party  and  in  the  Presidential  election  of  1804  he  was  dropped 
by  his  party  in  the  nominations.  Depending  on  his  own  independent  fol- 
lowing aided  by  the  Federalists  generally  he  ran  for  the  Governorship 
of  New  York.  Due  largely  to  the  powerful  opposition  of  Hamilton  he 
was  defeated.  The  campaign  had  waxed  hot,  and  in  its  stress  the  natural 
antipathy  between  Burr  and  Hamilton  was  intensified.  The  result  was 
a  challenge  for  a  duel,  which  Burr  by  a  line  of  reasoning  developed  in  a 
short  correspondence,  forced  upon  Hamilton.  The  death  of  Hamilton 
was  a  shock  to  the  country ;  and  despite  the  general  support  of  the  code 
duelo.  Burr  was  indicted  in  both  New  York  and  New  Jersey. 

By  his  act  Burr  had  removed  his  most  hated  personal  and  political 
enemy ;  but  at  the  same  time  he  virtually  terminated  his  own  jiolitical 
career  in  the  East.  His  outlook  on  life  was  now  completely  changed. 
Burr  was  still  young  and  vigorous,  and  his  ambitions  needed  only  to  be 
changed  to  conform  with  his  new  circumstances.  What  he  should  do  and 
where  he  should  do  it  were  not  evident  at  once;  and  the  stability  and 
integrity  of  his  character  were  not  sufficiently  strong  to  force  him  into 
any  definite  line  of  procedure.  The  impossibility  of  determining  certainly 
what  he  finallv  ])lanned  to  do  is  jircdicated  on  the  fact  that  he  himself  was 
never  decided'.  He  saw  mmicrous  possibilities  in  an  unsettled  situation 
and  he  was  determined  to  do  whatever  presented  itself  as  most  feasible. 
He  was  in  fact  an  opportunist. 

To  him  the  West  was  yet  a  region  where  daring  and  reckless  leader- 
ship still  might  accomplish  much.  And  it  was  likely  this  region  he  had 
in  mind  when  he  wrote  Governor  Allston  of  South  Carolina.  "In  New 
York  I  am  to  be  disfranchised,  in  New  Jersey  hanged.  Having  sub- 
stantial objections  to  both  I  shall  not  *  *  *  liazard  either,  but  shall 
seek  another  country."  '     The  recent  transfer  of  Louisiana  had  left  a 

'  Quoted  in  McElroy,  Kentucky  in  the  Nation's  History,  278,  279. 

434 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  435 

feeling  of  bitterness  and  passive  opposition  in  the  great  bulk  of  its 
population  who  were  mostly  French,  and  who  had  no  sympathy  for 
Anglo-Saxon  institutions.  There  was  also  an  element  of  discontent  in 
New  Orleans  who  were  using  this  place  as  a  base  for  a  possible  descent 
upon  the  Mexican  provinces  of  Spain,  to  set  up  there  an  independent 
government.  The  doom  of  the  power  of  decadent  Spain  in  the  Ne\Y 
World  was  looked  to  by  many  of  the  adventuresome  classes  as  a  certainty 
of  the  near  future.  In  addition  to  these  forces  of  uncertainty,  there 
was  the  lingering  feeling  among  some  that  in  the  West  apart  from 
recently  acquired  Louisiana  there  was  present  a  discontent  sufficiently 
widespread  and  persistent  as  to  admit  of  manipulation.  Burr  surveyed 
the  situation,  and  came  to  the  conclusion  that  here  existed  his  oppor- 
tunities for  further  action. 

Possessed  of  a  mind  able  to  see  and  provide  for  the  far-flung  possi- 
bilities relative  to  some  sort  of  a  western  scheme,  Burr  had  communica- 
tions with  the  British  minister  to  the  United  States,  Anthony  Merry, 
for  the  purpose  of  enlisting  the  aid  of  the  British  fleet.  For  apparently 
directly  opposite  purposes,  he  approached  the -Spanish  minister;  but  in 
fact  it  appears  to  have  been  a  plan  to  wring  money  from  Spain  as  in- 
surance against  designs  directed  at  Spanish  territory,  which  Burr  was 
secretly  entertaining  as  one  of  his  contemplated  schemes. 

In  the  early  part  of  1805,  he  started  on  a  trip  to  the  West  to  survey 
the  situation  and  its  possibilities  and  to  lay  the  foundations  for  his 
future  action.  At  Pittsburg  he  met  up  with  his  old  friend.  General  1 
Wilkinson,  now  Commander-in-chief  of  the  United  States  Army  and 
governor  of  the  Territory  of  Louisiana,  which  included  all  of  the 
Louisiana  purchase  north  of  the  33rd  parallel.  Wilkinson's  career  of 
intrigue  in  the  West  made  him  an  interesting  and  valuable  counselor. 
What  was  mentioned  in  their  conversations  is  not  known ;  but  Wilkinson 
invited  Burr  to  make  the  trip  down  the  Ohio  with  him.  Due  to  other 
arrangements  Burr  declined. ^  The  latter  had  not  gone  far  down  the 
Ohio  before  he  was  joined  by  ]\Iatthew  Lyon,  who  had  won  martyrdom 
in  his  opposition  to  the  Sedition  Act.  Lyon,  in  discussing  western  con- 
ditions with  Burr,  referred  to  the  fact  that  residence  in  Tennessee  was 
not  required  of  candidates  to  represent  that  state  in  Congress.  This 
opened  the  possibility  to  Burr  of  becoming  a  leader  of  the  West  in  the 
nation's  councils,  either  for  honest  purposes  or  for  attaining  a  position 
of  vantage  in  disunion  schemes.  He  floated  by  Marietta,  stopping  for 
a  short  while,  and  continued  his  journey  a  dozen  miles  further  to  a 
beautiful  island  which  had  been  cleared  by  Herman  Blennerhassett,  an 
Irishman,  and  a  mansion  unrivaled  in  the  whole  western  country  erected. 
Here  he  met  and  captivated  Mrs.  Blennerhassett.  Blennerhassett,  him- 
self, was  absent,  but  the  beginnings  were  now  laid  for  a  later  acquaintance 
with  him  and  his  enlistment  in  the  enterprise.  Burr  left  the  Ohio  at 
Cincinnati,  where  he  spent  a  short  time  making  the  acquaintance  of  the 
prominent  people. 

He  now  departed  southward  into  Kentucky.  The  visit  to  the  West 
of  so  illustrious  a  character  as  Aaron  Burr,  former  vice-president  of  the 
United  States,  could  not  help  but  attract  widespread  and  favorable  at- 
tention. The  fact  that  he  had  killed  Hamilton  could  bring  him  but  little 
blame  in  this  region.  In  fact  the  anti-Federalist  West  could  with  little 
difficulty  add  praises  and  appreciations  for  this  very  reason.  But  the 
name  of  Burr  was  not  universally  acclaimed  in  Kentucky.  It  had  not 
yet  been  forgotten  how  he  had  almost  robbed  the  people  of  their  first 
great  victory  in  1800.  The  supremacy  of  the  democrats  had  been  placed 
in  jeopardy  at  the  very  outset  by  the  overweening  ambitions  of  one  man. 

^W.  F.  McCaleb,  The  Aaron  Burr  Conspiracy   (New  York,  1903),  25.     This  is 
a  painstaking  and  excellent  treatment  of  the  whole  subject. 


436  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

A  semi-hostile  feeling  against  Burr  following  1800  is  unmistakably 
seen  in  the  toasts  at  Fourth  of  July  celebrations  and  on  other  occasions, 
and  in  articles  in  the  Kentucky  Gasettc.^  At  a  celebration  of  the  Louisi- 
ana Purchase  in  1804,  this  toast  was  offered:  "Aaron  Burr — May  his 
successors  never  misinterjiret  the  votes  of  the  people."  ^  The  knowledge 
of  this  feeling  toward  Burr  as  well  as  the  intelligence  of  Kentucky's 
satisfaction  with  the  Union  seems  to  have  spread  to  the  East;  for  one 
of  his  agents  in  estimating  Western  conditions,  put  down  Kentucky  as 
unfavorable  to  any  scheme  of  separation.  He  added,  however,  that  she 
would  be  coerced  if  she  resisted.^ 

Burr  reached  Frankfort  on  May  25th.  Rejjorts  of  his  coming  had 
preceded  him,  and  gave  use  to  considerable  speculation  as  to  his  purpose. 
It  was  rumored  among  some  that  he  was  interested  in  opening  a  canal 
around  the  falls  in  the  Ohio,  a  subject  that  was  agitating  the  peojjle 
considerably  at  this  time ;  while  among  the  less-informed  classes,  it  was 
believed  he  had  been  appointed  governor  of  the  Territory  of  Louisiana 
and  was  now  on  his  way  out  to  assume  his  duties."  He  stayed  while 
here  with  John  Brown,  -who  had  been  a  member  of  the  United  States 
Senate  over  which  Burr  had  presided.  By  previous  arrangements  it  had 
been  determined  that  he  should  be  a  guest  of  Brown's  while  in  Frank- 
fort.' Burr  courted  none  of  the  display  that  would  seem  to  have  been 
expected  on  the  visit  of  so  eminent  a  cliaracler ;  rather  he  made  himself 
inconspicuous  in  the  straggling  Kentucky  capital.  One  of  his  purposes 
in  this  visit  was  to  secure  letters  of  introduction  to  certain  men  of  prom- 
inence in  Tennessee :  besides  this,  he  must  also  have  had  in  mind  the 
enlisting  of  certain  Kentuckians  in  some  scheme,  however  hazy  it  may 
have  been  at  this  time. 

At  some  time  during  this  trip  to  the  West,  Burr  interested  General 
John  Adair,  who  was  at  this  time  register  of  the  land  office  in  Frankfort. 
Adair  had  had  an  adventuresome  career  from  the  Revolution,  in  which 
he  took  part,  on  down  through  the  Indian  wars  of  the  Old  Northwest. 
The  fires  of  wars  with  rich  plunder  still  burned  in  his  soul,  and  he  had 
dreams  of  a  Spanish  Eldorado  awaiting  those  who  should  give  tottering 
Spain  the  final  blow.  He  was  w'ell-known  to  Wilkinson  and  had  no 
doubt  been  influenced  in  his  ambitions  by  this  master  of  intrigue.  In 
1804,  he  wrote  Wilkinson  concerning  some  grandiloquent  scheme  which 
the  latter  had  concocted  that  he  should  "be  assured  the  Kentuckians  are 
full  of  enterprise  and  although  not  poor,  as  greedy  after  plunder  as 
ever  the  old  Romans  were,  Mexico  glitters  in  our  eyes — the  word  is  all 
we  wait  for."'  **  Sjjain  was  sullen  at  this  time  over  the  transfer  of 
Louisiana  and  was  assuming  a  threatening  attitude  on  the  southwestern 
borders.  There  was  danger  of  a  clash  and  perha])s  a  general  war.  Adair 
was  therefore  not  influenced  by  filibustering  or  freebooting  instincts 
altogether,  but  had  the  genuine  expectation  that  great  op|)ortunities  might 
come  in  a  war  his  own  government  was  fighting. 

In  Burr's  relations  with  Adair  aj)pears  f)ne  of  his  schemes,  which 
the  latter  claimed  to  believe  was  the  sole  object  in  view.  Mexico  was 
to  be  attacked  and  wrested  from  Sjwin,  but  as  Adair  had  understood 
from  the  signs  of  the  times  and  from  what  l!mr  led  him  to  believe,  it 
was  all  to  be  done  with  the  a]i])roval  of  the  United  States  Government, 
and  as  part  of  a  general  war  against  Spain.     Two  years  later  he  said : 

3  Kentucky  Gacclte,  1800,  1805,  passim. 

■>  Ibid.,  May  15,  1804. 

■''  McMaster,  History  of  the  People  of  the  United  .Slates,  III,  71. 

"  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  372. 

'  M.  L.  Davis,  Memoirs  of  Aaron  Burr  with  Miscellaneous  Selections  from  his 
Correspondence  (New  York,  1837),  II,  368.  Burr  to  liis  daughter,  Theodosia,  .April 
30.  1805. 

'  Durrett  MSS.    Dated  December  10. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  437 

"So  far  as  I  know  or  believe  of  the  intentions  of  Colonel  Burr,  (and 
my  enemies  will  agree  that  I  am  not  ignorant  on  this  subject)  they  were 
to  prepare  and  lead  an  expedition  into  Mexico,  predicated  on  a  war  be- 
tween the  two  governments ;  without  a  war,  he  knew  he  could  do  noth- 
ing." ^  In  regard  to  the  understanding  he  had  of  Wilkinson's  intentions 
Adair  further  stated:  "About  the  ist  of  November,  1806,  I  received 
a  letter  from  him  [VVilkinsonjdated  Natchitoches,  September  28th,  1806, 
in  which  he  detailed  the  number  of  troops  under  his  command;  the 
number  of  Spanish  troops  opposed  to  him,  and  by  whom  commanded ; 
the  relative  situation  of  the  two  armies,  together  with  the  orders  he  acted 
under;  and  assures  me  he  will  fight  in  six  or  eight  days  at  farthest. 
In  that  letter  are  the  following  words :  'The  time  long  looked  for  by 
many,  and  wished  for  by  more,  has  arrived,  for  subventing  the  Spanish 
government  in  Mexico — be  you  ready  and  join  me,  we  will  want  little 
more  than  eight  armed  troops.     *     *     *"'<* 

In  November  (1805)  the  Legislature  elected  General  Adair  a  United 
States  Senator  to  fill  out  the  unexpired  term  of  John  Breckinridge,  who 
had  been  appointed  attorney-general  by  Jefferson. 

Burr  continued  his  journey  into  Tennessee  where  he  met  many  of 
the  most  powerful  and  prominent  men  of  the  state.  At  Nashville  he 
was  the  guest  of  Andrew  Jackson,  now  major-general  of  the  state  militia. 
To  "Old  Hickory"  he  undoubtedly  played  up  his  scheme  in  the  same 
way  as  to  General  Adair  and  left  the  same  impression,  that  it  was  to  be 
an  attack  against  Spain  approved  by  the  United  States  Government. 

A  wide  significance  was  given  to  the  scheme  no  doubt  by  a  second 
meeting  of  Burr  and  Wilkinson  which  took  place  near  Fort  Massac,  the 
former  having  floated  down  the  Cumberland  River.  The  seeds  of  this 
meeting  were  probably  sown  in  the  conferences  that  took  place  a  few 
months  previously  at  Pittsburg.  Regardless  of  what  was  done  or  said 
at  the  Fort  Massac  meeting,  there  certainly  had  by  this  time  grown  up 
a  common  understanding,  with  Wilkinson  as  deep  in  the  plot  as  Burr. 
New  Orleans  and  the  dissatisfied  people  in  the  District  of  Orleans  (as 
the  southern  division  of  the  Louisiana  purchase  was  called)  were  now 
the  next  objective.  Provided  by  Wilkinson  with  letters  of  introduction 
to  prominent  people  there  and  furnished  with  all  necessary  traveling 
facihties,  Burr  floated  down  the  Mississippi  to  New  Orleans.  He  found 
here  a  disgruntled  people,  agitating  various  schemes  of  conquest  of 
Spanish  territory  and  ambitious  of  separation  from  the  United  States. 
Burr  doubtless  saw  great  possibilities  and  talked  them. 

At  any  rate,  his  visit  gave  rise  to  a  train  of  rumors,  which  Daniel 
Clark  described  in  a  letter  to  Wilkinson :  "Many  absurd  reports  are 
circulated  here  ♦  *  *  respecting  our  Ex- Vice-President.  You  are 
spoken  of  as  his  right  hand  man  *  *  *  Power,  whose  head  is  always 
stufl^ed  with  plots,  projects,  conspiracies  etc.  and  who  sees  objects  through 
a  millstone,  is  going  to  Natchez  next  week,  to  unravel  the  whole  of  this 
extraordinary  business ;  and  then  God  have  mercy  on  the  culprits,  for 
Spanish  ire  and  indignation  will  be  leveled  at  them.  What  in  the  name 
of  Heaven,  could  give  rise  to  these  extravagancies?  *  *  *  The  tale 
is  a  horrid  one,  if  well  told.  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  the  State  of  Ohio, 
the  four  territories  on  the  Mississippi,  and  Ohio,  with  part  of  Georgia 
and  Carolina,  are  to  be  bribed  with  the  plunder  of  the  Spanish  countries 
West  of  us,  to  separate  from  the  Union;  this  is  but  a  part  of  the  business. 
Heavens,  what  wonderful  doings  there  will  be  in  those  days  ?  *  *  * 
Answer  Mr.  Burr  with  an  account  of  it.     *     *     *"ii 


9  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  428,  429.    Statement  made  by  Adair,  March 
I,  1807  at  Washington. 

1°  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  430.     Statement  of  Adair  made  June  16, 

1807. 

11  Wilkinson,  Memoirs,  III,  Appendix,  p.  35.     September  7,  1805.     A  copy  is  in 
McElroy,  Kentucky  in  the  Nation's  History,  282. 


438  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

Leaving  New  Orleans  in  mid-summer  Burr  retraced  his  course  north- 
ward, going  directly  to  Kentucky  first.  He  arrived  in  Lexington,  August 
19th,  and  remained  in  the  vicinity  for  almost  a  fortnight,  making  valuable 
friends  and  acquaintances.  His  engaging  personality  made  him  a  favor- 
ite with  the  prominent  inhabitants,  and  due  to  this  quality  he  built  up  a 
powerful  personnel  following  with  those  he  came  directly  into  contact 
with,  while  he  remained  an  object  of  suspicion  to  the  masses  of  the 
]ieoj)le.  Henry  Clay  became  strongly  attached  to  Burr,  as  he  greatly 
admired  his  talents  and  believed  that  he  had  been  unjustly  dealt  with 
and  outraged  by  the  East.  August  28th,  Burr  was  back  in  Frankfort 
again,  and  again  staying  with  his  friend,  John  Brown,  Burr  wrote  his 
daughter,  Theodosia,  at  this  time :  "I  am  magnificently  lodged  at  the 
house  of  John  Brown  ♦  *  *"  12  Before  leaving  the  state,  he  visited 
Louisville  where  he  had  established  certain  connections.'^ 

Apart  from  merely  surveying  the  general  situation  at  this  time.  Burr 
seems  not  to  have  entered  into  any  direct  understanding  with  Ken- 
tuckians,  with  the  possible  exception  of  Adair.  Nevertheless  his  two 
visits  taken  together  began  to  attract  considerable  attention,  largely  sus- 
picious and  unfavorable.  The  editor  of  the  Kentucky  Caaelte  remarked 
in  November  (1805)  that  Burr  had  recently  passed  through  Lexington 
and  that  "if  he  calculated  on  withdrawing  the  affections  of  the  people 
of  the  Western  States  from  their  Government,  he  will  find  himself  de- 
ceived, if  he  has  not  already  made  that  discovery."  '■*  It  was  further 
stated  in  this  mirror  of  Kentucky  opinion  that  his  later  career  "was 
frought  with  a  degree  of  duplicity,  which  can  never  be  satisfactorily  de- 
fended" which  had  "made  him  an  object  of  attention  wherever  he  had 
traveled.  His  talents  for  intrigue  are  considered  as  unrivalled  in  Amer- 
ica, and  his  di.sposition  doubted  by  few."  The  Palladium  in  Frankfort, 
greeted  Burr  with  a  set  of  queries  copied  from  an  Eastern  paper,  in 
which  it  was  asked  how  long  it  would  be  until  Burr  would  be  at  the  head 
of  a  revolutionary  party  in  the  West,  whether  he  had  not  formed  a  plan 
to  entice  the  adventuresome  from  the  East  to  Louisiana,  and  whether 
one  of  the  inducements  was  not  "that  an  immediate  convention  will  be 
called,  from  the  States  bordering  on  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi,  to  form 
a  separate  government?"  '^ 

But  as  before  suggested.  Burr  was  able  to  captivate  with  his  marvel- 
ous personality  those  who  came  directly  in  contact  with  him.  The  fol- 
lowing description  is  given  of  him  as  he  appeared  in  Frankfort: 

"I  have  at  length  been  gratified  with  the  sight  of  the  late  Vice-Presi- 
dent, Aaron  Burr.  He  arrived  in  this  place  on  the  28th  inst.,  from 
Orleans.  A  few  days  after,  I  had  the  honor  of  spending  an  evening  in 
his  company.  I  know  you  will  laugh  at  the  idea  of  my  awkwardness, 
but  be  that  as  it  may,  1  took  some  good  solid  looks  at  him;  and  can  tell 
you  something  about  him. 

"His  stature  is  about  five  feet  six  inches ;  he  is  a  spare,  meagre  form, 
but  of  an  elegant  symmetry;  his  complexion  is  fair  and  transparent;  his 
dress  was  fashionable  and  neat,  but  not  flashy.  He  is  a  man  of  an  erect 
and  dignified  deportment ;  his  presence  is  of  the  French  configuration ; 
his  forehead  is  prominent,  broad,  and  retreating,  indicative  of  great 
expansion  of  mind,  immense  range  of  thoughts,  an  amazing  exuberance 
of  fancy  but  too  smooth  and  regular  for  great  altitude  of  conception. 
*     *     *     The  eye-brows  are  thin,  nearly  horizontal,  and  too  far  from 


'2  Dairs,  Memoirs  of  Aaron  Burr,  II,  368. 

1"  James  Parton,  The  Life  and  Times  of  Aaron  Burr  (Boston,  1802).    Enlarged 
Edition,  II,  47. 

i<  November  3,  1805. 
1'  September  7,  1805. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  439 

the  eyes ;  his  nose  is  nearly  rectilinear,  too  slender  between  the  eyes, 
rather  inclined  to  the  right  side ;  gently  elevated,  which  betrays  a  degree 
of  haughtiness;  too  obtuse  at  the  end  for  great  acuteness  of  penetration, 
brilliancy  of  wit,  or  poignancy  of  satire ;  and  too  small  to  sustain  his 
ample  and  capacious  forehead.  His  eyes  are  of  ordinary  size,  of  a  dark 
hazel;  and  from  the  shade  of  his  projecting  eye  bones,  and  brows,  appear 
black;  they  glow  with  all  the  ardor  of  venerial  fire,  and  scintillate  with 
the  most  tremulous  and  tearful  sensibility.  They  roll  with  the  celerity 
and  frenzy  of  poetic  fervour  and  beam  with  the  most  vivid  and  piercing 
rays  of  genius.  His  mouth  is  large;  his  voice  is  manly,  clear,  and  melodi- 
ous; his  lips  are  thin,  extremely  flexible,  and,  when  silent,  gently  closed; 
but  opening  with  facility  to  distill  the  honey  which  trickles  from  his 
tongue.  His  chin  is  rather  retreating  and  voluptuous.  To  analyze  his 
face  with  physiognomical  scrutiny,  you  may  discover  many  unimportant 
traits;  but  upon  the  first  blush,  or  a  superficial  view,  they  are  obscured 
like  spots  in  the  sun,  by  a  radiance  that  dazzles  and  fascinates  the  sight. 

"In  company  Burr  is  rather  taciturn.  When  he  speaks  it  is  with  such 
animation,  with  such  apparent  frankness  and  negligence  as  would  induce 
a  person  to  believe  he  was  a  man  of  guileless  and  ingenuous  heart,  but 
in  my  opinion  there  is  no  human  more  reserved,  mysterious  and  inscrut- 
able. 

"I  have  heard  a  great  deal  of  Chesterfield  and  the  graces.  Surely 
Burr  is  the  epitome — the  essence  of  them  all,  for  never  were  there  charms 
displayed  with  such  potency  and  irresistible  attraction.  He  seems  pas- 
sionately fond  of  female  society  and  there  is  no  being  better  calculated 
to  succeed  and  shine  in  that  sphere.  To  the  ladies  he  is  all  attention — 
all  devotion — in  conversation  he  gazes  on  them  with  complacency  and 
rapture,  and  when  he  addresses  them  it  is  with  that  smiling  affability, 
those  captivating  gestures,  that  je  ne  sais  quoi,  those  desolating  looks, 
that  soft,  sweet  and  insinuating  eloquence,  which  takes  the  soul  captive, 
before  it  can  prepare  for  defence.  In  short  he  is  the  most  perfect  model 
of  an  accomplished  gentleman  that  could  be  found,  even  by  the  wanton 
imagination  of  poetry  or  fiction.  But  alas !  my  friend,  what  avails  those 
splendid  talents,  that  transcendent  address,  nay,  all  the  blessings  that 
heaven  can  bestow,  without  that  solace,  that  inestimable  boon,  content 
and  tranquillity?  Burr  is  an  exemplary,  and  illustrious  instance  of  the 
capriciousness  of  popular  admiration,  and  the  mutability  of  human  glory 
and  felicity.  But  why  should  we  wonder  at  popular  instability  and 
clamor — a  discordant  voice  that  vilifies  and  arraigns  even  Omnipotence 
itself?  The  circumstance  that  has  thus  contributed  to  blast  the  popular- 
ity and  poison  the  peace  and  happiness  of  this  unfortunate  man,  is 
lamentable  indeed ;  but  he  who  will  presume  to  ascribe  it  to  a  corruption 
of  depravity  of  heart,  rather  than  to  the  fallibility  of  man,  and  the  frailty 
of  human  passions,  must  be  blinded  by  his  own  venom,  and  utterly 
estranged  to  every  sentiment  of  compassion  and  that  lenient  and  divine 
maxim  which  instructs  us,  that  where  opposing  presumptions  are  of 
equal  weight,  the  scale  should  always  predominate  on  the  side  of  mercy. 
Confident  I  am  that  there  is  no  persons  more  sensibly,  more  deeply 
touched  with  grief,  or  more  sincerely  penitent  for  his  misfortune,  than 
he  who  was  the  instrument.  Yes,  my  friend,  even  Burr,  the  inimitable, 
the  incomparable  Burr,  is  disturbed,  is  unhappy!  Often  did  I  mark  the 
perturbation  of  his  mind,  the  agonizing  sensations  which  wrung  his  too 
susceptible  heart,  and  which  in  spite  of  his  philosophy  and  sprightliness, 
wrote  themselves  in  the  darkest  shades  on  his  countenance ;  and  when  I 
beheld  the  melancholy,  the  saturnine  clouds,  which  often  enveloped  his 
bleeding,  his  magnanimous  soul,  my  feelings  were  melted  with  a  thrilling, 
a  sublime  sympathy — the  tears  started  in  my  eyes,  and  could  I  have  given 
them  the  efficacy  of  the  angela,  I  would  have  expiated  his  crime, — I  would 


440  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

have  blotted  out  tlie  iniinitation  from  the  memory  of  man,  and  the  records 
of  Heaven!"  "^ 

Leaving  the  slate  by  the  way  of  Louisville,  Burr  went  to  St.  Louis  to 
see  Wilkinson.  By  this  time  rumors  of  what  Burr  was  supposed  to  be 
planning  had  been  wide-spread  and  served  to  show  to  one  as  wise  as 
Wilkinson  the  impossibility  of  success  for  any  scheme  which  might  at- 
tempt to  compromise  the  loyalty  of  the  West.  Wilkinson  had  again 
found  the  western  army  which  he  commanded  loyal  to  the  Union.  He, 
therefore,  had  come  to  think  differently  of  Burr's  schemes,  and  on  Burr's 
arrival  he  treated  him  coldly.  In  reply  to  Burr's  description  of  conditions 
in  the  Orleans  country  he  said,  "If  you  had  not  profited  more  by  your 
journey  in  other  respects  than  in  this,  you  would  better  have  stayed  at 
Washington.  The  Western  people  disaffected  to  the  government !  They 
arc  bigoted  to  Jefferson  and  Democracy."  '"  He  was,  nevertheless,  will- 
ing to  give  Burr  a  letter  of  introduction  to  William  Henry  Harrison, 
governor  of  the  Indiana  Territory,  in  which  he  urged  the  sending  of  Burr 
as  a  territorial  delegate  to  Congress. 

In  pursuance  of  these  plans  Burr  returned  eastward  through  Indiana 
Territory  and  on  into  Ohio,  stopping  at  Cincinnati,  Chillicothe,  and 
Marietta.  He  reached  rhiladelphia  near  the  end  of  1805.  He  had  made 
his  trip  of  insjjcction  to  the  West  and  had  seen  for  himself.  A  less 
visionary  man  would  in  the  light  of  this  visit  have  given  up  further 
scheming  or  greatly  modified  it.  But  it  w'as  otherwise  with  Burr. 
The  men  he  had  come  into  direct  personal  contact  with  had  been  strongly 
cast  under  his  spell — and  he  had  seen  the  most  prominent  men  in  the 
West.  But  their  sympathy  and  support  did  not  mean  that  they  would 
follow  him  into  disloyalty  to  the  United  States  or  into  projects  opposed 
by  the  national  authority.  It  was  no  doubt  largely  due  to  the  lack  of 
definiteness  of  any  scheme  presented  by  Burr,  that  he  was  able  to  see 
support  and  sympathy  in  the  Western  leaders.  But  Burr  had  apparently 
neglected  wholly  to  influence  the  masses  of  westerners  in  any  way  un- 
less unfavorably.  And,  if  he  believed  otherwise,  he  was  a  bad  judge 
of  Western  feelings  and  sentiments.  If  he  counted  on  the  leaders  of 
the  West  to  influence  the  masses  in  his  favor,  he  was  again  at  fault ; 
for  the  leaders  themselves  were  not  willing  to  support  Burr  in  any  of 
his  contemplated  schemes. 

The  United  States  navy  was  considered  to  be  a  valuable  power  in 
his  game,  so  he  now  set  about  corrupting  it.  This  he  attempted  to  do 
through  William  Eaton,  who  had  taken  a  spectacular  part  in  the  recent 
war  with  Tri[)oli  and  who  was  disgruntled  on  account  of  the  feeling 
that  his  government  had  not  projjerly  supported  him.  Instead  of  fall- 
ing into  the  scheme,  he  informed  Jefferson  of  Burr's  plan.  As  the 
President  was  thoroughly  convinced  of  the  loyalty  of  the  West  he  put 
little  importance  in  what  I^aton  reported.  Burr  further  carried  on 
his  preparation  by  winning  over  Herman  Blennerhassett  on  account  of 
the  money  contributions  he  could  make.  The  latter  was  told  that  the 
object  of  the  scheme  was  primarily  to  settle  a  large  area  of  land  beyond 
the  Mississippi  known  as  the  Bastro])  grant,  but  he  was  also  informed 
that  the  West  was  greatly  dissatisfied  with  the  union,  that  an  invasion 
of  Mexico  was  probable,  and  that  then  the  Western  states  would  likely 
join  the  new  government,  which  v\'ould  more  nearly  suit  their  interests. 

In  August,  icSo6,  Burr  started  West  again — this  time  to  attempt  to 
put  into  operations  his  scheme  and  to  rise  or  fall  on  the  results.  His 
first  important  stop  was  at  Blennerhassett's  Island,  which  he  made  the 
temporary  center  of  his  prejjarations.     He  set  about  the  construction  of 


1"  Reproduced  in  the  Kentucky  Gazette,  September  17,  1805,  from  the  Paltadiuii 
September  7,  1805. 

"  McKhoy,  Kentucky  in  the  Nation's  History,  287. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  441 

fifteen  large  boats  which  vvxiuld  accommodate  500  men.  Part  of  these 
boats  were  soon  building  at  Marietta  a  dozen  miles  up  the  river.  Burr, 
himself,  continued  his  journey  down  the  river  to  look  after  further 
preparations. 

.  Blennerhassett  rather  clumsily  began  a  series  of  articles  in  the  Ohio 
Gazette  under  the  name  of  "Querist,"  seeking  to  show  the  western 
country  why  it  should  separate  from  the  Union.  This  led  directly  to 
newspaper  activity  in  Kentucky  which  for  a  time  bid  fair  to  upset  Burr's 
whole  scheme.  The  Western  World,  a  newspaper  recently  set  up  in 
Frankfort,  took  up  the  fight  against  Burr,  and  sought  to  prove  that  his 
plot  was  only  a  continuation  of  the  old  Spanish  intrigues.  On  October 
15  (1806)  "An  Observer"  began  the  first  of  these  contributions: 

"The  people  have  seen  published  from  the  Ohio  Gazette,  which  has 
its  origin  and  stand  at  Marietta,  and  which  is  supposed  to  be  under  the 
influence  of  Colonel  Burr,  a  paper  in  which  the  idea  of  disunion,  by 
the  Alleghany  mountains  is  both  openly  avowed,  and  publicly  advocated. 
This  is  but  the  idea  of  the  Spanish  Associates  upon  a  more  extensive 
scale,  and  with  a  more  imposing  aspect.  The  man  who  is  held  up  in 
front,  and  at  the  head  of  this  new  plan  of  dismembering  the  union  of 
the  states,  is  now  among  us.  While  his  secret  and  mysterious  move- 
ments indicate  the  management  and  combination  of  some  plan  of  opera- 
tions, which  will  not  bear  the  public  view  and  examination,  it  is  an- 
nounced as  a  fact,  and  doubtless  is  true,  that  a  number  of  gun-boats 
and  a  schooner  of  singular  construction,  are  preparing  for  this  man,  on 
the  Ohio  river.  These  can  but  be  considered  as  preparation  for  some 
military  expedition.  But  whether  it  is  intended  for  the  Spanish  mines 
of  Santa  Fe,  for  the  city  of  New  Orleans,  or  the  Spanish  Territory  on 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  or  elsewhere,  is  all  uncertainty  and  conjecture. 
Yet  that  a  blow  is  to  be  struck  somewhere,  /  have  no  doubt. 

"We  are  taught  to  believe  that  this  man's  fortunes  are  such  as  to 
tempt  him  to  desperate  enterprises;  his  genius  capable  of  planning 
those  which  are  bold  and  extensive.  It  is  believed  he  holds  no  public 
commission  nor  any  authority  under  the  United  States.  It  seems  incred- 
ible that  the  president  of  the  federal  government  should  know  and  con- 
nive at  an  armament  or  equipment  of  hostile  vessels,  within  the  United 
States,  under  the  direction  of  an  American  citizen,  or  any  other,  without 
public  authority ;  and  therefore  we  must  suppose  the  president  unin- 
formed of  the  fact.  We  must  hope  that  so  soon  as  he  is  informed, 
effectual  means  will  be  resorted  to,  for  the  suppression  of  these  meas- 
ures, now  conspiring  to  commit  the  peace  and  dignity  of  the  United 
States,  with  a  neighboring  nation;  or,  what  is  equally  probable,  to  effect 
a  disunion  of .  the  States,  and  a  dismemberment  of  the  American  re- 
public. 

"We  would  hope  that  this  will  be  prevented  by  the  vigilance  of  the 
government,  and  the  good  sense  of  the  people  roused  to  indignation 
against  those  ivho  dare  to  plot  this  disunion.  We  do  hope  that,  upon 
the  meeting  of  Congress,  a  law  will  be  passed,  with  suitable  provisions 
to  meet  all  machinations  against  the  Union ;  and  to  punish  with  adequate 
severity  all  attempts  at  private  armament  within  its  limits.  For  it  is  the 
government  which  must  fix  the  sentiments  of  the  people. — Without 
effectual  measures  on  the  part  of  the  government,  what  are  the  peace- 
able and  well  disposed  citizens  to  think?  Where  are  they  to  fly  for  pro- 
tection, against  the  secret  plots  and  wicked  projects  of  the  bold  con- 
spirator, or  the  unprincipled  demagogue  f 

"But  these  reflections  open  a  scene  which  must  awaken  the  feelings, 
and  excite  the  interest,  of  every  friend  to  his  country,  who  duly  appre- 
ciates the  importance  of  union. 

"*  *  *  The  people,  if  divided  on  the  subject  of  union,  will  be  made 
to  conquer  themselves,  by  playing  the  one  part  against  the  other.     To 


442  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

divide  the  people  has  therefore  been  a  primary  object  with  the  conspira- 
tors, past  and  present.  Since  'divide  and  conquer'  is  a  maxiin  as  old 
as  ambition  itself. — this  is  the  doctrine  which  the  enemies  of  the 
American  union  perfectly  understand — it  is  a  principle  of  which  they 
never  lose  sight.  Divide  the  people  of  any  country,  and  a  small  military 
force  settles  the  question  of  government. — Thus  has  France  conquered, 
as  well  the  republics,  as  the  monarchies  of  Europe.  And  thus  may 
any  people  be  conquered  who  permit  their  loyalty  and  love  of  country 
to  be  corrupted.  Thus  may  the  .American  union  be  dissolved,  when  once 
the  peo])le  shall  cherish  and  support  those  who  are  publicly  convicted 
of  holding  principles  and  advocating  measures  of  disunion." 

Then  the  baneful  effects  of  the  Spanish  intrigues  were  referred  to, 
as  seen  in  the  present  day. 

"*  *  *  This  state  of  things,  so  afllicting  and  alarming  to  the  real 
friend  of  his  country,  has  given  rise  to  a  new  conspiracy,  for  effecting 
disunion.  The  outline  of  which  we  see  traced  in  the  publication  from 
Ohio.  The  means  to  produce  the  end  will  be  various,  yet  reducible 
to  two  primary  agents,  persuasion,  and  force.  With  these,  the  people 
are  to  be  assailed,  and  unless  they  are  prepared  for  resistance,  unless 
the  weapons  of  the  conspirator  can  be  turned  with  effect  against  them- 
selves, their  purpose  will  be  accomplished. 

"Solemnly  impressed  by  a  view  of  the  scene  before  me,  greatly  de- 
voted to  the  union  of  America,  and  confidently  believing  that  the  great 
body  of  the  people  are  possessed  of  public  virtue,  and  attached  to  the 
constitution — I  have  felt  it  a  duty  which  I  owe  to  my  country,  to  sound 
the  alarm — to  awaken  the  people  to  a  sense  of  their  danger — to  attempt 
to  rally  them  round  the  standard  of  the  union ;  and  to  call  forth  an 
expression  of  their  will,  upon  a  subject  so  momentous  to  their  future 
peace  and  happiness. 

"In  this  attempt  I  shall  not  be  charged  with  personal  motives,  for 
they  are  lost  in  the  magnitude  of  the  subject.  Besides,  it  is  upon  the 
occasion,  and  the  feeling  which  it  e.xcites,  that  I  rely  for  attention.  It 
is  the  facts  and  the  sentiments,  and  not  the  signature,  that  should  in- 
fluence public  opinion.  Was  there  another  to  perform  this  task,  I 
would   forego  it  with  cheerfulness. 

"Indeed,  I  know  that  the  man  who  addresses  you,  with  the  hope 
of  raising  you  from  your  present  fatal  security,  and  of  convincing  your 
judgments  that  the  Union  is  in  danger,  should  be  little  less  than  a 
messenger  from  heaven :  such  is  your  confidence  in  your  present  rulers : 
— nor  do  I  wish  to  diminish  that  confidence  but  I  well  know  that  an 
awakened  apprehension  of  danger,  on  the  part  of  the  people,  naturally 
begets  vigilance  on  the  part  of  governors  who  prize  their  safety.  I 
know  that  a  man  who  addresses  a  great  and  magnanimous  people,  with 
the  hope  of  commanding  their  attention,  ought  to  be  charged  with  a 
gospel,  or  revelation:  Such  is  the  importance  of  the  subject  that  I  now 
offer  to  your  consideration ;  and  such  the  people  whom  I  address.  Great 
and  magnanimous,  they  may  continue  to  be.  It  is  but  to  assume  their 
natural  and  just  character  in  the  American  Union;  it  is  but  to  manifest 
a  manly  determniation  to  oppose,  and  to  punish,  upon  all  proper  occa- 
sions, the  intriguer  and  conspirator  in  favour  of  disunion.  It  is  but  to 
take  a  firm  and  dignified  stand  among  the  western  states,  /;;  support 
of  the  federal  qovernmcnt.  In  this  point  of  view,  the  local  situation  of 
Kentucky  is  all-commanding.  Were  it  necessary  to  resort  to  argument 
to  enforce  a  conviction  of  these  truths,  I  had  a  mind  powerful  as  the 
storm,  and  penetrating  as  the  lightning,  I  would  devote  its  energies  to 
the  attainment  of  so  grateful  and  brilliant  an  acquisition ;  but  I  take 
them  to  be  self-evident. 

"Had  I  the  tongues  of  saints,  and  of  angels,  I  would  exert  their 
utmost  eloquence  to  impress  on  your  minds  the  importance  of  Union. — 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  443 

Union!  an  idea  inspired  by  Heaven  itself,  when  in  the  councils  of  its 
benevolence,  it  determined  to  make  this,  with  the  Atlantic  portion  of 
America,  free  and  independent.  An  idea  confirmed  by  the  Omnipotent 
God  of  battles,  when  he  gave  to  our  infant  struggles  the  palm  of  suc- 
cess, and  the  lance  of  victory.  An  idea  which  should  be  endeared  to 
the  heart  of  every  citizen  of  the  United  States,  by  the  recollection  of 
an  arduous  war,  a  glorious  peace,  and  an  ample  territory.  An  idea 
which  should  excite  in  the  mind  of  every  such  citizen,  a  degree  of 
enthusiasm,  when  he  surveys  within  the  comprehension  of  his  country, 
a  variety  of  genial  climates — a  diversity  of  fruitful  soils — and  a  mul- 
tiplicity of  convenient  and  spacious  harbours.  That  source  of  health, 
wealth,  and  prosperity.  Union !  Rapturous  thought !  It  associates 
whatever  is  most  desirable  to  man,  and  most  amiable  in  life.  In  union! 
there  are  peace,  safety  and  happiness — there  are  laws,  justice,  and  hu- 
manity— there  are  morality,  religion,  and  piety — there  are  the  sympa- 
thies of  the  heart,  the  charities  of  the  soul,  the  elegancies,  comfort,  and 
decorations  of  life.  There  are  riches,  honour,  and  glory — domestic 
tranquillity,  internal  security,  civil  liberty,  and  national  independence. 

"In  disunion!  what  a  melancholy  and  distressing  contrast;  separate 
confederacies  or  state  sovereignties ;  the  perpetual  rivals,  and  inveterate 
enemies  of  each  other.  Hence  ruthless  jealousy,  hot  contention,  and 
bloody  war — heavy  expenses,  dissolute  morals,  private  misery,  and  pub- 
lic distress.  These  observations,  or  predictions,  need  no  reasoning  to 
enforce  their  truth.  For  if  we  cannot  live  in  union — we  cannot  live  in 
peace.  The  rest  follows  in  the  train  of  war.  Let  us  then  penetrate 
ourselves  with  the  conviction,  that  union  is  all-important  and  essential. 
Let  us  teach  it  as  a  moral  precept  to  our  children,  and  practice  on  it  as  a 
religious  tenet  ourselves.  Let  us  guard  it  as  a  sacred  deposite  intrusted 
to  our  care,  by  the  hand  of  heaven,  and  protect  it  from  abuse  as  we 
would  the  altar  of  our  holy  religion.  Let  us  believe  that  it  is  to  our  tem- 
poral happiness,  what  a  faith  in  Jesus  Christ  is  to  our  future  felicity. 

"These  are  the  tidings  which  I  announce — and  the  seals  of  reason 
and  experience,  attest  their  truth."  ^^ 

The  Western  World  was  not  alone  in  its  efforts  to  ferret  out  the 
Burr  plot  and  preach  patriotism  to  the  Westerners.  Joseph  Hamilton 
Daviess,  the  United  States  district  attorney  for  the  State  of  Kentucky, 
a  federalist  who  had  so  admired  Alexander  Hamilton  that  he  chose 
his  name,  and  who  had  so  far  escaped  dismissal  by  Jefferson,  believed 
that  Burr  was  engaged  in  a  dangerous  conspiracy  and  determined  to 
acquaint  the  President  of  the  fact.  On  January  lo,  1806,  he  wrote 
Jeflerson :  "The  dangers  which  I  fear,  may  be  trivial  or  distant,  but  as 
on  the  other  hand,  they  may  be  near,  and  momentous ;  and  in  such  case 
your  being  early  appraised  of  them  highly  important;  it  is  a  duty  I  owe 
you  as  the  chief  of  my  government  to  give  you  timely  hints,  whereby 
you  may  forestall  the  danger  and  bring  the  traitors  to  punishment  in  due 
season.  *  *  *  This  plot  is  laid  wider  than  you  imagine.  Mention 
the  subject  to  no  man  from  the  western  country  however  high  in 
office  he  may  be.  Some  of  them  are  deeply  tainted  with  this  treason. 
I  hate  duplicity  of  expression,  but  on  this  subject  I  am  not  authorized 
to  be  explicit ;  nor  is  it  necessary.  You  will  dispatch  some  fit  person 
into  the  Orleans  country  to  inquire,  having  letters  with  him  from  the 
suspected  gentlemen,  and  he  can  fully  and  easily  develop  the  whole 
business.     Do   not  think  this  a   slight  advertisement."  ^° 

On  the  15th  of  February  Jefferson  answered  with  the  request  that 
Daviess  gather  all  the  information  possible  and  particularly  the  names 


18  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  11,  386-392. 

i»  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  400 ;  McMaster,  History  of  the  People  of 
the  United  States,  III,  54,  65. 


444  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

of  the  persons  concerned.  But  before  this  letter  had  reached  him,  the 
District  Attorney  becoming  impatient,  had  addressed  two  more  com- 
munications to  the  President  setting  forth  further  details  of  the  plot. 
On  the  day  Jefferson's  answer  arrived,  March  27,  Daviess  replied  in  a 
fourth  letter  in  which  he  gave  numerous  details  and  declared  the  plot's 
outlitics  were  "to  cause  a  revolt  of  the  Spanish  jjrovinces,  and  a  sever- 
ance of  all  the  western  states  and  territories  from  the  union,  to  coalesce 
and  form  one  government."  -"  Some  further  efforts  were  made  by 
Daviess  to  impress  the  President,  but  without  conspicuous  success. 

Jefferson  was,  however,  not  unmindful  of  the  fact  that  something  un- 
usual was  taking  place  in  the  West,  and  he  was  not  neglecting  to  find 
out  what  it  was.  He  sent  John  Graham,  secretary  of  the  Territory  of 
Orleans,  as  his  personal  agent  to  the  western  country  to  investigate  the 
situation.-' 

While  these  various  lines  were  being  thrown  out  to  apprehend  Burr, 
he  made  his  appearance  in  Lexington  in  October  (1806.)  Various 
rumors  had  preceded  him  as  to  his  purpose ;  and  so  in  order  to  cover  his 
designs  he  gave  out  the  report  that  he  was  interested  in  settling  a  large 
tract  of  land  on  the  Washita  River,  known  as  the  Bastrop  grant. 

While  here  he  succeeded  in  negotiating  bills  of  exchange  through 
the  Kentucky  Insurance  Company,  which  had  banking  powers  to  the 
amount  of  $25,000.™ 

Daviess  now  determined  to  act  on  his  own  responsibility.  The 
United  States  District  Court  met  in  Frankfort  on  the  3d  of  November, 
with  Judge  Innes  presiding.  On  the  5th  Daviess  appeared  before  the 
bar  and  stated  that  he  had  "a  motion  to  make,  of  great  magnitude 
and  importance,  touching  a  transaction  of  a  very  extraordinary  nature, 
as  it  related  to  the  district,  and  to  the  whole  union"  and  that  "he  had 
prepared  an  affidavit,  on  which  his  application  would  be  grounded."  ^^ 

lie  thereupon  stated,  "That  the  deponent  is  informed,  and  doth 
verily  believe,  that  a  certain  Aaron  Burr,  Esq.,  late  vice  president  of 
the  *  *  *  United  States,  for  several  months  past,  hath  been,  and  is 
now  engaged  in  preparing,  and  setting  on  foot,  and  in  providing  and 
preparing  the  means,  for  a  military  expedition  and  enterprise  within 
this  district,  for  the  purpose  of  descending  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi 
therewith,  and  making  war  upon  the  subjects  of  the  King  of  Spain, 
who  are  in  a  state  of  peace  with  the  people  of  these  United  States — to 
wit :  on  the  provinces  of  Mexico,  on  the  westwardly  side  of  Louisiana 
which  appertain  and  belong  to  the  King  of  Spain,  an  European  prince 
with  whom  these  United  States  are  at  peace. 

"And  said  deponent  further  saith,  that  he  is  informed,  and  fully 
believes  that  the  above  charge,  can  be,  and  will  be  fully  substantiated 
by  evidence,  provided  this  honorable  court  will  grant  compulsory  process 
to  bring  in  witnesses  to  testify  thereto. 

"And  the  deponent  further  saith,  that  he  is  informed,  and  verily 
believes,  that  the  agents  and  emissaries  of  the  said  Burr,  have  pur- 
chased up,  and  are  continuing  to  purchase,  large  stores  of  provisions, 
as  if  for  an  army;  while  the  said  Burr,  seems  to  conceal  in  great 
mystery  from  the  people  at  large,  his  purposes  and  projects,  and  while 
the  minds  of  the  good  peojile  of  this  district,  seem  agitated  with  the 
current  rumor  that  a  military  expedition  against  some  neighborly  power, 
is  preparing  by  said  Burr. 

"Wherefore,  said  attorney,  on  behalf  of  the  U.  States  pray,  that  due 
process   issue  to   compel   the   personal   appearance   of   the   said   Aaron 

20  Marsliall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  402. 

2>  Richardson,  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents,  I,  413;  American  State 
Papers,  Miscellaneous,  Vol.  XX,  Part  I,  528. 
22  Butler,  History  of  Kentucky,  312. 
''Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  398. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  445 

Burr,  in  this  court ;  and  also  of  such  witnesses  as  may  be  necessary  on 
behalf  of  the  said  United  States;  and  that  this  honorable  court,  will 
duly  recognize  the  said  Aaron  Burr,  to  answer  such  charges  as  may 
be  preferred  against  him  in  the  premises;  and  in  the  meantime,  that  he 
desist  and  refrain  from  all  further  preparation  and  proceeding  in  the 
same  armament  within  the  said  United  States,  or  the  territories  or 
dependencies  thereof."  ~* 

Daviess  then  entered  into  an  argument  and  explanation  in  which 
he  said,  "The  present  subject  has  much  engaged  my  mind.  The  case 
made  out  is  only  as  to  the  expedition  against  Mexico ;  but  I  have 
information  on  which  I  can  rely,  that  all  the  western  territories  are 
the  next  object  of  the  scheme — and  finally,  all  the  region  of  the  Ohio 
is  calculated  as  falling  into  the  vortex  of  the  new  proposed  revolution." 
He  also  stated  that  Burr  had  drawn  from  Louisville,  Lexington,  and 
Bardstown  money  to  the  amount  of  $200,000.-^ 

He  cited  as  authority  for  his  action  a  federal  statute  which  made 
it  a  high  misdemeanor  for  any  person  within  the  territory  or  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  United  States  to  "begin  or  set  on  foot,  or  provide  or  pre- 
pare the  means  for  any  military  expedition  or  enterprise  to  be  carried 
on  from  thence  against  the  territory  or  dominions  of  any  foreign  prince 
or  state  with  whom  the  United  States  are  at  peace."  ^^  On  so  extraor- 
dinary a  procedure  as  this,  Judge  Innes  delayed  his  opinion,  announc- 
ing that  he  would  hand  it  down  at  a  later  date. 

This  delay  seems  to  have  taken  Daviess  aback.  A  correspondence 
immediately  sprang  up  between  the  Judge  and  the  District  Attorney. 
On  the  same  day  that  Daviess  made  his  motion,  Innes  wrote  him,  ex- 
plaining the  unusual  nature  of  the  motion  and  his  position  on  it.  He 
said,  "The  importance  and  magnitude  of  the  Motion  made  by  you 
today  relative  to  Aaron  Burr  esqr.  requires  the  utmost  caution  and 
circumspection.  The  Motion  is  novel — a  difficulty  occurs  as  to  the 
proper  mode  of  proceeding  in  order  to  produce  a  regular  legal  inquiry. 
I  do  not  know  of  any  law  which  authorizes  the  court  to  exercise  a  right 
of  inquiry  previous  to  a  trial."  He  asked,  then,  Daviess'  opinion  on 
certain  parts  of  the  Federal  Judicial  Act  relative  to  specific  and  prob- 
able cause  for  action.^^ 

On  the  following  day  Daviess  replied  that  he  thought  the  investiga- 
tion should  be  held  in  court  from  the  almost  insurmountable  difficulty 
of  doing  otherwise.  Another  reason  he  urged  why  the  procedure 
should  Ije  held  in  court,  was  that  it  would  be  the  quickest  way  to 
determine  Burr's  probable  guilt.  He  felt  that  the  evidence  necessary 
to  sustain  an  indictment  could  not  be  secured  without  the  use  of  the 
compulsory  processes  of  the  court.  He  saw  from  this  standpoint  that 
his  case  was  weak,  and  so  he  hoped  to  force  the  accomplices  to 
develop  enough  to  warrant  an  indictment.  He  stated  that  "If  more 
positive  affidavits  as  to  guilty  intentions  are  requisite;  these  I  fear  can 
only  be  drawn  from  accomplices  who  will  not  voluntarily  depose."  ^s 

On  the  same  day  (November  6),  Innes  wrote  Daviess  asking  for 
further  enlightenment  on  certain  other  legal  difficulties.  He  said,  "The 
return  day  of  the  process  being  uncertain,  will  it  not  be  false  imprison- 
ment, to  hold  a  person  in  custody  'till  the  Witnesses  are  summoned  and 
do  attend? 

"This  idea  is  a  strong  reason  why  there  should  be  evidence  greater 


2'McMaster,  History  of  the  People  of  the  United  States,  III,  66,  67;  Marshall, 
History  of  Kentucky,  11,  393,  394;  Palladium,  November  13,  1806. 
25  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  394;  McMaster,  III,  66,  67. 
2"  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  394;   Palladium,  November   13,   1806. 
-'  Innes  MSS..  Vol.  18,  No.  i. 
28  Innts  MSS..  Vol.  18,  No.  2. 


44G  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

than  suspicion  at  the  time  of  issuing  a  warrant  &  which  the  Judge  would 
have  a  power  to  control  &  compel  the  attendance  of."-" 

Daviess  persisted  in  his  demands  for  action  through  the  court.  On 
this  same  day,  in  a  reply  to  Innes,  he  declared  that  true  enough  it  was 
all  a  case  of  suspicion,  and  for  that  very  reason  Burr  should  be  first 
examined  in  court  as  the  only  elTective  way  of  handling  the  matter. 
Furthermore,  "For  Mr.  Burr  to  bring  1,000  stands  of  arms  here  is  no 
offence.  For  him  to  buy  supplies  for  an  army  is  not  olTence — for  him 
to  engage  1,000  men  to  go  with  him  for  a  year  is  no  offence.  The  mak- 
ing a  new  settlement  on  a  desert  frontier,  which  is  said  now  to  be  pre- 
tended, might  render  all  these  things  innocent.  But  the  doing  of  any 
one  of  them  as  a  preparation  for  an  expedition  is  an  offence.  So  that 
after  any  supposed  attidavit,  you  at  least  rest  on  belief  and  suspicion  as 
to  the  object  and  design."  He  stated  further  that  Burr  "should  be  ex- 
amined before  you,  and  dealt  with  thereafter  according  to  law."  ^" 

Daviess'  persistent  attempts  to  convince  Innes  of  the  legality  and 
propriety  of  the  motion  was  doomed  to  failure.  A  few  days  later  the 
Judge  handed  down  his  opinion  denying  the  motion.  He  explained 
at  length  the  reasons  for  his  action.  There  were  four  methods,  he 
stated,  by  which  to  proceed  against  a  person:  first,  by  an  application 
to  a  judge  or  justice  out  of  court;  second,  by  a  preferring  of  an  indict- 
ment before  a  grand  jury;  third,  by  the  presentment  of  a  grand  jury; 
and  fourth,  by  information.  This  came  under  none  of  the  above  classifi- 
cation. The  discretion  of  a  judge  in  so  serious  a  case  as  this,  he  de- 
clared, ought  not  to  determine  the  case;  but  rather  it  should  be  according 
to  the  legal  form.  "To  award  process  would  be  improper — it  would 
be  an  act  of  oppression;  Because  there  is  not  legal  evidence  before  the 
court  to  authorize  an  arrest  of  the  person  accused.  The  evidence  is  the 
oath  of  a  person,  who  has  been  informed  by  one  not  upon  oath,  that  the 
deponent  believes  the  fact  to  be  true.  I  have  no  doubt  of  the  truth  of 
the  affidavit — that  is,  that  the  deponent  has  been  informed  af  the  fact 
stated — it  is  possible  the  fact  as  stated  is  true — yet  it  is  not  legal  evi- 
dence, &  not  being  legal  evidence  the  Court  cannot  act  upon  it.  Upon 
this  view  of  the  subject,  I  am  compelled  to  declare;  that  as  the  case 
is  a  new  one — as  no  precedent  has  been  shown  to  justify  such  a  pro- 
ceeding— as  the  law  is  silent  on  the  subject — &  as  there  are  two  other 
modes  of  proceeding  which  are  regular  &  well  understood,  viz.  by  ap- 
plying to  the  Judge  out  of  Court  and  obtaining  a  warrant  upon  legal 
e\i(lence  or  by  Court  asking  a  Grand  Jury  to  be  summoned  instanter  & 
preferring  an   Indictment — this   Motion   is  overruled."  ^^ 

Daviess  by  his  affidavit  in  open  court  had  ])roduced  a  sensation.  In 
fact  Frankfort  had  been  on  edge  for  the  past  few  months  concerning 
Burr's  movements.  Samuel  Hopkins  had  written  John  Breckinridge  on 
September  6,  "I  find  our  emporium  is  all  in  flame  about  a  IVonderfiil 
conspiracy  &  I  am  sorry  to  see  those  implicated  so  inflammable  and 
Restive,  at  least  until  'tis  ascertained  what  proofs  will  be  adduced  to 
support  the  charges  against  them."  •'- 

Interest  in  the  situation  was  now  greatly  heightened. 

Burr,  who  was  at  this  time  in  Lexington,  received  notice  of  Daviess' 
move  in  an  incredible  short  tinie.-'^  He  wrote  Blcnnerhassett  on  No- 
vember 6th  stating  that  Daviess  had  applied  for  a  warrant  to  apprehend 
him  "for  treasonable  practice  or  on  some  suspicion  thereof.    The  charge 

"  Innes  MSS.,  Vol.  18,  No.  3. 

30/nHCS  MSS.,  Vol.  18,  No.  4- 

'1 /ttHM  MSS.,  Vol.  18,  No.  5.  Original  MS.  copy  here.  Text  also  in  Kentucky 
Gazette,  November  17,  1806,  and  Palladium,  November  13,  1806. 

»^  Breckinridge  MSS.  (1806.') 

^2  It  is  said  that  he  was  notified  within  less  than  four  hours.  Marshall,  History 
of  Kentucky,  II,  395.     The  distance  was  about  thirty-five  miles. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  447 

is  not  well  defined  by  my  informant,  but  the  substance  is,  'a  design  to 
attack  the  Spanish  dominions,  and  thereby  endanger  the  peace  of  the 
United  States.'  "  He  said  he  had  not  heard  how  the  charge  was  sup- 
ported, "but  absurd  and  ridiculous  as  it  may  appear,  the  Judge  has 
taken  time  until  this  day  to  consider  if  he  should  refuse  to  grant  the 
warrant,"  and  if  he  should,  he  "must  expect  a  tornado  of  abuse  from 
the  'W.  World'  and  some  other  papers."  He  observed  that  it  was 
unfortunate  that  a  trial  could  not  be  held  immediately,  since  it  was 
"a  proceeding  on  suspicion  and  previous  to  any  inquiry  by  a  grand 
jury."  ''^  Burr  saw  the  possibilities  of  complications  that  might  in- 
definitely delay  his  project  if  not  otherwise  greatly  embarrass  him.  He 
wrote  Judge  Innes  that  he  would  appear  in  court  within  a  day  or  two 
to  confront  his  accuser  and  to  meet  his  inquiry.  He  arrived  in  Frank- 
fort in  time  to  be  present  in  court  when  Judge  Innes  handed  down 
the  foregoing  opinion.  His  presence  created  a  great  commotion.  With 
complete  complacency  he  had  run  the  possible  risk  of  finding  himself 
in  the  toils  of  the  court ;  but  he  was  quick  to  see  that  his  safety  lay  in 
an  immediate  trial,  before  Daviess  could  verify  his  suspicions  by  col- 
lecting evidence,  and  indeed  before  Burr's  preparations  should  have 
gone  so  far  as  to  constitute  prima  facie  evidence  in  themselves. 

He  won  his  first  victory  in  the  Judge's  decision.  He  immediately 
saw  the  possibilities  in  the  situation  for  consolidating  his  gains.  In  the 
meanwhile  he  had  not  allowed  to  escape  opportunities  for  raising  his 
standing  among  the  crowd  about  the  court.  He  had  entered  accom- 
panied by  Henry  Clay,  soon  to  be  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate, 
Thomas  Posey,  acting  lieutenant  governor,  and  Gen.  Samuel  Hopkins, 
member  of  the  Legislature.  He  seized  the  opportunity  for  addressing 
the  court  and  the  crowd.  He  declared  that  the  action  of  the  District 
Attorney  was  extraordinary,  that  it  was  an  attempt  to  interfere  with  his 
private  business  in  a  very  unbecoming  way,  for  he  hinted  that  Daviess 
doubtJess  thought  him  to  be  out  of  the  state,  and  would  then  take 
undue  advantage  of  the  situation.  He  commended  Judge  Innes  for  his 
opinion ;  and  addressed  him  on  the  necessity  of  settling  the  question  im- 
mediately. Burr  stated  that  he  had  no  reason  to  doubt  that  as  soon 
as  he  should  leave  the  state,  the  District  Attorney  would  renew  his 
efforts  and  that  therefore  he  wanted  an  investigation  of  his  conduct 
at  once.  Daviess  replied  that  as  Burr  was  voluntarily  in  court,  the 
only  further  preparation  for  an  investigation  would  be  the  calling  of  a 
grand  jury  and  the  sunnnoning  of  witnesses.  It  was  agreed  that  the 
trial  should  be  held  on  Wednesday,  November  nth.  Daviess  dispatched 
officers  throughout  the  state  to  summon  his  witnesses. 

Burr  had  assumed  the  offensive  and  had  doubtless  taken  Daviess 
by  surprise.  By  this  turn  in  affairs  the  position  of  the  District  Attor- 
ney was  made  uncomfortable:  the  Judge's  decision  forced  him  into 
a  mode  of  procedure  little  suited  in  cases  of  mere  suspicion,  and  Burr's 
demand  for  an  immediate  trial  gave  him  no  time  for  the  situation  to 
develop.  Burr  had  won  completely  with  the  crowd.  According  to 
an  account  of  the  day's  procedure,  "Col.  Burr's  deportment  was  very 
dignified  and  his  observations  concise  and  impressive."  It  was  also 
observed  that  "publick  opinion  in  Frankfort  appears  much  in  favor  of 
Col.  Burr."3s 

Burr  prepared  for  the  day  of  trial  by  engaging  as  his  counsel  Henry 
Clay,  who  was  already  famous  as  a  successful  lawyer,  and  John  Allen, 
now  rising  to  fame. 

A  happening  so  extraordinary  as  the  trial  of  an  ex-Vice-President 
of  the  United  States  on  charges  of  plans   for  grandiloquent  conquests 

'<  Safford,  Blennerhassett  Papers,  153,  154. 
"  Kentucky   Gazette,  November   10,    1806. 


448  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

aroused  tlie  keenest  interest  throughout  the  state.  As  an  interested  con- 
temporary put  it,  "fame  had  now  full  hold  of  the  subject;  and  seldom 
has  she  been  more  profuse  in  the  use  of  her  many  tongues,  or  impelled 
her  messengers,  on  more  rapid  wings.  On  the  day  of  expected  trial 
Frankfort  was  crowded,  and  the  court  house  gorged  with  citizens  and 
strangers."^"  The  press  account  of  the  day  declared  that  the  capital 
"was  crowded  with  persons  from  all  quarters,  beyond  any  former  ex- 
ample; all  was  eagerness  and  impatience."*'' 

On  the  convening  of  court,  the  District  Attorney  immediately  arose 
and  asked  that  the  trial  be  postponed  as  one  of  the  most  important  wit- 
nesses, Davis  Floyd,  was  necessarily  absent,  on  account  of  attendance 
on  the  session  of  the  Indiana  Legislature,  of  which  he  was  a  member. 
As  there  was  no  business  to  come  before  the  grand  jury.  Judge  Innes 
dismissed  it.  The  crowd  that  filled  the  court  room  and  the  yard  outside 
was  disappointed  and  chagrined — and  this  was  immediately  shown  by 
their  actions  and  lUtcrances. 

According  to  the  Palladium's  account,  "The  disappointment  and 
chagrin  of  a  crowded  audience  may  be  conceived,  but  the  ridicule  and 
laughter  which  followed  was  universal.  The  public  sentiment  which  all 
along  has  been  in  favour  of  Colonel  Ilurr,  now  burst  forth  without 
disguise."  ^* 

They  were  not  only,  thus,  deprived  of  what  they  had  expected  to  be 
a  most  interesting  battle ;  but  they  also  felt  that  Burr  was  not  being 
justly  dealt  with  by  the  postponement.  At  this  juncture  in  the  proceed- 
ings, Rurr  entered  the  court  room  accompanied  by  Clay  and  Allen,  and 
on  being  informed  of  the  postponement,  re(|uestc(l  that  the  reasons  be 
entered  on  the  records.  He  was  quick  to  grasp  the  situation,  and  with 
great  skill  and  composure,  he  rose  and  addressed  presumably  the  court, 
but  in  fact  the  crowd.  lie  hoped  that  the  good  citizens  of  Kentucky 
would  not  be  misled  into  the  belief  that  he  was  plotting  against  their 
peace  and  welfare.  He  assured  them  that  the  truth  of  his  assertion 
would  become  evident  immediately,  if  the  District  Attorney  should 
ever  get  ready  for  the  trial.  In  the  meantime,  despite  the  fact  that 
his  ])rivate  btisiness  affairs  led  him  out  of  the  state  he  would  await  the 
(ipj)ortunity  to  show  in  open  court  how  groundless  were  the  charges 
produced  against  him.-'"  V>y  the  move  and  speech  Burr  completely 
vindicated  himself  l)efore  his  audience — even  the  more  skeptical  were 
now  won  over.  Ilum])hrey  Marshall,  who  believed  Rurr  guilty  and 
hoped  to  see  him  convicted,  was  forced  to  admit  that  "During  these  pro- 
ceedings, the  deportment  of  Colonel  Rurr  was  grave,  polite,  and  digni- 
fied.*"  The  Palladium  was  evidently  very  sympathetic  toward  Burr, 
and  was  claimed  by  some  with  being  "an  active,  and  not  inefficient  organ  of 
concealment  and  misrepresentation  for  conspirators,  contributing  mucli 
to  the  general  delusion."  *'^ 

Daviess  set  to  work  to  round  up  his  witnesses  again  and  to  have  the 
material  and  most  imi)ortant  ones  present  when  the  trial  should  he 
attempted  again.  It  re(|uired  rather  heroic  courage  and  work  to  con- 
tinue in  the  face  of  the  almost  universal  sentiment  for  Rurr,  and  the 
apparent  snubbing  and  neglect  from  President  Jefferson.  Having 
learned  that  Floyd  was  back  from  Indiana,  Daviess  moved  on  the  2Sth 
of  No\eniber  for  empanelling  a  new  grand  jury,  using  his  former  affi- 
davit as  a  basis.     This,   unlike   the   first  attempt,  being  the   usual   and 

30  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  3q6. 

^'Kentucky  Gametic,  November  17,  1806.     Quoted  from  the  Palladium. 

•'"'  Kentucky  Casctte,  Novcmljcr  17,  180C.     Account  copied  from  the  Palladium. 

■■"•Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  397,  398;   Butler,  History  of  Kentucky, 

312,  314- 

■•"  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  397. 
*'  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  399. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  449 

accepted  mode  of  procedure,  was  agreed  to  by  Judge  Innes.  The  day 
for  the  trial  was  set  for  December  2nd. 

In  the  same  period,  Burr  had  been  consolidating  his  gains  and  pre- 
paring for  the  final  attack.  Although  represented  by  two  of  the  fore- 
most lawyers  of  the  state,  he  attempted  to  retain  a  third  in  the  person 
of  John  Rowan,  being  Secretary  of  State  for  Kentucky,  and  lately 
elected  to  the  United  States  House  of  Representatives.  Rowan  declined 
on  the  ground  that  his  recent  election  to  Congress  made  it  incompatible 
with  his  honor  and  strict  fidelity  to  the  General  Government  to  appear 
in  a  case  where  that  fidelity  might  be  questioned.  On  Burr's  refusal 
to  take  this  as  a  final  answer  and  attempt  to  enter  into  an  argument. 
Rowan  replied  that  he  had  long  had  the  feeling  that  he  ought  not  "to 
reason  on  subject  which  his  feelings  in  the  first  instance  condemned."  ''^ 
Clay  also  developed  scruples  on  this  same  point.  When  he  had  appeared 
as  counsel  for  Burr  in  the  first  attempted  trial,  he  was  a  member  of  the 
Kentucky  House  of  Representatives.  But  on  the  i8th  of  November  he 
was  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate  to  fill  the  unexpired  term  of 
John  Adair,  who  had  resigned  on  the  same  day  because  he  had  been 
defeated  for  the  new  term  to  begin  March  4,  1807.  Clay  now  sought  the 
advice  of  Rowan,  as  to  whether  he  should  continue  to  represent  Burr. 
Rowan  gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  it  would  be  best  to  continue,  since 
Clay  had  previously  appeared  in  the  case,  but  he  advised  further  that  a 
written  statement  should  be  exacted  from  Burr  which  should  set  forth 
on  his  honor  "that  he  was  engaged  in  no  enterprise  hostile  to  the  peace 
or   union   of   the   country."  *^ 

In  answer  to  Clay's  request,  Burr  responded  on  December  i,  in  the 
following  statement :  "I  have  no  design,  nor  have  I  taken  any  measure 
to  promote  a  dissolution  of  the  Union,  or  a  separation  of  any  one  or 
more  States  from  the  residue.  I  have  neither  published  a  line  on  this 
subject  nor  has  any  one,  through  my  agency,  or  with  my  knowledge. 
I  have  no  design  to  intermeddle  with  the  Government  or  to  disturb  the 
tranquillity  of  the  United  States,  or  of  its  territories,  or  any  part  of 
them.  I  have  neither  issued,  nor  signed,  nor  promised  a  commission 
to  any  person  for  any  purpose.  I  do  not  own  a  musket  or  a  bayonet, 
nor  any  single  article  of  military  stores,  nor  does  any  person  for  me, 
by  my  authority,  or  with  my  knowledge.  My  views  have  been  explained 
to,  and  approved  by  several  of  the  principal  officers  of  the  government, 
and,  I  believe  are  well  understood  by  the  administration,  and  seen  by 
it  with  complacency;  they  are  such  as  every  man  of  honor  and  every 
good  citizen  must  approve.  Considering  the  high  station  you  now  fill 
in  our  national  councils  I  have  thought  these  explanations  proper,  as 
well  to  counteract  the  chimerical  tales  which  malevolent  persons  have 
so  industriously  circulated,  as  to  satisfy  you  that  you  have  not  espoused 
the  cause  of  a  man  in  any  way  unfriendly  to  the  laws,  the  government, 
or  the  interests  of  his  country."  **  Clay  received  this  profession  on  its 
face  value,  as  he  had  no  reason  to  do  otherwise,  and  agreed  to  continue 
in  the  case   for  Burr. 

On  December  2nd,  the  court  convened  for  a  second  attempt  to 
determine  the  guilt  of  Burr ;  and  again  did  Daviess  ask  for  a  postpone- 
ment. It  happened  that  this  time  that  John  Adair  was  absent,  and 
Daviess  declared  that  his  testimony  was  necessary  to  establish  the  charges. 
Clay  rose  and  interposed  a  strong  objection  to  further  delay.  He 
declared  that  Burr  was  innocent  of  the  charges,  and  that  he  himself 
could    vouch    for   it.      His   client    had   important   business    engagements 

<2  Butler,  History  of  Kentucky,  316. 

<3  Butler,  History  of  Kentucky,  315. 

<*  Works  of  Henry  Clay.  Edited  by  Calvin  Colton.  (New  York,  1904),  Federal 
Edition,  IV.  13,  14;  Butler,  History  of  Kentucky,  312,  317.  The  original  letter  is 
among  the  Chy  MSS.  owned  by  Miss  Lucretia  Hart  Clay  of  Lexington. 

Vol.  1—33 


450  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

that  must  be  attended  to,  and  furthermore,  he  ought  not  "to  have  to 
dance  attendance  on  the  attorney's  motions  and  mock  prosecutions  from 
time  to  time,  without  knowing  when  he  w'ould  be  ready.  How,  indeed, 
should  he  be  ready  for  trial,  when  he  had  nothing  to  investigate.  He 
should  be  compelled  to  proceed,  or  dismiss  and  abandon  the  prosecu- 
tion." <!^ 

Daviess  replied  with  considerable  heat  and  directness  of  expression. 
He  declared  tiiat  Burr  and  his  counsel  were  attempting  to  force  matters 
to  a  .':peedy  conclusion  without  their  right  to  do  so ;  they  were  in  court 
voluntarily — nobody  had  yet  summoned  Ikirr  to  appear.  He  was  not  yet 
indicted,  and  it  was  therefore  not  for  him  or  his  counsel  to  iiUerfere  with 
the  procedure.  He  was  in  fact  an  intruder  in  court.  Daviess  closed  his 
remarks  with  the  intimation  that  he  would  be  greatly  i)leased  to  know 
whether  he  must  continue  to  expect  to  be  interrupted  and  catechised  as 
to  his  duties. 

This  precipitated  a  lengthy  and  spirited  debate  in  which  some  other 
pointed  remarks  were  made.  Colonel  .Mien  arose  and  said  that  he  had 
a  tongue  and  proposed  to  use  it.  He  hoped  that  the  freedom  of  speech 
was  yet  left,  and  he  believed  there  was  no  better  cause  in  which  it  could 
be  used  than  to  show  how  pre]rostcrous  were  the  charges  of  the  District 
Attorney.  He  was  surprised  that  gra\e  accusations  should  be  brought 
against  a  man,  and  that  interminable  delays  should  be  always  interposed 
against  a  final  hearing,  when  if  the  trial  should  ever  come  they  might  be 
brushed  away  with  a  breath.  He  believed  Burr  had  as  much  right  in 
court  now  as  later;  and  he  objected  to  the  constant  delay.  Perhaps  the 
District  Attorney  had  no  end  of  time,  but  it  was  not  so  with  all  other 
people.  He  demanded  that  the  grand  jury  be  released  unless  the  case 
should  be  proceeded  with  at  once. 

Clay  continued  the  argument  by  asking  if  this  was  still  a  land  of 
despotic  rule  and  alien  and  sedition  laws,  whether  the  District  Attorney 
thought  that  he  was  the  only  person  who  had  rights.  No  one,  he  de- 
clared, had  special  and  exclusive  rights  in  the  courts  of  justice,  nor  need 
any  one  sit  by  and  see  his  intentions  questioned  and  a  net  spread  for  his 
liberties,  without  the  right  of  defense.  As  to  being  intruders,  he  would 
state  that  the  accused  had  duties  as  high  and  as  honorable  to  perform 
as  the  prosecutor.  Colonel  Burr  should  not  be  forced  to  remain  under 
the  shadow  of  a  grand  jury  which  had  made  no  indictment,  and  which 
might  never  make  one.  He  demanded  that  the  trial  should  proceed  or 
that  the  jury  be  dismissed  and  the  prosecution  abandoned.  He  brought 
the  issue  to  a  point  by  asking  Judge  Innes  for  a  definite  opinion. 

Daviess  was  forced  to  fight  alone  the  able  counsel  of  Burr  and  to 
labor  against  a  hostile  audience.  He  however  made  a  spirited  reply. 
Indeed,  this  was  a  land  of  liberty  and  of  license  too.  Men  not  only  might 
talk  as  they  pleased  but  act  as  they  pleased.  It  was  a  land  of  intrigue 
and  a  refuge  for  those  who  engaged  in  it,  where  the  guilty  might  go 
unquestioned  and  unpunished — all  because  the  time  necessary  to  estab- 
lish their  guilt  might  not  be  had.  It  was  easy  to  see  why  Burr  wanted 
to  hasten  the  proceeding.  If  time  were  not  given  to  secure  witnesses, 
certainly  his  guilt  could  not  be  proved ;  and  a  little  delay  was  all  that  he 
desired,  for  then  he  expected  to  be  in  a  position  to  defy  courts  and  their 
processes.  He  again  declared  that  Burr  had  no  business  in  court,  that 
he  was  not  yet  indicted,  that  he  was  not  yet  a  defendant,  and  that  he 
could,  therefore,  claim  none  of  the  rights  of  a  defendant.  If  the  court 
should  compel  immediate  action,  it  would  in  effect  be  clearing  Burr,  for 
it  would  thereby  be  forcing  a  trial  before  the  evidence  had  been  gath- 


*''  Paraphrase  by  Humphrey  Marshall  in  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II, 
404,  405..  Marshall  was  present  during  the  Burr  trials  and  gives  a  detailed  account 
of  the  arguments. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  451 

ered.  Should  the  jurj'  be  dismissed  and  the  witnesses  already  present 
allowed  to  go,  an  end  would  be  put  to  any  further  effective  effort  to 
indict  Burr.  Furthermore,  Burr  need  not  consider  that  the  jury  was 
sitting  solely  to  indict  him.  Evidence  against  others  conspiring  with 
him  might  conceivably  come  before  that  body.  Therefore,  he  need  not 
consider  the  continuance  of  the  grand  jury  was  necessarily  a  menace 
against  himself. 

The  court  decided  that  the  District  Attorney  must  proceed  with  some 
business  before  the  grand  jury  or  it  would  be  released.  The  jury  then 
held_  a  sitting,  and  soon  reported  that  there  was  no  business  before  it. 
Daviess,  thereupon,  announced  that  he  would  lay  an  indictment  before 
it  the  following  morning.  He  had  been  virtually  forced  against  the  wall 
by  Innes'  decision;  but  his  resourcefulness  won  temporarily.  He  moved 
that  an  _  attachment  forthwith  issue  against  General  Adair,  for  con- 
tumacy in  not  appearing  as  a  witness  when  called.  Burr's  counsel  ob- 
jected to  this  interpretation,  by  showing  that  Adair  had  been  summoned 
for  no  particular  hour  of  the  day,  and  as  the  day  was  not  yet  done, 
he  was  not  guilty  of  the  charge  preferred.  Although  this  was  a  rather 
fine  spun  technicality.  Judge  Innes  admitted  its  force  and  refused  to 
grant  the  attachment.  By  this  move  Daviess  had  hoped  to  secure  the 
person  of  Adair  in  court,  where  he  then  expected  to  wring  evidence  that 
would  convict  Burr  and  afford  an  indictment  for  the  grand  jury. 

Daviess  was  making  a  determined  fight  against  great  odds;  he  was 
trying  to  build  a  case  on  strong  suspicions  but  with  evidence  exceedingly 
elusive — as  indeed  it  has  been  relative  to  Burr's  exact  intentions  to  all 
subsequent  investigators.  Burr's  masterful  handling  of  his  case,  and  the 
opportune  situations  which  he  took  advantage  of  had  early  won  the  great 
majority  of  the  people  over  to  his  side.  The  results  of  the  first  day 
of  the  second  inquiry  greatly  strengthened  his  hold  upon  them.  The 
friendly  Palladium  said,  "Colonel  Burr,  throughout  his  business,  has 
evinced  an  earnest  desire  for  a  full  and  speedy  investigation  free  from 
irritation  or  emotion ;  he  excited  the  strongest  sensation  of  respect  in  the 
breast  of  every  person  present."  *" 

On  the  following  day  (December  3rd)  when  the  court  assembled. 
Daviess  presented  his  indictment  of  Adair  to  the  grand  jury.  He 
charged  him  with  being  a  fellow  conspirator  with  Burr  and  equally 
guilty.  This  was  presented  in  an  affidavit  very  similar  to  the  one  issued 
against  Burr.  After  some  deliberation  the  jury  reported  "Not  a  true 
bill."  Thus,  did  Daviess  meet  with  failure  again;  but  he  succeeded  to 
the  extent  that  Adair  appeared  in  Frankfort  and  thereby  made  it  pos- 
sible for  the  District  Attorney  to  proceed  with  his  main  case  against 
Burr. 

The  critical  period  had  now  arrived;  Daviess  had  exhausted  his 
resources.  Now  if  ever,  he  would  secure  the  indictment  of  Burr.  He 
must  have  had  many  misgivings  as  to  the  outcome.  During  the  recess 
of  court,  he  had  an  interview  with  Innes  in  which  he  sought  to  gain 
permission  and  establish  his  right  to  go  before  tlie  grand  jury  in  person 
and  examine  the  witnesses  before  that  body.  It  seems  that  Innes  ex- 
pressed the  opinion  that  that  procedure  might  be  carried  out.  But  when 
the  court  convened  again,  and  when  Daviess  sought  to  establish  that 
right  in  open  court.  Burr  and  his  counsel  strenuously  objected.  A 
heated  argument  resulting  in  Innes'  denial  of  the  right.  He  further 
observed  that  during  the  period  he  had  been  attorney  general  for  the 
District  of  Kentucky  he  had  never  claimed  or  exercised  that  right. 
Daviess  thereupon  confronted  him  with  the  statement  that  he  must 
have  two  opinions  on  the  question,  "the  one  private  and  confidential,  the 

**  Quoted  in  Butler,  History  of  Kentucky,  312,  317. 


J.VJ  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

other  public  and  official."  He  now  began  to  feel  that  surely  his  cause 
was  hopeless. 

Xevortheless  he  proceeded  with  the  case  and  presented  the  fullowinjj 
indictment : 

"United  States  of  i\merica,  Kentuck}'  district,  to  wit :  The  grand 
jury  of  the  United  States  in  and  for  the  body  of  the  said  district,  do 
on  their  oaths  present,  that  a  certain  Aaron  Burr,  late  of  the  city  of 
New  York,  and  Vice  President  of  the  said  U.  S.  did  with  force  and 
arms,  at  the  county  of  Fayette,  in  said  district,  on  the  twenty-fifth  day 
of  November  last  past,  wilfully  and  unlawfully,  and  from  evil  premedi- 
tation, then  and  there  set  on  foot,  and  prepare  for  a  military  expedition 
against  the  dominions  of  the  King  of  Spain,  who  is  an  European  prince, 
at  peace  with  the  said  United  States,  to  wit:  against  the  provinces  of  the 
said  King,  in  North  America,  contrary  to  the  laws  of  the  said  I'nited 
States,  in  such  cases  provided,  and  against  the  peace  and  dignity  thereof. 

"And  so  the  Jurors  aforesaid,  upon  their  oath  aforesaid,  do  say  that 
present,  that  the  said  Ilurr  did  at  said  districts  to  wit :  At  the  County 
of  Jefferson,  on  the  day  and  in  the  year  aforesaid,  then  and  there,  wil- 
fully and  unlawfully,  with  force  and  arms,  prepare  and  provide  the 
means  for  carrying  on  a  military  expedition  and  enterprise  against  the 
dominions  of  the  King  of  Spain  aforesaid,  who  is  at  ])eace  with  the  said 
United  States  to  wit :  the  provinces  in  North  America,  which  are  of  the 
dominions  of  the  said  King  of  Spain,  contrary  to  the  laws  of  the  United 
States,  in  such  cases  jjrovidcd,  and  against  the  peace  and  dignity  of  the 
said  United  States. 

"And  so  the  jurors  aforesaid,  upon  their  oath  aforesaid,  do  say  that 
the  said  Aaron  Burr,  is  guilty  of  the  misdemeanors  aforesaid,  contrary 
to  the  laws  of  the  United  Stales,  and  against  the  peace  and  dignitv 
thereof."  ^' 

As  Daviess  had  been  prevented  by  Innes"  decision  frotn  appearing 
before  the  grand  jury  to  conduct  the  examination  of  the  witnesses,  that 
body  retired  to  make  its  own  investigations,  and  to  frame  its  verdict. 
No  ofificial  rejjort  of  the  proceedings  of  the  grand  jury  was,  of  course, 
ever  made;  but  it  is  known  that  Wood  and  Street,  editors  of  the  IVesterii 
World,  who  had  been  very  active  in  their  accusations,  appeared  with 
other  witnesses  to  present  their  testimony.  Whatever  evidence  adduced 
strangely  failed  to  convince  the  twenty-two  grand  jurors,  so  on  December 
5th  they  presented  to  the  court  their  verdict  "Not  a  true  bill."  ■'^  In  ex- 
])lanation  of  their  decision,  they  attached  the  following  report: 

"The  grand  jury  are  happy  to  inform  the  court,  that  no  violent  dis- 
turbance of  the  j)ublic  tranquillity,  or  breach  of  the  laws,  has  come  to 
their  knowledge. 

"We  have  no  hesitation  in  declaring,  that  having  carefully  examined 
and  scrutinized  all  the  testimony  which  has  come  before  us,  as  well  on 
the  charges  against  Aaron  Burr,  as  those  contained,  in  the  indictment 
preferred  to  us  against  John  Adair,  that  there  has  been  no  testimony 
before  us,  which  does  in  the  smallest  degree  criminate  the  conduct  of 
either  of  those  persons;  nor  can  we  from  all  the  inquiry  and  investiga- 
tions of  the  subject  discover  that  any  thing  improper  nr  injurious  to  the 
government  of  the  United  State  or  contrary  to  tlic  laws  thereof  is  de- 
signed or  contemplated  by  either  of  them."''' 

This  was  a  complete  \indication  of  Burr,  and  coming  as  a  rather 
extraordinary  procediUT  of  a  grand  jury,  it  brought  down  on  that  body 

*''  Palladium,  Dccem1)cr  II,  1806.  Quoted  in  McEIroy,  Kciilucky  in  the  Nation's 
History,  306,  307. 

■•"  Brown.  Centennial  of  Frankfort,  28-30;  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II, 
410;  McMastcr,  History  of  the  People  of  the  United  States,  III,  68,  69,  gives  a 
(lislortcfl  and  mislcadiii.n  account  of  the  Burr  episode  in  Kentucky. 

•'!'  Marsliall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II.  .(lo. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  453 

the  reproach  and  coudenination  of  the  friends  of  the  District  Attorney. 
Humphrey  Marshall,  who  was  in  Frankfort  during  the  trial,  admitted 
that  the  jurors  had  since  been  "considered  respectable,  and  intelligent," 
but  observed  their  manifesto  deserved  reproach.  "H  it  had  been  drawn 
up  by  Colonel  Piurr,  or  one  of  his  attornies,"  he  declared,  "and  put 
into  the  hands  of  the  jury,  for  the  purpose  of  public  deception,  it  could 
not  have  answered  the  purpose  more  effectually.  It  was  truly  morti- 
fying to  find  the  jury  become  the  dupes  and  instruments  of  Burr,  and 
his  lawyers,  unsuspecting  no  doubt,  to  exalt  him,  and  depress  the 
public  attorney."  ■'" 

Burr's  counsel  asked  that  a  copy  of  the  jury's  report  be  taken  and 
published.  Judge  Innes  allowed  it  without  hesitation.  The  greatest 
exultation  and  rejoicing  swept  over  the  court  room.  It  seemed  that 
Burr  was  the  most  popular  man  in  Kentucky.  A  magnificent  reception 
and  ball  was  held  for  him  where  the  high  and  the  low  rejoiced  in  the 
presence  of  a  popular  hero.  Not  to  be  outdone  the  friends  of  Daviess 
held  a  like  gathering  to  shojv  their  appreciation  and  respect  for  a 
fearless  public  servant  who  had  combatted  single-handed  the  most  crafty 
politician  of  his  day  and  the  greatest  legal  talent  of  the  state.  Humph- 
rey Marshall  with  the  wish  father  to  the  thought  characterized  this 
meeting  as  "More  numerously  attended,  it  was  said,  and  especially  by 
the  ladies."  Rivalry  among  the  two  parties  ran  high  for  a  time ; 
and  at  one  gathering,  Street  one  of  the  editors  of  the  Western  World, 
was  bodily  attacked  with  a  view  to  ejecting  him   from  the  hall. 

In  the  meanwhile  preparations  for  the  expedition  had  been  steadily 
going  on;  Burr's  agents  were  busily  collecting  boats  and  munitions  of 
war  while  their  chief  was  with  magnificent  skill  allaying  all  suspicions 
and  routing  his  enemies.  Blennerhassett  was  in  Lexington  in  October, 
1806,  making  preparations  for  what  he  seemed  to  think  was  primarily 
a  great  commercial  scheme.  At  this  time  he  wrote  to  connections  in 
Philadelphia  in  an  attempt  to  borrow  from  $8,000  to  $10,000,  declar- 
ing that  he  had  "found  in  this  place  [Lexington]  a  most  valuable  op- 
portunity of  participating  with  some  friends  of  the  first  respectability 
and   resources  in  the  Union,  in  a  commercial  and   land  speculation,"  •'■' 

But  the  national  importance  of  Burr's  scheme  was  now  fast  dawn-  . 
ing  on  Jeft'erson.  Wilkinson,  who  had  already  come  to  see  that  the  1 
scheme  must  prove  a  failure,  double-crossed  Burr  by  sending  a  mes- 
senger to  the  President  laying  bare  enough  information  to  alarm  Jeffer- 
son but  falling  far  short  of  incriminating  himself.  Jefferson's  agent 
who  had  been  sent  into  the  Ohio  valley  to  investigate  had  soon  sized 
up  the  situation  as  serious  and  as  calling  for  immediate  attention.  He 
called  on  Governor  Tiffin  of  Ohio  to  seize  the  boats  outfitting  in  his  juris- 
diction. The  Ohio  Legislature  immediately  passed  an  act,  under  which 
the  militia  were  called  out  to  intercept  the  expedition.  A  number  of 
boats  were  seized  at  Marietta  at  the  mouth  of  the  Muskingum  River; 
but  a  small  flotilla  which  had  assembled  on  Blennerhassett's  Island,  a 
dozen  miles  down  the  Ohio,  succeeded  in  getting  away.  The  militia 
arriving  too  late,  unnecessarily  and  wantonly  sacked  Blennerhassett's 
estate  and  committed  other  depredations.  Burr  had  now  left  Frankfort 
accompanied  by  General  Adair  for  Nashville.  He  had  expected  to 
secure  reenforcements  here  to  float  down  the  Cumberland  there  to 
join  the  flotilla  coming  down  the  Ohio.  It  had  also  been  originally 
planned  that  Adair  should  lead  6,000  troops  to  the  same  rendezvous; 
but  conditions  had  so  changed  by  this  time,  that  he  left  overland  for 
the   lower   Mississippi    ^^a^ey    while    Burr    according    to    original    plans 

="  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  410,  411. 

">>  Safford,  Blennerhassett  Pat>ers,   142,   143.     Blennerhassett  to   James   S.   Lewis 
&  Company,  October  18,  1806. 


454  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

proceeded  down  the  Cumberland  to  assume  the  leadership  of  the  ex- 
pcch'tlon  gatliering  there. ^- 

But  in  the  meanwhile  other  affairs  of  great  importance  to  Burr  were 
transpiring.  On  November  27th,  two  days  after  receiving  Wilkinson's 
message,  Jefferson  issued  a  proclamation  "warning  and  enjoining  all 
faithful  citizens  who  have  been  led  without  the  due  knowledge  or  con- 
sideration to  participate  in  the  said  unlawful  enterprises  to  withdraw 
from  the  same  without  delay,  and  commanding  all  persons  whatsoever 
engaged  or  concerned  in  the  same  to  cease  all  further  proceedings  there- 
in, as  they  will  answer  the  contrary  at  their  peril  and  incur  prosecution 
with  all  the  rigors  of  the  law."  ^-^  Burr  was  yet  to  win  his  famous 
victory  in  the  Krankfort  trial  (December  5th),  when  this  proclamation 
was  started  westward.  A  proclamation  which,  however,  did  not  men- 
tion Burr's  name.  Jefferson's  agent,  after  securing  the  co-opcralion  of 
the  Ohio  governor  and  legislature,  hastened  to  Kentucky  on  like  business. 
The  Kentucky  Legislature  had  met  in  early  November,  and  had  thus 
been  in  session  throughout  the  period  of  the  Burr  inquiries  in  Frank- 
fort. In  compliance  with  the  agent's  request,  the  Legislature  passed  a 
bill  similar  to  the  Ohio  law;  and  detachments  of  militia  were  immediately 
sent  to  different  points  on  the  Ohio  to  intercept  the  passing  boats.  It 
was  however  now  loo  late,  as  the  few  boats  that  escaped  detention  on  the 
Ohio  had  already  passed;  and  David  hloyd,  with  a  boat  or  two  from 
Louisville,  had  already  departed.-''"' 

As  far  as  Kentucky  was  directly  involved,  the  Burr  episode  had  now 
passed  out  of  state  concern  to  soon  become  the  center  of  national  interest 
in  the  memorable  trial  in  Richmond.  It  is  sufficient  here  to  say  that 
Burr  soon  found  himself  deserted,  and  his  prospects  for  further  accom- 
plishments shattered.  On  reaching  Natchez  with  his  little  fleet  of  thir- 
teen llatbiiats  and  sixty  men,  he  was  stopped  by  adverse  circumstances, 
and  to  make  matters  worse  the  civil  authorities  presented  him  for  in- 
dictment before  the  grand  jury.  Again  through  his  great  coni])lacency, 
self-possession  and  skill  he  won  the  sympathy  and  admiration  of  that 
body,  and  it  not  only  refused  to  indict  him,  but  intimated  that  an 
apology  was  due  him  for  the  inconvenience.  Due  to  certain  legal  ir- 
regularities used  by  the  authorities  in  their  attempt  to  hold  Burr,  as 
claimed  by  him,  since  he  was  now  freed  by  the  action  of  the  grand 
jury,  he  believed  he  was  being  persecuted  and  so  he  resolved  to  escape 
to  the  province  of  West  Florida  and  there  find  passage  abroad.  He 
slipped  out  of  Natchez  in  disguise,  and  had  almost  reached  his  destina- 
tion when  he  was  recognized  and  arrested  near  Fort  Stoddert.  He 
was  taken  to  Richmond  for  trial.  Just  as  the  evidence  against  him 
had  been  elusive  and  inconclusive  in  the  various  legal  proceedings 
against  him  heretofore,  so  it  was  in  Richmond  where  he  was  tried  for 
both  treason  and  misdemeanor,  where  the  greatest  judge  of  his  day 
presided,  and  where  the  best  legal  talent  of  the  nation  prosecuted  and 
defended.'''''  Burr  was  acquitted;  but  his  political  career  was  forever 
ended.  He  died  in  poverty  and  obscurity  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury later.'"''' 

Bleimerhassett,  his  deluded  dujie,  spent  what  ready  tiioney  he  had 
(jn  the  enterprise,  believing  it  to  be  a  land  speculation,  and  lost  his 
beautiful   Ohio  River  island  estate.     He  also   ran   into   legal  difficulties 


02  "Burr's  Conspiracy  Exposed  and  General  'Wilkinson  'Vindicated,"  Vol.  II,  in 
Memoirs  of  General  IVilkinspii,  passim. 

"is  Richardson,  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents,  I,  404,  405. 

'>•'  Memoirs  of  IVilkinsoii,  Vol.  II,  passim. 

'■'' John  Marshall  presided,  William  Wirt  was  the  chief  counsel  for  the  prosecu- 
tion, and  Luther  Martin  was  for  the  defense.  John  Randolph  of  Roanoke  was 
foreman  of  the  grand  jury. 

'■"  He  died  in  New  York  City  in  1836. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  455 

in  Kentucky  as  well  as  in  Richmond.  A  civil  proceeding  was  com- 
menced against  him  in  Lexington  concerning  his  "endorsement  of  some 
of  Burr's  bills."  Henry  Clay  was  retained  as  counsel.  He  made  a 
ringing  speech  in  the  Lexington  court  in  which  he  strongly  protested 
against  "the  mode  which  had  been  pursued  by  the  court."  Blenner- 
hassett  also  addressed  the  court  and  according  to  the  hostile  Western 
World  "He  made  an  affecting  appeal  to  the  citizens  of  Lexington,  which 
would  have  been  very  favorably  received,  had  not  the  high  crimes  with 
which  he  was  charged  forcibly  rebutted  it."  ="  He  was  taken  to  Richmond 
for  further  investigation.  A  bill  was  rendered  to  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment for  $500  for  guarding  and  conducting  him  from  Lexington  to  the 
Virginia  capital  and  for  other  expenses.  The  Lexington  jailor  entered 
a  bill  of  $2.04  for  his  keep  in  the  jail  for  six  days."*  Pursued  by  ill  for- 
tune to  the  very  end,  Blennerhassett  lived  for  over  two  decades  after  his 
ambitions  for  greatness  had  been  shattered  by  the  bursting  of  the  Burr 
bubble.  He  ever  afterwards  felt  bitter  toward  the  man  who  had  seduced 
him  from  his  happy  Ohio  island  estate. 

Joseph  Hamilton  Daviess  was  vindicated  in  the  subsequent  course  of 
events,  to  the  extent  that  the  National  Government  attempted  to  do  ex- 
actly what  he  had  sought  to  accomplish  a  month  or  two  earlier.  He  also 
saw  the  Federal  Court  in  Richmond  fail,  just  as  had  the  District  Court 
failed  at  Frankfort,  although  the  former  had  the  evidence  which  he  saw 
could  be  developed  only  by  time,  and  for  the  obtaining  which  he  had 
sought  to  delay  the  court  proceedings  in  tlie  Kentucky  capital.  To  this 
extent,  then,  the  Daviess'  attempt  was  premature.  Of  this,  Jeflferson  said 
in  his  message  to  Congress,  January  22,  1807,  "In  Kentucky  a  premature 
attempt  to  bring  Burr  to  justice  without  sufficient  evidence  for  his  con- 
viction had  produced  a  popular  impression  in  his  favor  and  a  general 
disbelief  of  his  guilt.  This  gave  him  an  unfortunate  opportunity  of 
hastening  his  equipments."  ^a  Daviess  soon  was  removed  from  the  po- 
sition of  district  attorney,  and  the  report  inevitably  spread  among  his 
friends  that  this  was  his  reward  for  being  a  fearless  public  servant.  But 
this  need  not  necessarily  have  been  the  cause  of  his  removal,  for  Jeft'er- 
son  had  established  the  policy  of  bringing  about  a  parity  in  the  gov- 
ernment civil  service  between  the  two  parties,  and  to  efifect  this  made 
certain  removals  of  Federalists,  especially  marshals  and  attorneys,  Daviess 
continued  the  practice  of  law  until  the  rising  Indian  troubles  in  181 1 
drew  him  to  volunteer  under  Gen.  William  Henry  Harrison  from  whom 
he  received  the  commission  of  major.  In  the  celebrated  battle  of  Tippe- 
canoe which  soon  followed,  he  was  killed  in  a  gallant  charge  against  the 
Indians.  His  death  occasioned  a  shock  throughout  the  state.  Four  years 
later  his  state  perpetuated  his  name  in  one  of  its  counties."" 

The  practice  in  certain  quarters  of  accusing  Kentucky  of  disloyalty 
on  every  occasion  possible  had  not  yet  fallen  into  disuse ;  and  it  was  only 
to  be  expected  that  Kentucky's  part  in  the  Burr  episode  would  be  worked 
over-time  by  her  revilers.  A  mass  meeting  in  Lexington  in  January,  1807, 
after  listening  to  patriotic  addresses,  adopted  the  following  resolution, 
"That  all  charges  &  insinuations  against  the  people  of  this  State,  of 
dissaffection  to  the  Union  or  Government  of  the  United  States,  are  gross 
misapprehensions  and  without  foundation."  "*  There  cannot  be  the 
slightest  question  that  the  sympathy  for  Burr  and  his  popularity  in 
Kentucky  during  the  legal  procedure  against  him  in  Frankfort  was  based 

57  Safford,  Blennerhassett  Papers,  268-270. 

58  Inncs  MSS.,  Vol.  i8,  No.  14- 

59  Richardson,  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents,  I,  415. 

80  For  a   sketch   of   the   life   of   Daveiss   see   Collins,   History   of   Kentucky,   II, 

154.   i.=i6.  .     , 

*i  Palladium,  January  8,  1807.  Quoted  in  McElroy,  Kentucky  in  the  Nation  s 
History,  314. 


456  Uli^ToRY  OF  KF.XTUCKY 

on  any  other  considerations  than  a  feeling  that  he  was  being  unjustly  per- 
secuted and  harassed  by  a  political  enemy.  In  further  proof  of  this,  it 
need  only  be  rec.iUed  that  Burr  was  not  popularly  received  in  the  state 
until  he  was  set  upon  by  the  District  Attorney.  And  as  for  the  aiil 
actually  given  to  the  fJurr  scheme  in  Kentucky,  there  also  can  be  but 
little  question  that  it  was  olTered  in  the  belief  thai  an  expedition  was 
preijaring  against  the  Spaniards  of  unsavory  memory,  and  in  nowise 
connected  with  a  disruption  of  the  Union  of  the  States.  Twenty  years 
later.  Clay  wrote  of  this:  "When  the  grand  jury  returned  the  bill  of  in- 
dictment not  true,  a  scene  was  presented  in  the  Court-room  which  I 
had  never  before  witnessed  in  Kentucky.  There  were  shouts  of  applause 
from  an  audience,  not  one  of  whom  *  *  *  would  have  hesitated  to 
level  a  rifle  against  Colonel  Burr,  if  he  believed  that  he  aimed  to  dismem- 
ber the  Union,  or  sought  to  violate  its  jjcace.  or  overturn  its  Constitu- 
tion." «- 

Clay  as  well  as  .Mien  in  their  defense  of  Burr  were  honestly  deceived 
as  to  his  intentions.  As  before  noted,  the  former  demanded  an  e.xjjlicit 
statement  from  Burr  as  to  his  intentions,  and  the  answer  he  received 
he  had  no  reason  to  doubt.  Clay  wrote  Thomas  Todd  on  January  24. 
1807,  from  W'ashington,  "I  do  not  beHeve  that  any  censure  has  fallen 
upon  the  Judge,  or  the  Counsel  appearing  in  the  defense  of  Burr,  for 
the  result  of  the  jjrosecution.  1  mean  censure  from  the  government. 
'Flie  institution  [of  the]  prosecution,  at  the  jiarticular  moment  is  sup- 
piised  to  have  been  ill-timed  and  injudicious.""^  Clay  was  now  thor- 
iiughly  con\inced  of  Burr's  guilt.  lie  wrote  on  February  15th  from 
Washington,  "No  doubt  is  now  entertained  here  of  his  having  engaged 
in  schemes  of  the  most  daring  and  illegal  kind.  Having  left  Kentucky 
under  a  belief  that  he  was  innocent,  it  was  with  no  little  surprise  upon 
my  arrival  here  that  I  found  that  I  had  been  deceived."  "■»  Clay  never 
forgave  Burr  for  this  deception.  It  is  said  that  years  later  the  two  met 
face  to  face  in  the  city  hall  in  New  York  City  and  that  lUirr  extended 
bis  hand  to  greet  Clay,  but  that  the  latter  ignored  his  friendly  approach.""' 

Burr's  scheme,  whatever  it  was,  forms  little  more  than  an  episode  in 
state  and  national  history.  For  a  time  it  loomed  large;  a  year  passed  and 
it  w-as  all  but  forgotten  except  for  its  mystery  and  its  romance.  It  had 
the  direct  result,  however,  of  showing  that  the  West  was  loyal  and  sat- 
isfied with  the  Union. 


'^'Private  Correspondence  of  Henry  Clay.     Edited  by  Calvin  Colfon  (New  York, 
1855),  207.    Clay  to  Pindell,  October  15,  1828. 
<^^Innes  MSS.,  Vol.  18,  No.  21. 

0*  Works  of  Henry  Clay,  IV,   14,   15.     Clay  to  Thomas  M.  Prentiss. 
'^^  National  Cyclopaedia  of  American  Biography,  III,  6,  7. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII 

THE    SEQUEL    TO    THE    BURR    CONSPIRACY:    KENTUCKY 
LOYALTY  TO  THE  UNION 

Between  the  first  and  second  trips  Burr  made  to  the  West,  an  event 
took  place,  insignificant  in  itself,  but  of  vast  consequences  in  the  state 
for  the  following  few  years.  This  was  the  founding  of  the  U'cstern 
World  in  l-Vankfort  by  John  Wood  and  Joseph  M.  Street.  The  former 
had  been  a  resident  of  New  York  where  he  had  been  engaged  in  the 
newspaper  work  and  other  literary  activities,  and  where  he  had  had 
certain  connections  with  Burr.  In  1805  due  to  certain  hostilities  he 
had  stirred  up  in  the  East  he  left  for  Richmond.  Here  he  met  a  young 
newspaper  man,  and  interested  him  in  setting  up  a  newspaper  in  Ken- 
tucky or  New  C)rleans.  Street,  for  he  was  the  man,  readily  consented 
to  enter  the  venture,  and  so  they  soon  departed  for  the  West.  In  the 
summer  of  1806  they  arrived  in  Frankfort,  and  represented  themselves 
as  anxious  to  set  up  a  newspaper  with  democratic  principles.  As  the 
cost  of  a  printing  press  was  more  than  they  could  bear  at  this  time,  they 
were  able  to  make  arrangements  with  William  Hunter,  editor  of  the 
Palladiniii  to  use  his  press. 

For  certain  reasons  of  policy,  Wood  desired  to  remain  in  the  back- 
ground, and  so  the  Western  World  was  published  under  the  firm  of 
J.  M.  Street  &  Company.  The  first  issue  appeared  in  the  early  days  of 
July,  and  attracted  at  once  widespread  attention  and  comment.  W'ood 
had,  while  in  New  York,  been  privy  to  certain  plots  directed  against 
Spain's  possessions  in  the  New  World,  among  which  were  certain  wild 
schemes  of  the  mysterious  Francisco  de  Miranda,  a  Venezuelan  revolu- 
tionist and  patriot.'  To  this  knowledge,  he  added  certain  established 
facts  which  he  learned  in  Kentucky  concerning  Wilkinson's  trail  of  in- 
trigues, and  certain  rumors  about  the  alleged  questionable  dealings  of 
Sebastian,  Brown,  Innes,  and  others.  With  this  conglomerate  mass  of 
facts  and  fancies,  the  editors  of  the  Western  World  concocted  an  amaz- 
ing tale  of  Spanish  intrigues  and  conspiracies  beginning  before  Ken- 
tucky became  a  state  and  not  yet  ended.  From  the  first,  without  fear 
or  favoritism,  they  flung  out  sweeping  statements  involving  the  most 
prominent  men  of  the  state  in  the  "Spanish  Conspiracy"  and  leaving 
a  feeling  among  others  that  their  turn  was  soon  to  come.  The  edition 
for  July  7,  1806,  stated  that  "It  is  merely  our  intention  to  develop  a 
conspiracy,  the  seeds  of  which  were  planted  with  the  first  settlers  in 
Kentucky,  which  are  still  growing  and  if  ever  brought  to  maturity, 
will  afifect  the  interest,  not  only  of  the  western  continent,  but  of  the 
known  world."  - 

The  articles  on  the  "Spanish  Conspiracy"  that  appeared  in  the 
succeeding  numbers  of  the  Western  World  were  published  in  the  Ken- 
tucky Gazette  almost  to  the  exclusion  of  other  material  at  times.  As 
there  seemed  to  be  no  end  to  these  articles  the  Gazette  editor  soon  an- 
nounced  that  he   would   publish   no   more   of   the   wild   imaginations   of 

1  G.  H.  Payne,  History  of  Journalism  in  the  United  States.  (New  York,  1920), 
207. 

2  Copy  in  University  of  Chicago  Library. 

457 


458  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

Street  and  Company.  The  Western  World  editors  were  soon  the  object 
of  attack  both  by  word  and  weapon.  "Cincinnatiis"  addressed  to  them 
the  following  comniunicrition :  "You  have  attempted  l)y  the  vilest  arts, 
and  without  the  least  shadow  of  proof,  to  stigmatize  with  eternal  oppro- 
brium tlie  brightest  characters  that  adorn  our  country.  Uy  pubhshing 
])oisonous  and  innanunatory  libels,  you  have  endeavored  to  brand  with 
indelible  infamy,  men  who  have  endangered  their  lives  in  order  to  main- 
tain the  liberties,  and  advocate  the  honor  and  happiness  of  their  coun- 
try." •'' 

Challenges  for  duels  at  once  began  to  pour  in  on  Street,  who  soon 
overshadowed  Wood  in  the  accusations,  to  such  an  extent  that  he  an- 
nounced that  he  would  file  them  in  the  order  received  and  would  "from 
time  to  time  give  a  list  of  them  in  the  Western  World,  for  the  information 
of  the  jniblic  at  large."  *  George  Adams,  a  man  of  considerable  ])romi- 
nencc  and  political  opponent  of  Ilumi)hrey  Marshall  and  who  defeated 
him  three  years  later  by  76  majority  for  state  re]>rcsentative  from  h'rank- 
lin  County,  boldly  assaulted  Street,  with  two  pistols.  Street  repelled  his 
attack  with  a  dirk  after  having  received  a  wound  from  one  of  the  pistols. 
Both  were  placed  under  arrest,  but  Adams  found  no  difficulty  in  getting 
bondsmen.  .Street  was  on  the  point  of  being  lodged  in  jail,  when  Humph- 
rey Marshall  and  Joseph  Hamilton  Daviess  came  to  his  rescue  by  afford- 
ing him  the  necessary  bond.  In  the  trial  that  followed.  Street  was  ac- 
<iuitted,  while  Adams  was  declared  guilty;  but  through  a  technicality 
in  the  indictment  he  was  freed. ^ 

Such  happenings  served  only  to  increase  the  popular  interest  in  the 
Western  World,  with  the  result  that  within  four  months  after  it  had 
been  founded,  the  subscriptions  had  grown  to  1,200."  When  Street 
turned  the  force  and  influence  of  the  paper  against  Burr  as  he  soon 
did,  Wood  attempted  to  cause  him  to  desist,  but  without  success.  A 
short  time  thereafter,  he  divested  himself  of  his  interests  in  the  West- 
ern World  and  left  the  state.  Street  after  a  few  years,  was  beset  with 
so  many  libel  suits  that  he  found  himself  impoverished.  He  left  the 
state   for  work  among  the   Indians  of  Wisconsin." 

The  immediate  concern  of  the  Western  World  was  to  bring  about 
some  tangible  results  from  its  wholesale  exposure.  Benjamin  Sebastian, 
a  justice  of  the  Court  of  Appeals,  appeared  to  be  the  easiest  target. 
Charles  Wilkins,  a  Lexington  merchant  who  had  commercial  connections 
in  Natchez,  was  in  that  town  in  1804,  and  in  examining  some  papers  of 
a  Mr.  Seitz  found  a  draft  drawn  by  Sebastian  on  the  Sjianish  govern- 
ment.** This  rumor  had  been  whispered  about  until  in  1806  it  was  seized 
upon  by  the  ll'ester)i  World  and  was  made  the  basis  of  a  definite  charge 
against  Sebastian.  An  address  to  the  Legislature  was  secretly  printed 
charging  Sebastian  with  being  a  pensioner  of  Spain,  and  calling  for  an 
inquiry.  Some  of  these  copies  were  taken  to  Versailles  where  signers 
were  obtained.  William  Blackburn,  a  representative  of  Woodford  County 
in  the  Legislature,  then  took  the  addresses  in  charge  and  showed  them 
to  other  members.  The  evidence  then  in  hand  seemed  so  compelling  and 
conclusive  that  Samuel  McKee,  a  representative  from  Garrard  County, 
on  November  2,    (1806),  agreed  to  offer  a  resolution  to  this  elTcct: 

"Resolved,  That  a  conmiittee  be  appointed  to  inquire  into  the  conduct 


^Kcntucliy  Gazette,  October  2,  1806. 

*  Payne,  History  of  Journalism  in  tlic  United  States,  207,  208. 

»  Marshall,  History  of  Kcntucliy,  II,  .•?78. 

"  Payne,  History  of  Journalism  in  the   United  States,  207,  208. 

'  Payne,  History  of  Journalism  in  the  United  States,  207,  208.  See  Innes  MSS., 
\'i.>\.  18,  No.  36,  passim,  for  trials  in  which  Innes  and  Street  featured. 

^American  State  Papers,  Miscellaneous,  Vol.  XX,  Part  I,  925;  Brown,  Centennial 
of  I-rankforl,  31-33- 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  459 

of  Benjamin  Sebastian,  one  of  the  judges  of  the  court  of  appeals,  for  this 
commonweahh,  and  to  report  their  opinion  to  this  house,  whether  the 
conduct  of  the  said  Sebastian,  when  acting  in  his  office  aforesaid,  has 
been  such  as  to  require  the  interposition  of  the  constitutional  power  of 
this  house."  » 

John  Pope  moved  a  substitute  whose  main  import  was  substantially 
the  same  but  whose  wording  seems  to  have  been  more  logical.  This 
contemplated  action  by  the  Legislature  to  some  seemed  a  rather  bold 
and  dangerous  procedure.  They  believed  that  the  highest  judicial  officer 
of  the  state  should  not  be  thus  dealt  with  without  some  direct  evidence 
or  affidavits  to  warrant  it.  Pope  replied  that  this  resolution  called  for 
only  an  investigation  and  that  it  was  not  different  from  the  usual 
procedure.  He  stated  further  that  he  was  convinced  that  the  charges 
were  true  from  certain  information  he  had  received  from  a  gentleman 
of  respectability  in  Lexington.  Blackburn  offered  as  further  evidence 
the  addresses  which  had  been  signed  by  Woodford  County  citizens,  and 
declared  he  would  use  them  as  his  reasons  for  voting  for  the  resolu- 
tion. When  the  question  was  put  to  a  vote  it  was  carried,  and  so 
the   investigation   was  ordered. 

This  move  greatly  agitated  Sebastian  and  others  who  had  a  consid- 
erable knowledge  of  the  Spanish  intrigues.  It  was  sensed  immediately 
that  the  whole  affair  would  be  unearthed  by  the  investigating  commit- 
tee, and  that  an  incorrect  interpretation  might  be  placed  on  the  knowl- 
edge that  certain  ones  had  of  the  intrigues,  and  though  innocent  of 
any  crime,  that  they  might  be  made  to  suffer.  An  attempt  was  made 
to  delay  the  investigation,  under  the  pretense  of  giving  Sebastian  time 
to  prepare  for  his  defense.  As  this  attempt  failed,  the  Judge  determined 
to  resign  his  seat,  as  a  last  resort  to  halt  the  investigation.  Governor 
Greenup  informed  the  committee  of  Sebastian's  action,  but  it  refused 
to  desist  from  the  inquiry. 

Witnesses  were  called,  and  the  whole  story  of  the  intrigues  of  the 
Spaniards  with  Sebastian  and  other  Kentuckians  was  developed,  largely 
as  set  forth  in  a  preceding  chapter  of  this  work. 

The  evidence  was  so  complete  and  conclusive  that  the  committee 
was  unanimously  convinced  of  Sebastian's  guilt  of  being  a  pensioner 
of  the  Spanish  government.'"  It  delivered  the  following  report  to  the 
House :  "Whereas  your  committee  does  not  hesitate  to  declare,  as 
their  opinion,  that  the  information  given  to  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives is  substantially  true  and  correctly  detailed ;  and  that  the  said  Judge 
Sebastian  is  guilty  of  having  for  several  years  received  from  the  Spanish 
govemment  a  pension,  paid  in  cash  annually,  to  the  amount  of  $2,000. 

"Your  committee  further  report,  as  their  opinion,  that  whilst  Judge 
Sebastian  was  in  the  exercise  of  his  office  in  this  State,  and  drawing 
his  annual  salary  therefrom,  he  was  employed  in  carrying  on,  with  the 
agents  of  the  Spanish  Government,  an  illicit,  unjustifiable,  and  highly 
criminal  intercourse,  subversive  of  the  duty  he  owed  to  the  constituted 
authorities  of  our  country,  and  highly  derogatory  to  the  character 
of  Kentucky." '^  This  report  was  unanimously  agreed  to  by  the  fifty- 
three  members  present. **  Thereupon  Felix  Grundy  moved  the  follow- 
ing resolution,  which  was  agreed  to :  "Whereas  it  appears  to  this  House 
that  since  the  institution  of  the  inquiry  into  the  charges  exhibited  against 
Benjamin  Sebastian,  Esq.,  that  the  said  Sebastian  has  resigned  his  office 
of  Judge  of  the  Kentucky  court  of  appeals :     Resolved,  therefore,  That 

»  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  380. 

'0  The  evidence  on  which  the  conviction  was  based  is  found  in  American  State 
Papers,  Miscellaneous,  Vol.  XX,  Part  I,  924-934. 

^''^  American  State  Papers,  Miscellaneous.     Vol.  XX,  Part  I,  933. 
•'  Ten  were  absent. 


460  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

any  fuiilicr  j^rocecding  to  effect  the  removal  of  the  said  Sebastian  from 
office  is  rendered  unnecessary."'-' 

Sebastian  soon  fell  into  obscurity.  He  was  now  more  than  ever  in 
need  of  a  Spanish  pension ;  and  it  is  not  known  certainly  that  the 
Spaniards  ceased  to  pay  it.  It  is  not  without  interest  to  note  in  this 
connection  that  Power's  preliminary  treaty  delivered  to  Sebastian  in 
1797  contained  the  following  clause:  '"Moreover,  should  such  persons 
as  shall  be  instrumental  in  promoting  the  views  of  His  Catholic  Majesty 
hold  any  public  employment,  and  in  consequence  of  taking  an  active 
part  in  endeavoring  to  effect  a  secession,  shall  lose  their  employments, 
a  compensation,  e(|ual  at  least  to  the  emoluments  of  their  office,  shall  be 
made  to  them  by  His  Catholic  Majesty,  let  their  efforts  be  crowned  with 
success,  or  terminate   in   disap])ointment.'"  '■* 

This  may  be  said  in  extenuation  of  Sebastian's  relations  with  the 
Spaniards,  that  his  direct  negotiations  were  not  political  in  character 
and  that  there  was  no  direct  mention  of  a  separation  of  Kentucky 
from  the  Union.'"'  That  the  Spaniards  had  this  as  an  ultimate  purpose 
cannot  be  doubted,  however,  Sebastian  saw  in  the  S])anish  bid  a  possi- 
bility of  settling  a  most  vexatious  problem,  which  the  Federal  CJovern- 
ment  had  not  yet  been  able  to  solve ;  and,  he  no  doubt  hoped  to  render 
a  genuine  service  to  his  people  in  entering  the  negotiations.  This  view 
was  taken  by  some  of  the  annalists  of  his  day.'"  Rut  Sebastian  felt 
bitterly  the  jjublic  censure  and  o])probrium  heaped  upon  him.  In  a 
letter  to  Innes  in  1808,  he  lamented  the  fact  that  a  person  could  not 
communicate  "on  subjects  of  public  or  private  concern,  without  incit- 
ing the  suspicion  &  censure  of  an  infernal  set  of  rascals  who  delight 
in  discord  and  confusion  &  who  would  rather  involve  all  mankind  in 
indiscriminate  ruin  than  not  given  vent  to  the  spleen  and  malice  of  their 
*     *     *     vindicative   .Souls."'" 

'i'he  Legislature  that  investigated  .Sebastian  and  declared  him  guilty 
was  the  same  bodv  that  noted  from  day  to  day  the  excitement  in  Frank- 
fort and  throughout  the  state  generally  [iroduced  by  the  efforts  of 
Daviess  to  bring  Burr  tt)  justice.  It  seemed  that  the  state  was  indeed 
sorely  beset  by  unfortunate  circumstances,  sure  to  be  interpreted  in 
the  East  as  an  indication  of  ilic  \anishing  patriotism  of  the  West. 
To  counteract  any  such  impressions  and  restate  the  position  of  the 
commonwealth,  the  Legislature  on  December  4  (1806),  the  day  before 
llurr's  ac(|uittal  by  the  grand  jury  and  two  days  jirior  to  the  report 
on  .Sebastian,  unanimously  [jassed  the  following  resolutions:  ''Whereas 
it  is  considered  of  importance  that  citizens  living  under  the  same  Gov- 
ernment should  be  correctly  informed  of  the  views  and  intentions  of 
every  portion  of  the  comnuinity;  and  as  the  .sentiment  of  the  people 
of  Kentucky  may  be  misimderstood  by  those  who,  from  their  remote 
situation,  have  not  an  opportunity  of  judging  of  the  dis]50sition  which 
the  citizens  of  this  State  entertain  toward  the  Cicneral  ( loxernment ; 
and  as  an  expression  of  the  ])u]>lic  will,  thnmgli  tlieir  re]iresentatives. 
is  deemed  the  most  effectual  mode  to  prevent  any  misapi)rehension  of 
our  sentiments,  which  might  he  occasioned  by  the  conduct  of  individuals, 
or  might  grow  out  of  misrepresentations. 

"Resolved,  therefore,  by  the  General  Assembly,  that  the  people  of 
Kentucky  feel  the  strongest  attachment  to  the  Federal  Government,  and 
consider   a    dismemberment    of    the    I'nion    as    the   greatest    evil    which 

^^  American  Stale  Papers,  Misccllaiu-oiis,  \\>\.  XX,  Part  I,  933.  Iiiiics  MSS., 
Vol.  18,  Nos.  21,  22. 

'*  American  Stale  Papers,  Miscellaneous,  Vol.  XX,   Part   I,  Q28. 

"•The  above  mentioned  preliminary  lre;ity  was  snmmarily  rejected  by  tbe 
Kcntuckians  privy  to  its  contents. 

'"For  instance  Hall,  Sketches  of  llic  West,  II,  29-35. 

"  Innes  MSS.,  Vol.    19,   No.   79.     Written    from    Belmont,   .April    12. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  461 

could  befall  them,  and  would  view  with  abhorrence  any  individual  or  set 
of  individuals,  who  should  attempt  to  separate  us  from  those  whose 
interests  are  so  intimately  connected  with  our  own,  and  for  whom  the 
people  of  Kentucky  entertain  an  unchangeable  attachment,  arising  from 
a  lively  recollection  of  their  united  efforts   for  liberty. 

"Resolved,  That  the  people  of  Kentucky  have  an  entire  confidence 
in  the  present  administration  of  the  General  Government,  and  have 
no  doubt  that  such  measure  will  be  pursued  as  are  best  calculated 
to  secure  us  peace  and  tranquility,  and  at  the  same  time  preserve  our 
national  honor  from  insult. 

"Resolved,  That  the  Governor  of  this  State  be  requested  to  transmit 
copies  of  the  foregoing  resolutions  to  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  to  the  Executives  of  the  different  States,  and  to  our  present 
Senators  and   Representatives   in   Congress."  '® 

As  further  proof  of  its  desire  to  have  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment thoroughly  and  correctly  informed  as  to  affairs  in  Kentucky,  the 
Legislature  transmitted  to  the  President  and  to  the  congressional  dele- 
gation of  the  State,  Transcripts  of  the  evidence  taken  in  the  Sebastian 
investigation. 

The  legislative  investigation  that  had  brought  about  the  conviction  of 
Sebastian  led  directly  to  certain  proceedings  with  regard  to  Harry  Innes, 
judge  of  the  Federal  Court  for  the  District  of  Kentucky.  Innes  had 
been  one  of  the  principal  witnesses  summoned  before  the  investigating 
committee  and  it  was  largely  through  his  evidence  that  Sebastian  had 
been  conclusively  proved  guilty.  He  had  not  relished  the  investigation, 
for  he  saw  that  it  would  be  inevitably  necessary  for  him  to  tell  many 
things  which  would  tend  to  implicate  himself;  and  Sebastian  had  re- 
signed in  an  effort  to  stop  the  inquiry  in  order  to  save  Innes. 

Two  questions  were  put  to  him.  The  first  was :  "Do  you  or  do  you 
not  know  of  Mr.  Sebastian's  receiving  money  from  the  Spanish  Gov- 
ernment, or  of  any  officer  of  that  Government,  and  at  what  time?" 
Innes  replied  that  Sebastian  had  admitted  to  him  during  the  first  week 
of  the  session  of  the  court  of  appeals  in  October  (1806),  that  he  had 
been  receiving  a  pension  "in  consequence  of  the  business  which  induced 
him  to  go  to  New  Orleans  in  1795."  The  second  question  was  the  one 
that  caused  Innes  much  perturbation.  It  was :  "Have  you  knowledge 
of  any  negotiation  which  was  entered  into,  or  attempted,  by  Mr.  Sebas- 
tian, and  the  Spanish  Government  at  New  Orleans,  or  with  any  officer 
of  that  Government?  If  you  have  depose  as  to  these  facts."  Without 
necessarily  being  guilty  of  any  improper  conduct  in  the  affair,  he  knew 
that  the  facts  which  he  would  have  to  relate  would  nevertheless  make 
it  difficult  to  escape  that  impression.  He  admitted  that  he  did  have 
knowledge  of  such  negotiations ;  but  first  requested  that  the  committee 
recall  to  mind  the  state  of  the  public  feeling  at  that  time,  which  he 
proceeded  to  describe.  He  then  produced  copies  of  letters  and  docu- 
ments concerning  the  negotiations  in  1795  and  1797,  as  brought  out 
in  a  previous  chapter  of  this  work.'" 

As  the  country  had  not  known  of  Innes'  part  in  the  negotiations 
tmtil  now,  a  rather  painful  impression  was  produced  concerning  him. 
He,  himself,  was  greatly  agitated  as  to  what  should  be  done.  He  ad- 
dressed Clay,  and  in  answer  was  assured  that  the  latter  believed  him 
honest,  sincere,  and  patriotic.  Clay  ventured  to  say  that  he  might,  how- 
ever, have  informed  the  United  States  of  the  Spanish  proposition.  As 
to  a  Congressional  investigation,  he  did  not  believe  that  Congress  should 
notice  the  charges  now — at  least  while  every  one  was  wrought  up  over 
the  Burr  troubles,  if  ever.^" 


•s  See  American   State   Papers,   Miscellaneous.   Vol.   XX,   Part   I,   933. 

1°  See  American  State  Papers,  Miscellaneous,  Vol.  XX,  Part  I,  925  et   seq. 

-"  Durrctt  MSS.    Written  from  Washington,  January  16,  1807. 


462  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

Humphrey  Marshall,  a  bitter  political  as  well  as  personal  enemy  of 
Innes,  was  greatly  exercised  that  "Judge  Innis,  the  coadjutor  of  Se- 
bastian, remained  unmolested ;  and  even  uncensored,  by  any  expression 
of  opinion,  on  the  part  of  any  public  functionary."-'  He  further  ob- 
served that  in  order  "to  free  Kentucky  from  the  reproach  of  quiet  sub- 
mision  to  a  sclf-conznctcd,  illicit  intrigue  with  a  foreign  pozvcr,  for 
partial  treaties,  and  dismemberment  of  the  union  in  effect — while  he 
was  the  only  judge  of  the  United  States'  court;  holding  in  chains,  the 
criminal  justice  of  the  government ;  and  in  order  to  have  this  judge, 
thought  to  be  totally  unworthy  of  his  place,  and  a  disgrace  to  the 
state,  tried,  and  turned  out  of  office  *  *  *  [he]  determined,  if 
practical,  to  rouse  the  palsied  and  sleeping  faculties  of  his  fellow  citi- 
zens," and  in  order  to  accomplish  this,  he  determined  to  run  for  rep- 
resentative   in    the    Legislature    from    Franklin   County.22 

A  spirited  campaign  followed,  which  resulted  in  a  close  victory  for 
^^arshall  over  his  ojiponent,  Col.  John  M.  Scott.-*  To  prepare  the  way 
for  a  legislative  assault  on  Innes,  the  Western  World  published  in 
November,  1807,  a  bitter  attack  on  him  signed  by  "A  Voice  in  the 
West,"  which  was  undoubtedly  from  the  pen  of  Marshall.  He  lamented 
the  fact  that  Innes  had  not  been  before  the  Legislature  for  investigation 
at  the  same  time  Sebastian  was,  "They  could  not  have  said  less  than, 
'that  Judge  Innis,  while  he  was  in  the  exercise  of  his  office  under  the 
general  government,  and  drawing  his  annual  salary  therefrom,  was 
engaged  in  carrying  on,  through  the  means  of  Sebastian,  with  the 
agents  of  the  Spanish  government,  an  illicit,  unjustifiable,  and  highly 
criminal  intercourse,  subversive  of  every  duty  he  owed  to  the  con- 
stituted authorities  of  our  country,  and  highly  derogatory  to  the  char- 
acter of  Kentucky  and  of  the  United  States !'  Less  than  this,  they  could 
not  possibly  have  said." 

He  then  took  the  Federal  Government  to  task  for  not  acting  on  the 
information  that  was  known  to  all,  and  ridding  itself  of  an  officer  who 
had  stamped  upon  Kentucky  "the  indelible  stain,  of  cherishing  and 
supporting    a    Spanish   conspirator   openly    detected    in    liis    guilt." 

In  sonorous  and  rounded  periods  he  called  upon  the  people  to  return 
to  a  sense  of  their  duly. 

Having  prepared  the  public  mind  by  every  possible  means  for  a 
legislative  attack  upon  Innes,  and  having  won  his  election  on  that  point 
Marshall  introduced  a  set  of  resolutions  on  the  subject  in  January,  1808. 
The  preamble  set  forth  the  charges  that  Judge  Innes  while  a  federal 
judge  had  "been  privy  to,  or  concerned  in  secret  and  clandestine  negotia- 
tions or  intrigues"  to  be  seen  "especially  in  the  case  of  Lachaise,  a 
French  emissary — and  in  the  case  of  Baron  Corondelct,  and  in  the  case 
of  Thomas  Pozi'er,  agents  and  emissaries  of  the  king  of  Spain"  and 
that  these  circumstances  furnished  "an  occasion  of  sufficient  magnitude 
to  interest  the  attention  of  the  representatives  of  the  Kentucky  people, 
and  to  call  forth  the  public  expression  of  their  opinion." 

It  was  then  resolved,  "That  an  inquiry  ought  to  be  instituted  by 
the  constituted  authorities,  into  the  conduct  of  the  said  Judge  Innis, 
to  which  he  may  answer,  and  on  which  judgment  majr  be  pronounced." 
Copies  were  to  be  sent  to  the  state's  delegation  in  Congress. ^^ 

Innes'  position  was  rendered  exceedingly  uncomfortable.  To  make 
the  situation  more  serious  for  him  James  Wilkinson's  shady  dealings 
for  the  past  ten  years  were  now  under  fire,  largely  as  the  outcome  of 
certain  revelations  made  in  the  Hurr  trial  by  Daniel  Clark  and  others.^'* 

=  '  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  11,  383. 

22  Marshall,  History  of  Kcntucliy,  II,  383. 
f      28  He  \yon  by  a  majority  of  eleven  votes. 
/       2*  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  448,  449- 

I       ^^  American  State  Papers,  Miscellaneous,  Vol.  XX,  Part  I,  704,  705.     Also  see 
Ibid,  46a-645.  .      _- 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  463 

The  United  States  House  of  Representatives  on  January  13,  1808,  called 
upon  President  Jefferson  for  a  court  of  inquiry  on  Wilkinson's  conduct 
and  requested  him  to  communicate  ''any  information  which  may  have 
been  received  at  any  time  since  the  establishment  of  the  present  Gov- 
ernment, touching  combinations  with  foreign  agents  for  dismembering 
the  Union,  or  the  corrupt  receipt  of  money  by  any  officer  of  the  United 
States  from  the  agents  of  foreign  Governments."  -'''  But  with  character- 
istic ingenuity,  Wilkinson  had  seized  the  initiative  when  he  saw  trouble 
brewing  and  had  demanded  a  court  of  inquiry.  Such  a  court  was  ap- 
])ointed  on  January  2d.-'  Innes  wrote  Wilson  Gary  Nicholas  how 
circumstances  had  conspired  against  him — how  his  former  friendship 
and  close  acquaintance  with  Sebastian  and  Wilkinson  tended  to  place 
him  in  a  false  light,  now  that  Humphrey  Marshall  was  calling  for  an 
investigation.  "These  circumstances,"  he  declared,  "will  with  the  sus- 
picious and  prejudiced  people  be  attached  to  me — altho  innocent  I  must 
bear  it,  relying  on  time  and  deliberation  to  wipe  off  any  unfounded 
calumny."  ^^ 

As  soon  as  Innes  learned  that  Marshall  had  introduced  the  resolu- 
tions calling  for  an  inquiry,  he  addressed  the  following  communication 
to  Henry  Clay,  Speaker  of  the  House:  "Sir:  I  have  been  informed, 
though  inofficially,  that  certain  resolutions  have  been  presented  to  the 
house  of  representatives  in  which  you  preside,  implicating  my  conduct 
and  integrity  as  a  judge  of  the  court  of  the  United  States,  for  the  Ken- 
tucky district.  Having  supposed  myself  immediately  responsible  to  the 
general  government,  from  whom  I  hold  that  appointment,  I  did  during 
the  last  session  of  Congress  write  to  several  members  of  that  body, 
requesting  through  them,  that  an  inquiry  might  be  made  into  my  conduct. 
From  this  however  they  dissuaded  me,  because  in  their  judgment  there 
was   not   sufficient  ground  to   justify  or  authorize   such   inquiry. 

"Conscious,  however,  of  my  own  innocence  of  any  criminal  inten- 
tion, or  acts,  and  that  in  spite  of  all  the  malevolence  of  my  enemies, 
upon  a  free  examination,  my  life  would  only  manifest  errors  of  the 
head  and  not  of  the  heart,  nothing  is  more  desired  by  mc  than  an  in- 
vestigation into  my  conduct,  governed  by  temper,  moderation  and  justice. 
The  result  of  which  investigation  (to  which  I  invite  your  honorable 
body)  will  be  as  honorable  to  me,  as  mortifying  to  those  who  prosecute 
me."  29 

A  few  days  later  he  wrote  the  Committee  of  the  whole  on  the  State 
of  the  Commonwealth,  protesting  his  innocence,  and  declared  that  he 
had  noted  "with  a  degree  of  solicitude  &  indignation  not  to  be  ex- 
pressed, the  numerous  arts  which  have  been  made  use  of  by  my  enemies 
to  prejudice  the  minds  of  the  public."  ^^ 

Discussion  immediately  began  on  Marshall's  resolutions  and  ex- 
tended over  several  days.  Clay,  the  speaker,  who  a  year  before  had 
advised  Innes  against  pressing  for  an  investigation,  descended  from 
the  chair  to  oppose  the  resolution.  He  made  a  counter-move  by  intro- 
ducing a  new  series  of  resolutions,  directly  opposite  to  Marshall's.  It 
was  stated  in  the  preamble  that  whereas  all  the  evidence  taken  in  the 
Sebastian  investigation  had  been  transmitted  to  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment which  could  therefore  judge  whether  the  constitution  or  laws 
had  been  violated,  "and  whereas,  the  legitimate  objects  which  call  for 
the  attention  of  this  legislature  on  themselves  sufficiently  important  to 

2« American  State  Papers,  Miscellaneous,  Vol.  XX,  Part  I,  705.  Jefferson  to 
House  of  Representatives,  January  20,  1808. 

^T  Ibid,  706. 

28  I-F.  C.  Nicholas  MSS.  (1807-1811),  in  Library  of  Congress.  Dated  February 
7,  1808. 

28  Marshall,  History  of  Kentuckv,  11,  448,  449-     Dated  January  29,   1808. 

^ojmtes  MSS.,  Vol.  19,  No.  s8.    Dated  February  3,  1808. 


464  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

require  the  exercise  uf  all  their  wisdom  and  time,  without  engaging 
in  pursuits  of  others,  thereby  consuming  the  public  treasure  and  the 
tirne  of  the  representatives  of  the  people,  in  investigating  subjects  not 
strictly  within  the  sphere  of  their  duty :  and  inasmuch  as  the  expression 
of  an  opinion  by  the  general  assembly,  upon  the  guilt  or  innocence  of 
Harry  Innis,  Rsqr.  in  relation  to  certain  charges  made  against  him, 
would  be  a  prejuflication  of  his  case — if  in  one  way,  would  fix  an  indeli- 
ble stigma  ujion  the  character  of  the  judge,  without  the  forms,  or 
judicial  [jrocecding;  and  if  in  the  other,  might  embarrass  and  prevent 
a  free  and  full  investigation  into  these  charges :    Wherefore, 

"Kcsoh'cd  by  the  General  Assembly,  That  it  is  imjiroper  in  them 
to  prescribe  to  congress  any  course  to  be  taken  by  that  body  in  relation 
to  the  said  charges,  or  to  indicate  any  oi)iniun  uj)on  their  truth  or  false- 
hood." It  was  further  resolved  that  as  the  constitution  and  l;iws  guar- 
anteed to  every  citizen  in  office  or  out,  in  trials  by  imijeachment  or  at 
common  law,  fair  and  impartial  treatment,  an  investigation,  by  the 
legislature  before  a  prosecution  had  conunenced  in  which  an  opinion  of 
guilt  or  innocence  should  be  expressed  "would  tend  to  subvert  the 
fundamental  principles  of  justice."  •" 

The  con.science  of  the  law-makers  had  been  too  completely  aroused 
to  stifle  an  investigation  by  themselves  or  not  to  recommend  action  by 
Congress.  Clay's  resolutions  failed  to  pass.  A  considerable  amount 
of  discussion  took  place,  during  which  a  new  set  of  resolutions  were 
introduced  by  \\"illiam  lUackburn  following  in  general  Marshall's  out- 
line, but  failed  of  passing.-''-  There  was  finally  carried  through  the 
General  Assembly  on  February  17  and  signed  by  the  governor  on  Febru- 
ary 19  the  following  set  of  resolutions :  "Whereas  the  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives did,  at  the  last  session,  appoint  a  connnittee  to  examine  into 
and  report  on  the  conduct  of  Benjamin  Sebastian,  one  of  the  Judges 
of  the  court  of  appeals  of  this  slate,  in  relation  to  the  said  Sebastian 
being  a  Spanish  pensioner  while  holding  his  office  aforesaid,  in  which 
report  therei  were  circimistances  implicating  Harry  Innes,  a  district 
judge  of  the  United  States  in  and  for  the  Kentucky  district,  as  detailed 
by  himself  when  called  on  as  a  witness  on  the  part  of  this  common- 
wealth against  the  said  Sebastian,  and  these  circumstances,  in  the  con- 
duct of  the  said  Harry  Innes,  are  deemed  sufficient,  by  the  present 
Ciencnil  .Assembly,  to  call  forth  the  |)ublic  expression  of  their  opinion: 
Therefore. 

"Resolved  b\  the  Senate  and  House  of  Rcpresentatk'es,  That  an 
inquiry  ought  to  be  instituted  by  the  constituted  authority  into  the  con- 
duct of  the  said  Harry  Innes  *  *  *  "  jt  ^^g  ^Iso  resolved  that 
the  report  of  the  investigating  committee,  to  be  appointed,  together  with 
certain  other  documents  should  be  sent  to  the  Kentucky  Representatives 
in  Congress,  and  that  they  "do  request  an  inquiry  to  be  made  into  the 
conduct  of  the  said  Judge  Innes."  ^^ 

The  Legislature  had.  thus  made  it  plain  that  it  would  not  only  not 
attempt  t<]  shield  one  of  it  first  citizens  if  he  were  guilty  of  infidelity 
to  the  Union,  but  that  it  would  also  call  the  attention  of  the  Federal 
Go\emment  to  the  case  and  give  its  assistance. 

In  the  meantime,  Innes  had  not  been  without  plans  for  defense. 
When  it  was  evident  that  the  Legislature  would  take  action,  he  addressed 
a  series  of  questions  to  numerous  friends  and  men  of  affairs  in  which  ho 
.souglit  their  version  of  the  part  he  i)layed  in  the  perilous  times  and  their 
interpretation  of  the  attitude  of  Kcntuckians  generally  during  that  period. 

"Marshall,   History  of  Kentucky,  II,  449,  450;   Bntlcr,  History  of  Kentucky , 
223-227. 

■"•=  A  copy  may  be  found  in  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  11,  450,  451. 
"  Americnn  State  Papers,  Miscellaneous,  Vol.  XX,  Part  I,  923. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  465 

Shelby  and  many  others  responded,  and  the  ahnost  unanimous  opiniun 
was  that  Innes  was  innocent  of  any  intention  of  wrong-doing.^^ 

Innes  also  struck  back  with  vigor  at  his  bitter  enemy,  Humphrey 
Marshall,  who  had  labored  with  great  assiduity  to  get  the  inquiry  started. 
The  friends  of  Innes  in  the  Legislature  started  the  accusation  that  Mar- 
shall had  been  guihy  of  shady  and  irregular  land  deahng  with  the 
direct  purpose  of  ])ersonalIy  enriching  himself.  The  House  voted  for 
an  investigation,  and  a  committee  was  soon  appointed  and  set  to  work. 
After  a  minute  and  laborious  investigation  it  made  a  report,  filling  a 
pamphlet  of  twenty-seven  pages,  two  days  after  the  House  bad  voted  to 
investigate  Innes.  It  was  the  decision  of  the  committee  that  Marshall 
was  guilty  of  land  frauds  brought  about  by  mutilating  platts  and  enter- 
ing the  land  anew.""'  A  bitter  debate  followed  on  this  report,  which  re- 
sulted in  the  adoption  of  a  resolution  by  a  vote  of  30  to  23,  declaring 
that  the  proof  was  insufficient.  It  was  claimed  by  Innes  that  the  vote 
was  not  taken  on  the  merits  of  the  case,  but  was  part  of  a  parliamentary 
tangle  on  account  of  which  Marshall,  luckily  for  himself,  escaped  justice. 
.Some  time  later  Innes  made  a  stinging  attack  on  Marshall  in  an  eight- 
])age  pamphlet  in  which  he  declared  that  "Mad  Humphrey  Marshall,  after 
his  trial  before  the  House  of  Representatives  of  Kentucky,  at  their  last 
session,  been  satisfied  with  being  ivhip'd  and  clear'd,  I  should  not  have 
troubled  the  public  with  this  address.     *     *     *"  ^s 

On  March  21st,  the  United  States  House  of  Representatives  took  up 
the  question  of  the  Innes  investigation,  which  had  been  requested  by  the 
Kentucky  Legislature.  John  Rowan  arose  and  observed  that  the  Govern- 
ment should  carefully  note  any  "deviation  from  a  correct  course  of  any 
one  of  its  functionaries,"  that  whatever  "excuse  might  be  found  in  the 
weakness  of  human  nature  for  any  errors  in  judgment,  yet  for  a  devia- 
tion from  the  allegiance  which  he  owes  to  his  Government,  as  a  child 
to  its  father,  no  excuse  could  be  found  in  the  weakness  of  his  frame  or 
the  incompetency  of  judgment."  He  stated  then  that  if  any  judge  had 
violated  his  duty,  every  consideration  for  the  Union,  required  "That  he 
should  experience  the  utmost  severity  of  animadversion."  Thereupon  he 
offered  the  following  resolution  : 

"Resolved.  That  a  committee  be  appointed  to  inquire  into  the  conduct 
of  Harry  Innes,  district  judge  of  the  United  States  for  the  district  of 
Kentucky,  relative  to  his  having  whilst  in  the  tenure  of  his  office  afore- 
said been  party  or  privy  to  a  project  on  the  part  of  Spain  or  her  subjects 
to  dismember  these  United  States,  or  to  the  seduction  of  the  State  of 
Kentucky  from  this  Union ;  or  relative  to  his  having  been  party  or  privy 
during  the  time  aforesaid  to  a  project  of  France  or  her  citizens,  to 
embroil  these  United  States  in  a  war  with  Spain ;  or  relative  to  his  having 
illicitly  corresponded  with  both  or  either  of  the  governments  aforesaid 
or  their  subjects  or  citizens  upon  one  or  both  the  propects  aforesaid;  or 
relative  to  his  having  known  and  concealed  from  this  Government  one 
or  both  the  said  projects ;  and  that  the  said  committee  have  power  to 
send  for  per.sons,  papers,  and  records,  and  that  they  report  whether  in 
their  opinion  the  said  Harry  Innes  hath  .so  acted  relative  to  all  or  either 
of  the  subjects  aforesaid  as  to  require  the  interposition  of  the  Consti- 
tutional powers  of  this  House."  ^"^ 

Richard  Stanford,  of  North  Carolina,  declared  that  the  subject  was  of 
great  interest,  and  that  if  the  public  prints  could  be  believed  this  was  one 
of  at  least  three  attempts  to  deduce  the  West  from  is  allegiance.     He 

3*  These  replies  arc  preserved  in  Innes  MSS.,  Vol.  19. 

^^  Report   of   the   Select    Committee,  Appointed   to   Investigate    Certain    Charges 
Against  Humphrey  Marslmll.     Report  made  February   19,  1808. 
^^  Innes  MSS..  Vol.  18. 
^'' Anrwls  of  Congress,  1807-1808,  1858. 

Vol.  1—34 


466  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

believed  that  Kcntuckj's  action  "was  one  of  the  best  pledges  that  the 
State  itself  did  not  participate  in  the  disafTection.  He  was  in  favor  of 
making  the  resolution  more  general  to  include  inquiries  into  the  other  in- 
trigues; and  to  accomplish  that  purpose  he  moved  that  the  resolution  lie 
on  the  table.  \\'illiam  A.  HurweH  came  to  the  rescue  of  Innes  to  the 
extent  that  although  he  was  willing  to  have  the  investigation  made, 
he  wanted  "to  afford  an  opportunity  to  do  justice  to  the  character  of  the 
person  implicated,  and  not  by  instituting  an  inquiry  without  due  proof 
that  it  was  necessary,  to  prejudice  the  jjublic  mind  against  his  character." 
Rowan  replied  that  he  was  satisfied  that  an  inquiry  should  be  made  "and 
believed  in  his  own  mind  that  it  ought  to  terminate  in  impeachment 
and  removal."  He  might  be  j^rejudiced,  for  he  had  heard  so  "much  of 
his  mal-conduct,  and  he  felt  a  general  prejudice  against  any  officer  who 
permitted  himself  even  to  be  tampered  with."  P)Ut  in  order  not  to  arouse 
suspicions  of  undue  haste,  he  consented  to  a  postponement  of  the  reso- 
lution, w^hich  was  so  voted.-'** 

Exactly  ten  days  later,  the  resolution  was  again  taken  up.  ISenjamin 
Howard, •'''  of  Kentucky,  expressed  the  wish  that  the  resolution  should  be 
adopted  not  only  out  of  the  respect  he  held  for  the  Kentucky  Legislature, 
but  from  a  feeling  that  an  incjuiry  was  necessary.  Ever  since  the  investi- 
gation of  Sebastian,  he  stated,  there  had  been  a  general  feeling  unfavor- 
able to  Judge  Innes.  "bVom  the  delicate  and  important  nature  of  the 
trust  reposed  in  a  judge,  it  is  indisputably  necessary  not  only  that  he 
should  possess  integrity,  and  possess  purity  of  mind,  but  that  he  should 
be  free  from  all  suspicions  to  the  contrary.  That  his  reputation  has 
sustained  a  diminution  is  certain,  whether  on  proper  or  on  improper 
ground,  it  is  not  necessary  for  ine  to  determine.  I  trust  the  House  will 
permit  the  inquiry  to  progress,  that  if  innocent,  this  gentleman  may  be 
permitted  to  su.stain  that  reputation  which  he  has  so  long  enjoyed ;  and 
if  guilty,  the  public  may  put  out  of  their  service  a  man  who  has  so  ill 
conducted  [himself  |.  I  conceive  that  the  House  cannot  hesitate  on  this 
subject.  What  e\iflcnce  other  gentlemen  may  require  to  justify  them 
in  adopting  this  resolution  I  cannot  for  them  say;  but  for  my  single 
self,  if  nothing  more  were  presented  to  my  view  than  the  resolution  of 
the  Legislature  of  Kentucky,  to  my  mind  it  would  be  sufficient.  While 
up  I  think  it  my  duty  to  mention  that  Judge  Innes,  by  the  mail  which 
brought  his  accusation,  wrote  to  a  number  of  the  Representatives  of  the 
State  of  Kentucky,  among  whom  was  myself,  expressing  not  only  his 
willingness  but  his  anxiety  that  an  inquiry  should  take  place." 

(k-orge  M.  Troup,  of  Georgia,  believed  "that  the  Western  conspiracy 
should  be  developed  to  its  utmost  extent."  It  was  tiow  high  time  that  the 
Government  should  find  out  who  were  its  friends  and  who  were  its 
enemies,  to  the  end  that  those  of  the  latter  who  were  in  office  might  be 
put  out  and  those  who  were  not  in  office  might  be  kept  out.  The  resolu- 
tion was  then  adopted  unanimously.  A  committee  of  seven  was  then 
ai)p()inted  with  Rowan  as  chairman,  to  inquire  into  the  conduct  of  Innes.-"" 

On  .April  iq.  Rowan  brought  in  a  report  for  the  committee  "that  they 
have  considered  the  same  [conduct  of  Innes |  and  the  accompanying 
documents  |  rcjKirt  of  the  Sebastian  inquiry  [,  which  documents  are  the 
only  evidence  which  they  are  informed  can  be  obtained  material  to  the 
inquiry,  and  are  of  o])inion  that  Harry  Innes  has  not  ,so  acted  as  to  re- 
quire the  interposition  of  the  Constitutional  power  of  this  House."  *' 
The  report  was  then  ordered  to  lie  on  the  table. 

^«  Annals  of  Concjrcss,  1S07-1S08,  1859,  i860. 

8»  Howard  was  at  one  time  assistant  Jiidgc  of  the  Circuit  Court,  and  later 
Territorial   Governor  of   Missouri,   under  appointment  of   Madison. 

*"  Awials  of  Congress.  1S07-1S08,  1885,  1886. 

*^  Ibid,  2Kj8;  Amrrkim  Slate  Papers.  Miscellaneous.  Vol.  XX,  Part  I,  922. 
The  Sebastian  report  is  also  puljlishcd  in  .Uiitals  of  Congress,  1S07-1S0S,  2759-2790- 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  467 

On  the  following  day,  John  Smilie  of  the  committee  of  investigation 
moved  that  the  report  lie  over  until  the  next  session.  He  thought  the 
evidence  in  hand  was  insufficient  to  ground  an  impeachment,  but  he  with 
the  committee  felt  a  disposition  to  pursue  the  inquiry  further,  if  other 
testimony  could  be  had.  He  thought  it  should  be  fair  to  both  sides,  as 
evidence  could  be  collected  pro  and  con,  Rowan,  who  was  of  the  minor- 
ity on  the  committee,  was  strongly  opposed  to  a  commitment  or  post- 
ponement of  action.  He  believed  the  documents  already  produced 
were  "abundantly  sufficient  for  the  conviction  of  Judge  Innes."  It 
was  not  to  the  interest  of  Kentucky  or  of  the  United  States  that  a 
guilty  man  should  be  continued  in  high  office;  and  it  was  to  the  interest 
of  all  that  an  early  decision  should  be  had.  He  dwelt  at  length  on  the 
aggressive  patriotism  of  Kentucky  as  shown  in  their  legislature's  resolu- 
tion calling  for  the  investigation,  and  he  thought  "the  zeal  of  the  State 
should  not  outstrip  that  of  the  nation."  He  concluded  with  the  hope 
that  "Kentucky  would  be  permitted  to  have  a  judge  who  was  truly  an 
American  ;  one  who  could  not  temper  with  the  enemies  of  his  country,  and 
about  whom  should  be  such  an  atmosphere  of  repulsion  as  to  prevent  him 
from  being  selected  as  a  fit  object  for  corruption.  Such  a  judge  as  this 
Kentucky  wanted."  Smilie  then  observed  that  none  but  legal  testimony 
could  be  received  on  an  impeachment  trial,  and  such  he  would  have 
before  voting  for  impeachment.  As  there  were  only  four  more  days  of 
the  present  session,  the  whole  time  would  be  used  up  in  disposing  of 
this  case,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  other  necessary  business. 

John  Taylor,  of  South  Carolina,  and  another  member  of  the  com- 
mittee, believed  that  all  the  evidence  that  was  necessary  for  impeach- 
ment was  before  the  House.  He  observed  that  a  judge  had  been  im- 
peached for  drunkenness,  which  was  "much  less  a  misdemeanor  than 
conferring  with  the  agent  of  a  foreign  Government  for  purposes  injuri- 
ous to  his  country."  He  wanted  immediate  action  on  the  case.  Further 
discussion  by  other  members  of  the  House  followed.  Then,  John  Mont- 
gomery arose  to  vindicate  the  committee's  report.  He  declared  that  had 
Innes  not  been  innocent  of  a  sense  of  wrong  doing,  the  whole  subject 
would  never  have  been  communicated  to  John  Ross  years  ago,  a  senator 
from  Pennsylvania,  who  could  have  communicated  it  to  the  House  had 
he  thought  it  worth  while. 

Richard  M.  Johnson,  later  Vice  President  of  the  United  States,  re- 
puted slayer  of  Tecumseh,  wanted  an  early  decision.  He  said  he  repre- 
sented the  district  in  which  Innes  lived  and  he  had  heard  the  subject 
much  discussed ;  but  he  would  vote  only  on  the  evidence  and  would  not 
let  the  action  of  the  Kentucky  Legislature  influence  him  at  all.  After  a 
considerable  amount  of  further  discussion  in  which  Rowan  played  an 
important  part,  the  vote  on  the  motion  for  commitment  was  finally 
reached.  Rowan  called  for  the  yeas  and  nays,  since  he  considered  com- 
mitment as  an  evasion  of  a  decision."  The  motion  was  carried  48  to  25.^2 
This  resulted  in  burying  the  report,  never  to  be  taken  up  again. 

Shortly  after  the  session  began  in  the  following  November,  limes 
addressed  a  communication  to  the  Speaker  of  the  House  in  which  he 
outlined  and  answered  the  charges  on  which  he  was  being  censtired.'*' 

The  bitter  strife  between  Innes  and  Marshall  was  not  allayed  by  the 
former's  victory.  A  suit  soon  arose  in  which  Innes  sued  Marshall  for 
damages  for  publishing  that  "he  was  a  weak  and  partial  judge,  an  enemy 
to  his  go\'ernment,  and  one  whom  he  ranked  with  a  Sebastian,  a  Blount, 
and  an  Arnold."  The  case  dragged  along  for  ten  or  twelve  days,  finally 
resulting  in  a  divided  jury.     Each  party  paid  his  own  costs. ^* 

*' Ammls  of  Congress,  1S07-1808,  2247-2250. 

*^  Innes  MSS.,  Vol.  ig,  No.  61. 

**  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  452. 


4G8  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

A  compromise  of  truce  which  was  signed  between  these  two  bitter 
personal  and  poHtical  enemies,  who  had  been  lighting  each  other  for 
about  a  {|uarter  of  a  century,  reads  as  follows:  "Whereas  Harry  Innes 
&  llunii)hrey  Marshall  have  compromised  the  suits  pending  between 
them  in  the  Mercer  County  Circuit  Court :  It  is  agreed  tiiat  all  mat- 
ters &  things  of  a  personal  nature  which  existed  prior  to  the  compromise 
shall  be  buried  in  oblivion  between  the  parties. — And  they  pledge  them- 
selves each  to  the  other  that  they  will  not  w-rite  or  publish  or  cause  to 
be  written  or  published  any  matter  or  thing  of  &  concerning  the  other 
which  shall  be  disrespectful  of  the  character  of  the  other  on  any  subject 
cxist:ng  prior  to  the  compromise."  •*'' 

Although  there  was  nuich  i)olitical  rivalry  and  personal  animosity 
mixed  intextricably  with  the  Sebastian  and  Innes  investigations,  as,  in- 
deed, in  the  case  of  Burr's  troubles  in  Kentucky,  there  was  present  a  gen- 
uine desire  on  the  ])art  of  the  great  mass  of  Kentuckians  that  justice 
be  done  regardless  of  whom  it  might  hit,  and  that  the  patriotism  and  good- 
ness of  the  state  be  vindicated.  The  action  the  state  took  was  to  her 
credit  still  more  on  account  of  the  manner  in  which  the  investigations 
had  their  beginnings  and  the  animus  with  which  they  were  prosecuted. 
Humphrey  Marshall,  the  most  important  of  the  few  and  disposed  Ken- 
tucky I'edcralists,  by  beginning  the  investigations  put  the  democrats  in 
a  dilemma  and  gave  them  an  endless  amount  of  trouble.  Mnough  evi- 
dence was  early  produced  to  show  that  eminent  democratic  leaders 
were  guiltj'  of  questionable  acts,  to  say  the  least.  It  was  then  a  case 
for  the  overwhelming  democratic  government  to  slunv  the  proper  zeal 
in  carrying  the  inquiry  to  the  bottom ;  or  suffer  the  consequences  of  a 
half-hearted  investigation,  in  which  some  of  their  ])rominent  leaders 
were  concerned.  'J'he  former  course  was  followed  without  hesitation, 
and  the  State  was  socn  to  establish  by  such  acts  a  reputation  for  patriotic 
zeal  that  scarcely  knew  an  equ.il  in  the  union  nf  tlie  states. 

*^  Iimcs  MSS.,  \'ol.  22,  No.  117.    This  was  sij?nccl  by  both  Innes  and  Marshall. 


CHAPTER  XXXIX 
EARLY  PARTIES  AND  POLITICAL  DEVELOPMEXT 

Political  divisions  in  Kentucky  at  first  grew  on  principles  entirely 
local  and  peculiar  to  that  region,  and  therefore,  without  relation  to  the 
conditions  that  produced  party  differences  east  of  the  mountains.  While 
Kentucky  was  still  a  district  of  Virginia  the  first  political  cleavage  in  the 
population  became  evident.  The  fundamental  cause  was  the  question 
of  separation  from  the  mother  state.  In  the  early  Seventeen  Hundred 
Eighties  the  movement  for  statehood  began  with  few  people  in  favor  of  it. 
There  were  a  few  leaders  who  saw  their  opportunities  restricted  unless 
statehood  were  gained,  and  aided  by  the  various  circumstances  hereto- 
fore set  forth,  they  started  the  movement  definitelv  in  the  convention 
which  met  in  Danville  in  1784.  From  this  time  down  until  1790,  the 
politics  of  the  district  was  completely  given  over  to  this  absorbing  question 
with  its  attendant  allurements. 

Although  the  movement  for  statehood  gained  in  power  and  force 
with  the  progress  of  time;  still  there  was  always  a  persistent  element 
that  stood  for  the  old  order.  They  were  the  conservatives.  But  at  times 
their  ranks  were  greatly  increased ;  through  conditions  brought  about  by 
the  secret  agents  of  foreign  nations,  and  their  treacherous  accomplices. 
The  intrigue  with  Sjiain  stood  out  so  boldly  in  178S,  that  many  Ken- 
tuckians  became  startled,  through  the  fear  that  their  leaders  might  carry 
their  efforts  too  far  in  order  to  secure  separation  from  Virginia.  The 
great  mass  wanted  separation,  but  followed  with  statehood ;  whereas  a 
small  group  were  apparently  willing  to  set  up  independence,  or  annex 
the  region  outright  to  Spain.  The  fright  was  sufficient  to  show  those 
who  would  understand,  that  Kentucky  abhored  a  political  connection 
with  Spain,  however  much  she  might  want  to  enjoy  rights  which  that 
nation  might  give. 

Kentucky's  separation  from  Virginia  and  admission  into  the  union 
was  soon  assured ;  and  the  party  formerly  based  on  opposition  to  sep- 
aration had  now  no  leg  left  on  which  to  stand.  The  majority  party 
naturally  framed  the  new  constitution  and  seized  full  control  of  the 
State  Government.  Men  who  had  stood  out  persistently  against  sep- 
aration at  specific  times,  or  against  certain  radical  measures  proposed  in 
the  various  conventions,  or  who  were  irrevocably  against  separation  at 
any  time  or  under  any  conditions — such  men  were  generally  left 
out  of  the  new  state  organization  or  given  inferior  positions.  The 
names  of  those  who  filled  hisrh  offices  were  those  who  had  been  the  leaders 
for  separation,  e.  g.  Isaac  Shelby,  governor;  James  Brown,  secretary  of 
state;  John  Brown,  United  States  senator;  Harry  Innes,  chief  justice 
of  the  Court  of  Appeals ;  Benjamin  Sebastian,  a  judge  in  the  same  court : 
and  John  Logan,  treasurer.  George  Muter,  who,  it  would  seem,  stood  in 
line  for  a  judgeship  in  the  highest  court,  was  given  a  rather  insignificant 
position  on  the  bench  of  the  Court  of  Oyer  and  Terminer.  It  was  said 
)y  some  that  this  was  due  to  his  too  conservative  stand  in  the  movement 
'or  separation. 

It  thus  happened  that  the  party  of  opposition  which  immediately 
■.prang  up  against   the  administration   forces   was   composed  largely   of 

469 


470  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

those  who  had  been  left  out  of  office,  and  who  at  the  same  time  were, 
those  who  had  been  conservative  in  the  separation  movement.  As  politics 
go,  this  was  only  to  be  expected.  The  irreconcilable  Humphrey  Mar- 
shall, who  had  already  succeeded  in  making  enemies,  political  as  well 
as  personal  of  most  of  the  prominent  leaders  of  the  state,  sharpened  his 
trenchant  pen  and  at  once  set  upon  the  party  in  power.  Writing  over 
the  name  "Coriolonus,"  he  began  his  attacks  on  Governor  Shelby  before 
he  was  comfortably  settled  in  office.  He  disagreed  wath  the  governor's 
political  appoiiitnicnts,  and  criticized  generally  his  acts.  He  even  dealt 
in  such  puerile  attacks  as  to  note  Shelby's  bearing  and  demeanor  during 
the  inaugural  ceremonies.*  It  was  only  a  short  step  from  such  political 
cricitisms  to  personalities — and  the  politics  of  the  day  soon  developed  a 
plenty  of  this  element.  The  classic  quarrel  that  filled  the  public  prints 
ad  nauseam  was  between  Marshall  and  Innes.-  In  September,  1792, 
the  latter  dismissed  Marshall  for  the  lime  being  with  the  following 
pithy  statement:  "If  he  was  a  man  of  character,  I  would  adopt  proper 
measures  to  punish  him  for  his  insolence  for  the  publication  in  your 
Gazette  of  the  22cl  of  September  addressed  to  me.  But  as  Coriolonus  is 
that  abandoned  man  Humphrey  Marshall,  of  Woodford  County,  I  shall 
take  no  further  notice  of  him,  than  to  publish  his  name  to  your  candid 
readers.  *  *  *"  ^  Another  gentle  enemy  of  Marshall's  eighteen  years 
later  begins  an  attack  on  him  in  the  Kentucky  Gazette  with  the  following 
expression  of  self-restraint:  "I  will  not  call  you  liar,  villian,  or  scoun- 
drel ;  but,  with  all  the  politeness  imaginable,  I  could  prove  you  so."  •» 

The  methods  which  were  being  used  by  Jefferson  and  his  associates 
to  weld  together  a  party  of  opposition  to  the  national  administration 
under  Washington  and  Adams  were  peculiarly  valuable  and  effective  in 
Kentucky  and  the  West  generally.  Whatever  group  that  might  have 
been  in  control  of  the  national  government  during  this  period  would, 
however,  have  met  with  strong  opposition  in  Kentucky;  for  the  besetting 
problems  of  the  West  could  not  be  settled  in  a  day  by  any  party  contrary 
to  the  belief  of  most  Kentuckians.  It  was  therefore  in  one  sense  a  mis- 
fortune for  the  rising  federalist  party  that  it  was  in  power  during  the 
troublous  times  in  the  West.  The  opening  of  the  Mississippi  was  not 
procured  by  the  National  Government,  despite  its  ceaseless  efforts,  until 
1795.  For  six  years,  then,  it  had  been  under  the  fire  of  the  Kentuckians. 
At  times  opposition  to  the  National  Administration  became  so  pronounced 
that  fears  arose  as  to  the  actual  loyalty  of  the  West  to  the  union  of  the 
states,  and  to  counteract  any  dangerous  movement,  decisive  steps  were 
now  and  then  taken.  The  personal  mission  under  James  Innes  sent  to 
Governor  Shelby  by  President  Washington  is  a  striking  example.  And 
even  when  the  Treaty  of  San  Lorenzo  in  1795  settled  the  navigation  of 
the  Mississippi  in  favor  of  the  West,  there  was  conspicuously  absent  any 
open  rejoicing  or  celebrations.  Kentuckians  more  aptly  expressed  them- 
selves in  the  feeling  that  there  had  now  tardily  come  a  right  which  should 
have  been  in  their  possession  and  enjoyment  for  the  past  dozen  years, 
but  which  had  been  allowed  to  sleep  through  the  ho.stility  of  an  unsympa- 
tlietic  national  administration. 

The  occupation  by  the  I'ritish  of  the  Northwest  posts  was  another 
grievance  the  West  held  not  so  much  against  Great  Britain  as  against 
the  National  Administration  for  not  forcing  their  evacuation.  The 
whole  question  of  Indian  depredations  and  frontier  protection  was  in  the 
minds  of  Kentuckians  predicated  on  the  British  occupation  in  the  North- 
west.    They  believed  that  the  British  were  at  the  bottom  of  most  of 

>  Kentucky  Gacelte,  August  25,  1792. 
'  For  instance  Ibid,  December  8,  1792. 
'Ibid,  December   I,   1792. 
*  Kentucky  Gazette,  September  11,  l8l0. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  471 

the  Indian  hostility.  And  when  finally  the  United  States  was  able  to 
secure  the  Jay  Treaty,  a  storm  of  opposition  arose  against  it  in  Ken- 
tucky. True  enough,  it  provided  for  the  evacuation  of  the  Northwest 
posts,  but  it  was  secured  through  the  Federalist  administration  and  was 
actually  negotiated  by  John  Jay,  regarded  as  the  bitterest  enemy  of  the 
West.  It  was  furthermore  a  general  settlement  with  Great  Britain, 
toward  whom  the  federalists  were  inclined  to  lean,  and  a  provocation  to 
France,  who  was  still  an  inspiration  to  Jefferson  and  his  Western  fol- 
lowers. 

Humphrey  Marshall,  who  had  slipped  into  the  United  States  sena- 
torship  from  Kentucky  at  an  opportune  moment,  and  who  as  a  good 
federalist  supported  the  treaty,  was  execrated  for  his  truckling  to  the 
East.  Having  exhaustive  invective,  his  political  enemies  resorted  to 
other  means  in  their  attacks.  George  Muter  and  Benjamin  Sebastian, 
judges  of  the  Court  of  Appeals,  declared  in  a  pamphlet  that  Marshall 
liad  had  a  suit  in  court  and  from  the  records  and  documents  it  appeared 
"that  he  had  committed  a  gross  fraud,"  and  so  evident  was  it  that  the 
court  gave  a  decree  against  him.  It  was  further  stated  that  although  in 
the  investigation  "he  was  publicly  charged  of  being  guilty  of  wilful  and 
corrupt  perjury,  in  order  to  screen  himself  from  the  consequences  of  his 
fraud,  yet  so  conscious  was  he  of  his  guilt,  that  he  had  never  since 
dared,  by  way  of  suit  or  any  other  mode,  to  bring  forward  an  examina- 
tion into  the  truth  of  the  charge ;  indeed,  callous  as  he  is.  he  appeared  at 
the  time  to  be  so  fully  convicted,  that  he  had  scarcely  aftrontery  enough 
to  deny  it."  The  Legislature  seized  this  charge  against  Marshall  as  call- 
ing loudly  for  an  investigation  by  the  United  States  Senate,  to  consider 
whether  Marshall  was  a  fit  person  to  sit  in  that  august  body.  In  a  reso- 
lution of  December  21,  1795,  this  call  was  made  by  the  Kentucky  Leg- 
islature upon  the  National  Senate.  The  resolution  said  in  part :  "Im- 
portant, indeed,  it  is  to  society,  that  those  intrusted  with  the  exercise  of 
the  power  of  Government  should  be  men  of  unshaken  virtue  and  integ- 
rity; without  these  qualities,  in  vain  shall  they  expect  the  confidence  of 
the  people,  when  the  basis  on  which  alone  that  confidence  can  be  founded 
is  wanting. 

"We  mean  not  to  give  an  opinion  on  the  justice  of  the  charge  which 
has  been  made  against  Humphrey  Marshall ;  it  has  been  made,  and  is  of 
such  a  nature  as  must  render  him  unworthy,  if  true,  of  any,  still  more 
so  of  the  highest  trust:  while  it  is  untried,  unexamined,  and  undecided 
upon,  doubts  will  exist ;  those  doubts  cannot  but  have  the  worst  effects 
on  the  public  mind. 

"The  character  of  the  Senator  may  involve  the  reputation  of  the 
State  which  he  represents ;  it  is  also  highly  interesting  to  the  honor 
and  dignity  to  the  House  of  which  he  is  a  member.  We,  therefore,  con- 
clude with  requesting  that  an  investigation  may  immediately  take  place 
relative  to  the  charges  stated;  and  if  Humphrey  Marshall  can  evince 
his  innocence,  that  such  exculpation  may  be  promulgated  throughout  the 
United  States,  that  himself,  as  well  as  our  State,  may  be  exonerated 
from  the  imputation  of  such  a  crime;  but  if  the  charges  can  be  fixed 
upon  him,  that  he  may  be  expelled  from  a  seat  in  your  house."  ^ 

The  committee  of  the  Senate  to  whom  was  referred  this  memorial 
made  its  report  on  March  11  (1796).  It  observed  that  the  suit  in  which 
Marshall  was  concerned  was  tried  eighteen  months  before  he  had  been 
elected  United  States  Senator,  "and  that,  previous  to  his  election,  mutual 
accusations  had  taken  place  between  him  and  the  judges  of  the  said 
court,  relating  to  the  same  suit."  It  also  stated  that  no  copy  of  Mar- 
shall's answer  under  oath,  no  fact  of  the  testimony,  none  of  the  records 
or  documents,  nor  "the  copy  of  any  paper  in  the  cause,"  had  been  fur- 

^  American  State  Papers,  Miscellaneous,  Vol.  XX,  Part  I,  141. 


472  HISTORY  OF  KKXTrCKV 

nislicd  the  coniniiltLe  Ijy  the  Kentucky  representatives,  "nor  have  they 
intimated  a  design  to  bring  forward  those  or  any  other  proof.  The  com- 
mittee then  gave  as  its  decision  that  "as  no  persons  appears  to  prosecute, 
and  there  is  no  evidence  adduced  to  the  Senate,  nor  even  a  specific 
charge,  the  committee  think  any  further  inquiry  by  the  Senate  would  be 
improper."  .Marsliall  had,  however,  waived  the  point  of  jurisdiction  of 
the  Senate  in  the  case,  and  had  welcomed  an  investigation,  regardless 
of  its  irregularity.  The  committee  considered  that  this,  nevertheless,  did 
not  give  the  right  to  proceed.  It  then  intimated  that  the  over-zealous 
Democratic  Legislature  of  Kentucky  had  proceeded  too  fast  in  its  accusa- 
tions:  "They  (the  committee)  think  that,  in  a  case  of  this  kind,  no  per- 
son can  be  held  to  answer  for  an  infamous  crime,  unless  on  a  present- 
ment or  indictment  of  a  grand  jury ;  and  that,  in  all  such  prosecutions, 
the  accused  ought  to  be  tried  by  an  impartial  jury  of  the  .State  and  dis- 
trict, wherein  the  crime  shall  have  been  committed.  If,  in  the  present 
case,  the  party  has  been  guilty  in  the  manner  suggested,  no  reason  has 
been  alledged  by  the  memoralists  why  he  had  not  long  since  been  tried 
in  the  State  and  the  district  wliere  he  committed  the  offense.  Until  he 
is  legally  convicted,  the  principles  of  the  constitution  and  of  the  common 
law  concur  in  presuming  that  he  is  innocent.  And  the  committee  are 
compelled,  by  a  sense  of  justice,  to  declare  that,  in  their  opinion,  this  pre- 
sumption in  favor  of  Mr.  Marshall  is  not  diminished  by  recriminating 
publications  which  manifest  strong  resentment  against  him.  .\nd  they 
are  also  of  opinion  that,  as  the  constitution  does  not  give  jurisdiction  to 
the  Senate,  the  consent  of  the  party  cannot  give  it;  and  that,  therefore, 
the  said  memorial  ought  to  be  dismissed."" 

Thus,  was  Marshall  vindicated  by  a  Federalist  Senate,  antl  the  Demo- 
cratic Kentucky  Legislature  rebuked  and  rubbed  of  ;i  jjoliiical  victory  it 
was  striving  to  gain. 

As  before  intimated  the  question  of  frontier  ])rotection  and  foreign 
sympathies,  ])layed  their  ])art  in  welding  together  the  Western 
Democracy.  I'V-deralists,  and  especially  those  from  New  luigland,  had. 
from  the  beginning,  looked  with  hostility  upon  western  expansion.  They 
greatly  feared  that  the  center  of  national  affairs  might  move  west  of 
the  Alleghanies.  Therefore  down  until  i/ip.  little  aid  at  all  was  given 
the  frontiersmen  in  their  constant  clashing  with  the  Indians,  and  not 
until  1795.  were  the  Indians  finally  subdued  for  a  time,  and  were  the 
Kentuckians  conscious  of  national  protection.  The  national  adminis- 
tration sufifered  for  the  delay. 

In  foreign  sympathies  the  Kentuckians  early  followed  their  X'irginia 
traditions  and  came  to  develop  warm  feelings  for  the  French.  They  felt 
tliat  the  national  administration  had  not  stood  by  its  obligations  estab- 
lished in  the  l'"rench  Treaty  of  1778.  when  it  issued  the  neutrality  procla- 
mation in  I7<>,?.  't  a])])cared  to  tliem  to  be  a  move  in  favor  of  the  detested 
r.ritish  toward  whom  the  federalists  were  inclined  to  be  too  friendly. 
The  Kentuckians  were,  therefore,  not  to  be  expected  to  dismiss  hastily 
(jenet  and  his  scheme  to  conquer  Louisiana  and  open  the  Mississipjii 
especially  as  it  seemed  as  much  to  their  own  interest  as  to  the  blench 
that  it  should  be  carried  out.  Governor  Shelby  was  not  over-zealous 
in  enforcing  against  the  I'"rench  project  general  laws  which  he  belie\e(l 
did  not  cle.'irly  establish  a  right  or  duty  on  his  jiart  to  act. 

.'\])art  from  all  the  sijecific  acts  of  the  national  administration  and 
absence  of  them,  the  Kentuckians  were  irresistibly  drawn  away  from 
the  party  in  ])ower  for  other  reasons.  Kentuckians  were  frontiersmen 
who  had  the  jiroblems  and   ways  of   thinking  of   frontiersmen.     Their 

'^American  Stale  Papers.  MhccUaiicons,  Vol.  XX,  Part  I,  144.  This  report 
has  bpcn  a  precedent  for  Senatori.il  procedure  in  all  subsequent  investigations  of 
like  character. 


HISTORY  Ob'  KENTUCKY  473 

tastes  vvere  democratic  and  it  was  impossible  to  develop  and  satisfy  any 
other  kind.  Theirs  was  the  democracy  and  equality  not  of  theory  but 
of  fact.  Their  very  circumstances  and  surroundings  were  compelling. 
With  their  characteristic  impatience  of  restraint,  they  were  naturally 
drawn  to  the  Jeiifersonian  way  of  thinking  where  the  least  government 
was  considered  the  best.  Thus  it  was  that  not  only  Kentucky  but  the 
whole  West  allied  itself  with  the  Jeffersonian  opposition  and  became  in 
time  the  controlling  factor  in  the  democratic  party." 

It  thereby  also  follows  that  the  federalist  party  was  never  strong  in 
the  West,  and  especially  in  Kentucky.  It  was  forced  to  bear  the  burden 
of  Western  opposition  from  the  very  beginning.  Just  as  the  elements 
of  opposition  to  the  National  Administration  throughout  the  country 
were  welded  together  by  Jefferson  into  the  democratic  party,  so  it  was 
that  the  opponents  to  the  administration  in  Kentucky  laid  the  founda- 
tion for  whatever  federalist  party  existed  in  the  state.  The  most  promi- 
nent and  persistent  leader  was  Humphrey  Marshall.  He  constantly 
took  full  advantage  of  every  mistake  of  the  opposition.  In  1795,  due  to 
a  sudden  wave  of  enthusiasm  for  the  national  administration  following 
the  brilliant  victory  of  "Mad  Anthony"  Wayne  over  the  Xorthwest  In- 
dians, Marshall  unexpectedly  defeated  for  the  United  States  senatorship, 
John  Breckinridge  who  had  been  too  bold  a  leader  of  the  discontented. 
At  various  other  times  Marshall  was  a  representative  in  the  Legisla- 
ture.* But  the  federalist  party  was  never  large  in  the  state,  and  its 
leaders  never  obtained  power  except  at  rare  intervals,  and  then  from 
temporary  causes.  William  Littell,  in  the  Kentucky  Gazette,  in  1803, 
characterized  thus  federalism  in  the  state :  "In  regard  to  Federal  politics 
there  is  a  unanimity  in  Kentucky  beyond  what  I  ever  knew  in  any  other 
state.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  a  federal  party  avowing  itself  here — 
Federalism  (in  the  popular  sense  of  the  word)  is  of  all  political  sins 
deemed  the  most  mortal,  and  the  charge  of  it  once  proved  on  the  most 
popular  man  in  the  state,  would  as  effectively  terminate  his  political 
respectability  as  a  conviction  of  sheep-stealing  would  ruin  his  moral 
character."  However,  he  added  that  "it  is  not  considered  as  a  badge  of 
moral  turptitude.  On  the  contrary  a  man  possessing  it  is  supposed  to  be 
capable  of  as  many  private  virtues  as  a  republican,  and  is  universally 
credited  and  respected  for  as  many  as  he  possesses."  '  Humphrey  Mar- 
shall, who  often  felt  the  weight  of  popular  disapproval  on  account  of  his 
politics,  declared  that,  "No  matter  what  the  service  to  be  performed,  or 
the  question  to  be  decided  was ;  to  establish  upon  a  candidate  that  he  was 
a  Federalist,  was  the  equivalent  of  his  exclusion  from  office." '" 

The  sin  of  once  having  held  federalist  views  was  difficult  to  live 
down.  Joseph  Hamilton  Daviess  ran  for  representative  in  Congress  in 
1803  on  doctrines  that  were  hard  to  distinguish  from  Jeffersonian  prin- 
ciples. He  heretofore  held  a  record  of  federalist  support ;  he  had  favored 
the  Jay  Treaty,  the  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws,  and  had  supported  in  gen- 
eral the  Adams  administration.  The  people  were  not  at  this  time  going 
to  forget  it.  He  was  asked  some  pointed  questions  by  a  democrat  who 
had  been  one  from  the  beginning.  His  querist  wanted  to  know  the 
reasons  for  his  sudden  support  of  Jeffersonian  doctrines  and  the  present 
administration:  "Satisfactory  information  must  therefore  be  given 
whether  you  are  displeased  with  Mr.  Adams  because  he  is  out  of  office,  or 

'  The  party  was  variously  called,  republican,  democratic,  and  democratic-re- 
publican ;  but  as  it  developed  into  the  present  democratic  party,  it  has  been  deemed 
best  to  designate  it  with  the  continuing  name,  democratic. 

8  He  represented  Woodford  County  in  1793,  and  Franklin  County  in  1807, 
1808,  1809  and  1823.  For  a  short  estimate  of  Marshal!  see  Library  of  Southern 
Literature,  XV,  288,  289. 

9  May  3,   1803. 

'"  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  333. 


474  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

pleased  with  Mr.  Jefferson  because  he  is  in  office.  I  am  well  aware,  sir, 
that  it  is  natural  for  some  characters  to  worship  the  rising  sun ;  but  I 
do  not  therefore  conclude  that  it  is  generous  to  kick  at  the  fallen." 

The  antecedents  of  federalism,  the  character  of  its  leadership  and 
its  tenets  generally  did  not  endear  it  to  Kentuckians.  It  was  the  party 
of  strong  centralized  government,  with  a  tendency  toward  minimizing 
popular  responsibility.  It  was,  therefore,  not  preeminently  the  party 
of  the  masses.  Even  as  Hamilton,  the  leader  of  the  federalists  in  the 
nation,  said  the  people  were  a  great  beast,  so  Humphrey  Marshall  said 
in  connection  with  a  discussion  on  the  adoption  of  the  second  constitu- 
tion: "We  are,  however,  under  the  government  of  a  good  democratic 
majority,  whose  will  makes  the  constitution — as  it  does  the  laws — just 
as  they  want  it.  Should  this  be  thought  to  have  the  appearance  of 
levity,  then  it  is  most  gravely  apprehended  that  a  constitution  never 
was,  nor  ever  will  be,  preserved  by  a  democracy  which  counts  its  ma- 
jority from  the  nether  end  of  society ;  whence  is  necessarily  embraced 
the  greatest  mass  of  ignorance  and  the  least  attachment  to  good  order 
or  constitutional  restraint."  '* 

George  Nicholas  resented  the  slurs  cast  on  the  Kentucky  democracy 
by  the  "Eastern  aristocrats."  He  declared  that  if  Kentuckians  had  not 
such  polished  manners  as  certain  people  in  the  East,  it  was  perhaps  due 
to  the  fact  that  they  had  no  opportunities  to  attend  levees,  "visiting  place- 
men and  associating  with  supple  courtiers  and  office-hunters.  When 
men  associate  with  none  but  their  equals,  they  will  not  acquire  that 
refinement  of  manners  which  is  generally  met  with  about  courts;  but 
they  will  retain — what  is  a  thousand  times  more  valuable — a  greater 
proportion  of  republican  veracity  and  independence.  But  if,  from  our 
situation,  we  can  give  you  no  aid  in  the  article  of  manners,  that  same 
situation  will  enahle  us  to  do  you  a  more  essential  service.  We  will 
preserve  and  keep  alive  for  you  and  ourselves  that  sacred  fire  of  liberty, 
which  once  blazed  so  brilliantly  throughout  .America,  but  which  ap])ears 
to  be  now  entirely  extinguished  in  the  F.astern  states;  which  the  greatest 
efforts  are  making  to  destroy  in  the  middle  states,  and  which  will  re- 
quire all  the  exertions  of  its  friends  and  votories  to  preserve  it  alive  in 
the  Southern  States."  ^^ 

The  election  of  Jefferson  in  tSoi,  when  the  democrats  obtained  their 
first  national  victory,  occasioned  much  rejoicing  throughout  Kentucky, 
"which  was  demonstrated  *  *  ♦  i^y  feasting,  toasting,  singing  and 
dancing."  One  of  the  toasts  offered  at  a  celebration  in  hVankfort  was: 
"The  United  States :  may  their  republican  government  endure  v^-hile 
the  earth  revolves  on  its  axis."  '*  The  people  generally  had  already 
determined  that  they  would  like  Jefferson's  administration ;  so  much 
so  that  it  was  very  difficult  for  them  to  see  a  single  flaw.  When  an 
irresponsible  Spanish  agent  closed  the  Port  of  New  Orleans  to  West- 
ern shi]iping,  Kentuckians  strongly  refused  to  get  excited.  Why  should 
they?  The  chosen  leader  of  the  people  nuist  of  necessity  soon  set  it 
aright.  So  united  were  the  people  in  their  support  of  the  democradc 
party  that  shortly  before  this  incident  Levi  Todd  wrote  John  Breckin- 
ridge: "Politicians  are  silent;  .sometimes  we  talk  of  the  proceedings 
of  Congress.  But  there  is  no  vivacity  on  this  .subject,  as  there  can  he 
no  altercation  or  arguments.  The  mischief  of  it  is  that  excepting  fifteen 
or  twenty,  all  the  Kentuckians  think  the  same  way."  >^  The  purchase 
of  Louisiana  confirmed  still  more  the  people  in  their  Jeffersonian  democ- 
racy.    In  November,  1803,  Governor  Garrard  wrote  John  Breckinridge, 

11  Kentucky  Gasette.  February  i,   1803.     Article  by  "Scalvala." 

"  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  3I9- 

i»  Nicholas  Letter,  .38. 

»*  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  340- 

^'  Breckinridye  M^S.   (1802).     Dated  February  22. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  475 

who  was  at  this  time  a  United  States  senator,  that  everything  Jefferson 
did  made  him  still  more  popular  with  Kentuckians,"  excepting  such  Fed- 
eralists as  are  determined  to  be  pleased  with  nothing  he  can  do.  One 
great  blessing  to  Kentucky  is  that  there  are  few  of  that  character  among 
us,  and  I  sincerely  wish  the  number  less."  "^ 

Although  the  Kentucky  Federalists  were  few  in  numbers,  they  at 
times  made  the  position  of  the  democrats  very  uncomfortable.  It  was 
their  chief  delight  to  delve  into  the  shady  records  of  prominent  demo- 
cratic leaders  on  the  early  plots,  intrigues  and  conspiracies.  For  a 
time  it  seemed  that  they  would  make  much  of  the  Burr  episode. 
Daviess'  keen  ardor  in  prosecuting  Burr  in  Frankfort  was  sharply 
whetted  by  the  expectation  of  discrediting  the  democratic  party  in  the 
state.  Humphrey  Marshall,  grasping  this  opportunity  for  the  same 
purpose,  set  upon  his  political  enemies  like  a  tiger  on  its  prey.  Sebas- 
tian went  down  in  the  crash,  and  Innes  barely  escaped.  The  Western 
World,  through  which  the  exposures  were  first  made  became  for  a  time 
a  powerful  weapon  in  the  hands  of  the  federalists.  But  it  was  done 
when  it  had  finished  with  its  "exposures"  of  the  "Spanish  Conspiracy" 
and  its  chief  participants.  It  attempted  to  nm  on  for  a  time  as  a  paper 
based  on  general  federalists  principles,  but  by  1810  it  had  so  aroused 
the  hostility  of  most  Kentuckians  through  its  criticisms  of  the  national 
administration's  handling  of  foreign  aiifairs  and  through  its  apparent 
truckling  to  British  insults  and  domination  that  it  was  forced  out  of 
existence. 1''^ 

But  during  the  years  directly  following  the  Burr  episode  the  pros- 
pects for  federalism  were  the  brightest  they  had  ever  been  in  the  state. 
The  federalists  began  laying  broad  foundations  for  their  eventual  su- 
premacy and  thereby  produced  a  considerable  flurry  among  the  demo- 
crats. Harry  Innes  said  in  1806:  "The  crisis  of  our  state's  political 
character  has  arrived,  and  it  is  now  the  duty  of  republicans  to  exert 
themselves  in  order  to  defeat  the  views  and  projects  of  the  federalists. 

"Report  says  that  in  almost  every  county  in  the  state  there  is  a 
candidate  attached  to  the  federalist  party.  To  my  mind  their  object 
is  to  prepare  some  measure  to  effect  the  ensuing  presidential  election, 
or  why  at  this  juncture  this  violent  struggle?"  '« 

This  revival  of  federalist  activities  continued  through  the  period 
up  to  the  War  of  1812.  In  1810,  on  the  cessation  of  the  Western  World, 
Humphrey  Marshall  began  the  publication  of  a  paper  called  the  Amer- 
ican Republic  in  support  of  the  federalist  party.  This  move  evoked 
from  the  editor  of  the  Kentucky  Gazette  the  remark  that  "the  banners 
of  Federalism  are  unfurled  in  the  west,  and  every  exertion  will  no  doubt 
be  made  to  dupe  and  deceive  the  good  people,  even  publicly."  i"  The 
Federalists  made  a  determined  effort  this  year  in  their  attempt  to  cap- 
ture the  Legislature.  In  Franklin  County  their  candidate  had  the 
strong  backing  of  Marshall's  American  Republic,  but,  according  to  the 
Kentucky  Gazette,  he  was  beat  so  completely  that  he  received  only  224 
votes  out  of  2,000  or  3,000  cast — "and  this  number,  too,  at  the  expense 
and  trouble  of  attending  all  the  meetings,  musters,  barbecues  znA  public 
gatherings  of  every  kind  in  the  country,  besides  visits  and  written  circu- 
lars to  almost  every  private  family;  and  of  stump  speeches,  many  a 
score."  20 

The  use  the  federalists  made  of  charges  against  the  democrats  of 
shady  dealings  with  foreign  countries  was  carried  into  every  political 
contest  where  it  was  possible  to  raise  a  suspicion.     In  1807  Joseph  M. 

»8/Wd  (1803).    Dated  November  4. 

"  For  its  later  policy,  see  Reporter,  October  24,  1808. 

»« Innes  MSS.,  Vol.  18.     Innes  to  Preston  Brown,  July  3,  1806. 

■^"Kentucky  Gazette,  July  3,   1810. 

^"Kentucky  Gazette,  August  14,  i8ia 


47(i  HISTORY  OF  KENTrCKY 

Street,  of  the  Western  World,  bitterly  assailed  a  candidate  for  public 
printer  in  a  hand  bill  in  which  he  brought  charges  of  treason  and 
sounded  the  alarm:  "Rise  Freemen  of  Franklin  and  trample  the  altar 
of  treason  and  conspiracy  beneath  jour  feet,  and  spurn  from  your  bosom 
the  man  who  has  presumed  to  direct  your  votes  with  a  view  to  his  elec- 
tion of  public  printer."^'  The  inroads  into  the  Kentucky  democracy 
which  the  federalists  seriously  threatened  for  a  time  did  not  materialize, 
due  to  the  quick  willingness  of  the  democrats,  expressed  on  many  occa- 
sions, to  clean  house  if  there  were  any  uni)atriotic  within,  and  through 
their  haste  to  frown  on  treason  with  as  much  force  as  the  federalists 
could  use.  Their  demand  for  the  Innes  inquiry  was  a  case  in  point. 
In  the  gubernatorial  election  of  1808  Charles  Scott  defeated  John  Allen, 
for  one  reason  at  least  on  account  of  the  latter's  intimacy  with  Sebas- 
tian and  Innes  and  his  appearance  as  counsel  for  Burr  in  Frankfort. 
And,  although  Marshall  could  harbor  no  suspicions  against  him,  and 
the  worst  he  could  say  of  him  was  that  "if  he  could  not  or  would  not 
see  the  offenses  of  those  against  whom  so  much  appeared,  he  was  clearly 
unfit  to  be  governor" — still  the  Kentucky  democracy  defeated  him  by 
an  overwhelming  majority. -- 

As  war  with  Cireat  Britain  a])])roacIie<l,  the  federalists  always  as- 
sumed a  contrary  position  to  the  democrats.  When  the  latter  were  for 
a  peaceful  solution  of  the  difficulties,  the  federalists  cried  loudly  for 
war;  and  when  war  seemed  imminent  the  federalists  were  strongly  op- 
posed to  it.  In  1 80S,  in  the  days  of  the  embargo,  Henry  Clay  introduced 
in  the  Kentucky  House  of  Representatives  a  set  of  resolutions  praising 
Jefferson  and  his  measures.  In  one  it  was  resolved,  "That  the  admin- 
istration of  the  general  government  since  Thomas  Jeft'erson  has  been 
elected  to  the  office  of  president,  has  been  wise,  dignified  and  patriotic, 
and  merits  the  a])probation  of  the  country."  Another  one  declared 
"that  the  embargo  was  a  measure  highly  judicious  and  the  only  hon- 
orable e.xpedient  to  avoid  war — whilst  its  direct  tendency,  besides  annoy- 
ing those  who  had  rendered  resort  to  it  necessary,  was  to  preserve  our 
seamen  and  property,  exposed  to  the  piratical  depredations  of  foreign 
vessels."  Another:  "Resolved,  That  Thomas  Jeft'erson  is  entitled  to 
the  thanks  of  his  country  for  the  ability,  uprightness  and  intelligence 
which  he  has  displayed  in  the  management,  both  of  our  foreign  rela- 
tions and  domestic  concerns."  Humphrey  Marshall  offered  a  substitute 
set  of  resolutions  in  which  no  praise  was  voiced  for  Jefferson  and  in 
which  the  embargo  was  dealt  with  as  follows:  "In  this  choice  of  diffi- 
culties, (liiTicnlties  insuperable  to  the  eye  of  despondency  and  to  the  heart 
of  timiditv,  there  is  one  cause  open  to  honor  and  patriotism;  it  is  worthy 

-^  Innes  MSS.,  Vol.  18.     One  of  the  handbills  is  preserved  here. 

--  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  457- 
Col.  Tliomas  L.  Crittenden,  in  an  address  made  in  Frankfort,  November  8,  1854, 
bad  tbis  to  say  of  Governor  Scott: 

"In  1808,  wbcn  most  of  his  life  was  spent — after  arduous  services  and  long 
years  bad  wasted  tbe  vigor  and  strength  of  bis  manly  form,  while  bis  patriotism  and 
his  virtues  had  but  been  hardened  by  exix)surc — with  bis  intellect  still  unimpaired, 
he  stood  before  tbe  highest  earthly  tribunal,  .^nd  then  the  people  of  Kentucky 
pronounced  liim  their  chief  man.  Tbe  people  looked  back  over  his  long  and  well 
spent  life — for  all  could  mark  bis  course,  deeds  having  written  bis  name  on  many 
pages  of  the  country's  history — and,  finding  no  blot  or  stain  upon  his  fame,  they 
could  not  withhold  their  suffrages.  No  eloquence  nor  flattering  tongue  besought 
their  support.  Tbe  old  soldier,  with  modesty  unfeigned  and  real  as  bis  merit, 
thought  the  office  of  Governor  too  high  a  i)lace  for  his  ability  and  too  great  a 
reward  for  bis  services.  In  the  honesty  of  bis  soul  he  bluntly  told  the  people,  in 
the  brief  speeches  be  made  to  them,  that  his  cotnpctitor  was  far  better  qualified  for 
the  distinguished  position  than  be  was  himself,  but  that  if  they  would  be  foolish 
enough  to  elect  him,  be  would  do  bis  best  for  them.  He  was  almost  unanimously 
elected,  and  the  same  singleness  of  purpose,  the  same  fidelity  and  devotion  to  bis 
country  which  had  marked  bis  military  conduct,  characterized  and  distinguished 
his  administration." 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  477 

the  American  character,  it  is  suitable  to  the  rights  and  to  the  dignity 
of  a  sovereign  and  independent  nation :  it  is,  to  resume  the  practical 
exercise  of  those  just  rights  of  navigation  and  of  commerce,  which 
have  been  suspended,  to  the  universal  distress  of  the  nation,  and  to 
defend  them  with  all  the  energies  of  a  people  determined  to  the  free 
and  independent."  Such  federalist  sentiments  were  given  scant  atten- 
tion or  notice,  except  to  be  thrown  out  by  the  overwhelming  vote  of  64 
to  I.  Marshall  was  the  only  one  voting  for  his  resolutions.--'  The  Clay 
resolutions  were  then  carried  by  the  same  majority.  This  is  an  example 
of  the  result  of  the  most  federalist  interferences  in  the  Kentucky  Legis- 
lature. 

With  the  great  preponderance  of  voters  belonging  to  the  democratic 
party,  campaigning  and  electioneering  was  largely  reduced  to  a  personal 
phase.  There  were  of  course  at  this  time  no  nominating  conventions. 
Candidates  came  forward  through  their  own  prominence,  announcing 
themselves  or  being  announced  by  friends.  Henry  Clay,  while  a  United 
States  Senator  in  1810,  announced  himself  for  the  lower  branch  of 
Congress  with  a  reason  eminently  fitting  the  long  career  he  was  enter- 
ing upon :  "In  presenting  myself  to  your  notice,  I  conform  to  senti- 
ments I  have  invariably  felt,  in  favor  of  the  station  of  an  immediate 
representative  of  the  people."  -*  There  was  still  much  feeling  mani- 
fested among  would-be  candidates  that  they  should  be  brought  out 
rather  spontaneously  by  the  people.  It  was  not  yet  the  generally  ac- 
cepted method  of  announcing  candidacy  in  the  newspapers.  An  under 
current  of  feeling  could  easily  be  started  at  militia  musters,  barbecues, 
and  court  days  Friends  pushed  the  movement  along  until  soon  the 
candidate  was  in  full  bloom.--' 

In  1810  a  voter  gave  his  experience  with  an  electioneering  candidate 
at  the  muster,  which  the  latter  would  inevitably  attend.  The  candidate 
"asked  me  to  drink  some  grog,  and  took  me  to  a  Booth,  and  there  I  was 
saluted  with  a  hearty  shake  of  the  hand  from  all  the  candidates,  who 
seemed  to  be  as  much  my  friends  as  if  they  had  known  me  all  their 
lives.  Soon  after  the  candidates  began  to  speak,  and  they  all  promisefl 
a  great  deal  of  good  things  to  us  people  if  we  would  elect  them.  My 
candidate  promised  he  would  reform  the  cursed  courts  which  delayed 
business,  and  would  support  his  own  measures,  and  oppose  those  of 
other  people,  and  he  neither  excepted  the  good  nor  the  bad — another 
that  he  would  support  the  peoples  interest;  another,  that  his  interest 
and  ours  was  the  same;  another,  that  he  counted  on  our  suffrages  to  be 
elected  and  serve  us — and  so  on." 

After  the  speaking  had  been  concluded  a  thoughtful  friend  ap- 
proached the  voter  and  threw  out  the  following  queries:  "Yes  he 
says  so  noiv,  but  what  was  his  conduct  before  the  election  came  on  ? 
Did  he  then  shake  hands  with  every  man  he  met,  stop  and  talk  with  us, 
care  about  any  man's  affairs  but  his  own,  pull  off  his  hat  to  everybody, 
enquire  after  our  health  and  families,  and  endeavor  to  conciliate  our 
good  will?"-''  Barbecues  also  played  an  important  part  in  the  cam- 
paigns. Long  speeches  were  followed  by  a  feast  in  which  the  surround- 
mg  country  participated  and  then  more  speaking  came.  Newspapers 
were  used  in  the  campaigns  to  some  extent,  but  by  no  means  approach- 
ing later  developments.  The  hand  bill  or  circular  was  by  far  the  most 
widely  used  printed  material. 

Under  the  first  constitution  the  written  ballot  was  the  method 
used  in  voting;  but  the  second  constitution  in  1799  changed  this  to  viva 


23  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  459-462. 

21  Kentucky  Gazette,  May  15,  1810. 

25  For  example,  see  Kentucky  Gazette,  July  3,  1810. 

'^^  Kentucky  Gazette,  July  31,   1810.     Article  by  "Charles   Curryman.' 


478  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

voce  voting.  A  traveler  through  the  state  gave  these  impressions  of 
an  election  day :  "The  voting  was  very  simple.  The  county  clerk  sat 
within  the  bar  of  the  courthouse,  and  the  free  holders  as  they  arrived, 
gave  him  their  names  and  the  names  of  those  they  voted  for,  which  he 
registered  in  a  book.  That  done  the  voter  remounted  his  horse  and  re- 
turned to  his  farm."  This  he  had  noted  in  Paris.  When  he  reached 
Nicholasville  he  saw  conditions  that  caused  him  to  hurry  by.  He  counted 
here  "above  a  hundred  horses  fastened  under  trees.  I  was  induced  to 
hasten  past  tliis  i)lace,  as  the  voters  in  that  sterile  part  of  the  country 
did  not  appear  quite  so  peaceable  and  orderly  as  those  I  had  seen  in 
the  morning  at  Paris,  and  I  was  not  sure  but  some  of  them  might  have 
been  moved  by  the  spirit  of  whiskey  to  challenge  me  to  run  a  race  with 
them,  or  to  amuse  the  company  with  a  game  of  rough  and  tumble,  at 
both  (of)  which  the  backwoods  Virginians  are  very  dexterous."  -^ 

In  a  state  where  politics  revolved  as  much  around  personalities  as 
political  principles,  and  where  ideas  of  personal  honor  were  highly  devel- 
oped, the  code  duello  was  certain  to  be  resorted  to  often.  The  most 
interesting  of  the  many  duels  fought  was  perhaps  the  one  between  Clay 
and  Marshall.  This  grew  out  of  a  heated  political  discussion  in  the 
Legislature  in  1809,  in  which  the  latter  came  near  precipitating  an  en- 
counter on  the  spot.  Clay  was  prevented  from  immediately  attacking 
Marshall  by  Gen.  Christopher  Riflfe,  a  man  of  powerful  frame,  who  held 
them  apart,  saying,  "Come,  poys,  no  fighting  here,  I  whips  you  both."  -•* 

Thus,  prevented  from  settling  the  differences  in  a  rather  unceremonial 
fashion  on  the  floor  of  the  House,  Clay  on  the  same  day  (January,  4), 
addressed  a  note  to  Marshall  in  which  he  said :  "After  the  occurrences 
in  the  House  of  Representatives  on  this  day,  the  receipt  of  this  note  will 
excite  with  you  no  surprise.  I  hope  on  my  part  I  shall  not  be  disap- 
pointed in  the  execution  of  the  pledge  you  gave  on  that  occasion  and  in 
your  disclaimer  of  the  character  attributed  to  you.  To  enable  you  to 
fulfil  these  reasonable  and  just  expectations,  my  friend.  Major  Campbell, 
-is  authorized  by  me  to  adjust  the  ceremonies  proper  to  be  observed." 
On  the  same  day  Marshall  returned  the  following  answer:  "Your  note 
of  this  date  was  handed  me  by  Major  Campbell — the  object  is  under- 
stood, and  without  deigning  to  note  the  insinuation  it  contains  as  to 
character,  the  necessary  arrangements  are,  on  my  part,  submitted  to  my 
friend.  Colonel  Moore."  The  following  niles  were  then  formulated  to 
govern  the  duel : 

"i.  Each  gentleman  will  take  his  station  at  ten  paces  distance  from 
the  other,  and  will  stand  as  may  suit  his  choice,  with  his  arms  hanging 
down  and  after  the  words,  Attention!  I'"ire !  being  given  both  may  fire 
at  their  leisure. 

"2.  A  snap  or  flash  shall  be  equivalent  to  a  fire. 

"3.  If  one  should  fire  before  the  other,  he  who  fires  first  .shall  stand 
in  the  position  in  which  he  was  when  he  fired,  except  that  he  may  let 
his  arm  fall  down  by  his  side. 

"4.  A  violation  of  the  above  rules  by  either  of  the  parties  (accidents 
excepted)  shall  subject  the  offender  to  instant  death." 

On  the  morning  of  January  19,  1809,  the  duel  was  fought  on  the 
Indiana  side  of  the  Ohio  River  directly  below  Louisville.  C)n  the  first 
fire  Clay  gave  Marshall  a  slight  wound,  with  the  hitter's  bullet  failing 
to  take  effect.  On  the  second  fire,  Marshall  again  went  wide  of  his 
mark  while  Clay's  gun  snapped,  which  was  according  to  the  rules  equiva- 
lent to  a  fire.  On  the  third  attempt,  Marshall  iired  first  and  gave  Clay 
a  flesh  wound,  in  the  right  thigh,  while  Clay  fired  without  effect.     The 

"  F.  Cuming,  "Sketches  of  a  Tour  to  the  Western  Country  through  the  States 
of  Ohio  and  Kentucky."    Thwaites,  Early  Western  Travels,  IV,  198,  199. 
28  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  477. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  479 

deadly  earnestness  of  this  duel  which  had  gone  through  three  rounds 
was  further  demonstrated  by  Clay's  insistence  on  still  another  fire,  "but 
his  situation,  resulting  from  his  wound,  placing  him  on  unequal  grounds, 
his  importunate  request  was  not  complied  with."  The  press  account  of 
the  day  continued : 

"We  deem  it  justice  to  both  gentlemen  to  pronounce  their  conduct  on 
the  occasion,  cool,  determined,  and  brave,  in  the  highest  degree'. 

Mr.  Clay's  friend  was  under  an  impression  that  Mr.  Marshall  at  the 
third  fire,  violated  a  rule  which  required  that  he  who  fired  first  should 
stand  in  the  position  in  which  he  was  when  he  fired;  but  Mr.  Marshall's 
friend  being  convinced  that  Mr.  Clay  had  fired  previous  to  Mr.  Marshall's 
moving  from  his  position — this  circumstance  is  considered  as  one  in  which 
gentlemen  may  mistaken  on  such  occassions,  and  is  not  to  be  noticed  in 
this  afifair."  2^ 

Sentiment  against  duelling  in  general  had  been  growing  for  sometime 
and  especially  against  governmental  officers  engaging  in  the  dangerous 
practice.  There  was  therefore  passed  in  1811  an  act  requiring  all  military 
and  civil  officers  to  take  an  oath  "that  he  or  they  have  neither  directly 
nor  indirectly,  gi\cn,  accepted,  or  knowingly  carried  a  challenge  to  any 
person  or  persons,  to  fight  in  single  combat,  or  otherwise,  with  a  deadly 
weapon,  either  in  or  out  of  this  state,  since  the  1st  of  April,  1812;  and 
that  he  or  they  will  neither  directly  or  indirectly,  give,  accept,  or  know- 
ingly carry  a  challenge  to  any  person  or  persons,  to  fight  in  single  com- 
bat, or  otherwise,  with  any  deadly  weapon,  either  in  or  out  of  this  state, 
during  their  continuance  in  office."  ^'^  It  was  too  difficult  (in  individual 
cases)  to  resist  the  temptation  of  over-indulgence  or  amendment  to  the 
law.  The  result  was  that  very  often  officers  guilty  of  an  infraction  of  their 
oath  continued  to  sit  in  office.  In  1823,  two  of  the  members  of  the  lower 
branch  of  the  legislature  were  allowed  to  continue  through  the  session 
contrary  to  the  law  on  this  point. 

The  vigorous  frontier  democracy  set  going  was  confident  and  daring. 
The  ordinary  individual  felt  an  interest  in  the  affairs  of  government,  and 
considered  himself,  in  his  own  way  a  part  of  it.  His  interest  was  lively 
and  continuing.  Who  should  be  the  active  part  of  the  government  and 
represent  the  passive  voters  was  a  question  that  early  attracted  comment. 
A  "Peasant"  in  1793  thus  surveyed  the  situation:  "Shall  we  choose 
Farmers,  Lawyers,  or  Magistrates  to  represent  us.  A  dire  dilemma !  On 
all  sides  there  is  danger. — Farmers,  perhaps,  are  too  ignorant ;  Lawyers 
too  full  of  quibble  and  mischief,  and  Magistrates  too  aspiring  and  de- 
signing." 31  As  it  was  and  came  to  be  the  case  with  other  states,  the 
lawyers  soon  came  to  dominate  the  situation. 

But  there  had  early  arose  a  feeling  that  every  man,  should  be  his  own 
lawyer,  when  it  came  to  securing  justice  in  the  courts.  It  was  felt  by 
many  that  the  laws  should  be  made  so  simple  in  content  and  phraseology 
that  the  ordinary  person  could  intepret  them.  This  idea  was  contained  in  a 
law  which  passed  the  Legislature  in  1801.  According  to  this  law,  "Where- 
as it  appears  to  the  General  Assembly,  that  the  criminal  laws  of  this 
commonwealth  are  so  complex  in  their  present  state,  that  it  is  impossible 
for  the  people  who  are  governed  by  them  to  read  or  understand  them,"  a 
board  of  revisors  should  be  appointed  to  remedy  the  state  general  defects. 
All  obsolete  laws  were  to  be  left  out ;  and  "no  abbreviations  nor  any 
Latin  or  French  phrases  shall  be  used.     And  to  the  end  that  the  citizens 

29  Palladium,  January  27,  1809,  copied  in  McEIroy,  Kentucky  in  the  Nation's 
History,  319-321.  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  I,  26;  McMaster,  History  of  the 
People  of  the  United  States,  III,  502.  For  an  account  of  the  first  duel  fought  in 
Kentuck-y  between  Thurston  and  Harrison  see  "The  First  Duel  in  Kentucky"  in 
The  Southern  Bivouac,  II,  306-310. 

3"  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  474;  Reporter,  February  15,  1812. 

31  Kentucky  Gazette,  April  27,  1793. 


4.SU  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

of  this  Commonwealth  may  he  enahled  to  judge  of  the  accuracy  with 
which  the  selections  are  made."  W  hen  the  rcvisurs  should  have  tinished 
with  their  labors,  they  should  submit  their  report  to  the  Legislature,  "'and 
if  approved  by  them,  shall  be  sub.slilutcd  in  the  [jlace  of  the  English 
reporters  as  a  commentary  upon  the  criminal  laws  of  this  state.  And  all 
judges  shall  be  enjoined  to  be  quoted  thereafter  as  authority  in  criminal 
trials,  which  has  not  previously  been  enacted  by  the  Legislature."  •*- 

In  line  with  this  idea,  and  also  expressive  of  the  great  degree  of 
individualism  of  the  day  was  the  arbitration  arrangement  set  up  by  an 
act  of  the  Legislature  in  1795.  This  was  a  method  of  settling  disputes  out- 
side of  court.  It  gave  parties  to  a  controversy  the  right  to  select  arbitrators 
who  should  he  alTorded  a  written  statement  from  each  as  to  the  points 
in\olved.  I'hese  statements  should  first  go  through  a  court  of  record 
where  they  should  be  entered  by  the  clerk  and  then  certified  to  the 
arbitrators.  This  gave  the  arbitrators  a  legal  standing  and  conferred 
upon  them  the  power  to  summon  witnesses  and  to  call  upon  the  sheriff 
or  constable  to  carry  out  the  process.  The  arbitrators  were,  themselves, 
sworn  to  decide  the  matters  presented  to  them  according  to  law  and 
equity.  A  copy  of  their  decision  must  be  furnished  to  each  party,  and 
a  third  copy  lodged  with  the  court  as  a  i)ermanenl  reci)rd  of  the  tinal 
decision.  An  appeal  from  the  arbitration  was  allowed  when  partiality 
or  corruption  could  be  proved  to  have  existed.  The  arbitrators  were 
allowed  nine  shillings  a  day  while  actually  engaged.  This  method  of 
dispensing  with  the  courts  was  interesting  and  rather  extraordinary 
development.  ETom  a  strict  view  of  the  constitution  it  was  against  that 
instrument,  which  granted  the  judicial  powers  to  a  court  of  appeals  and 
lo  inferior  courts  to  be  established.  It  could  scarcely  be  argued  that 
the  arbitrators  were  a  court.  A  hostile  critic  declared  in  this  comiec- 
tion :  "Thus  was  introduced  into  the  judicial  department  an  irresponsible 
tribunal;  and  thus  by  a  side  wind,  and  under  the  specious  pretense  of 
expediting  and  cheapening  the  administration  of  justice,  was  the  trial 
by  jury  dispensed  with;  and  a  door  thrown  open  by  law,  for  every  species 
vi  irregularity."  •'•'  In  the  second  constitution  (1799)  a  provision  was 
inserted,  not  in  the  article  "concerning  the  judicial  department"  but 
among  the  "General  provisions"  stating  that  "It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the 
general  assembly  to  pass  such  laws  as  shall  be  necessary  and  proper  to 
decide  differences  by  arbitrators,  to  be  appointed  by  the  parties  who  may 
choose   that    summary   mode   of   adjustment."  ^■' 

One  reason  for  these  arbitration  boards  may  be  the  great  unpopularity 
of  the  courts  and  the  disrepute  in  which  they  were  held.  Much  of  the 
restless  tampering  with  the  courts  has  already  been  noted,  which  ex- 
tended to  an  unconstitutional  act  on  the  part  of  the  legislature  in  taking 
away  from  the  Court  of  Appeals  its  original  jurisdiction  in  land  cases, 
granted  by  the  first  constitution.  This  early  and  continuing  attitude  to- 
ward the  courts  fitted  the  people  in  their  judicial  exjicriences  eminently 
for  the  revolutionary  [Mocedures  in  regard  to  the  Court  of  Appeals  in 
the  '20s.  Of  all  the  de[)artments  of  government,  the  courts  were  held 
in  least  rejnUe. 

In  1802,  the  whole  system  of  inferior  ccnnts  was  remade  again.  Ever 
since  the  changes  had  been  made  in  the  period  of  the  first  constitution, 
there  had  been  discontent  and  demands  for  a  new  arrangement.  Felix 
Grundy  was  one  of  the  princijxd  leaders  in  the  movement,  especially  after 
it  came  before  the  Legislature.  The  object  in  the  change  was  to  abolish 
comjiletcly  the  District  Courts  and  Quarter  Session  Courts  and  substi- 
tute Circuit  Courts.     Grundy  argued  lliat   the  Circuit  Courts  would  cost 

^- Laivs  of  Kentucky   (I^.xintfton,  I7y9),  II,   119-121. 
3"  Marshall,  History  of  Kctitucky,  II,  175,  176. 
•■'•'  Article  VI,  section   10. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  481 

the  state  much  less,  and  at  the  same  time  a  much  more  able  class  of 
judges  could  be  secured.  He  declared  that  the  judges  of  the  old  courts 
were  incompetent  and  ignorant  and  that  designing  lawyers  often  im- 
posed on  them  for  these  reasons.  Furthermore,  circuit  courts  would 
distribute  justice  more  equally,  since  they  would  be  held  in  every  county; 
and,  thus,  there  would  be  for  those  who  had  business  with  the  court  no 
necessity  of  going  to  the  great  expense  of  leaving  the  county.  Witnesses 
would  also  have  a  less  distance  to  travel,  and  there  would  be  a  reduc- 
tion of  expenses  all  around.  ^^  Those  opposed  to  changing  the  system 
argued  that  setting  up  a  new  arrangement  would  undermine  all  con- 
fidence the  people  had  in  securing  justice  in  their  courts,  and  that  it 
would  be  gross  injustice  to  the  existing  judges.  It  was  furthermore 
maintained  that  the  cost  would  not  be  reduced  by  means  of  the  circuit 
system.  In  this  constant  meddling  with  the  courts,  the  position  of  the 
judges  would  degenerate  to  the  point  where  they  would  be  nothing  more 
than  puppets  in  the  hands  of  the  legislature.  "A  Citizen"  in  a  communi- 
cation to  the  Palladium  said,  "The  caprice  which  abolishes  the  office  of  a 
judge,  which  increases  his  duty  or  reduces  his  salary,  will  force  him  to 
resume  the  profession  he  had  deserted,  and  to  employ,  in  behalf  of  in- 
dividuals, those  talents,  which  in  the  service  of  the  state,  had  been 
rewarded  with  poverty  and  disgrace."  ^•' 

But  the  popular  will  seems  to  have  been  set  upon  a  change — at  least 
the  political  leaders  were  so  minded.  In  1802,  the  legislature  abolished 
the  old  system  of  inferior  courts,  consisting  of  District  and  Quarter  Ses- 
sion courts,  and  set  up  in  their  place  nine  Circuit  courts.  Over  each 
circuit  one  judge  and  two  assistants  presided.  The  judge  followed  the 
circuit,  while  the  two  assistants  were  residents  of  the  county  where  the 
court  was  being  held.^''  But  the  greatest  departure  from  judicial  prac- 
tice and  experience  was  the  provision  that  the  assistants  should  be  not 
learned  in  the  law."  This  was  much  in  line,  however,  with  the  practice 
of  selecting  boards  of  arbitration.  There  was  widely  prevalent  the  feel- 
ing that  the  ordinary  common  sense  possessed  by  the  mass  of  the  people 
was  after  all  more  to  be  depended  on  in  the  secural  of  justice  than  the 
quibbling  and  fine-spun  theories  of  lawyers  and  judges  "learned  in  the 
law."  Additional  proof  of  this  spirit  of  the  time  is  seen  in  the  afore- 
mentioned law  looking  toward  the  simplification  of  the  language  in  the 
criminal  code. 

The  new  system  failed  to  better  the  situation  materially.  On  the 
contrary  it  had  the  direct  tendency  of  retarding  the  work  of  the  court. 
No  case  was  definitely  decided  unless  it  received  a  majority  vote  of  the 
three  members  of  the  bench ;  and  as  the  two  assistants  were  often  less 
interested  in  punctual  attendance  on  court  than  in  other  affairs,  much 
business  had  often  to  be  transacted  in  their  absence.  When  they  did 
appear,  if  they  chose  to  be  refractory,  all  the  cases  decided  while  they 
were  away,  might  have  to  be  gone  over  again.  A  contemporary  has  thus 
described  the  situation :  "But  when  the  assistants  conceded  they  knew 
as  much,  or  more,  than  their  president,  they  were  commonly  refractory, 
and  kept  him  in  check ;  he  being  in  general  a  resident  in  town,  or  an  itiner- 
ant on  his  circuit,  and  a  lodger  in  town,  where  the  court  was  held, 
could  attend  early,  or  late;  while  his  brother  judges,  residing  in  most 
cases,  in  the  country,  remained  at  home  for  breakfast;  then  came  to 
town,  put  up  their  horses  at  the  tavern,  took  a  round  of  smoking  or 
chatting;  then  to  court;  and  if  anything  had  been  done,  were  ready  to 
rehear,  and  confirm  or  revise  it.  For  it  is  to  be  remembered,  that  the 
presiding,  or  'circuit  judge,'  could  hold  court  in  the  absence  of  his  assist- 

«=  Palladium,  November  20,  27,  1801. 

'«July  14,  November  27,  1801. 

"  Kentucky  Gazette,  January  25,  18O3. 

Vol.  1—35 


482  HISTORY  OI'  KENTUCKY 

anis ;  subject,  nevcrihclcss,  to  have  everything  he  did,  undone,  by  them ; 
and  which  soon  taught  him  to  do  nothing  when  they  were  away,  imless 
he  had  i)reviously  obtained  the  control,  over  one  of  them  at  least."  •"* 

The  Court  of  Appeals,  the  highest  court  of  the  land,  was  not  at  all 
times  com])letely  free  from  the  suspicious  and  ill-will  of  the  ])eople  and 
iheir  legislature.  The  constitution  of  1799.  through  the  omission  of  the 
accustomary  clause  preventing  the  reduction  of  judges  salaries  during 
their  contiiuiance  in  office,  gave  the  legislature  a  powerful  weapon  over 
the  judiciary.  The  conviction  of  Sebastian  in  1806  of  receiving  a  Spanish 
pension  was  a  blow  at  the  prestige  of  the  court  and  the  confidence  the 
])eoi)Ie  had  in  it.  This  effect  on  the  fortunes  of  the  court  and  on  the 
dignity  it  possessed  in  the  estimation  of  the  i)eo])le  was  heightened  by  the 
proceedings  at  this  time  regarding  (leorge  Muter,  another  judge  of  the 
court.  The  general  criticisms  le\eled  at  the  court  on  account  of  Sebas- 
tian's Spanish  pension  was  extended  to  Muter  panicularly  because  of 
old  age  and  consequent  incompetency.  A  resolution  was  introduced 
in  the  legislature  attacking  the  court  and  by  way  of  argument  casting 
insinuations  as  to  Muter's  age.  Muter  agreed  to  resign  if  the  resolu- 
tion was  withdrawn,  having  been  given  the  understanding  previously 
that  the  state  would  appropriate  money  for  his  su])port.  The  resolu- 
tion was  withdrawn,  ^luter  resigned,  and  the  legislature  passed  an  act 
ai)pro[jriating  $300  amiually  for  his  supi)ort.  This  act  was  immediately 
heraltled  t(j  the  ])eople  as  a  pension — a  word  at  that  particular  time  not 
in  gootl  reijute.  The  outcry  raised  against  it  became  so  strtjug  and 
insistant  that  the  legislature  in  the  following  year  repealed  the  act  and 
left  Muter  in  his  old  age  and  poverty  to  the  mercy  of  his  friends.  The 
act  granting  the  annuity  had  given  as  the  causes  of  his  resignation  old 
age  and  infirmity  and  had  stated  as  the  reason  for  the  allowance  "that 
he  had  not  accunuilated  a  decent  support,  in  the  cause  of  a  life  spent  in 
the  service  of  his  country,  in  both  military  and  ci\il  capacity."  In  re- 
I)ealing  the  act,  it  was  argued  that  an  unwelcomed  precedent  would 
be  set  up  in  ])ensioning  ci\il  officers,  which  might  have  a  bad  effect  on 
the  state  treasury  at  times.  It  was  also  argued  that  .Muter  was  no  more 
deserving  of  his  country  than  many  another  officer,  and  as  to  the  fact 
that  he  had  not  accumulated  a  sufficiency  for  his  old  age,  the  state  should 
not  put  a  premium  on  prodigality  and  improvidence.  Regardless  of  the 
congency  of  the  reasons  for  repealing  the  annuity,  it  was  a  severe  blow 
to  Muter's  fortunes  and  did  not  enhance  the  reputation  of  the  legis- 
lature   for  honesty   in  its  dealings.'"' 

The  relations  between  the  Court  of  .\ppcals  and  the  legislature  gen- 
erally lacked  cordiality,  and  at  times  were  not  free  from  susiiicions. 
The'number  of  judges  on  the  bench  had  been  three  up  to  1801,  when 
a  fourth  judgeship  was  created,  in  order,  it  wa-s  believed,  that  a  younger 
man  might  be  aji) jointed  to  the  court.  Thomas  Todd  was  appointed  by 
Governor  Garrard  to  fill  this  position.  In  1813,  the  Legisla'ture  passed 
an  act  pro\iding  that  when  ;i  vacancy  occurred  it  should  not  be  tilled, 
but  that  the  court  should  ihereafter  consist  of  three  judges.  The 
judges  naturally  sus])icious  of  the  Legislature  took  this  action  as  a 
personal  affront,  and  resigned  in  a  body.  The  suspicions  may  have  had 
some  foundation,  for  only  two  of  them  were  reappointed.'" 

The  proper  development  of  the  court  was  greatly  hampered  by  the 
inadequate  salaries  paid  to  the  judges.      The  direct  result   wa-   that   the 

s"  Marshall,   IHslory   nf   Kciitiick-y.   II,   3.S0.   ,3.Si  ;    lUitlcr,   Ilislory   of   Kentucky, 

3«Whitsitt,  Life  and  Times  of  Jud(/e  Caleb  lVall<!ce,  i.ig;  Marshall,  History  of 
Kentucky.  II,  41?;  Butler,  History  of  Kentucky.  3,^3.  Muter  was  taken  care  of 
for  tlie  rest  iif  liis  life  by  his  friend  Thomas  Todd,  wlio  succeeded  him,  on  the 
Kciiturlsy  bench,  and  later  was  appointed  to  tlie  United  States  Supreme  Court. 

'"  Whitsitt,  Life  and  Times  of  Judge  Caleb   Wallace,  139. 


HISTORY  OF  KEXTL'CKY  48a 

best  legal  talent  of  the  state  could  not  be  secured  for  the  courts.  As  a 
further  deterrent  to  the  development  of  an  independence  and  proper 
dignity  on  the  part  of  the  judges,  a  law  was  enacted  in  1800  which  re- 
duced the  salary  of  any  judge  proportionally  to  the  time  he  failed  to 
attend  any  term  of  court,  except  in  case  of  sickness  or  unavoidable  ac- 
cident.■*!  The  small  salaries  paid  the  judges  was  a  constant  theme  in 
the  governor's  messages  and  in  newspapers  of  the  day.  In  his  message 
m  1804,  Governor  Greenup  called  the  attention  of  the  Legislature  to  this 
nnportant  subject.  He  declared  better  salaries  must  be  paid  in  order 
to  attract  "enlightened,  virtuous  and  independent"  men  to  the  judge- 
ships.^-'  In  1809,  Governor  Scott  detailed  in  his  message  to  the  Legis- 
lature the  almost  insurmountable  troubles  he  had  had  in  trying  to  keep 
the  Court  of  Appeals -bench  filled.  In  the  course  of  his  account  he  said, 
'"As  yet  such  has  been  the  difficulty  of  securing  a  fit  i>erson  to  accept 
of  the  office  of  a  judge  in  that  court,  that  I  have,  from  a  sense  of 
duty,  been  induced  to  leave  it  vacant  until  the  meeting  of  the  Legislature, 
ihat  they  might  have  it  more  completely  in  their  power  to  remedy  this 
c\il."  An  effort  was  then  made  in  the  House  to  increase  the  salaries  of 
ihe  judges  of  the  Court  of  Appeals  $500;  but  it  was  defeated  by  a  vote 
of  32  to  26. *3 

The  inferiority  of  the  men  appointed  to  the  judgeships  could  have  no 
other  eft'ect  than  to  bring  the  courts  into  general  contempt.  This  was 
especially  true  of  the  inferior  courts.  In  some  of  these  courts  there  was 
no  semblance  of  order  and  the  judge  was  little  respected.  An  indignant 
citizen  appealed  through  the  Kentucky  Gazette  to  the  judges  to  preserve 
order  in  the  courtroom.  "How  is  it  possible,"  he  asked,  "for  business  to 
be  transacted,  with  order  and  regularity,  amid  tumult  and  confusion? 
\\'here  every  citizen  assumes  the  right  of  conversing  in  courts  of  justice, 
it  is  impossible  for  the  argument  of  counsel  to  be  listened  to."  ^*  A 
continuous  round  of  criticisms  filled  the  press.  "  A  citizen"  argued  in 
1809  in  the  Reporter  through  a  long  series  of  articles  the  utter  worth- 
lessness  of  the  system  of  inferior  courts.  Nobody  had  confidence  in  the 
judges.  They  were  mediocre  men  who  were  overawed  by  the  brilliant 
lawyers  that  practiced  in  their  courts  but  which  would  receive  with  con- 
tempt an  appointment  to  one  of  the  judgeships.  They  were  often  swayed 
by  particular  lawyers  much  more  than  by  any  arguments  of  testimony 
produced;  and  it  was  often  the  case  that  suits  were  virtually  decided 
ahead  of  the  trial  depending  on  which  side  certain  lawyers  were  engaged 
who  had  reduced  the  judges  to  mere  satellites  of  theirs.  A  despondent 
litigant  who  had  lost  his  case,  in  response  to  the  communication  of  a 
friend,  said  "if  I  could  have  got  Harry  Clay  to  my  side  things  would  not 
have  been  so."  ■*"' 

The  courts  not  being  directly  representative  of  the  people,  but  ap- 
pointive through  the  executive,  were,  for  that  reason,  attacked  more  than 
the  other  branches  of  the  government.  It  was  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
Legislature  was  elected  directly  by  the  people  and  therefore  more  respon- 
sible to  their  whims  that  it  did  not  come  in  for  many  sound  criticisms. 
It  passed  numerous  acts  that  were  never  carried  out,  and  some  uncon- 
stitutional ones  that  were  carried  out.  A  critic  in  surveying  the  laws  the 
Legislature  passed  in  the  year  1809,  remarked  with  regard  to  a  certain 
act,  "Not  being  able  to  discover  any  use  in  this  act,  it  is  ascribed  to  an 
idle  hour,  and  the  old  adage,  that  'It  is  better  to  do  anything  than  to 
lick  your  paws.'  "  ■*" 

<i  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  337. 

■•=  Kentucky  Gazette,  November  13,  1804. 

*^  Reporter,  December  9,  1809. 

■'■'  January  25,  1803. 

*'"  Reporter,  .April   22,  June   13,  etc.,   1809. 

<«  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  468. 


481  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

There  is  evident  throiijjhout  this  early  period  of  poHtical  develop- 
ment a  daring  initiation  in  legislation  and  political  practice,  which  took 
not  as  a  reason  in  favor  of  a  line  of  action  the  fact  that  other  states 
had  tried  it.  nor  as  a  reason  against  a  procedure  tlie  fact  that  it  had  never 
done  before.  There  was  also  to  be  seen  the  general  feeling  that  one 
individual  was  as  capable  of  ruling  as  another  and  as  able  to  understand 
the  mysteries  of  government  and  its  laws — and  if  this  were  not  so,  then 
there  must  be  something  wrong  with  the  government.  As  to  party  divi- 
sions, the  West  was  not  confronted  with  the  conditions  proper  for  the 
develo])ment  of  a  party  with  the  tenets  of  the  federalists.  Not  until 
parties  arose  on  other  bases  could  there  grow  up  in  Kentucky  a  group 
that  could  successfully  oppose  the  all-absorbing  democrats. 


CHAPTER  XL 
MATERIAL  DEVELOPMENT  AROUND  1800 

The  great  stream  of  people  moving  to  the  West  beginning  in  the 
Seventeen  Hundred  Eighties  increased  with  time.  Facilities  for  travel 
were  made  better ;  roads  were  cleared  and  new  river  crafts  were  de- 
signed and  improved.  Kentucky  was  the  first  region  the  migrating 
easterner  viewed,  whether  he  should  come  over  the  Wilderness  Road 
or  float  down  the  Ohio  River.  While  the  regions  north  of  this  river 
were  made  uninviting  and  untenable  by  the  hostile  Indians,  Kentucky 
received  the  vast  majority  of  the  settlers  moving  west  by  these  two 
great  routes.  The  first  census  (1790)  showed  how  a  wilderness  had 
been  peopled  by  nearly  75,000  settlers  since  the  Revolution. ^  The  census 
ten  years  later  gave  evidence  of  a  wonderful  growth  for  the  decade. 
The  population  now  (1800)  numbered  220,955.  It  had  been  almost 
trebled ;  and  the  state,  next  to  the  youngest  in  the  Union,  had  risen  in 
population  rank  from  fourteenth  to  ninth.  This  represented  an  annual 
increase  of  more  than  14,000;  and  in  some  years  the  accession  was  un- 
doubtedly 20,000  or  over.2  A  toast  offered  at  a  banquet  in  1795  was, 
"Our  Country  :  Alay  this  year,  like  the  last,  add  20,000  to  its  inhabitants."  ^ 
The  widespread  movement  for  westward  immigration  was  mentioned  in  a 
letter  from  John  Brown  to  Harry  Innes  in  the  same  year.  The  former 
had  recently  made  a  trip  through  Virginia  and  had  noted  that  large  num- 
bers of  people  around  Richmond  and  in  other  regions  visited  "have  come 
to  a  determination  to  set  out  immediately  for  that  country  [Kentucky]. 
Indeed  the  prospect  of  migration  to  the  westward  exceeds  anything  ever 
known  before."  * 

Kentuckians,  themselves,  were  much  interested  in  promoting  this 
movement.  They  saw  that  the  more  people  Kentucky  contained,  the 
more  influence  she  would  come  to  have  in  the  councils  of  the  nation 
and  the  more  important  in  general  the  West  would  become.  They  were 
therefore  ever  mindful  of  spreading  wonderful  reports  concerning  their 
state  and  its  opportunities,  and  they  had  early  developed  the  feeling 
which  they  were  not  backward  in  expressing  that  no  land  or  state  could 
compare  with  theirs.  Francois  Michaux.  who  traveled  through  the 
state  in  1802,  noted  this  characteristic:  "The  inhabitants  of  Kentucky 
eagerly  recommend  to  strangers  the  country  they  inhabit  as  the  best  part 
of  the  United  States,  as  that  where  the  soil  is  most  fertile,  the  climate 
most  salubrious,  and  where  all  the  inhabitants  were  brought  through  the 
love  of  liberty  and  independence."  ^ 

But  manifestly  all  people  going  West  did  not  stop  in  Kentucky; 
neither  did  many  who  passed  through  a  part  of  the  state  or  skirted  it  on 
the  Ohio  River  fulfil  the  expectations  of  Kentuckians  by  swelling  their 
population.     Tennessee  to  the  south  was  a  virgin  region  attracting  its 

1  The  exact  population  was  73.677- 

2  Of  course  this  number  was  not  due  wholly  to  immigration,  as  there  was  a  natural 
increase. 

3 Breckinridge  MSS.  (i795). 

*  Innes  MSS.,  Vol.  19,  No.  21.    Written  from  Philadelphia,  dated  May  15. 

»  F.  A.  Michaux,  Travels  to  the  West,  248. 

485 


486  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

share;  and  the  country  to  the  north  of  the  Ohio  was,  after  Wayne  had 
opened  it  by  defeating  the  Indians  in  1795  at  the  battle  of  Fallen 
'1  inihers,  drawing  an  increasing  niinibcr  of  settlers.  Those  going  to 
Tennessee,  few  of  whom,  passed  by  way  of  Kentucky,  need  not  have 
troubled  Kentuckians ;  but  those,  who  actually  went  through  the  state  or 
along  its  borders  and  did  not  stop,  inevitably  left  the  impression  among 
Kentuckians  that  they  either  did  not  know  an  oj)])ortunity  when  they 
should  see  it  or  that  they  were  badly  informed  and  that  it  was  necessary  to 
organize  for  the  spreading  of  proper  informatiijn  among  prospective 
settlers. 

Before  if^oo,  there  were  organized  "Emigration  Societies"'  in  some 
of  the  Kentucky  cities,  whose  purpose  was  to  attract  settlers.  Washing- 
t(  n  in  Mason  County  in  1797  had  a  '"Washington  Emigration  Society" 
wh'ch  pub'.ishetl  attractive  facts  about  the  town  and  state.  Meetings 
were  held  monthly  at  which  the  j)rob!cms  connected  with  the  attraction 
of  settlers  were  di.scussed.  The  Mh-ror,  the  jjaper  published  at  Wash- 
ington, was  the  vehicle  for  much  oF  the  infonuation  given  out.  It 
Ijublished  such  facts  as  the  prices  of  farm  products,  the  yield  per  acre 
in  the  different  grains,  and  accounts  of  the  wonderful  fertility  of  the 
soil.  A  description  of  the  navigation  of  the  Ohio  from  Pittsburg  to 
Limestone  (Maysville)  was  published,  and  a  scale  of  prices  of  different 
articles  in  Washington  together  with  the  wages  paid  in  the  various 
occujjations  was  given.  One  descrij)tive  article  dealt  with  the  land  sys- 
tem in  which  it  was  admitted  that  the  .so-called  occupying  claimants 
law  tended  to  confuse  land  titles  at  first,  but  the  law  was  defended  as 
necessary.  It  sought  to  explain  the  situation  to  the  end  that  settlers 
should  not  be  driven  away  by  it.  It  said,  ''\  stranger  who  comes  to 
purchase  must  be  alarmed  at  the  infinity  of  disi)utes,  and  is  on  that 
accomit  deterred  from  ]nircii,-ising  and  perha])s  leaves  the  country  in 
disgust."  Outside  of  this  ajiparent  uni>leasing  feature  it  could  think 
of  nothing  else  that  would  not  be  attractive.'' 

There  was  during  the  same  period  a  ihriviijg  "Lexington  Emigra- 
tion Society"  at  the  Blue  Grass  Capital.  It  carried  out  a  program  similar 
to  the  society  at  Washington.  Tiiese  societies  were  especially  anxious 
to  catch  up  any  rumors  unfavorable  to  Kentucky  and  their  immediate 
\icinity  and  to  show  the  falsity  of  them.  The  Lexington  society  strongly 
desired  the  report  that  many  people  had  been  moving  from  Kentucky 
into  the  .Sjjanish  dominions.  It  declared,  "The  report  is  notoriously 
ill  grounded,  and  we  can  boldly  assert  that  of  the  great  number  who 
have,  by  the  artful  representations  of  the  interested,  been  induced  to 
visit  that  country,  very  fc7u  indeed  have  .settled  on  any  part  of  the 
Mississippi,  whilst  the  far  greater  proportion  have  returned,  di.sgusted 
with  the  Spanish  government,  and  with  an  increased  affection  for  Ken- 
tucky." ' 

During  this  early  period  of  the  development  of  the  state,  there  seems 
to  have  been  no  real  dearth  of  settlers  bound  for  Kentucky  to  stay. 
During  the  decade  from  iS(Xi  to  1810.  the  population  almost  doubled. 
.\t  the  later  date,  it  mnnbered  406.311.  h'rancois  Micbaux  noted  in  his 
travels  through  the  state  in  1S02  the  rapidly  increasing  ])rice  of  laud. 
He  observed  that  this  must  be  expected  in  a  region  where  20,000  people 
were  being  added  annually.  He  saw  a  practice  which  was  far  too 
common  in  the  western  country  during  this  time.  Men  took  advantage 
of  the  mania  for  land  and  exacted  hard  bargains  or  deliberately  de- 
frauded the  incoming  settlers.  "The  stock-jobbers  profited  by  this  in- 
fatuation, and,  not  content  with  a  moderate  share  of  gain,  practiced  the 

«  Mirror,  October  28,  1797.    Also  November  4,  etc. 

''Mirror,  September  30,    1707;    Kentucky  Gazette,   September    16,    1796;   Ranck, 
History  of  Lexington,  202, 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  487 

most  illegal  measures  to  dispose  of  the  land  to  great  advantage.  They 
went  so  far  as  to  fabricate  false  plans,  in  which  they  traced  rivers  fav- 
orable to  mills  and  other  uses;  in  this  manner  many  ideal  lots,  from  five 
hundred  to  a  hundred  thousand  acres,  were  sold  in  Europe,  and  even 
in  several  great  towns  of  the  United  States."  * 

Some  of  these  large  land  development  schemes  were  highly  specula- 
tive and  glaringly  fraudulent.  Some  of  them  were  very  bizarre  and 
pointed  to  a  foreign  origin  or  manipulation.  Highly  colored  accounts 
of  whole  townships  being  acquired  and  towns  on  the  verge  of  springing 
up  were  sent  out.  The  names  of  some  of  the  towns  to  be  built  were 
Lystra,  Franklin  and  Ohiopiomingo.  The  first  of  these  towns  to  be 
located  on  the  Salt  Ri\er  and  was  to  be  composed  of  i88  lots.  It  was 
to  be  the  choice  spot  of  a  great  estate  to  embrace  15,000  acres.  The 
place  of  the  town  was  regarded  as  the  most  beautiful  in  the  world. 
It  was  laid  ofif  in  twenty-five  large  blocks  or  squares  with  a  park  in  the 
center  of  each.  In  the  center  of  the  town  itself  there  was  to  be  a  cir- 
cular park  surrounded  by  an  avenue  100  feet  wide.  The  four  spaces 
lying  between  the  four  points  where  the  circular  park  was  tangent 
to  the  straight  lines  of  the  city  were  to  be  used  for  the  sites  for  a 
church,  college,  town  hall,  and  amusement  center.  All  streets  were 
to  be  100  feet  wide.  For  the  purpose  of  early  attracting  a  substantial 
population,  the  promoters  offered  one  lot  free  each  to  the  first  school 
master,  the  first  college  president,  the  first  member  of  the  lower  branch 
of  Congress,  the  first  United  States  senator,  the  first  judge,  the  first 
minister,  and  the  first  hotel  keeper.  To  profit  by  this  oft'er.  however, 
it  was  necessary  to  construct   a  house  on  the  lot.'' 

Another  important  paper  town  was  Ohiopiomingo  located  on  the 
map  thirty  miles  below  Louisville  on  the  Ohio  River.  It  derived  its 
name  from  the  river  and  an  Indian  chief  by  the  name  of  Piomingo. 
And  to  show  further  respect  for  this  warrior  of  the  forests,  "a  man 
greatly  believed  and  respected  not  only  by  the  Indian  tribes  but  also 
by  the  whites  *  *  *  a  pedestrian  statue  of  him — habited  as  an 
Indian  warrior,  in  the  attitude  of  delivering  an  oration  in  favour  of 
liberty,"  was  to  be  erected.  This  statue  was  to  cost  $750.  The  plan 
•of  the  city  called  for  over  a  thousand  houses  with  forty-three  streets, 
"a  circus  and  several  capital  squares,"  embellished  with  various  hand- 
some public  buildings.  The  city  itself  was  to  be  the  center  of  a  great 
estate  consisting  of  thousands  of  acres,  which  would  be  cultivated  by 
the  townsmen.  Each  settler  should  be  given  one  town  lot  100  by  300  feet 
and  was  to  receive  500  acres  of  farming  land  leased  for  999  years. 
Rent  would  be  free  for  the  first  three  years,  provided  a  house  and 
barn  were  built  on  the  premises  and  at  least  twenty  acres  were  culti- 
vated. On  the  fourth  year  and  thereafter  a  rental  of  £5  the  hundred 
acres  would  be  charged.  According  to  the  glowing  account  "The  town 
will  enjoy  various  important  privileges  and  immunities.  A  college  is 
to  he  erected  for  the  education  of  the  youth  of  the  tenantry,  and  also 
for  such  children  of  the  Indians  as  they  may  choose  to  send  thither  for 
instruction,  and  due  care  will  be  taken  to  instill  into  their  tender  minds 
the  principles  of  philanthropy,  moral  rectitude  and  social  order  together 
with  the  branches  of  science;  as  many  tend  to  render  them  useful  mem- 
bers of  society,  for  which  purpose  the  proprietor  has  appropriated 
1500  acres  of  land  toward  the  endowment  of  the  institution,  and  also 
suitable  encouragement  to  such  gentlemen  of  education  and  undoubted 
character  as  may  choose  to  engage  in  so  important  a  change"  An  aged 
gentleman  of  ninety  years  with  his  children  and  his  grandchildren 
was  to  head  the  colonists  to  the  promised  land.     These  schemes  were 

»F.  A.  Michaux,  Travels  to  the   West.  225. 

"The  town  was  projected  in  what  is  now  Nelson  County. 


488  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

in  fact  the  workings  of  English  speculators  as  is  clearly  shown  in  the 
arrangements  described.  They  were  of  cniirse  wholly  in  practice  in 
America ;  and  as  they  were  in  fact  only  paper  towns,  they  never  pro- 
gressed far  enough  to  test  the  principles.  Another  large  emigration 
scheme  by  Englishmen  was  projected  for  Nelson  County  not  so  far 
from  Lystra.  This  estate  was  to  be  filled  with  Welshmen.  But  few 
if  any  ever  came.'" 

Apart  from  the  wild  schemes  of  visionary  speculators,  there  were 
some  towns  founded  during  this  period  by  deliberate  townbooming  and 
advertising  by  hand-bills  and  in  the  public  press.  As  an  example  of 
this  more  substantial  development  was  the  case  of  Martinsburg  which 
was  described  a  "town  laid  out  in  a  beautiful  large  bottom  lying  on  the 
Kentucky  river."  In  order  to  make  a  beginning,  this  ambitious  town 
offered  to  give  a  lot  free  to  the  first  ten  settlers." 

As  was  only  natural,  the  growth  of  towns  was  slow,  compared  with 
the  general  development  of  the  state.  Towns  had  no  attraction  socially 
or  economically,  while  the  fertile  lands  remained  unoccupied.  Manu- 
factories had  not  yet  come  to  draw  people  to  these  centers.  In  1800,  not 
6,000  people  out  of  a  total  of  over  220,000  in  the  state,  lived  in  towns. 
Twenty-nine  towns  were  returned  in  the  second  census.  Lexington  was, 
iif  course,  the  largest  with  a  population  of  1795.  Frankfort  came  next 
in  size,  followed  in  order  by  Washington,  Paris,  Louisville,  and  George- 
town— all  with  more  than  t,o(.).  There  were  two  towns  of  over  200  people, 
but  less  than  300,  and  nine  towns  having  between  100  and  200.  Twelve 
towns  reported  less  than  100.  Ten  years  later  the  number  of  towns  had 
greatly  increased  together  with  the  urban  population.  Fifty-two  towns 
were  returned  in  the  census  for  1810.  Three  towns  now  stood  beyond 
the  thousand  mark:  Lexington,  with  4,326,  Louisville,  1,357  ^^id  Frank- 
fort 1,099.  It  will  be  noted  that  Louisville  has  forged  ahead  of  Frank- 
fort, due  largely  to  the  increasing  river  business. 

The  f)pening  up  of  the  so-called  Green  River  country  brought  about 
an  important  population  movement  and  development.  It  was  the  case 
here  of  entering  unappro]:)riatcd  lands  by  honieseekers,  according  to 
numerous  laws  which  were  enacted  to  regulate  the  sale  of  these  lands. 
There  followed  a  round  of  legislation  beginning  in  1795,  which  lasted 
for  many  years  to  come  and  which  added  further  to  an  already  compli- 
cated land  system.  The  first  law  (1795)  o])ening  these  lands  provided 
that  each  householder  sliould  receive  a  maximum  of  200  acres  at  the 
rate  of  $30  per  hundred.  The  fee-simple  title  in  the  land  was  not  to 
be  obtained  until  the  land  should  be  paid  for  in  full.  A  large  number 
of  settlers  were  immediately  attracted  into  this  region,  who  had  little 
means  or  inclination  to  pay  for  the  lands  unless  forced  to  it.'- 

Speculation  set  in  at  this  time  which  was  long  a  curse  to  the  region. 
The  most  daring  example  of  it  was  seen  in  an  attempt  in  1795  by  a  group 
styling  themselves  Flijah  J.  Hall  and  Company  to  buy  all  the  public 
lands  south  of  the  Green  River  for  $25o,(X)0.  This  scheme  was  put 
through  the  Senate;  but  on  reaching  the  Hou.se  it  was  defeated  19  to  13.'^ 

In  1797  a  new  act  was  passed  to  further  encourage  settlers  to  this 
country.  It  allowed' all  those  settling  before  July  i,  1798,  a  maximum 
of  200  acres,  with  one  year's  credit.  At  least  two  acres  must  be  culti- 
vated, and  enclosed  by  a  fence.  The  price  of  the  land  was  to  vary 
according  to  its  quality.     Best  land  would  be  sold  for  $60  per  hundred 

'"  W.  Wintcrbotham,  An  Historical,  Gcografiliicnl,  Commercial  and  Philosophical 
View  of  the  /Imerican  United  Stales  and  of  the  European  Settlements  in  .imerica 
and  the  West  Indies  (London,  1795),  III,  141,  148;  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky. 
11  >  599,  646. 

^'Kentucky  Gazette.  May  9,  1798. 

"  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  178. 

"/6id,  184;  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky.  I,  24. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  489 

acres  ;  while  the  remainder  would  be  charged  for  at  the  rate  of  $40  per 
hundred  acres.  This  opened  a  loop-hole  for  the  sale  of  most  of  the 
land  at  the  latter  price,  as  first  rate  land  for  purposes  of  sale  was 
difficult  to  find.  Indulgences  were  granted  by  this  law  to  those  who  had 
previously  settled  and  who  had  not  paid  their  debts  fully.  This  was  the 
first  of  a  long  line  of  relief  laws  for  the  Green  River  settlers,  which 
made  the  "Green  River  Debt"  a  by-word  and  term  of  reproach.  As  the 
pcijjulation  increased,  this  region  grew  in  importance  and  influence  in  the 
councils  of  the  state.  Its  representatives  at  Frankfort  demanded  relief 
after  relief  in  the  payment  of  their  land  debts,  and,  through  log-rolling 
and  trading  in  legislation  were  generally  successful.  The  Kentucky  Ga- 
::ctte  in  referring  to  this  subject  in  1814  declared  that  these  debts  had 
"some  bearing  on  almost  every  subject  which  can  be  introduced  into  the 
Legislature."  ^* 

In  1798  there  were  passed  two  acts  concerning  the  Green  River  lands, 
one  in  the  January  session  and  the  other  in  the  November  session.  The 
latter  law  extended  the  credit  to  four  years,  with  equal  annual  instalments 
being  paid ;  while  those  who  had  purchased  under  the  original  act  were 
allowed  six  months  further  credit.  The  next  \-ear  saw  three  additional 
laws  on  the  subject.  In  the  1800  session  of  the  Legislature  two  more 
acts  were  passed  directly  for  the  relief  of  the  settlers.  These  acts  lowered 
the  price  of  lands  to  $30  and  $40  the  hundred  acres  and  extended  the 
])eriod  of  credit  to  -nine  years.  Numerous  other  laws  followed  granting 
indulgences  to  the  Green  River  settlers  and  dealing  with  many  other 
aspects  of  the  complicated  land  system — a  course  of  legislation  which 
did  nothing  to  simplify  it.'^ 

At  the  same  time  the  Green  River  section  of  the  country  was  being 
settled,  there  was  also  thrown  open  for  entry  a  much  smaller  region  in  the 
southeastern  part  of  the  state,  including  Bell,  Knox,  Whitley  and  other 
counties.  This  was  secured  by  the  United  States  in  1805  from  the  Chero- 
kee Indians   for  the  benefit  of  Kentucky. i" 

The  rapid  settlement  of  the  state  and  the  spread  of  population  into 
the  Green  River  region  is  seen  in  the  large  number  of  counties  created. 
When  the  state  came  into  the  Union  in  1792  it  consisted  of  nine  counties 
which  had  been  erected  by  the  Virginia  Legislature.  By  1800  the  num- 
ber had  been  increased  by  thirty-four.  The  first  Legislature  set  the  pace 
by  creating  eight  new  counties.  These  were  for  the  most  part  divisions 
of  the  old  counties  in  the  Bluegrass  region.  The  exceptions  were  Logan, 
Hardin,  and  Green,  which  lay  to  the  southwest.  In  1796,  six  more 
counties  were  set  up,  two  of  them  being  in  the  Green  River  section. 
Before  1800,  seven  new  divisions  were  made  in  this  region.  The  most 
consistent  development  as  shown  by  county  divisions  was  in  this  Green 
River  country.  The  movements  for  new  counties  was  not  dictated  wholly 
by  the  needs  of  the  population.  There  was  a  mania  for  new  counties  in 
every  session  of  the  Legislature  during  this  period,  and  only  by  determined 
efiforts  could  it  be  controlled.  In  1798  thirteen  new  counties  were 
erected. ^"  And  although  in  some  cases  counties  were  undoubtedly  set 
up  without  any  real  necessity ;  still  the  state  was  so  rapidly  filling  up  that 
the  necessity  was  likely  soon  to  appear. 

A  problem  of  prime  importance  at  this  time  was  the  development  of 
transportation  facilities  within  the  state.  There  was  also  much  interest  in 
securing  adequate  roads  to  the  East.  The  Cumberland  Gap  Road  was 
the  chief  land  route  eastward ;  while  the  Ohio  River  afforded  water  com- 


"  February  14,  1814. 

It*  Mar.shall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  178-182;  Butler,  History  of  Kentucky, 
258-261. 

'8  Wm.  Ayres,  "Land  Titles  in  Kentucky,"  in  Proceedings  of  Kentucky  State 
Bar  Association,  1909,  166. 

'^  For  the  mania  in  1798,  see  Palladium,  November,  December,  1798. 


490  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

munication  a  considerable  distance  of  the  way.  In  boat  building  and  in 
contriving  new  types,  Kcntuckians  became  preeminent.  The  "Kentucky 
boat"  early  became  famous  on  the  western  waters.  Ways  to  the  East- 
ward were  of  more  concern  as  being  inlets  to  the  state  for  settlers,  than 
as  outlets  for  commerce.  In  fact  trade  was  destined  to  seek  the 
easiest  way  out,  which  was  by  the  rivers  and  therefore  southward,  until 
many  years  later,  when  the  railroad  should  make  its  appearance.  Of 
great  concern,  also  was  mail  connections  direct  with  the  seaboard  states. 
In  1793.  one  Jacob  Meyer  advertised  a  boat  service  from  Limestone 
(Maysville)  up  the  Ohio  to  Pittsburg.  He  stated  that  his  boat  was 
well-armed  against  the  Indians  and  that  he  would  convoy  other  boats, 
and  also  carry  passengers  and  mail.  The  following  year  the  United 
States  established  the  first  regular  post  road  to  Kentucky.  Starting 
from  Pittsburg,  it  ran  "by  Washington  in  Pennsylvania,  West  Liberty 
in  \'irginia,  and  Wheeling  on  the  Ohio  to  Limestone  on  the  Ohio  and 
Fort  Washington;  from  I^ime-stonc  by  Bourbontown  [Paris],  Lexing- 
ton, brankfort.  and  Harrodsburg.  to  Danville  in  Kentucky.  From  Dan- 
ville by  llardstown  to  Louisville."  In  179S  letters  were  sent  over  the 
Cumberland   (lap   road  as   well."^ 

In  order  to  develop  internal  roads  and  at  the  same  time  aid  out- 
side connections,  the  state  early  turned  toward  the  construction  of  a 
better  road  to  Cumberland  Gap.  This  so-called  road  was  as  yet  a  mere 
trace,  over  which  no  wheeled  vehicle  had  yet  gone.  In  1794,  before 
the  main  trail  had  been  developed  into  a  wagon  road,  the  Legislature 
passed  an  act  ap])ointing  commissioners  to  raise  a  fund  for  clearing 
a  road  from  Mil  ford,  then  the  county  seat  of  Madison  County,  to  Hazel- 
jjatch  on  the  Cumberland  Ca])  Road.  This  was  to  be  the  first  feeder 
road  to  the  main  highway.  In  his  message  to  the  Legislature  in  1795, 
Governor  Shelby  advocated  the  building  of  roads  to  the  eastern  states. 
He  believed  the  state  government  should  aid  in  their  construction  with 
the  surplus  reventies.'"  In  compliance  with  this  suggestion,  the  Leg- 
islature passed  in  the  same  year  an  act  providing  for  the  construction 
of  a  wagon  road  "to  commence  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Crab  Orchard 
and  to  terminate  on  the  top  of  Cumberland  mountain,  in  the  gap  through 
which  the  present  road  to  X'irginia  passes."  The  plan  was  to  enlarge 
the  existing  road,  increasing  its  width  to  thirty  feet  and  levelling  and 
otherwise  improving  it ;  and  for  this  jnn-pose  i2,ooo  was  appropriated 
out  of  the  state  treasury.-" 

The  state  immediately  advertised  for  bids  for  constructing  the  road. 
Among  those  who  submitted  proposals  was  Daniel  P>oone,  who  had  him- 
self laid  out  the  original  trail  twenty  years  previously.  His  letter  to  Gov- 
ernor Shelby  follows : 

fcburt'v  the   I  ith   1796 

Sir 

after  my  Best  Respts  to  your  Exceloncy  and  famyly  I  wish  to  inform 
you  that  I  have  sum  intention  of  undertaking  this  \ew  Rode  that  is  to 
be  Cut  through  the  Wilderness  and  I  think  ^ly  Self  intiteled  to  the  ofer 
of  the  Busness  as  I  first  Marked  out  that  Rode  in  March  1775  and  Never 
Re'd  anything  for  my  trubel  and  Sepose  1  am  No  Statesman  I  am  a 
Woodsman  and  think  My  Self  as  Capable  of  Marking  and  Cutting  that 
Rode  as  any  other  man  Sir  if  you  think  with  Me  I  would  thank  you  to 
Wright  mee'a  Line  by  the  post  the  first  (i])ortuneaty  and  he  will  Lodge  it 


'8  Speed,  ll'ildcniess  Road,  65-68. 

'»  Kentucky  Gazette,  November  28,  1795.  In  a  letter  to  John  Grant,  November 
IS,  1795.  Governor  Shelby  stated  that  he  did  not  think  it  wonld  cost  more  than 
£1,500.     Breckinridge  MSS.   (i795)- 

20  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  I,  537,  II,  242;   Speed,  Wilderness  Road,  47-51- 


Monument  Erected  to  Boone  on  the  "Wilderness  Road"  in  the  Gap 

Was  Erected  by  the  Daughters  of  the  American  Revokition 

(Courtesy  of  H.  H.  Fuson,  Covington) 


492  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

at  Mr.  John  Miler  son  hinkston  fork  as  I  wish  to  know  where  and  when 
it  is  to  be  Laat  So  tliat  I  may  atend  at  the  time. 
I  am  Dear  Sir  your  very  onible  scrvent 

Daniel  Boone. 
To  his  Exceloncy  governor  Shelby."  -* 

Likely  due  to  a  lack  of  assertiveness,  Boone  did  not  receive  the  con- 
tract. 

Work  on  the  road  was  soon  begun,  and  within  two  years  a  wagon 
road  had  been  com])Ietcd  from  Crab  Orchard  to  Cumberland  Gap.  In 
1797  the  Legislature  ai)proi)riatcd  £500  to  repair  the  road,  and  at  the 
same  time  provided  for  the  setting  up  of  a  toll  gate.*-  The  concession 
for  collecting  the  tolls  was  given  to  the  highest  bidder.  All  money  re- 
maining after  the  expenses  for  keeping  the  road  in  good  repair  were 
deducted  should  belong  to  the  keeper  of  the  toll  gate.  The  following 
toll  rates  were  established  by  law :  for  every  person,  except  post  riders, 
expressmen,  women,  and  children  under  the  age  of  ten  years,  9  pence 
{i2],'2  cents)  ;  for  every  horse,  mare,  or  mule,  9  pence;  for  two-wheel 
carriages  3  shillings  (50  cents);  for  four-wheel  carriages  6  shillings; 
and  "for  every  head  of  neat  cattle  going  to  the  eastward,"  3  pence.^-' 

The  old  \'irginia  laws  regarding  the  maintaining  of  roads  and  the 
opening  of  new  ones,  were  continued  in  Kentucky  when  it  became  a  state. 
The  re-enaction  of  a  Virginia  law  in  1797  provided  that  new  roads  should 
be  laid  out  under  surveyor's  appointed  by  the  county  courts  and  that 
with  certain  exceptions  they  should  be  maintained  by  all  male  laboring 
persons  over  sixteen  years  of  age.  It  also  gave  considerable  powers  to 
the  surveyors.  In  the  absence  of  bridges  Ihey  were  allowed  to  use  mill- 
dams,  which  for  this  purpose  had  to  be  at  least  twelve  feet  wide.  They 
were  also  authorized  to  impress  wagons,  timber,  and  other  necessities 
along  the  highway,  which  however,  had  to  be  paid  for  out  of  the  county 
funds.2-»  It  is  thus  seen  that  outside  of  certain  trunk  highways,  the 
state  government  concerned  itself  very  little  with  roads.  The  counties 
were  the  governing  units  in  this  respect. 

But  roads  that  ap])roached  proportions  of  more  than  local  county 
extent,  but  still  might  not  be  as  important  as  the  Cumberland  Gap  Road 
came  under  state  concern.  In  1793,  the  Legislature  provided  for  the 
building  of  a  road  to  connect  Frankfort  with  Cincinnati,  as  such  a  road 
would  be  "jiroductive  of  private  convenience  and  jniblic  utility,  and  the 
route  lying  through  an  unsettled  country  which  cannot  be  cleared  in  the 
usual  manner  by  order  of  the  county  courts."  ^5  In  1802  the  state  pro- 
vided for  the  opening  of  a  road  from  Paris  or  Mount  Sterling  to  the  Big 
Sandy  River  as  such  a  road  "would  save  a  considerable  distance  in 
traveling  from  this  country  into  the  eastern  states."  This  road  was  to 
be  built  by  county  subscriptions,  rather  than  by  direct  aid  from  the 
state.  Outside  of  the  appropriations  to  the  Cumberland  Gap  Road,  the 
state  gave  no  aid  to  roads  until  the  era  of  internal  improvements  set  in 
in  the  '20s.  And  until  then  there  was  no  definite  road  policy.  As  an 
approach  toward  a  system  of  uniform  roads,  a  law  was  passed  in  1801, 
rc(juiring  all  roads  between  county  seats  or  to  salt  works  or  to  the  ca])ilal 
to  be  at  least  thirty  feet  wide,  with  the  right  of  the  county  courts  to 
extend  them  to  forty  feet.^"  To  facilitate  travel  to  the  Goose  Creek  Salt 
Works  the  Legislature  in  1813  api)ointed  commissioners  to  keep  the 
road  in  repair.    All  male  jjersons  who  were  subject  to  labor  on  the  roads 

21  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  242. 

22  Speed,  IVildcrncss  Road,  47-51- 

23  Collins,  Ilhlorv  of  Kentucky,  I,  537. 
2^  Collins,  Hislorv  of  Kentucky,  I,  537- 
2»  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  I,  538. 
2«  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  I,  538. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  493 

by  general  law  and  who  lived  within  five  miles  of  the  road  were  required 
to  work  three  days  a  year  for  its  upkeep ;  and  in  return  the  road  should 
be  free  to  them.  Also  all  persons  going  for  salt,  and  post  riders  and 
expressmen  were  allowed  to  travel  the  road  free.  Others  were  required 
to  pay  tolls. ^^ 

It  was  perhaps  only  natural  that  a  greater  interest  should  be  early 
manifested  in  developing  river  navigation  than  in  building  roads.  From 
the  beginning  there  was  a  conflict  of  interest  in  dealing  with  the  subject 
of  river  navigation.  Of  course,  of  primary  concern  was  the  clearing  of 
obstructions  and  the  rendering  of  the  rivers  navigable;  but  at  the  same 
time  the  erection  of  mill  dams  was  recognized  as  a  necessary  development. 
There  was  also  a  considerable  secondary  concern  manifested  in  the  pas- 
sage of  fish  upstream.  The  First  Legislature  passed  a  law  in  1792  which 
imposed  a  fine  of  $2  a  day  against  any  person  placing  obstructions  in 
navigable  streams  against  the  passage  of  fish  or  boats.  This  act  did  not 
refer,  however,  to  mill  dams  or  other  water  obstructions  of  a  public 
utility,  erected  according  to  the  old  Virginia  laws.  The  policy  of  the  state 
vacillated  between  the  interests  of  navigation  and  grist  mills,  and  what- 
ever policy  existed  at  a  given  time  was  not  uniformly  applied  to  all  streams 
throughout  the  state.  In  1793  an  act  was  passed  looking  toward  the 
opening  to  navigation  of  the  south  fork  of  the  Licking  River.  The 
Stoner  fork  was  also  to  be  opened;  but  in  this  case  the  existing  mill- 
dams  were  not  to  be  removed.  However,  within  seven  years  locks  had 
to  be  built  around  each  of  these  obstructions,  rendering  the  passage  of 
boats  possible.  The  next  year  saw  the  passage  of  a  law  requiring  the 
removal  within  six  months  of  all  dams  and  other  obstructions  in  the 
main  Licking  stream  and  in  Slate  Creek,  under  a  penalty  of  £30  for 
refusal  or  negligence.  But  the  confusion  and  conflict  of  interests  caused 
a  new  law  which  allowed  mill-dams  on  the  Licking,  provided  they  should 
be  made  according  to  certain  specifications  and  should  have  locks  and 
slopes  allowing  the  passage  of  boats  and  fish.  But  these  laws  were 
evaded,  and  the  frequent  changes  in  the  policy  of  the  state  led  to  the  feel- 
ing that  further  indulgences  could  always  be  had. 

The  Kentucky  River  was  at  this  time  the  most  important  river  in  the 
state.  It  led  into  the  very  heart  of  the  Bluegrass  region,  which  was  the 
population  and  economic  center  of  the  state,  and  thence  into  the  moun- 
tains of  the  eastern  part  of  the  commonwealth.  Without  improvements, 
it  was  possible  to  use  it  with  certain  kinds  of  boats  far  into  the  interior. 
Elijah  Craig,  one  of  the  most  enterprising  men  of  this  early  period,  in 
1795  made  the  following  announcement  regarding  commerce  on  the 
river:  "The  subscriber  informs  the  gentlemen,  merchants,  and  emi- 
grants to  Kentucky,  that  he  will  be  at  the  mouth  of  the  Kentucky  River 
on  the  first  day  of  February  next,  with  a  sufficient  number  of  boats 
to  transport  all  goods,  etc.,  which  they  may  think  proper  to  intrust  him 
with,  up  the  river.  He  will  also  keep  a  storehouse  for  the  reception 
of  any  goods  which  may  be  left  with  him.  Carriage  of  goods  to  Frank- 
fort 50  cents  per  hundred,  to  Sluke's  warehouse  75  cents,  to  Warwick 
100  cents,  Dick's  river  125  cents."  ^8  But  the  improvement  of  the 
navigation  of  the  river  was  necessary  for  a  really  effective  use  of  it. 
Martin  Hawkins  in  1799  made  a  survey  of  the  river  from  its  mouth 
to  Frankfort,  in  which  he  noted  all  the  rapids  and  other  obstructions 
to  navigation,  and  submitted  it  to  the  Legislature.  He  stated  that  the 
river  could  be  made  navigable  throughout  its  length  at  no  greater 
expense  than  $10,000,  and  that  certain  persons  were  willing  to  under- 
take the  work  for  the  state  in  that  understanding.     They  would  receive 


^''  Acts  of  Kentucky  1812,  4'.  42- 

'8  Notice  in  the  Sentinel  of  the  Norlh-West  Territory,  January  15,  1795,  quoted 
in  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  120. 


till  HISTORY'  (  )\<    Kl",.\TreKV 

tliL-ir  payiiK-in  in  land  at  50  ct-iUs  an  acrr.    This  ni(n x-nicnt  did  not  receive 
tlie  approval  of  tlie  Legislature. -'•• 

Up  initil  1801  the  laws  regarding  river  navigation  had  been  rather 
iiegative  than  positive.  But  in  this  year  the  Legislature  chartered  the 
first  company  organizing  for  rendering  a  stream  navigable.  'J'his  was 
the  Kentucky  River  Company  ca])italized  at  $10,000,  and  including  in  its 
membershi])  Christoi)her  ( ireenup,  Isaac  Shelby,  Thomas  Todd,  Gabriel 
Slaughter,  and  William  Logan.  It  was  given  the  right  to  clear  out 
of  the  Keniucky  River  from  its  mouth  to  the  mouth  of  the  South  fork 
all  obstructions  which  "they  may  judge  will  impede  or  obstruct  the  pas- 
sage of  boats,  or  which  shall  be  absolutely  necessary  to  improve  the 
navigation  of  the  ri\er."  When  the  work  should  be  finished  and  the 
state  should  api)rove  it,  the  company  might  then  put  into  elTect  a  cer- 
tain schedule  of  tolls.  Boats  were  reijuired  to  pay  tolls  according  to 
their  length,  and  those  laden  with  coal,  lime,  iron,  or  other  mineral 
])roducts  and  those  carrying  household  furniture  were  given  a  25  per 
cent  reduction.  The  undertaking  was  too  costly  for  this  company;  and 
so  in  181 1  another  attem])t  was  made  under  a  new  group  of  men. 
They  were  given  i)ermission  to  raise  .$10,000  by  lottery;  but  they,  too, 
were  unable  to  effectively  carry  out  their  purpose,  'i'his  improvement 
as  well  as  internal  improvements  generally  had  to  await  the  time  when 
the  state  should  actively  take  control. 

Much  ])icce-made  legislation  filled  up  this  inter\ening  time  which 
lacked  unity  of  policy  or  application.  An  interesting  and  unusual 
method  was  used  in  impro\ing  the  navigation  of  Green  River.  An 
act  of  the  Legislature  in  1S08  treated  this  river  as  if  it  were  a  dirt  road. 
Overseers  were  appointed  in  the  different  counties  traversed  by  the 
river  to  "work  it"  with  hands  living  along  the  coiu-se  of  the  .stream. 
They  were  required  to  remove  all  obstructions,  including  mill-dams 
unlawfully  erected.  In  other  instances,  rivers  were  improved  by  local 
subscriptions,   county  levies,   and   lotteries.'"' 

(^ne  of  the  most  important  problems  of  early  concern  and  which 
long  remained  of  ])rimary  interest  was  the  construction  of  a  canal 
around  the  falls  of  the  Ohio  at  Louisville.  The  idea  challenged  the  inter- 
est and  imagination  of  the  first  visitors;  but  nothing  of  a  substantial 
nature  was  done  until  1804.  In  this  year  the  Legislature  passed  an 
act  incorporating  the  Ohio  Canal  Company  for  the  purpose  of  building 
a  canal  around  the  falls  on  the  Kentucky  side  of  the  river.  One  thou- 
sand shares  were  to  be  issued  at  $50  each,  and  books  for  subscription 
were  to  be  opened  in  the  principal  towns  throughout  the  state.  The 
right  to  hold  a  lottery  to  raise  $I5,(XX>  was  granted.  Tolls  were  to  be 
exacted  in  general  according  to  the  length  of  the  lioat,  and  boats  carry- 
ing luineral  products  and  household  furniture  were  given  a  25  per 
cent  reduction  from  the  regular  tolls.''' 

The  contemplated  company  was  slow  in  organizing,  and  very  little 
headway  was  made  for  some  time  in  doing  anything  definite.  The 
project  was  rather  stupendous  and  naturally  caused  some  hesitancy. 
The  associates,  therefore,  memoralized  Congress  on  the  subject,  asking 
for  aid.  They  be!ie\-ed  that  the  National  Cio\eriunent  should  afford 
them  "such  aid  and  encouragement  as  may  be  deemed  commensurate 
to  the  undertaking,  either  by  a  donation  of  twenty-five  thousand  acres 
of  land,  or  the  privileges  of  a  right  or  preemjition  to  one  luuidred  thou- 
sand acres  *  *  *  ^^t  the  same  prices  for  which  the  other  lands  of 
the  United  States  are  sold,  but  upon  more  liberal  terms  of  credit,  and 

=0  Butler,  History  of  Keitlucky,  293;  M.-irsIiall,  IHslory  of  Kentucky,  II,  317,  318. 
3»  Collins,  History  of  Koituclcy.  I,  542-544;   M.irshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II, 
70,  71. 

3'  Collins,  History  of  Keniucky,  I,  551. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  495 

without  demand  of  interest."  ^-  The  committee  of  the  Senate,  to  whom 
the  memorials  were  referred,  reported  that  all  its  members  had  per- 
sonally visited  the  site  of  the  proposed  canal,  that  they  believed  in  the 
practicability  of  the  undertaking,  that  they  were  mindful  "of  its  vast 
benefit  and  importance  to  our  whole  western  country,  especially  to  that 
part  of  it  which  is  connected  with  the  western  waters,  and  that  it  must 
necessarily  enhance  the  value,  and  greatly  increase  the  sales  of  the 
public  lands."  They,  therefore,  had  no  hesitancy  in  recommending  to 
Congress  the  granting  of  either  of  the  terms  asked  for;  but  until  the 
company  was  fully  organized,  they  believed  it  unwise  "to  ofifer  any 
specific  proposition  on  the  subject."  ^-^ 

As  the  law  of  1804  incorporating  the  Ohio  Canal  Company  was 
generally  considered  inadequate  for  the  purpose  in  that  it  was  "defective 
in  many  of  its  important  provisions,"  and  as  it  seemed  that  material 
aid  could  be  obtained  from  Congress  if  the  company  were  better  or- 
ganized, the  Legislature  on  December  20,  1805,  passed  a  new  act.  The 
capitalization  was  now  increased  to  $500,000  consisting  of  10,000  shares 
at  $50  each.  Special  efforts  were  made  in  the  act  to  aid  the  raising 
of  funds.  The  state  agreed  to  subscribe  1,000  shares,  which  were  to  be 
paid  for  at  the  rate  of  not  over  $10,000  annually.  Another  thousand 
shares  were  to  be  reserved  for  the  disposition  of  the  state.  It  was  made 
lawful  for  the  company  "to  receive  from  the  United  States,  or  from 
any  State,  or  from  any  body  corporate  or  public,  donations  of  land, 
money  or  other  chattels,  for  the  use  of  the  said  company,  and  to  receive 
for  the  same  use  and  purpose,  voluntary  subscriptions  and  donations 
from  any  individual  or  individuals,  who  may  be  disposed  to  encourage 
and  promote  the  objects  of  this  act."  The  United  States  Government 
was  given  permission  to  subscribe  for  not  over  1,200  shares.  Of  the 
other  states  that  should  be  directly  interested  in  the  canal  Pennsylvania 
and  Virginia  were  allowed  to  take  not  more  than  600  shares  each,  and 
Maryland,  New  York,  and  Ohio  not  exceeding  400  shares  each.  The 
right  to  hold  a  lottery  was  given  the  company,  whereby  $30,000  might 
be  raised.  The  canal  and  all  works  connected  with  it  were  declared  to 
be  forever  "exempt  from  the  payment  of  any  tax,  imposition  or  assess- 
ment whatever."  Work  on  the  canal  had  to  begin  within  three  years 
and  the  whole  undertaking  finished  before  January  i,  1815.  The  canal 
was  declared  to  be  forever  "free  for  the  transportation  of  all  vessels 
and  boats,  and  of  all  goods,  commodities,  or  produce  whatever,  upon 
payment"  of  tolls.  A  schedule  of  tolls,  subject  to  change  by  the  Legis- 
lature, was  established  providing  for  a  charge  of  12  cents  a  ton  for 
vessels  between  400  and  100  tons  burden  and  a  rate  for  each  vessel 
between  100  tons  and  20  tons  ranging  from  $11.75  to  $6.oo.3-' 

EiTorts  were  immediately  taken  toward  pushing  the  undertaking 
through.  On  the  day  following  the  new  canal  act,  the  Legislature  di- 
rected the  governor  to  immediately  transmit  to  the  governors  of' Penn- 
sylvania, Virginia,  Ohio,  New  York,  and  Maryland,  the  act  incorporat- 
ing the  canal  company  and  other  documents  concerning  the  project.^' 
On  the  same  day  the  Legislature  petitioned  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment for  aid.  It  reiterated  the  argument  that  the  canal  would  "greatly 
increase  the  value  of  the  national  domains  and  render  them  a  much  more 
productive  source  of  revenue  to  the  LTnited  States."  It  asked  that  the 
company  be  aided  "either  by  subscription,  or  donation  in  land,  or  other- 
wise, as  you  in  your  wisdom  may  prescribe,"  and  gave  the  assurance 


"  American  Stale  Papers,  Miscellaneous,  Vol.  XX,  Part  I,  419. 
^^  American  State  Papers,  Miscellaneous,  Vol.  XX,   Part   I,  419;  Durrelt  MSS. 
^^  American   State    Papers,    Miscelhncous,    Vol.    XX,    Part    I,    823-826;    Collins, 
History  of  Kentuckv,  I,  551. 

35  American  State  Papers,  Misccllancotis,  Vol.  XX,   Part   I,  822. 


496  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

tliat  tlie  project  would  not  probably  cost  over  $200,000.  The  Legisla- 
ture also  felt  "no  hesitation  in  giving  it  as  their  decided  opinion  that 
the  Kentucky  side  is  the  best  for  a  canal  *  *  ♦  but  as  some  com- 
petition has  arisen  on  the  subject  of  preference  of  the  two  sides  of  the 
river,  and  should  your  honorable  body  entertain  doubts  on  this  point, 
we  invite  the  appointment  of  an  engineer  to  view  the  two  situations, 
in  whose  ojiinion  and  report  implicit  confidence  can  be  reposed."  A 
copy  of  the  canal  act  and  certain  other  documents  were  also  sent.^" 

The  conunittec  of  the  United  States  House  of  Representatives  to 
whom  was  referred  the  memorial  of  the  Kentucky  Legislature  made  its 
report  on  March  19,  1806.  It  declared  in  part  that  "Of  the  immense 
utility  of  the  proposed  canal,  no  one  can  doubt  who  reflects  for  a  moment 
upon  the  vast  extent  of  fertile  country  which  watered  by  the  Ohio  and 
its  tributary  streams,  and  upon  the  incalculable  amount  of  produce  which 
must,  of  course,  necessarily  find  its  way  to  market  by  descending  that 
river  and  encountering  the  danger  and  difficulties  of  passing  ils  rapids. 
l!ut,  besides  the  general  advantages  which  would  result  from  the  comple- 
tion of  the  proposed  canal,  it  is,  in  the  opinion  of  the  conunittce,  par- 
ticularly interesting  to  the  United  States,  inasmuch  as  it  would  greatly 
enhance  the  value  of  the  pubic  lands  northwest  of  the  Ohio.  There 
can  be  but  little  doubt  that,  by  the  additional  value  it  would  give  to  the 
I  ublic  lands,  the  United  States  would  be  more  than  remunerated  for 
the  aid  which  the  Legislature  of  Kentucky  have  solicited. 

"From  these  considerations,  the  committee  would  not  hesitate  to 
reconmicnd  a  donation  or  subscri])tion  of  shares  to  the  amount  con- 
templated by  the  law  of  the  Legislaliu-e  of  Kentucky  incorporating  the 
Ohio  Canal  Company,  if  they  believed  the  state  of  the  public  finances 
was  such  as  to  justify  it.  But,  from  the  applications  already  made  for 
aid  in  opening  canals,  it  is  probable  that  if  the  United  States  enter  upon 
expenses  of  tliis  kind,  those  expenses  cannot  be  inconsiderable ;  and,  as 
the  revenue  of  the  United  States  is  already  pledged,  almost  to  the  full 
amount,  for  purposes,  though  not  more  useful,  yet  more  urgent,  the  com- 
mittee are  induced"  to  recommend  "That  it  is  inexpedient  to  grant,  at 
present,  the  aid  solicited  by  the  Legislature  of  Kentucky,  in  opening  a 
canal  to  avoid  the  rapids  of  the  Ohio."  ^" 

The  committee  of  the  United  States  Senate  to  whom  was  referred 
the  Kentucky  documents  concerning  the  canal  handed  in  its  report  on 
fanuary  24,  1807.  It  detailed  the  findings  of  jared  Brooks,  "who  ap- 
pears to  be  a  skillful  and  intelligent  engineer"  concerning  the  feasibility 
and  cost  of  a  canal  and  the  advantages  of  building  it  on  the  Kentucky 
side.  It  admitted  "That  the  work  is  one  of  great  and  national  importance 
is  undeniable.  The  immense  country  on  the  Ohio  and  its  waters  above 
the  rapids,  in  seeking  a  market  for  its  surplus  products,  has  to  en- 
counter the  obstruction  in  the  navigation  of  that  stream,  which  they 
present.  This  obstruction,  never  entirely  free  from  danger,  is  such 
as  to  absolutely  preclude  the  passage  of  vessels  for  several  months  in 
the  year  in  their  descent,  and,  when  laden,  for  the  whole  year,  in  their 
ascent  of  the  river.  The  rapidity  of  the  current  (which  averages  at 
the  rate  of  from  ten  to  eleven  miles  an  hour  through  the  falls),  leaves 
no  alternative  for  a  safe  voyage  up  as  well  as  down  the  river  but  in 
a  canal. 

"How  far  it  is  the  policy  of  the  Government  to  aid  in  works  of  this 
kind,  when  it  has  no  direct  interest — whether,  indeed,  in  such  a  case 
it  has  the  constitutional  power  of  patronage  and  encouragement,  is  not 
necessary  to  be  decided  in  the  present  instance.  Being  a  proprietor 
of  land  bordering  upon  the  Ohio  to  a  greater  extent  than  any  individual 

'">  American  State  Papers.  Miscellaneous,  Vol.  XX,   Part  I,  822. 
"  American  State  Papers,  Miscellaneous,  Vol.  XX,  Part  I,  453,  454- 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  497 

state,  owing  to  an  invaluable  saline  near  the  Wabash,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  both  policy  and  pozver  combine  in  favor  of  promoting  an 
undertaking  by  which  its  property  is  to  be  incidentally  benefited.  If 
the  value  and  price  of  land  depend  as  well  upon  the  facility  with  which 
its  products  find  a  market  as  upon  its  capacity  to  produce,  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that  the  public  lands  will  be  increased  in  value  by  improve- 
ments in  the  navigation  of  those  streams  which  water  them.  The  saline 
alluded  to  will  have  its  market  enlarged  by  the  opening  of  the  proposed 
canal ;  and  those  above  the  rapids,  as  well  as  those  below,  may  in  time 
count  upon  it  as  one  of  the  sources  from  which  salt  may  be  obtained." 

But  there  were  certain  interests  putting  forward  the  claims  of  the 
Indiana  side  of  the  river  as  best  suited  for  the  canal,  and  this  had  its 
weight  w-ith  the  committee.  It  stated  that  "as  some  contrariety  of 
opinion  has  existed  in  relation  to  the  preferable  side  of  the  Ohio 
for  the  canal,  as  the  information  upon  which  your  committee  has  on 
this  subject  acted  is  rather  of  an  ex  parte  character,  and  as  any  aid 
this  Government  may  think  proper  to  give  ought  only  to  be  afforded 
after  the  most  impartial  and  thorough  investigation  of  the  subject" 
the  President  ought  to  appoint  three  commissioners  to  examine  the 
whole  situation  with  regard  to  a  canal  "and  which  side  of  the  river 
presents   the   greatest   advantages    for   its   accomplishment."  ^^ 

Jared  Brooks,  who  was  one  of  the  most  persistent  promoters  of  the 
Ohio  canal,  felt  that  after  all  the  project  was  not  truly  appreciated 
by  Congress,  and  that  certain  interests  were  opposing  it  for  various 
reasons.  "I  am  well  aware  of  the  danger  to  which  this  project  will 
be  exposed."  he  declared,  "when  it  meets  the  eye  of  an  engineer  or 
undertaker  of  other  works,  which  depend  on  Congress  for  assistance. 
The  city  [Washington]  I  have  no  doubt,  will  abound  with  such  men, 
who  are  under  an  impression  that  the  amount  and  encouragement  be- 
stowed here  will  be  so  much  deducted  from  their  concerns ;  others 
will  condemn  it  in  hope  of  obtaining  a  job  for  themselves ;  and  many 
members  of  Congress  may  be  swayed  by  the  great  weight  and  interest 
in  favor  of  Eastern  causes  or  public  works ;  and  there  is  yet  a  rancor 
in  the  breast  of  the  over  the  river  party  which  will  show  itself  in  some 
form. 

"Theoretical  architects  too  often  delight  in  unnecessary  expense  on 
all  public  works ;  and  such  are  generally  incapable  of  surmounting  any 
other  than  imaginary  obstacles  of  their  own  raising;  they  too  often 
despise  the  assistance  of  nature,  and  substitute  their  own  work,  which 
renders  both  useless ;  although  in  that  advance,  more  expense  is  in- 
curred than  vi'ould  have  perfected  the  object  desired,  had  there  been 
projier  arrangement  at  the  outset."  ^^ 

He  also  believed  the  canal  would  afford  other  important  advan- 
tages to  the  country  besides  facilitating  navigation  and  enhancing  the 
value  of  national  domain.  It  would  develop  water-power  so  desirable 
in  the  manufacturing  industry.  On  this  point  he  said:  "The  locality 
of  this  site,  in  relation  to  the  country  watered  by  the  Ohio  and  its 
branches,  may,  with  due  attention  to  improvement,  remedy,  in  a  great 
measure,  the  deficiency  of  constant  water-falls,  so  well  known  through 
all  the  valley  of  Ohio.  It  must  be  admitted  that  there  is  not  a  country 
in  the  world  ecjually  e.xtensive  and  fertile,  more  deficient  of  water-falls 
to  assist  in  manufactures;  that  the  productions  of  this  country  are 
immense ;  and  that  it  is  favored  with  an  easy  navigation  during  the 
greatest  part  of  the  year  to  all  points  except  passing  the  rapids. 

"The  dormant  wealth  of  this  important  section  of  the  national 
domain  can  be  brought  into  life  and  action  only  by  a    free  and  open 

^^  American  State  Papers,  Miscellaneous,  Vol.  XX,  Part  I,  479. 
'8  American  State  Papers,  Miscellaneous,  Vol.  XX,  Part  I,  821. 

Vol.  1—36 


498  HISTORY  UF  KENTUCKY 

navigation,  and  the  assistance  of  water-works  for  the  encouragement 
of  manufactures. 

"'I'liis  project  of  tlie  contemplated  canal  includes  the  perfection  of  the 
navigation,  and  the  supply  of  water  for  manufactures  to  an  immense 
e.xtent ;  and  it  is  evident  that  this  operation  will  advance  the  national 
interest  in  a  rate  of  progression  that  must  infinitely  exceed  the  most 
sanguine  calculation."'"' 

By  the  end  of  1807,  after  the  elapse  of  two  years  from  the  incorpora- 
tion of  the  company,  the  subscriptions  amounted  to  only  $70,000;  and 
the  expenses  incurred  amounted  to  about  $2,000.  Despite  the  great 
efforts  made  during  this  period  to  construct  the  canal,  the  whole  move- 
ment was  dooiued  to  failure  and  not  until  the  enthusiasm  born  of  the 
era  of  internal  imjjroveiuents  had  arrived,  did  the  j)rojecl  go  through 
successfully. 

*"  American  Slate  Papers,  Miscellaneous,  Vol.  XX,  Part  I,  822. 


CHAPTER  XLI 

AGRICULTURAL    AND    MANUFACTURING    DEVELOPMENT 

AROUND   1800 

The  agricultural  development  of  the  state  was  rapid.  Its  great  stores 
of  grain  had  early  given  rise  to  the  insistent  demand  for  the  free 
navigation  of  the  Mississippi.  In  the  light  of  subsequent  production  the 
statement  of  Winterbotham  was  exceedingly  conservative  that  "Colonel 
Harrod  a  gentleman  of  veracity  in  Kentucky  has  lately  experienced  the 
production  of  small  grain ;  and  affirms  that  he  had  thirty-four  bushels 
of  wheat,  and  fifty  bushels  of  rye  per  acre."  ^  Interest  was  early 
manifested  in  the  betterment  generally  of  agriculture.  There  was  es- 
tablished at  Harrodsburg  on  September  13,  1794,  an  agricultural  asso- 
ciation called  "The  Mercer  Society  for  the  Encouragement  of  Agri- 
culture." Samuel  McDowell  was  made  president.  Meetings  were  to 
be  held  at  stated  intervals  during  the  summer,  and  a  wide  variety  of 
subjects  were  to  be  discussed.  A  list  of  seventy-eight  was  made  out 
at  the  first  meeting,  and  each  member  was  requested  to  select  the  ones 
he  was  most  interested  in  to  discuss  at  the  next  session.  Among  the 
topics  suggested  was  the  preservation  and  renewing  of  forests,  which  is 
remarkable  as  an  early  instance  of  interest  in  the  conservation  of 
natural  resources.  Other  subjects  listed  for  discussion  were  the  best 
methods  of  clearing  land,  the  most  suitable  way  for  making  hedges ; 
and  numerous  questions  were  suggested  on  the  following  topics ;  mead- 
ows, pastures,  weeds,  wheat,  rye,  oats,  barley,  flax,  cotton,  hemp,  indigo, 
rice,  corn,  ploughs,  harrows,  stock,  horses,  black  cattle,  sheep,  hogs, 
oxen,  salt,  roots,  orchards,  bees,  and  cheese.^ 

Vine  culture  was  begun  on  the  Kentucky  River  near  Lexington  by 
some  enterprising  Swiss  colonists.  Much  enthusiasm  was  shown  in 
the  beginning;  and  the  Legislature  in  1799  passed  an  act  organizing  a 
vineyard  society  designed  to  promote  the  cultivation  of  the  vine.  But 
within  a  very  few  years  the  movement  died  down.  The  vines  did  not 
thrive ;   and  the   grapes   usually   rotted   before   maturing.^ 

The  raising  of  fine  horses  was  well  under  way  before  the  beginning 
of  the  nineteenth  century.  It  was  a  development  receiving  its  impetus 
to  a  great  extent  from  Virginia.  By  1800  droves  of  from  fifteen  to 
thirty  horses  were  being  driven  to  the  South,  principally  to  South 
Carolina.'* 

The  thriving  condition  of  the  state  along  agricultural  lines  is  seen 
in  the  price  of  farm  lands.  In  1814,  many  farms  were  selling  for  from 
$60  to  $icx)  an  acre.^ 

The  commerce  of  the  state  was  developing  in  large  proportion  during 
this  period.  All  exports  were,  of  course,  directed  down  the  Mississippi 
to   New   Orleans  and   thence  to  the  Atlantic   seaboard   and   to    foreign 


1  Winterbotham,  An  Historical  View,  III,  133. 

^Kentucky  Gazette,  October  11,  1794. 

3  Michaux,  Travels  to  the  West,  III,  206,  207 ;   Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky, 

11,  319- 

1  Michau.x,  Travels  to  the  West,  TIT,  244,  245. 
=  Niles'  Register,  VI,  250. 

499 


500  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

countries.  The  only  Kentucky  product  that  would  bear  transportation 
across  the  mountains  was  ginseng.  In  the  case  of  other  more  bulky 
products  twenty-five  pounds  transported  across  the  mountains  was  more 
costly  than  ii.ooo  sent  down  the  river  to  New  Orleans."  As  a  result, 
boats  floating  down  the  river  laden  with  Kentucky  products  were  a 
frequent  sight.  Sanniel  Hopkins  wrote  from  Henderson  in  1799  that 
"the  Quantity  of  boats  laden  with  the  various  productions  of  the 
Western  Country  that  has  passed  here  would  be  incredible  to  relate — 
&  now  they  are  passing  six  or  seven  every  day — with  the  improvement 
that  a  few  years  would  i)roduce  &  liberal  policy  in  the  Kaslcrn  States, 
&  General  Government,  this  country  would  or  might  administer  to  the 
wants  of  North  cK:  .South  America  and  their  dependencies.''  '  .Some 
enterprising  men  had  broad  \'isions  of  a  central  control  for  this  com- 
merce, .seen  in  the  orgaiu'zation  of  a  great  trading  company,  patterned 
after   the   English   companies.** 

The  earliest  extensive  exports  was  tobacco,  which  had  been  really 
set  going  by  Wilkinson.  For  a  few  years  this  jn-oduce  was  the  main 
commodity  sent  to  New  Orleans.  The  annual  ex]X)rt  amounted  to 
from  1,500  to  2,000  hogsheads.  lUit  before  the  end  of  the  century 
flour  had  forged  far  to  the  front,  assuming  first  i)l;ice  over  tobacco. 
Hemp  also  began  to  enter  in;  and  pork  now  began  to  assume  extensive 
proportions.  In  1802,  72,000  barrels  of  dried  pork  and  2,485  barrels 
of  salted  pork  were  shipped  from  the  state.  During  the  first  half  of 
1802  products  valued  at  almost  $600,000  were  shipped  from  the  state." 
Much  of  this  was  exported  to  foreign  countries.  During  the  year  1801- 
1802,  the  foreign  exports  amounted  to  $62r),fi7_^.i" 

Governor  Garrard  in  his  message  to  the  Legislature  in  1802,  referred 
to  this  jirosjierity  and  the  contentment  that  was  going  with  it:  "Ves- 
sels built  on  our  rivers,  calculated  for  transporting  our  commodities  to 
the  most  distant  C|uarters  of  the  globe,  afford  us  a  flattering  view  of  the 
resources  and  future  greatness  of  our  country.— Harmony  prevails  among 
our  citizens,  and  confidence  exists  in  the  national  government."'*  Rut 
as  easy  as  it  was  to  carry  Kentucky  products  to  a  market,  the  satisfaction 
of  the  j)eople's  wants  in  imports  was  not  so  easily  solved.  An  enter- 
prising shipowner  announced  in  1804  that  he  had  a  barge  of  forty  tons 
ready  to  go  to  New  Orleans  and  that  it  would  ply  back  up  the  river, 
lie  offered  to  receive  freight  in  New  Orleans  for  Kentucky  at  $550 
a  hundred  weight.  He  admitted  that  this  was  a  "Measurably  new" 
undertaking;  but  he  believed  that  a  number  of  articles  could  be  lirought 
up  the  river  "for  what  they  will  cost  *  *  *  At  Philadelphia."  '- 
I'.ut  transportation  was  a  fundamental  problem  which  could  not  be 
easily  solved.  It  was  an  underlying  condition  for  the  welfare  of  the 
state  along  almost  every  line,  lioats  might  return  up  the  river,  but  it 
was  wi'.h  great  difficulty,  requiring  much  time.  It  took  at  least  three 
months  to  bring  a  barge  or  Ijoat  from  New  Orleans  to  Louisville.' ■' 
It  was  in  jiart  the  consciousness  of  this  great  handicap  to  commerce 
that  led  John  Fitch,  a  Connecticut  \ankee  remo\ed  tfi  Kentucky,  to  seize 
the  idea  while  sitting  on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio,  that  steam  could  be 
a|)plie(l  to  the  projielling  of  boats  on  the  rivers.  This  was  in  June,  1780. 
His  subsequent  struggles,  which  wire  transferred  t"  the  East,  produced 


«  F.  A.  Michaux,  Travels  in  the  West,  204. 
T  Breckinridge  MSS.    (l799)-     Dated  May  3. 
^Mirror,  DecemlKr,  1797. 

"  Louis  Pelzcr,  "Kcoiioinic  Factor.s  in  tlie  Acciuisition  of   Louisiana"  in  Proceed- 
ings of  the  Mississippi  Valley  Historical  Association,  1912-13,  Vol.  6,  109,   128. 
'^'^  American  State  Papers,  Commerce  and  Na^'igalion,  I,  507. 
"  Kentucky  Ca~ettc,  Novemlicr  9,   1802. 
^-Ibid,  September  25,  1804. 
"  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky.  T,  518. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  501 

for  him  nothing  but  disappointments.  He  built  a  number  of  boats  be- 
tween 1787  and  1789  which  had  temporary  success  on  the  Delaware 
River,  but  the  practical  application  of  steam  to  navigation  remained 
for  Fulton.  However,  James  Rumsey,  a  Virginian  who  migrated  to 
Kentucky,  had  his  imagination  fired  about  the  same  time  with  the 
possibilities  of  steamboat  navigation  on  the  great  rivers  and  lakes  and 
the  seacoast.  By  a  peculiar  contrivance  he  applied  steam  to  the  pro- 
pelling of  a  boat  on  the  Potomac  in  1786;  but  again  without  practical 
results.  Edward  West,  another  Kentuckian  by  adoption  was  the  first 
to  carry  on  his  experiments  in  the  West.  He  constructed  a  small  steam- 
boat which  he  successfully  ran  in  1794  on  the  Town  Fork  of  the 
Elkhorn  Creek  near  Lexington,  made  navigable  by  damning  the  stream. 
He  received  a  patent  for  it  from  Congress  in  1802.  But  the  practical 
touch  had  not  been  given,  and  so  it  came  to  nothing.!^ 

As  long  as  Kentucky  remained  largely  isolated  from  the  East  and 
the  rest  of  the  world,  there  was  of  necessity  the  feeling  on  the  part 
of  many  of  the  enterprising  and  forward-looking  citizens  that  the  state 
was  being  held  back  in  her  proper  development.  This  lack  of  proper 
transportation  facilities  produced  various  reactions ;  but  perhaps  the  most 
important  was  the  distinct  feeling  that  the  state  should  so  turn  her  activi- 
ties as  to  largely  nullify  this  unwelcome  condition.  Why,  it  was  asked, 
should  Kentucky  not  be  largely  self-sufficing  in  her  economic  life?  She 
had  the  raw  products,  too  bulky  to  be  transported  far  with  conspicuous 
success  and  profit.  It  only  remained  for  her  people  to  bestir  themselves 
and  convert  raw  products  into  finished  articles.  Thereby  they  would 
satisfy  the  home  demands  for  manufactured  commodities,  and  set  up 
a  trade  beyond  their  boundaries  in  products  of  concentrated  values  which 
could  be  profitably  carried.  Manufactories  should,  therefore,  be  set  up 
to  circumvent  transportation  difficulties  besides  serve  numerous  other 
goods.  An  observer  argued  that :  "The  local  situation  of  the  state  of 
Kentucky,  which  has  deprived  it  of  those  sources  on  which  the  exchange 
of  agricultural  products  depends,  particularly  requires  that  markets  should 
be  created  at  home,  that  should  open  a  field  to  industry,  consume  the  sur- 
plus of  our  present  consumption  and  atiford  us  in  return  the  several  con- 
veniences of  life. — In  short,  that  without  crossing  either  the  Alleghany, 
or  descending  the  Mississippi;  we  should  be  supplied  with  manufactures 
equal  to  those  of  Great  Britain,  and  with  wines  of  equal  quality  as  those 
of  France  and  Spain."  i^ 

The  movement  for  manufactories  that  had  early  produced  the  cot- 
ton factory  at  Danville  was  thus  impelled  forward  by  the  very  exigencies 
of  the  situation.  So  convinced  were  the  leaders  of  the  state  that  the 
destiny  of  the  people  state  that  the  destiny  of  the  people  lay  to  a  great 
extent  in  the  direction  of  the  manufacturing  industry,  that  state  aid 
soon  came  to  be  agitated.  Governor  Garrard  took  note  of  this  in  his 
message  to  the  Legislature  in  1800  when  he  suggested  "whether  it  would 
not  be  expedient  for  the  Legislature  to  encourage  manufacturing  men  of 
industry,  probity  and  ability, — by  affording  such  pecuniary  aids  as  may 
be  deemed  consistent  with  the  interests  and  resources  of  the  common- 
wealth." 1"  Two  years  previously  a  group  of  business  men  had  sent 
a  petition  to  the  Legislature  recounting  the  advantages  to  the  state  gen- 
erally of  building  up  cotton  manufactories  and  stating  that  the  company 
had  provided  all  the  elements  necessary  to  beginning  the  business,  such 
as  cotton  supplies  and  skilled  laborers.  The  only  problems  to  be  met 
was  the  raising  of  the  necessary  capital.  They,  themselves,  had  already 
subscribed  £1000;  and  now  in  their  estimation,  if  the  state  would  lend 

1*  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  174,  649,  650. 
"July  7,  1806.     Western  World. 
'°  Palladium,  November  4,  1800. 


r>02  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

them  another  ii.ooo,  tlie  business  could  lie  set  going  within  a  short 
time.  This  petition  was  referred  to  a  committee  but  never  acted  upon.'^ 
This  effort  to  secure  state  aid  was  in  perfect  keeping  with  the  attitude 
of  this  growing  western  democracy  toward  the  purpose  and  duties  of  a 
Government.  They  held  that  it  should  do  more  than  enunciate  pleasing 
political  theories;  it  should  directly  aid  any  project  for  the  general  good. 
In  pursuance  of  this  idea  and  greatly  aided  by  the  wartime  patriotism 
then  so  abundant  in  the  state,  the  legislature  passed  an  act  in  1814 
exempting  from  taxation  all  capital  used  in  the  jnirchase  of  goods  manu- 
factured in  Kentucky  or  in  any  other  part  of  the  United  States.'* 

Another  phase  of  the  movement  toward  establishing  manufactories 
in  the  state  is  seen  in  the  feeling  rather  widespread  that  the  purchasing 
of  goods  made  outside  of  Kentucky  and  especially  in  Great  Britain 
was  enervating  the  people.  Despite  the  fundamental  prosperity  of  the 
state  as  evidenced  by  its  wonderful  growth  during  this  period,  there 
was  a  sense  among  many  that  times  were  hard,  due  almost  wholly  to 
the  lack  of  a  circulating  medium  of  exchange.  There  were  numerous 
complaints  about  the  lack  of  money,  and  consequent  hard  times.  Where 
has  the  money  gone,  it  was  asked.  The  invariabe  answer  sup])lied  was 
that  too  many  people  were  using  merchandise  made  by  Great  Britain; 
and  the  invariable  remedy  suggested  was  Kentucky  manufactories.'" 

A  correspondent  to  the  Mirror  in  1797  called  attention  to  the  orgy  of 
spending  what  seemed  to  have  possessed  his  fellow-citizens.  He  said 
that  too  many  people  seemed  to  think  "that  dollars  at  any  time  might 
be  gathered  from  the  tops  of  their  Hickorys  and  Buck-eyes,  and  their 
only  anxiety  seemed  to  be,  by  what  means  to  get  rid  of  them  fast 
enough."  He  declared  they  were  buying  too  much  merchandise  from 
east  of  the  mountains.  He  vividly  called  their  attention  to  the  fact 
that  "Pack-horses,  and  even  wagons,  loaded  with  dollars  destined  for 
Philadelphia  remittances,  have  been  latterly  no  uncommon  sight  on 
the  high  roads  of  this  country,  but  a  few  years  since  a  wilderness." 
He  summed  up  the  logic  of  the  situation  in  this  terse  statement,  that 
"Exportation,   not   importation,   is   your    Way   to    IVcalth.     *     *     *"  -" 

The  people  in  Bourbon  County  became  greatly  aroused  over  the 
situation.  On  February  19,  1800,  a  meeting  was  held  in  Paris,  which 
established  the  Bourl)on  .Association.  The  object  of  the  gathering  was  to 
take  into  consideration  the  alarming  situation  of  the  county  brought 
about  by  the  scarcity  of  money,  and  to  discover  a  remedy.  A  set  of 
resolutions  was  passed  declarative  of  the  program  to  be  followed.  The 
first  resolution  stated  "That  after  the  first  day  of  April  next,  we  will 
not  purchase  from  merchants,  traders,  or  others,  any  of  the  following 
enumerated,  imported,  manufactured  articles,  to  wit:  Woolens,  linens, 
cottons,  silks,  hats,  shoes,  saddles,  sugars,  or  imported  liquors  of  any 
kind  (wines  used  as  a  medicine,  or  in  religious  societies  only  excepted) 
unless  the  same  can  be  purchased  and  paid  for  in  articles  made  of  the 
growth  or  manufactures  of  this  state."  They  further  resolved  to  "en- 
courage the  raising  of  sheep,  the  cultivation  of  hemp,  flax,  and  cotton — 
and  promote  home  manufactures  of  every  kind."  Solemn  oaths  were 
taken  by  all  members  to  comply  with  the  pledges  set  forth  in  the  resolu- 
tions; and  in  order  to  further  the  interests  of  the  association  and  to 
spread  it  over  the  state  meetings  were  to  be  held  every  month.^' 

Under  stimuli  from  many  angles  the  interests  of  the  people  were 
turned   towar.l   manufacturing  to   a   degree   that   was  perhaps   not   sur- 

1'  Palladium,  Aut'iist  4,  1801. 
"*  An/us,   November    16,    1831. 

'^Palladium,    January    30,     1800.      Throughout    this    period    there    were    many 
communications  of  like  import. 

="  November  18,  1797-     Article  signed  "Merlin." 

'i^  Palladium,  March  13,  1800;  Marshall,  History  of  Kciihicky,  II,  325,  326. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  503 

passed  in  any  other  part  of  the  country.  Their  ambitions  were  great 
and  varied  in  the  manufacturing  industry.  Coupled  with  the  agricul- 
tural expansion,  the  labor  situation  became  aggravated.  Wages  became 
exceedingly  high — much  higher  than  in  the  East.  But  in  this  there  was 
a  blessing  in  disguise.  The  scarcity  of  workmen  set  enterprising  men 
busy  in  elTorts  to  invent  labor-saving  machines  and  devices.  Francois 
Michaux,  in  his  travels  through  the  state,  observed  that  "The  want  of 
hands  excites  the  industry  of  the  inhabitants  of  this  country."  22  He 
also  noted  a  number  of  new  inventions  that  had  been  applied  to  manu- 
facturing. A  nail  cutting  machine,  invented  by  Edward  West  of  steam- 
boat fame  and  patented  in  iS'02,  turned  out  in  twelve  hours  5.320  pounds 
of  nails.  He  later  sold  this  invention  for  10.000.  Another  Lexingtonian 
invented  a  machine  for  cleaning  hemp,  which,  it  was  said,  would  break 
and  clean  8,000  poundie  a  day.'^  Numerous  other  inventions  of  lesser 
importance  appeared  in  the  state  during  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth 
century. 

A  machine  for  spinning  cotton  and  wool  attracted  considerable  at- 
tention. The  Legislature  was  prevailed  upon  to  investigate  the  prac- 
ticality of  the  invention,  and  let  the  people  know  its  usefulness.  A 
committee  of  eight  from  the  House  and  four  from  the  Senate  was 
appointed  in  1814  to  examine  the  invention  and  report  their  "Opinion 
of  the  utility  and  advantages  of  a  machine,  the  property  of  Stephen 
Andres,  for  spinning  of  wool  and  cotton."  -■•  The  committee  reported 
favorably;  and  for  many  months  this  machine  was  advertised  in  the  Ken- 
tucky press,  carrying  a  testimonial  of  merit  from  the  Legislature. 

The  progress  of  manufactures  was  well  in  keeping  with  the  enthu- 
siasm so  abundantly  displayed.  Mills  manufacturing  a  great  variety  of 
articles  sprang  up.  Lexington  became  the  manufacturing  center  of 
the  state  and  indeed  the  metropolis  of  the  West.  A  Pennsylvanian  who 
traveled  through  Kentucky  in  1805  had  this  to  say:  "Lexington  is  the 
largest  and  most  wealthy  town  in  Kentucky,  or  indeed  west  of  the 
Allegheny  mountains ;  *  *  *  [[^g  Main  street  of  Lexington  has  all 
the  appearance  of  Market  Street  in  Philadeljjhia  on  a  busy  day.  *  *  * 
I  would  suppose  it  contains  about  500  dwelling  houses,  many  of  them 
elegant,  and  three  stories  high.  *  *  *  About  thirty  brick  buildings 
were  then  raising,  and  I  have  little  doubt  but  that  in  a  few  years  it  will 
rival,  not  only  in  wealth  but  in  population,  the  most  populous  inland  town 
in  the  Atlantic  States.  *  *  *  Jhg  country  around  Lexington,  for 
many  miles  in  every  direction,  is  equal  in  beauty  and  fertility  to  any  thing 
the  imagination  can  paint,  and  is  already  in  a  high  state  of  cultivation."  25 
Another  traveler  declared  that  "Lexington  is  expected  to  become  the 
largest  inland  town  in  the  United  States.  Perhaps  there  is  not  a  manu- 
factory in  this  country  which  is  not  known  here."  ^^  Francois  Michaux 
stated  in  1802  that  its  business  included  "its  tow  printing  offices,  in  each 
of  which  a  newspaper  was  published  twice  a  week,  its  paper  manu- 
factory, its  two  extensive  rope-walks  to  supply  the  shipping  on  the  Ohio, 
its  several  potteries,  one  or  two  powder  mills,  and  on  the  banks  of  the 
little  river,  which  runs  near  the  town,  several  tan-yards."  ^'^  Another 
evidence  of  the  bustling  character  of  Lexington  was  the  fact  that  in  -1814 
town  lots  were  selling  as  high  there  as  in  Boston.^* 

The  manufacture  of  whisky  became  early  an  important  business.    The 

"F.  A.  Michaux,  Travels  in  the  West,  200. 

23  F.   A.    Michaux,    Travels   in   the   West,   200 ;    Collins,   History   of  Kentucky, 

II,  174.' 

2*  Acts  of  Kentucky,  1813,  223. 

2s  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  175,  176. 

2"  Ranck,  History  of  Lexington,  241. 

2'  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  17S. 

28  Niks'  Register,  VI,  250. 


504  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

tiist  Bourbon  whisky  was  made  in  Georgetown  in  1789.2"  The  wide- 
spread interest  in  this  business  is  evidenced  by  this  notice  appearing  in 
1798  in  the  Lexington  Herald:  "To  Distillers  and  others  who  may 
encline  to  carry  on  the  business  of  rectifying  spirituous  liquor  and  the 
manufacturing  cordials  in  an  extensive  manner,  may  now  be  supplied 
with  the  necessary  articles  for  carrying  on  the  same  by  applying  at  the 
sign  of  Andre  M'Call's  Apothecary's  Shop  near  the  Stray  I'enn,  Lex- 
ington." •'"' 

Great  progress  had  been  made  in  the  manufacturing  industry  by 
1810;  and  the  interests  of  the  people  seemed  to  have  been  set  upon  it 
as  of  prime  importance.  The  extent  and  variety  of  her  manufactories 
bespoke  a  great  future  for  the  state.  In  this  year  a  factory  for  manu- 
facturing oil  carpets  was  set  up  in  Lexington.  The  editor  of  the  Rc- 
purlcr  announced  that,  "It  is  a  proud  satisfaction  to  us,  that  every  day 
renders  our  country  more  independent  of  foreign  aid,  and  conspicuous 
for  improvements.  The  establishment  of  the  Oil  floor  Cloth  Mann- 
faetory  calls  for  the  patriotic  encouragement  of  our  citizens."  ^^  But  the 
production  and  the  manufactories  of  hem])  soon  came  to  be  the  out- 
standing industry.  In  Lexington  alone  there  were  in  1810,  nine  rope- 
walks  and  four  cotton  bagging-mills.  Other  manufactories  of  hemj) 
were  twine,  fish  lines,  seine-twine,  and  cables.  Hats,  boots,  shoes,  and 
sail-cloth  were  also  made  in  considerable  quantities. 3-  Within  eleven 
years  the  hemp  manufactories  had  increased  forty  times. ^*  Powder 
making  was  also  an  important  industry.  Salt  petre  was  obtained  from 
numerous  caves  in  the  state,  used  in  the  manufacture  of  powder.  In 
1 810,  500  pounds  of  salt  petre  was  being  secured  each  day  from  the 
l!ig  Bone  Cave  alone.  Kentucky  powder  was  finding  its  way  into 
almost  every  state  in  the  Union. ^^  Indeed,  the  lack  of  transportation 
facilities  had  taught  the  people  to  atld  to  value  by  labor  and  decrease 
the  size  of  their  products. 

The  unbounded  optimism  and  prosperity  that  generally  characterized 
the  times  is  seen  in  a  letter  from  Col.  Thomas  Hart  of  Lexington  to 
Governor  William  Blount  in  1795.  He  stated  that  he  was  "living  in 
affluence,  and  making  money."  He  continued,  "We  arrived  in  this 
country  about  the  first  of  June  last  and  with  us  we  brought  between 
three  and  four  thousand  pounds  worth  of  goods  which  we  distributed 
amongst  the  stores  we  then  had  Established  here.  And  after  fixing 
ourselves  to  work  in  the  manufacturing  of  [illegible,  likely  nails  and 
rope]  I  sent  my  son  back  and  he  started  in  the  month  of  November 
with  between  7  and  8,000  pounds  worth  of  goods,  about  2,000  of  which 
he  ])ut  in  the  retail  stores,  and  sold  of  the  residue  chiefly  by  wholesale, 
on  which  he  received  a  profit  of  upwards  of  £1,700,  wound  up  his  busi- 
ness and  is  now  on  his  way  with  Mr.  Price  (our  .son-in-law  who  I 
have  ])rc\'ailed  on  to  throw  aside  his  law  Books,  and  enter  into  the 
Mercantile  business)  lo  1 'hiladeli)hia  and  intends  bringing  [torn]  of 
Merchandise  back,  and  to  make  hay  while  the  sun  shines,  as  the  old 
proverb  is.  Our  nailing  business  is  a  very  pretty  thing  in  this  country. 
25  hands  net  me  a  clear  profit  of  20  dollars  per  day,  and  a  rope  manu- 
factory that  I  have  all  ready  to  set  going  as  soon  as  the  winter  breaks, 
will  also  be  profitable,  and  I  am  building  a  large  shop  and  I  shall  set 
four  forges  agoing  at  this  Blacksmith  business  in  a  few  days.  I  am 
;ifraid  that  you  will  think  that  I  have  too  many  irons  in  the  fire  an<l 
tiiat  some  of  them  must  burn,  but  when   I   assure  you  that   I   am  but 

2«  Collins,  History   of  Kentucky,  I,  516. 

••>»  April  17,  1798. 

»'  Quoted  in  Kentucky  Gazette,  May  29,  1810. 

32  McMaslcr,  Hislory  of  the  People  of  the  United  States,  III,  505. 

■■'3  Kentucky  Gazette,  September  18,  1810. 

'*  Nites'  Retjisler,  VI,  249. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  505 

65  years  of  age,  and  do  not  entertain  company  more  than  twice  a  week, 
you  will  not  think  me  wrong  especially  when  I  tell  you  that  I  feel  all 
that  ardour  and  spirit  for  business  I  did  forty  years  ago,  and  consider 
myself  more  capable  to  conduct  it.  O  if  my  old  friend.  Uncle  Jacob 
[Blount]  were  but  living  and  in  this  country,  what  pleasure  we  should 
have  in  raking  up  money  and  spending  it  with  our  friends,  but  may  not 
I,  my  dear  friend  (when  your  administration  is  out)  hope  for  the  pleas- 
ure of  seeing  you  your  worthy  lady  and  family  in  this  country,  it  really 
is  one  of  the  finest  in  the  world.     *     *     *"  ^^ 

The  more  important  manufactories  of  the  state  in  1810  were:  15 
cotton  manufacturing  establishments,  producing  over  4,000,000  yards 
of  cloth  of  all  sorts,  valued  at  more  than  $2,000,000,  with  23,599  looms 
and  21  carding  machines;  13  mills  producing  hemp  bagging  for  cotton 
bales  and  38  rope-walks,  consuming  5,755  tons  of  hemp;  33  fulling  mills; 
4  furnaces ;  3  forges ;  1 1  naileries  making  873^  tons  of  nails ;  267  tan- 
neries ;  9  flax  seed  oil  mills ;  2,000  distilleries ;  6  paper  mills ;  63  gun- 
powder mills,  producing  115,716  pounds  of  powder;  201,937  pounds  of 
salt  petre  produced;  and  36  salt  works  making  342,870  bushels  of  salt.^" 
Seven  years  later  Lexington  alone  boasted  of  the  following  establish- 
ments: 12  cotton  manufactories;  3  woolen  mills;  3  paper  mills;  3  steam 
grist  mills;  gunpowder  mills  capitalized  at  £9,000;  a  lead  factory;  iron 
and  brass  foundries  capitalized  at  £9,000;  4  hat  factories;  4  coach 
factories;  5  tanners  and  curriers;  12  hemp  manufactories  for  making 
cotton  bagging  and  hempen  yarn  with  a  total  investment  of  £100,400;  6 
cabinet  makers;  4  soap  and  candle  factories;  3  tobacco  factories;  and 
various  other  manufactories  with  an  investment  of  £120,000.  The  total 
capital  invested  in  all  the  Lexington  factories  was  estimated  at 
£467,225.3^ 

During  this  period  Kentucky  bid  fair  to  become  one  of  the  most 
important  manufacturing  centers  of  the  nation.  She  called  upon  both 
state  and  nation  to  aid  and  protect  her  growing  industries.  In  January, 
i8og.  the  Kentucky  House  passed  a  resolution  that  after  the  following 
June  20th,  members  of  the  Legislature  should  wear  home-made  products. 
There  were  only  two  dissenting  votes,  one  of  which  was  that  of  the  con- 
tentious Humphrey  Marshall.  In  the  heat  of  the  debate  that  followed 
was  developed  one  of  the  reasons  for  the  duel  between  Clay  and  Mar- 
shall, heretofore  described. ^s  The  style  set  by  the  Legislature  seems  to 
have  been  followed  very  considerably.  In  referring  to  the  crowd  that 
celebrated  the  Fourth  of  July  in  Lexington  in  1809,  the  editor  of  the 
Reporter  remarked  that  "It  gave  us  pleasure  on  this  occasion  to  observe  a 
considerable  number  of  our  citizens  clad  in  domestic  manufactures."  ^9 

The  growing  difficulties  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain 
bore  a  direct  relationship  to  the  industrial  situation  in  Kentucky  as, 
indeed,  elsewhere  in  the  nation,  due  to  the  measures  undertaken  by  the 
P"ederal  Government.  On  December  21,  1807,  Congress  passed  the 
embargo  act,  cutting  off  commercial  intercourse  with  all  foreign  coun- 
tries. At  first  approval  was  manifested  generally,  but  within  a  short 
while  the  people  were  made  to  see  and  feel  its  effects  more  clearly,  and 
a  bitter  opposition  began  to  grow  up  against  the  policy.  The  farmers 
and  especially  the  shipping  interests  of  the  New  England  States  voiced 
a  strenuous  opposition.  Not  so,  however,  with  the  Kentuckians.  They 
clearly  saw  the  protection  they  were  receiving  for  their  manufactories 

36  Dated  February  15th.  The  original  letter  is  in  the  Clay  MSS.  in  the  possession 
of  Miss  Lucretia  Clay  of  Lexington.  Hart  was  a  member  of  the  Transylvania 
Company.  I  .     -      1 

^<^  American  State  Papers,  Finance,  II,  790-794- 

8'  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  176. 

'8  Reporter,  lanuary   19,  26,   1809. 

s»  luly  8,  1808. 


506  lllSTUkV  I  )!•■  KliXTlCKV 

from  foreign  importations.  From  the  first  they  were  enthusiastic  for 
the  Jeffersonian  poHcy.  Aided  by  their  strong  patriotism,  they  expressed 
through  the  Legislature  tiie  decision  "That  whether  war,  a  total  non- 
intercourse,  or  a  more  rigid  execution  of  the  embargo  system,  be  de- 
termined on,  the  Clencral  Assembly,  however  they  may  regret  the  priva- 
tions consequent  on  the  occasion,  will  cordially  ajjprove  and  cooperate 
in  enforcing  the  measure;  for  they  are  sensible,  that  in  the  present  crisis 
of  the  nation,  the  alternatives  are,  a  surrender  of  liberty  and  inde- 
pendence, or  a  bold  and  vianly  resistance."  The  Legislature  also  de- 
clared that  the  embargo  "was  a  measure  highly  judicious,  and  the  only 
honorable   expedient   to   avoid   war."  ■'" 

So  bitter  became  the  opposition  to  the  embargo  in  New  England  and 
other  parts  of  the  country  and  so  widespread  and  persistent  were  the 
evasions,  that  Congress  repealed  the  act  and  substituted  for  it  a  non- 
intercourse  law  in  1809,  which  allowed  trade  with  every  nation  except 
England  and  France.  This  new  move  was  received  with  dismay  in 
many  parts  of  Kentucky.  To  the  young  manufactories  just  springing 
up,  it  meant  destruction ;  the  protection  they  had  been  receiving,  and 
which  had  given  them  such  vitality,  was  largely  gone.  A  movement 
now  sprang  into  new  life  to  secure  protection  by  a  tariff,  and  thus  have 
the  Government  definitely  build  up  manufactories  by  law  as  a  definite 
policy,  rather  than  as  an  incident  in  dealing  with  foreign  affairs.  Jn 
fact,  much  earlier  Kentuckians  had  been  clamoring  for  a  protective 
tariff.  In  1802,  numerous  petitions  were  circulating  for  this  purpose.^' 
Rut  with  the  repeal  of  the  embargo,  a  concerted  movement  grew  up. 
Artisans  and  workmen  throughout  the  state  were  requested  to  sign  peti- 
tions to  Congress  and  the  Legislature  voted  to  forward  the  efforts.''- 
The  various  manufactories  of  liemp  had  grown  with  great  rapidity,  and 
their  interests  bad  come  to  occupy  an  important  position  in  the  economic 
life  of  the  people.  It  was  definitely  for  their  benefit  that  petitions  be- 
gan to  go  up  to  Congress. 

The  case  for  protection  as  seen  by  Kentuckians  was  clearly  set  forth 
in  a  petition  to  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  on 
June  7,  1809.  In  order  to  understand  the  argument  developed,  it  is 
given  in  full : 

"To  the  Honorable,  the  Congress  of  the  United  Stales,  the  petition 
of  the  subscribers,  inanufactiircrs  of  hemp  into  linen,  and  inhabitants  of 
the  State  of  Kentucky,  respectfully  shoicctli: 

"The  subscribers  ha\ing.  since  the  passage  of  the  acts  commonly 
called  the  'embargo'  and  'non-im])ortation  acts,'  engaged  in  the  manu- 
facture of  hemp  into  linen,  and  many  of  them  having  expended  great 
part  of  their  respective  capitals  in  preparing  machinery  and  erecting 
buildings  to  carry  on  the  same,  beg  leave,  upon  the  approach  of  a  new 
state  of  affairs,  to  call  their  situation  to  the  attention  of  your  honorable 
body.  Whilst  they  rejoice,  in  common,  with  their  fellow  citizens,  that 
the  returning  sense  of  justice  of  one  of  the  great  belligerent  jjowers  of 
EiuTjpe,  as  displayed  in  some  recent  communication  to  our  Government, 
affords  a  hojie  that  our  country  may  escape  the  calamities  of  war,  they 
mu.st  be  permitted  to  .state  that  this  cause  of  national  rejoicing  will,  in 
all  human  probability,  be  greatly  ojipressive  to  them.  Their  establish- 
ments have  grown  out  of  our  differences  with  foreign  nations.  The  'non- 
importation act,'  which  jjassed,  as  your  petitioners  always  understand, 
as  much  to  change  the  direction  of  some  of  the  nation;d  capital   from 


*«  Marshall,  Ilislorv  of  Kcnluctiy,  459,  460. 

*'^  Breckinridge  MSS.   (1802). 

*2  McMaster,  History  of  the  People  of  the  United  Stales,  III,  S07-  See  also 
T.  G.  Groncrt,  "Trade  in  the  Blue-Grass  Region,  1810-1820"  in  Mississippi  Valley 
Ilisloricol  Rc^-iew,  Vol.   No.  3,  313-323- 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  507 

commercial  to  manufacturing  pursuits,  as  with  a  view  to  bring  a  great 
foreign  Power  to  a  sense  of  justice,  Ijy  prohibiting  the  introduction  of 
coarse  Hnens,  etc.,  into  the  United  States,  gave  being  to  their  manu- 
factories ;  and  with  the  further  patronage  of  your  honorable  body,  will, 
beyond  all  doubt,  rapidly  increase  in  the  Western  Country.  Already 
there  is  manufactured,  in  Kentucky,  a  quantity  of  baling  linen  sufficient 
f(.r  the  consumption  of  the  greater  part  of  the  cotton  country;  other 
manufactories  are  erecting,  and  several  citizens  are  extending,  their 
views  to  finer  linens  and  sail  cloth.  Such,  however,  is  the  superiority 
of  European  capital  and  arts;  such  the  cheapness  of  labor  in  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland;  such  the  aid  given  there  to  manufactures  by  boun- 
ties from  the  Government ;  such  the  obstacles  which  an  American  manu- 
facturer has  to  combat  and  overcome ;  and  such  the  lessons  furnished  by 
experience ;  that  your  petitioners  forebode  the  annihilation  of  their  re- 
spective establishments,  unless  some  aid  is  afforded  them,  at  this  mo- 
ment, by  the  interposition  of  Congress. 

"That  this  protection  of  your  honorable  body  will  be  given  to  them 
at  the  present  moment,  they  are  the  more  persuaded,  when  they  review 
the  proceedings  of  every  Congress  which  has  sat,  since  the  formation 
of  the  Federal  Constitution.  Every  law  which  has  been  enacted;  every 
declaration  which  has  come  to  the  People,  from  that  quarter ;  has  shown 
it  to  be  the  wish  of  Congress  to  make  the  United  States  independent  of 
the  world,  as  to  articles  of  the  first  necessity,  as  she  is  in  her  political 
rights  as  a  nation.  And  for  this  purpose  Congress  have  laid  duties  upon 
all  raw  or  manufactured  articles,  to  an  extent  sufficient  to  prohibit  their 
importation,  whenever  it  was  ascertained  that  the  country  could  produce 
a  sufficiency  for  home  consumption.  And,  in  some  instances,  protecting 
duties  have  been  laid  with  such  efficacy,  as  not  only  to  produce  internal 
manufactures,  sufficient  for  the  supply  of  the  demand  at  home,  but  to 
become,  also,  articles  of  considerable  amount  in  the  scale  of  our  exports. 

"Not  merely,  however,  have  Congress  in  laying  prohibitory  or  pro- 
tecting duties  evinced  a  disposition  to  encourage  this  species  of 
domestic  industry,  but  that  body  has  also  granted  bounties  to  en- 
courage the  industry  of  an  isolated  part  of  the  Union — a  species  of 
industry,  too,  in  which  but  a  small  j)ortion  of  the  citizens  could  partici- 
pate— the  fisheries.  Far  be  it  from  the  subscribers  to  repine  at  a  policy 
of  this  kind,  because  it  could  not  have  an  operation  upon  them,  or  aflfect 
the  great  mass  of  the  People.  They  have  no  such  views:  for  they  welt 
know  that  the  United  States  compose  an  extensive  nation ;  that  her 
citizens  are  scattered  over  an  immense  extent  of  country,  having  various 
soils  and  climates,  with  pursuits  as  adapted  or  varied  to  their  different 
local  situations.  And  a  government,  forming  laws  for  this  scattered 
population,  must  necessarily  consult  the  wants  and  necessities  of  every 
part  of  it.  to  promote  the  general  good  of  the  whole.  A  reference 
to  the  report  of  Mr.  Secretary  Jefferson  will  evince,  that  enlarged  and 
liberal  views  of  this  kind  induced  Congress  to  grant  bounties  to  the 
fisheries.  I'ut  views  of  another  nature  seem  also  to  have  influenced 
that  body.  The  encouragements  given  to  their  own  fishermen  by  for- 
eign nations,  and  the  restrictions  laid  upon  our  oils  and  fish,  in  foreign 
ports,  had  threatened  the  fisheries  with  destruction ;  and  the  question 
came  before  Congress  whether  that  business  should  be  abandoned  en- 
tirely or  supported  by  the  nation  at  large.  The  same  question  the  sub- 
scribers consider  as  occurring  in  the  present  instance.  Independent  of 
the  superiority  which  the  P.ritish  manufacturer  possesses,  in  the  low 
price  of  labor,  the  experience  and  skill  of  his  workmen,  and  the  strength 
of  his  capital,  he  enjoys  advantages  that  are  not  known  to  an  Amer- 
ican manufacturer,  in  the  bounties  given  by  the  Government  to  those 
who  grow  the  raw  material,  and  to  those  who  export  the  manufactured 


508  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

article.  Whether  an  American  manufacturer  can  resist  a  combination 
of  advantages  so  unfavorable  to  his  interests,  without  aid  from  Govern- 
ment, appears  to  the  petitioners  as  problematical  indeed. 

"Your  petitioners  deem  it  material  to  represent  that  the  non-impor- 
tation act.  by  creating  a  demand  for  the  articles  which  that  act  pro- 
hibited, has  changed  the  direction  of  much  capital  and  caused  the 
erection  of  buildings,  which  must  now  become  waste,  without  the  inter- 
position of  Congress.  That  if  it  be  important  to  encourage  manufac- 
tures, and  if  they  promote  national  wealth  by  encouraging  internal 
industry;  if  they  keep  money  at  home  by  preventing  it  from  going 
abroad  for  foreign  productions;  if  they  give  life  to  the  industry  of  the 
farmer,  the  planter,  and  the  mechanic;  there  can  be  no  question  upon 
the  subject.  This  is  tlw  time  to  encourage  them  effectually.  If  those 
which  are  erected  be  sufTered  to  go  to  waste;  if  those  recently  estab- 
lished die  with  the  law  which  gave  them  being;  an  age  will  pass  away 
before  other  citizens  will  embark  in  the  same  business.  Ill  success, 
upon  the  part  of  one  manufacturer,  will  prevent  others  from  engaging 
in  the  same  pursuit ;  success  that  crowns  every  measure  with  popularity 
produces  herds  of  imitators  and  followers. 

"Nor  can  it  be  an  unimj)ortant  consideration  with  Congress,  that 
the  encouragement  of  domestic  manufactures  will  have  a  tendency  to 
transplant  the  acts  and  capital  of  Europe  to  this  country,  by  holding 
out  inducements  to  artists  and  manufacturers  to  remove  here. 

"The  subscribers  cannot  quit  the  subject  without  some  remarks  upon 
the  peculiar  situation  of  the  country  in  which  they  live.  Kentucky  is 
rich  in  soil,  but  at  a  distance  from  the  seas.  She  is  capable  of  pro- 
ducing hemp  for  the  whole  supply  of  the  United  States — an  article  per- 
haps as  much  wanted  as  any  other,  both  by  the  Government  and  by 
private  citizens  engaged  in  every  pursuit  in  life;  which,  to  an  enormous 
amount,  is  annually  imported  from  the  northern  parts  of  Europe,  and 
which  cannot  be  easily  produced  in  case  of  war.  If  the  manufacturers 
of  Kentucky  were  sufficiently  encouraged  they  would  induce  the  farm- 
ers to  cultivate  it,  so  as  to  furnish  a  never-failing  resource,  whether 
in  peace  or  war.  The  proximity  of  Kentucky  to  Ohio  and  Indiana  sub- 
jects her  to  continual  drains  of  treasure  for  United  States  lands.  Large 
sums  are  annually  taken  off  for  foreign  productions,  and  merchants  in 
the  Atlantic  States,  who  are  the  real  collectors  of  the  revenue,  pay  for 
Kentucky  her  quoto  to  the  treasury.  Protected  as  she  is  by  the  Union, 
with  this  arrangement  she  is  satisfied.  But  when  the  fishermen  of  the 
East  are  not  only  encouraged  by  j^rotecting  duties,  but  also  by  boun- 
ties; when,  comjjaralively  speaking,  no  public  moneys  are  expended 
here,  but  all  at  Washingtun.  and  on  the  seaboard,  in  salaries,  buildings, 
fortifications,  upon  the  army  and  on  the  navy  for  the  protection  of 
commerce,  in  which,  from  her  local  and  insular  situation,  she  cannot 
participate;  she  would  be  better  pleased  if  she  was  indemnified  for 
these  disadvantages  by  some  encouragement  of  her  industry ;  and  that, 
perhaps,  can  best  be  done,  with  public  benefit,  by  protecting  duties  to 
the  manufacture  of  what  promises  to  be  her  staple  article." 

This  petition  was  signed  by  "John  Allen  and  others."  *^ 

The  movement  for  protection  was  persistent;  it  could  not  be  killed 
by  the  delays  of  Congress.  On  January  22,  181 1,  113  citizens  of  Lex- 
ington and  of  Fayette  County  signed  a  memorial  to  the  United  States 
Senate,  begging  that  the  manufacturing  interests  be  given  protection. 
They  charged  that  "In  all  the  acts  and  deliberations  of  your  honorable 
body,  it  appears  to  your  memorialists  that  a  predilection  for  the  in- 
terest of  commerce  has  always  been  discoverable,  whilst  little  has  been 

*^  American  State  Papers,  XIII,  Finance,  II,  367,  368;   see  Kentucky  Gazette, 
December  25,  1810.    Annals  of  Congress,  1809,  1810,  2170-2173. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  509 

done  in  favor  of  the  internal  industry  of  the  country.  Your  revenue 
system,  it  must  be  confessed,  has  afforded  it  some  partial  protection; 
but  that  system  appears  to  have  been  calculated  only  for  the  purpose 
of  revenue ;  and,  as  powerfully  as  it  might  be  made  to  encourage  domes- 
tic manufactures,  no  act  seems  to  have  been  adopted  with  that  view ; 
on  the  contrary  commerce  has  met  with  your  exclusive  protection  and 
support."  In  proof  of  this  they  referred  to  the  coast  fortifications, 
the  expenditures  on  the  navy,  duties  on  foreign  tonnage,  and  bounties 
given  to  fishermen.  They  were  quick  to  say  that  they  agreed  with  this 
policy,  and  "We  complain  only  because  the  protection  and  encourage- 
ment of  industry  is  not  made  universal,  and  extended  to  every  pursuit 
which  is  known  in  our  country.  If  it  be  just  in  a  Republic,  established 
for  the  common  good,  to  give  to  any  one  pursuit  bounties,  encourage- 
ment, and  protection,  we  hold  it  as  an  undeniable  truth  that  all  other 
pursuits  are  equally  entitled  to  them." 

They  noted  the'  unstable  conditions  on  which  the  commercial  pros- 
perity of  the  country  was  built.  Warring  nations  in  Europe  were 
solely  responsible ;  but  "Upon  the  continuance  of  _  this  state  of  thing, 
we  are  not  to  depend.  An  eternal  war  in  Europe  is  not  to  be  expected 
— the  state  is  unnatural;  and  experience  shows  that  one  party  must 
give  way  when  its  resources  are  exhausted,  or  it  is  humbled  by  the 
victories  of  its  enemy.  When  this  period  arrives,  what  has  hitherto 
been  the  life  of  our  industry  will  no  longer  animate  it,  and  we  shall 
be  compelled  to  look  to  other  resources  to  preserve  the  wealth  which 
we  have  acquired.  But  how  can  it  be  preserved  if  we  do  not  change 
our  system,  and  Congress  does  not  give  another  direction  to  the  indus- 
try of  the  country?  Where  shall  we  find  a  market  for  the  productions 
of  our  soil?     And  where  will  our  shifting  find  employment?" 

The  whole  situation  pointed,  it  was  declared,  to  the  necessity  of 
Congress  "directing  the  industry  of  our  citizens  into  such  channels  as 
will  not  be  affected  by  the  edicts,  regulations,  and  wars  of  Europe ;  and 
to  prepare  in  time  for  the  change  in  business  which  must  take  place 
(and  to  the  general  distress  of  the  country),  when  a  peace  there  will 
put  an  end  to  our  carrying  trade,  and  destroy  the  markets  of  our 
produce." 

If  our  capital  were  turned  to  manufacturing  our  foreign  relations 
would  be  in  a  much  better  state,  and  we  could  let  the  European  nations 
destroy  themselves  in  their  mad  conflict  without  greatly  being  affected 
ourselves.  Of  course,  patriotism  should  prompt  us  to  suffer  for  our 
country;  but  there  is  a  limit  to  all  things:  "the  sailor  cannot  feed  him- 
self in  part ;  the  farmer  dislikes  to  lose  his  crops ;  the  merchant  looks 
with  impatience  upon  blasted  prospects  and  ruined  fortunes;  and  few 
will  be  content  to  live  on  patriotism,  whilst  their  families  are  starving. 
Had  our  acting  capital  given  life  to  domestic  pursuits;  had  it  given 
employment  to  labor;  had  our  provisions  been  consumed,  and  our  raw 
materials  been  fabricated  by  domestic  artisans,  instead  of  the  farmer 
being  compelled  to  look  abroad  in  search  of  a  market  for  both,  we 
should  not  have  felt  so  much  the  pressure  of  the  embargo,  nor  would 
our  interest  have  warred  with  our  patriotism.  This  is  the  course  of 
human  events,  and  history  proves  that  the  rulers  of  nations  have  always 
been  obliged  to  accommodate  their  differences  with  others,  upon  better 
or  worse  conditions,  according  as  the  contest  bore  heavy  or  not  upon 
their  own  j)eop!e.  \\'ere  the  citizens  of  the  United  States,  however,  in 
the  situation  alluded  to.  how  different  would  be  the  attitude  which  our 
Government  cou'd  assume.  And  how  much  less  would  foreign  powers 
calculate  upon  exciting  a  clamor  against  it  by  the  interruption  of  our 
commerce,  or  the  general   stagnation  of  our  business." 

The  great  value  of  manufactories  as  a  national  asset  and  stabilizer 


510  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

was  also  argued.  The  iiiaiuifacturcr  works  up  raw  products  and  at 
the  same  time  creates  a  demand  for  the  country's  products.  Let  the 
nation's  pursuit  "be  exchisively  agriculture ;  and  the  depression  of  mar- 
kets (which  has  often  been  the  case,  with  respect  to  our  provisions, 
tobacco  and  cotton)  will  i)aralyze  the  industry  and  eiiteri)rise  of  the 
nation,  whereas  the  multiplication  and  diversity  of  pursuits  would  give 
a  country  resources  which  others  could  not  deprive  her  of ;  and  the 
industr}'  of  one  jjart  of  it  would  cherish,  invigorate  and  support  that 
of  another.  Nor  can  it  be  an  unimportant  consideration  that  the  in- 
crease of  manufactures  would  tend  to  keep  at  home  the  precious  metals, 
the  principal  and  the  most  convenient  as  well  as  the  most  useful  repre- 
sentative of  wealth  and  labor." 

The  -American  n\anufacturcr  had  many  iiandicaps  that  Congress 
cduld  remove  by  granting  protection.  lie  "is  at  present  poor;  he  has 
Iniildiiigs  to  erect,  workmen  to  teach,  and  powerful  prejudices  to  over- 
come: his  limited  capital  often  makes  it  necessary  for  him  to  force 
markets,  whilst  his  oj^ponent  can  wait  for,  or  conuiiand  one  at  pleas- 
ure." And,  indeed,  European  nations  had  not  hesitated  to  use  numerous 
unfair  methods  to  drive  our  rivals. 

When  we  ask  for  adequate  protection  from  Congress  to  our  own 
manufactures,  we  are  aware  of  jealousies  which  will  be  excited  against 
us.  Why,  it  will  be  asked,  tax  one  portion  of  the  people  to  benefit  an- 
other? We  answer,  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole,  and  to  equalize  the 
imposts  which  are  laid  to  support  Government.  Imposts,  levied  with 
this  view,  are  but  taking  from  one  pocket  what  is  abundantly  repaid  to 
the  other.  Whatever  gives  life  to  the  domestic  industry  of  the  country 
benefits  every  man  in  it.  Whatever  sums  are  paid  to  keep  our  resources 
at  home  is  not  lost.  As  in  the  human  frame,  it  is  like  the  veins  running 
blood  to  the  heart  whereby  the  whole  system  may  be  replenished.  Such 
are  the  lessons   furnished  by  experience.'** 

■"■•  American  State  Papers,  VIII,  Finance,  II. 


CHAPTER  XLII 
BANKS  AND  BANKING  AROUND  1800 

Throughout  the  war  with  Great  15ritain,  Kentucky  was  a  stalwart 
supporter  of  the  Federal  Government  in  keeping  shut  all  trade  with 
foreign  nations;  and  when  toward  the  end  of  hostilities  the  fetters  bind- 
ing trade  were  somewhat  unloosened,  Kentuckians  strongly  opposed  the 
move.' 

With  the  industrial  expansion  of  the  state,  there  necessarily  went 
the  demand  for  currency  and  banking  facilities.  The  chronic  lack  of 
a  circulating  medium  has  heretofore  been  noted,  and  the  makeshifts 
that  were  used  mentioned.  Ilarter  continued  on  up  into  the  nineteenth 
century.  A  Lexington  business  house  in  advertising  the  arrival  of  its 
fall  stock,  announced  that  it  would  place  it  for  sale  "on  the  lowest  terms 
for  Cash  or  Country  Produce — such  as  Whiskey,  Country  Sugar,  Linen, 
Bacon,  Corn,  Feathers.  Rye,  etc."  -  Land  warrants  were  still  used  for 
money  in  many  instances.''  The  wide  variety  of  coins,  previously  men- 
tioned, continued  to  circulate.  There  was  yet  so  little  evidence  of  the 
American  system  of  coinage  and  monetary  notation  that  English  desig- 
nations were  used  well  up  into  the  nineteenth  century.  The  salaries  of 
state  officials  were  popularly  listed  in  pounds,  shilling,  and  pence.  In 
1802  six  shillings  were  taken  as  equivalent  to  one  dollar.  For  small 
change  the  larger  coins  were  cut  into  pieces  of  varying  sizes.*  But 
the  smallest  coins  in  circulation  in  the  East  found  no  place  in  Kentucky 
where  prices  were  habitually  high  for  those  things  in  the  purchase  of 
which  money  would  be  used.  A  traveler  through  this  part  of  the  West 
stated  that  '"The  copper  coinage  of  the  United  States  is  of  no  use  in 
Kentucky — the  smallest  circulating  coin  being  a  silver  sixteenth  of  a 
dollar."  •'  There  were  a  few  notes  of  the  First  Bank  of  the  United 
States  circulating  in  Kentucky,  but  they  were  difficult  to  get  and  were 
generally  in  very  large  denominations.  In  1802  Samuel  McDowell  re- 
quested John  Breckinridge,  then  a  Senator  in  Washington,  to  pay  the 
publishers  of  the  Washington  Federalist  a  bill  of  $5.00,  as  he  could 
not  find  a  bank  note  so  small  in  Kentucky  to  forward." 

A])art  from  the  very  circumstances  that  produced  a  scarcity  of 
United  States  bank  notes  in  the  state,  Kentuckians  generally  had  an 
a\-ersi(jn  to  bank  notes  and  banks.  'Ihey  had  seen  the  depreciated  paper 
currency  of  \'irginia  become  even  more  worthless  while  they  were  yet 
a  district  of  that  state.  And  their  knowledge  of  banks  issuing  paper 
currency  was  not  reassuring.  Thus,  for  a  decade  after  the  state  had 
entered  the  union  and  become  master  of  her  own  destinies,  not  a  bank 
existed  in  her  limits. 

But  in  1802,  there  was  chartered  what  was  called  innocently  enough 
the   Kentucky   Insurance   Company.     This   was   a   Lexington   institution 

1  Kentucky  Gazette,  May  2,  1814. 

2  Ibid,  May  g,  1898.    Such  advertisements  continued  for  years. 

3  Breckinridge  MSS.  (i794)- 

■•  F.  A.  Michaux,  Travels  in  the  West,  204. 

^  F.  Gumming,  "Sketches  of  a  Tour  to  the  Western  Country  through  the  States 
of   Ohio  and  Kentucky,"  in  Tliwaites,  Early   Western   Travels,   IV;    188. 
'^Breckinridge  MSS.    (1802).     Dated   December   15. 

511 


512  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

capitalized  at  $100,000,  and  organized  ostensibly  for  the  purpose  of  in- 
suring boats  on  the  inland  rivers.  The  lengthy  act  of  incorporation 
dealt  in  great  detail  with  the  powers  of  the  company  and  the  methods 
to  be  pursued  in  assessing  and  paying  the  insurance  on  boats  meeting 
with  disaster.  But  in  an  inconspicuous  proviso  nestling  in  a  most 
unsuspecting  place,  banking  privileges  were  given  to  this  so-called  in- 
surance company.  In  the  section  detailing  the  penalties  that  might 
be  inflicted  on  the  company  for  infractions  of  its  charter  appeared  the 
rather  irrelevant  statement  that  "every  bond,  bill  obligatory,  or  note 
in  writing  *  *  *  shall  be  assignable  by  endorsement  thereon,  in 
like  manner,  and  with  the  like  effect  of  foreign  bills  of  exchange  now 
are :  and  such  of  the  notes  as  are  payable  to  bearer,  shall  be  negotiable 
and  assignable  by  delivery  only."  The  last  clause  gave  the  company 
the  right  to  issue  pa])cr  money.  The  charter  was  to  run  until  1818,  and 
in  the  meanwhile  no  other  insurance  company  was  to  be  chartered  by 
the  Legislature  to  do  business  in  the  state." 

The  Kentucky  lawmakers  had  been  completely  hoodwinked  and 
imposed  upon  as  to  the  real  purpose  of  the  act.  One  of  the  main  pur- 
poses of  the  company  was  to  secure  banking  privileges  with  the  power 
of  issuing  notes,  and  this  they  had  succeeded  in  doing  in  this  law. 
It  is  true  that  they  did  engage  in  the  business  of  insuring  river  vessels; 
but  their  banking  business  soon  came  to  overshadow  all  else  in  the  eyes 
of  the  jniblic.  \\'hen  the  people  saw  what  had  been  done,  a  most  bitter 
opposition  sprang  up  against  the  corporation,  and  the  hostility  con- 
tinued for  years.  An  early  histori;ui  of  the  s'.ate  declared  that  banking 
"was  at  first  smuggled  into  Kentucky,  and  by  a  fraud  upon  her  legis- 
lative understanding,  it  was  foisted  into  the  Commonwealth."  And  as 
for  the  company  that  perpetrated  the  deed,  it  "began  in  fraud  and  ended 
in  bankruptcy.''  * 

The  company  was  under  fire  for  a  great  jiart  of  the  1804  session  of 
the  Legislature.  The  lawmakers  were  now  seeking  to  take  vengeance 
on  the  group  of  designing  men  who  had  played  so  successfully  upon 
their  gullibility.  Debate  ranged  back  and  forth  on  this  subject  to  the 
almost  exclusion  of  other  matters.  Soine  members  of  the  Legislature 
were  in  favor  of  repealing  the  act  of  incorporation  and  forcing  the 
trick  comjiany  out  of  existence;  while  others  would  stop  with  certain 
amendments  to  the  act.  It  was  apparent  to  all  that  a  very  dangerous  and 
extensi\c  ])ower  had  been  unwittingly  given  this  company.  It  not  only 
had  the  state's  sanction  to  issue  circulating  notes,  but  it  had  the  right 
to  issue  them  in  unlimited  qu;mtities  and  with  no  assurances  of  their 
'ultimate  redemption.  There  can  be  little  wonder  at  the  imi)aticnce  of 
the  Legislature  when  it  discovered  that  it  had  been  tricked  into  giving 
such  powers  to  a  group  of  people.  But  the  company  had  its  supporters 
among  the  lawmakers."  The  most  prominent  of  these  was  Henry  Clay. 
They  argued  with  reasons  that  were  later  upheld  in  the  decision  of 
John  Marshall  in  the  famous  Dartmouth  College  case,  that  to  change 
the  charter  would  be  unconstitutional.  However,  their  reasoning  did 
not  prevail  before  the  Kentucky  Legislature.  That  body  on  December 
ig,  1804,  passed  an  amending  law  to  the  original  act.  In  the  first 
place,  it  took  away  from  the  Kentucky  Insurance  Company  the  monopoly 
that  had  been  granted  it  in  the  insurance  business.  The  law  next  struck 
at  the  right  of  unlimited  issuing  of  circulating  notes  by  declaring 
"That  the  notes  which  the  said  company  shall  at  any  time  issue,  shall 
not  exceed  the  debts  due  to  them,  the  money  in  their  vaults,  the  prop- 
erty, real,  jjcrsonal  or  niixt,  they  may  own  their  own  capital  stock."'" 

'  Wm.  Littell,  Statute  Lmw  of  Kentucky,  II,  25-31. 

«  Butler,  Ilistoiy  of  Kentucky,  299,  300. 

<>  Kentucky   Gaactte,  December   18,   1804. 

'0  This  was  not  to  apply  to  risks  already  undertaken. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  513 

But  the  penalty  set  for  disobedience  was  not  particularly  compelling  in 
its  effect.  It  stated  that  if  more  notes  were  issued  than  was  provided 
for  by  law  "and  any  of  such  notes  shall  not  be  paid  by  the  said  com- 
pany," then,  not  for  issuing  more  notes  than  the  law  allowed  but  for 
failure  to  redeem  them,  "the  said  president  and  directors  shall  be  liable 
therefore  out  of  their  private  individual  fortunes."  "  These  amend- 
ments to  the  charter  were  assailed  by  the  company  as  being  unconstitu- 
tional, and  they  threatened  to  test  their  constitutionality.  This  enlivened 
the  discussion  still  more,  and  made  the  company  still  more  unpopular 
generally.  In  1805  the  Legislature  replied  to  the  threats  of  the  cor- 
poration by  passing  an  amending  act  to  the  charter  taking  away  com- 
pletely the  privileges  of  the  company  to  issue  circulating  notes.  From 
the  standpoint  of  interfering  with  the  obligations  of  a  contract  set  up 
in  a  charter  12  the  Legislature  had  been  guilty  of  no  greater  sin  in  this 
last  amending  act  than  in  the  former ;  but  Governor  Garrard  saw  fit 
to  veto  the  bill.  The  Senate  failed  to  re-pass  it,  and  so  it  did  not  be- 
come a  law.^* 

The  Kentucky  Insurance  Company  labored  for  years  under  public 
criticism  and  hostility.  It  was  charged  that  it  extended  credit  to  Burr 
when  he  was  collecting  his  expedition  in  the  West ;  and  it  was  also 
claimed  that  the  institution  was  guilty  of  favoritism  in  granting  loans. 
Other  rumors  circulated  against  it  were  that  its  capital  stock  was 
largely  owned  by  British  subjects,  that  it  charged  usurious  rates  for 
money,  and  that  it  had  greatly  increased  the  insurance  rates.  But 
through  the  use  of  sound  business  principles,  it  weathered  successfully 
all  the  public  clamor  and  popular  criticisms,  and  steadily  grew  into  a 
strong  financial  institution.  Its  notes  circulated  above  par  at  home  as 
well  as  outside  the  limits  of  the  state.  They  stood  at  102  in  New 
Orleans,  and  they  were  among  the  few  that  were  accepted  by  the  Ken- 
tucky State  Treasury,  when  the  country  coine  to  be  flooded  with  "wild- 
cat bank  notes. "i-*  When  the  charter  ran  out  in  1818,  it  was  extended 
for  an  additional  two  years. 

The  first  bank  established  in  the  state  under  the  title  and  designedly 
for  the  purpose  of  engaging  solely  in  banking  was  the  Bank  of  Kentucky. 
Unquestionably  there  was  a  great  need  for  proper  banking  facilities, 
afforded  by  an  institution  which  had  not  forfeited  public  favor  and 
confidence  in  its  inception.  The  state's  industrial  development  had 
reached  a  point  where  it  imperatively  demanded  the  aid  of  all  that 
banks  had  to  offer.  The  undeniable  prosperity  of  the  Kentucky  Insur- 
ance Company,  laboring  under  adverse  circumstances,  showed  the  desir- 
ability and  success  of  a  strong  bank.  So  in  answer  to  this  demand,  the 
Legislature  on  December  27,  1806,  incorporated  the  Bank  of  Kentucky. 
Its  organization  was  undoubtedly  inspired  in  part  by  the  First  Bank  of 
the  United  States,  which  began  business  in  1791.  Its  capitalization  was 
$1,000,000,  consisting  of  10,000  shares  at  $100  each.  It  was  not  to  be  a 
purely  private  undertaking;  but  rather  like  the  First  Bank  of  the  United 
States  it  was  to  be  to  a  great  extent  under  the  management  of  the 
Government.  The  state  was  to  subscribe  for  one  half  of  the  shares,  and 
should  elect  one  half  of  the  twelve  directors  and  the  president.  To 
prevent  the  concentration  of  power  in  hands  outside  of  the  State  Gov- 
ernment, no  individual  or  corporation  was  allowed  to  control  more  than 
thirty  votes,  or  thereby  to  subscribe  for  over  $3,000  o^f  the  capital  stock. 
The  privileges  of  buying  stock  in  the  bank  were  alloted  to  the  principal 

11  Littell,  Statute  Law  of  Kentucky,  II,  213. 

12  This  doctrine  was  not  set  up  as  binding  on  a  state  until  John  Marshall  estab- 
lished it  in  the  Dartmouth  College  case. 

^^  Kentucky  Gazette,  December  18,  1804. 

1*  E.  C.  Griffith,  "Early  Banking  in  Kentucky"  in  Proceedings  of  the  Mississippi 
Valley  Historical  Association,  1908,  1909,  II,  169-175. 

Vol.  1—37 


514  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

towns  of  the  state  and  subscription  books  were  opened  in  the  following 
places:  Frankfort.  Lexington,  Paris,  Washington,  Richmond,  Danville, 
Bardstown,  Louisville,  Shelbyville,  Hartford,  and  Russellville.  Tlie 
parent  bank  was  established  in  Frankfort,  with  the  privilege  of  having 
branches  extended  to  other  towns.  The  business  of  the  bank  was 
si)ecilically  set  forth  as  follows:  "The  corporation  shall  not  directly 
or  indirectly  deal  or  trade  in  any  thing  except  disctmnt  bills  of  exchange, 
current  money,  or  in  the  sale  of  goods  or  produce  really  and  truly  pledged 
for  money  lent  and  not  redeemed  in  time ;  neither  shall  the  said  corpora- 
tion take  more  than  at  the  rate  of  six  per  centum  per  aniuuu  for  or  on 
account  of  its  loans  or  discounts." 

Loans  could  be  made  to  no  government  whatsoever,  nor  to  any  in- 
dividual who  was  not  a  citizen  of  Kentucky.  One  of  the  important 
functions  of  the  bank  was  to  issue  notes  which  circulated  "by  delivery 
only."  The  amount  that  might  be  issued  was  limited  to  three  times 
the  capital  stock  and  the  deposits  in  the  vaults.  If  this  legal  limit  were 
e-xceeded,  all  directors  who  agreed  to  the  excess  issue  should  stand  liable 
indi\i(lually  for  the  redemption  of  it.'"'  In  a  short  time  the  notes  of  the 
Bank  of  Kentucky  made  uj)  a  considerable  part  of  the  circulating  me- 
dium; and  the  bank  itself  became  a  strong  financial  institution.  In  1808 
a  law  was  passed  which  made  the  bank  a  semi-ofiicial  part  of  the  state 
linancial  system.  Whenever  the  state  treasury  should  be  without  ready 
funds,  the  auditor  might  give  warrants  on  the  bank  in  payment  of  state 
debts.  'J'hese  warrants  were  to  be  cashed  in  specie  by  the  bank  and 
charged  to  the  state's  account.  They  bore  the  regular  rate  of  interest. 
It  was  made  the  duty  of  the  state  auditor  to  visit  the  bank  each  week, 
when  he  had  money  in  the  treasury,  to  take  up  the  obligations  of  the 
state  paid  by  the  bank.'"  This  institution,  so  closely  allied  to  the  State 
Government,  was  generally  in  a  thriving  condition.  In  the  stress  of  war 
in  1814,  it  suspended  specie  payment,  but  this  was  due  more  to  the  situa- 
tion set  up  by  other  banks,  especially  those  in  Ohio,  suspending,  than 
to  any  weakness  in  itself.  The  charter  as  originally  given  expired 
in    1819;  but  it  was  later  renewed  to  1841.'" 

Banking  soon  became  very  profitable,  so  much  so  that  it  attracted  the 
attention  of  many  who  wanted  to  make  money  (piickly.  But  their  de- 
sires for  engaging  in  banking  were  not  satisfied  by  permission  from  the 
state  to  do  so.  I'his  privilege  was  strictly  guarded  by  the  Government, 
and  none  could  enter  the  business  except  by  special  enactment  of  the 
Legislature.  However,  this  did  not  prevent  associations  from  .springing 
up,  which  without  bearing  the  name  of  bank,  nevertheless  engaged 
in  general  banking  business. 

Vividly  recalling  its  experience  with  the  Kentucky  Insurance  Com- 
jiany,  and  resolving  this  time  not  to  become  lost  in  the  involved  language 
of  long  drawn  out  laws,  tiie  Legislature  in  1805  in  chartering  the  Ohio 
Canal  Company  specifically  declared  "Tiiat  the  said  company  shall  not 
be  permitted  to  issue  bills  of  credit  payable  to  any  person  or  bearer, 
nor  shall  they  be  permitted  to  exercise  the  privilege  of  banking  in  any 
respect  whatever.'*  But  this  e\il  became  so  pronounced  that  the  Leg- 
islature passed  a  general  law  in  1S12  prohibiting  private  banking,  giving 
as  a  reason  that  "the  advantages  arising  to  the  good  people  of  this  com- 
monwealth, by  the  establishment  of  a  state  bank,  may  be  defeated;  and 
the  revenue  of  tjjis  state  greatly  imi)aircd  by  the  establishment  of 
])rivate  associations  for  the  purpose  of  banking  if  the  same  be  tolerated 
l)V   law."     According  to  the   law,   every  company   or  association   which 


"*  Littcll,  Statute  Law  of  Kcittucky,  III,  390-399- 
'"  Littell,  Statute  Law  of  Kentucky,  III,  .S28. 
"  GrilTitli,  "Early  Ranking  in  Kentucky,"  17.S-181. 
^^  American  Stale  Papers,  Miscellaneous,  I,  823. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  515 

shall  lend  money  and  shall  issue  "bonds,  notes  or  bills,  payable  to  bearer, 
or  payable  to  order,  and  endorsed  in  blank;  or  use  other  shift  or  device, 
whereby  the  bonds,  notes,  or  bills  given  by  such  company  or  associa- 
tion, or  on  their  behalf,  pass  or  circulate  by  delivery,  shall  be  taken  and 
deemed  a  bank  within  this  act."  Any  person  convicted  of  disobedience 
to  this  law  was  subject  to  a  fine  of  $io,ooo.i'-* 

The  finances  of  the  state  were  generally  in  a  sound  condition.  The 
.Government  was  far  from  extravagant  in  its  expenditures.  One  of  the 
early  objections  to  separation  from  Virginia  was  that  taxes  would  be 
greatly  increased  to  satisfy  a  state  government  filled  with  hungry  politi- 
cians. This  fear  seems  to  have  haunted  the  early  law-makers,  as  has 
already  been  noted  in  the  case  of  law  salaries  for  state  officials.  That 
frugality  in  state  expenditures  tended  to  develop  a  high  sense  of  finan- 
i-ial  responsibilities,  which  made  of  Kentucky  one  of  the  soundest  states 
financially  in  the  Union.  As  will  be  noted  later,  when  wars  and  panics 
were  laying  other  states  prostrate,  Kentucky  was  able  to  a  great  extent 
to  weather  the  storm.  Beset  by  the  heavy  expenditures  of  the  War  of 
1812,  the  treasury  on  November  10,  1814,  nevertheless  had  a  balance 
of  $51.529.82.''" 

^^Acts  of  Kentucky,  1811,  206-210;  Griffith,  "Early  Banking  in  Kentucky,"   178; 
Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  475. 
-"  Niles'  Register,  V,  337. 


CHAPTER  XLIII 

J'ARLV   DUUXDARV   DlSl'UTES 

Kentucky  early  had  boundary  disputes  with  her  neighbors.  Such 
disputes,  which  have  been  the  heritage  of  most  states,  have  originatefl 
either  in  the  notoriously  inaccurate  surveying  that  characterizes  the  earlv 
days  of  the  country,  or  in  the  inexact  dehinitalions  of  rivers  either  in 
the  hulguagc  used  in  the  subsequent  nicanderings  of  the  stream  itself. 
Kentucky's  early  disputes  were  with  \'irginia  and  with  Tennessee,  and 
arose  for  the  most  part  out  of  inaccuracies  of  early  surveys;  the  later 
disputes  as  to  boundaries  arose  over  the  ownership  of  islands  in  the  Mis- 
sissippi and  Ohio  rivers  with  the  states  bordering  her  on  those  streams. 
By  the  Virginia  Compact,  which  gave  the  District  of  Kentucky  her  se]5- 
aration  from  the  mother  state,  the  boundaries  of  the  former  were  de- 
clared to  be  tlie  same  for  the  state  as  for  the  district.  The  only  direct 
problem  that  arose  between  Kentucky  and  \"irginia  as  to  the  exact  bound- 
ary were  the  eastern  limits  of  Kentucky.  The  l)Oundary  had  never 
been  accurately  surveyed,  but  the  District  of  Kentucky  was  considered 
to  lie  west  of  the  crest  of  the  Cumberland  Mountains  and  the  Big  Sandy 
River.  Due  to  the  early  settlement  of  this  region,  the  exact  boundary 
had  to  be  determined  as  .soon  as  Kentucky  became  a  state.  It  was  not 
known  which  ridges  constituted  the  crest  of  the  Cumberlands,  and  also 
which  branch  of  the  Big  Sandy  River  was  intended.  In  1795,  the  Ken- 
tucky Legislature  passed  an  act  authorizing  the  governor  to  o])en  a 
correspondence  with  the  Virginia  governor  for  the  purjiose  of  bringing 
about  a  settlement  of  the  boundary  question.  He  was  given  permission 
to  appoint  commissioners  to  represent  Kentucky  in  a  survey  with  com- 
missioners appointed  by  Virginia,  if  the  Virginia  Government  should 
agree  to  such  a  mode  of  settlement. '  Virginia  readily  entered  into 
the  arrangement  suggested,  and  three  conmiissioncrs  each  were  ap- 
pointed on  the  part  of  the  two  states.  They  set  to  work  immediately; 
but  soon  difficulties  arose  as  to  the  interpretation  of  certain  laws  and 
instructions.  Governor  Shelby  in  his  message  to  the  Legislature  in  No- 
vember, 1796,  referred  to  the  difficulty,  thus:  "In  relation  to  the  ad- 
justment of  the  boundary  between  Virginia  and  this  state,  the  executive 
will  want  the  aid  of  the  Legislature.  Commissioners  have  been  ap- 
pointed by  each  stqte,  yet  the  business,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  has  not  ter- 
minated so  happily  as  anticipated;  owing  to  a  disagreement  between 
them  in  construing  the  law  upon  which  they  were  to  proceed."  -  Finally 
in  October,  1799,  a  convention  was  held  at  the  forks  of  the  Big  Sandv 
River,  at  which  an  amicable  settlement  of  the  boundary  was  arranged. 
The  difficulty  of  certain  lands  being  held  from  the  state  that  had  been 
ultimately  deprived  of  them  by  the  final  boundary  was  solved  by  the 
agreement  "that  all  entries  made  in  the  surveyors'  offices  of  either 
state  should  be  as  valid  as  if  made  within  the  state  owning  the  lands."  ^ 
But  long  after  the  boundary  had  ceased  to  be  a  question,  there  appeared 

^  Aniiiuil  Rct'ort  of   the  American   Historical  Associiition,   1893;   47' I   M.irshall, 
Histnrv  of  Koiluckv,  II,  176. 

2  Marshall,  History  of  Kciitiicl.-y.  II,  191. 
=>  Ibid,  177- 

516 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  517 

a  faint  reflection  of  the  earlier  uncertainties.  In  1849,  ^hc  citizens  of  a 
part  of  Pike  County  petitioned  the  State  Legislature  to  allow  them 
to  join  Virginia.  They  urged  as  a  point  that  Virginia  was  willing  to 
receive  them.^ 

The  most  troublesome  boundary  dispute  in  Kentucky  history  was  the 
Tennessee  line.  It  was  long  drawn  out,  and  threatened  at  times  the  good 
relations  of  the  two  states.  Before  the  revolution  the  boundary  between 
North  Carolina  and  Virginia  had  been  surveyed  to  a  point  on  Steep 
Rock  Creek,  about  si.xty  miles  east  of  the  Cumberland  Mountains.  But 
the  constant  penetration  of  settlers  farther  and  farther  to  the  west  had, 
by  the  time  the  Revolution  was  well  under  way,  made  it  necessary  for 
the  boundary  to  be  run  farther  westward.  In  1779  commissioners  were 
appointed  by  the  two  states  to  continue  the  survey  to  the  Mississippi 
River.  Judge  Richard  Henderson,  of  Transylvania  fame,  was  placed 
at  the  head  of  the  North  Carolina  delegation ;  and  Dr.  Thomas  Walker, 
who  had  made  an  early  exploration  into  the  westernmost  parts  of  Vir- 
ginia and  had  kept  a  journal  of  his  trip,  headed  the  Virginia  com- 
missioners. 

A  difficulty  arose  at  the  very  outset.  The  latitude  36°  30'  had  been 
followed  as  the  dividing  line  as  far  as  the  survey  had  been  made,  and 
it  was  understood  by  Ijoth  parties  that  this  line  should  be  continued. 
Baron  de  Botetourt,  when  he  arrived  in  Virginia  in  1768  as  governor, 
had  announced  that  it  would  be  one  of  his  most  cherished  wishes  to 
extend  Virginia's  southern  boundary  to  the  Tennessee  River  on  the  line 
of  36°  30'.  This  line  was  agreed  to  by  all.  but  the  difficulty  arose  in 
determining  where  it  was,  and.  therefore,  where  the  old  line  left  off 
and  the  new  survey  should  begin.  The  North  Carolina  commissioners 
claimed  the  line  began  between  two  and  three  miles  north  of  the  point 
selected  by  the  Virginia  commissioners.  Without  straightening  out  the 
tangle,  each  set  of  conmiissioners  began  its  survey  independent  of  the 
other  and  on  the  line  of  its  own  choice.  Henderson  and  his  surveyors, 
after  running  the  line  about  half  the  distance,  quit ;  but  Walker  con- 
tinued with  his  survey  to  the  Tennes.see  River ;  "and  marked  its  termi- 
nation on  the  Mississippi  by  observations  leaving  the  line  from  Ten- 
nessee [River]  to  that  place  unsurveyed."  ^  Thus  arose  the  compli- 
cations in  the  state's  southern  boundaries  which  were  the  source  of  more 
or  less  bitter  controversy  with  Tennessee  for  over  half  a  century. 

The  part  of  the  line  which  first  became  a  point  in  dispute  was  the  east- 
ern extremity,  which  bounded  Virginia  and  the  western  part  of  North 
Carolina ;  but  the  latter  state's  cession  of  her  western  lands  to  the  United 
States  soon  transferred  the  problem  to  the  Federal  Government  and 
Virginia.  The  question  assumed  engaging  importance  due  to  the  numer- 
ous settlers  who  had  drifted  in  and  soon  set  up  a  state  of  turmoil  due  to 
the  dispute  in  the  government  of  the  territory.  Governor  Henry  Lee 
of  Virginia  wrote  Secretary  of  State  Jefferson  in  1792  that  "the  citi- 
zens living  between  the  real  line  and  the  pretended  line  are  subjected  to 
unmerited  sufferings,  of  which  they  justly  complain."  There  were  about 
100  families  living  in  the  disputed  area  east  of  the  Cumberlands,  and 
according  to  Joseph  Martin,  a  majority  of  them  wished  to  be  in  Vir- 
ginia while  about  a  fourth  of  them  wanted  no  decision  as  they  would 
thereby  escape  taxation." 

On  account  of  the  fact  that  federal  territory  was  involved  as  well  as 
two   states,  it  became  a  problem  pressing   for  attention   from   the   Na- 


<  Niles'  Register,  Vol.  7S,  97- 

5  Mrs.  Chapman  Coleman,  The  Life  of  John  J.  Crittenden  ztfith  Selections  front 
His  Correspondence  and  Speeches  (Philadelphia,  1871),  I,  48-50;  American  Stale 
Papers,  XX,  Miscellaneous,  I,  56. 

"American  State  Papers,  XX,  Miscellaneous,  I,  54. 


518  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

tioiial  Govcnmient.  Thomas  Jefferson  wrote  President  Washington  on 
Xovember  2,  1792,  calling  iii)on  him  to  note  the  fact  that  this  boundary 
"has  never  yet  been  authoritatively  settled,  and  to  observe  that  an  exten- 
sion of  the  same  line  will  form  the  boundary  between  the  same  territory 
and  the  State  of  Kentucky.  There  then  being  three  parties  interested 
in  the  establishment  of  this  line,  it  will  rest  with  the  wisdom  of  the 
Legislature  to  take  such  measures  as  they  shall  think  best  for  establish- 
ing it  by  common  censent,  or  otherwise  for  instituting  judiciary  pro- 
ceedings for  its  establishment,  according  to  the  provision  made  in  the 
constitution." '  A  week  later  Washington  sent  a  .special  message  to 
the  House  of  Kei)rcsentatives  calling  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  bound- 
ary dispute  should  be  settled  in  its  entirety,  as  it  was  a  question  involv- 
ing the  states  of  Virginia  and  Kentucky  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  Ter- 
ritory of  the  United  Slates  south  of  the  Ohio  on  the  other.** 

'1  wo  years  later  the  House  of  Representatives,  without  following 
Washington's  advice  or  considering  the  future  importance  of  settling 
the  question  of  the  whole  boundary  reported  that  Walker's  line  should 
be  establishcfl  by  an  act  of  Congress  as  the  boundary  between  X'irginia 
and  the  federal  territory  south  of  the  Ohio.^  Thus,  because  there  was 
no  pressing  troubles  in  the  disputed  territory  on  westward  where  Ken- 
tucky was  concerned.  Congress  put  off  the  settlement,  and  left  the  bone 
of  contention  for  Tennessee  and  Kentucky  to  quarrel  over. 

As  this  was  a  controversy  that  should  be  solved  sooner  or  later,  Ken- 
tucky in  a  short  time  took  it  up  more  as  an  academic  discussion  than  a 
pressing  problem.  There  was  considerable  reason  for  her  to  accept  the 
Walker  line  without  question  as  her  final  southern  boundary,  however 
far  it  might  dejx-irt  from  the  originally  intended  line.  In  1781  and  again 
in  1791.  \'irginia  had  declared  l)y  law  that  the  Walker  line  should  be 
her  true  boundary,  and  of  course  this  meant  the  southern  boundary  of 
Kentucky,  as  she  was  at  this  time  a  part  of  Virginia.  So  it  was  that 
when  Kentucky  became  a  state,  she  separated  from  Virginia  with  her 
southern  boundary  presumably  fixed.  But  she  was  unwilling  to  abide 
by  the  grossly  unscientific  Walker  line.  In  i&)i  the  Legislatuie  pro- 
vided for  the  a])pointment  of  commissioners  to  run  the  line  in  conjunc- 
tion with  comtnissioners  she  hoped  Tennessee  w'ould  ajipoint,  "agreeable 
to  the  chartered  limits  of  the  state  of  Virginia  and  North  Caro- 
lina." 1"  But  the  next  year  the  Legislature  having  become  better  in- 
formed re])ealed  this  law  because  it  "is  defective,  inasmuch  as  it  provides 
that  the  botuidary  line  between  the  said  states  [Kentucky  and  Tennessee] 
shall  be  run  agreeable  to  the  chartered  limits  of  the  states  of  Virginia 
and  North  Carolina ;  and  it  does  not  a])pear  to  us  that  any  charter  ever 
was  granted,  describing  the  limits  of  the  last  mentioned  states  respec- 
tivelv."  " 


After  making  this  blunder,  the  Legislature  was  content  to  let  the  ques- 
tion rest  for  about  a  decade.  But  in  181 1,  the  problem  was  resurrected 
again,  when  the  Legislature  provided  for  the  appointment  of  two  com- 
missioners who  with  the  commissioners  to  be  appointed  by  Tennessee 
"were  to  run  and  mark  the  line  between  the  two  states  agreeable  to  the 
charter  of  King  Charles  II,  and  acknowledged  by  the  twenty-fifth  section 
of  the  declaration  of  rights  in  the  constitution  of  the  state  of  North  Caro- 
lina;  and  also  acknowledged  by  the  twenty-second  section  of  the  declara- 
tion of  rights  in  the  constitution  of  Tennessee;  begiiming  on  the  top  of 
Cumberland   Mountain,  at  thirty-six  degrees,  thirty  minutes  north  lati- 


^  American  State  Papers,  XX,  Miscellaneous,  I,  54. 
"  American  State  Papers,  XX,  Miscellaneous,  I,  53. 
«  Ihid  ,  1 1.3. 

'"  Littfll,  Statute  Law  of  Kentiichx.  II,  4,34. 
I'/W,  III,  80. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  519 

tude,  when  accurately  taken ;  and  from  thence  to  run  west  a  right  Hne, 
in  thirty-six  degrees,  thirty  minutes  north  latitude,  so  far  as  not  to  run 
into  the  lands  claimed  bv  the  Indians  [lands  west  of  the  Tennessee 
River.]"  12 

But  now  followed  that  course  of  cross-purposes  and  bickerings  be- 
tween the  two  states,  which  seemed  forever  to  preclude  a  settlement. 
Scarcely  had  Kentucky  provided  for  her  commissioners  before  the  Leg- 
islature of  Tennessee  receded  from  its  recently  expressed  intentions  of 
meeting  the  Kentucky  surveyors  "to  ascertain  by  correct  and  scientific 
observation,  the  true  line  of  separation  between  the  respective  states."  In 
1813.  Kentucky  answered  the  move  of  Tennessee  by  declaring  that  she 
still  adhered  to  that  state's  first  announced  intentions  and  that  if  Ten- 
nessee refuses  to  act  on  them,  she  would  appeal  to  the  United  States 
Government  to  settle  the  trouble. i'*  Tennessee  not  having  complied  with 
Kentucky's  wishes,  the  latter  a  year  later  summed  up  the  whole  situation 
in  a  set  of  resolutions  passed  by  the  Legislature.  In  these,  it  was  set 
forth  that  Kentucky  had  labored  faithfully  to  remove  the  difficulty,  but 
that  Tennessee  had  held  back.  The  views  of  the  state  were  reiterated 
and  the  last  proposition  to  Tennessee  for  a  settlement  restated.  But 
now  due  to  the  recalcitrancy  of  Tennessee,  the  only  remedy  left  was  to 
throw  the  whole  matter  into  the  hands  of  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court.  But  before  this  could  be  done.  Congress  must  act  in  passing  a 
law  "for  the  purpose  of  regulating  the  exercise  of  this  jurisdiction,  and 
prescribing  the  mode  of  proceeding  in  cases  of  controversy  between 
different  states."  i*  However,  Congress  apparently  paid  no  attention  to 
the  boundary  controversy;  but  left  it  to  linger  as  a  problem  for  the 
states.'' 

The  patience  of  the  state  was  becoming  sorely  tried.  In  1818  the 
Legislature  began  to  clear  the  deck  by  repealing  all  of  her  former  laws 
concerning  modes  of  settlement  and  declared  the  question  was  settled 
with  the  'boundary  line  running  on  the  36=  30'  parallel  of  latitude.io 
This  action  was  precipitated  not  only  by  the  weariness  of  the  long-drawn 
discussion,  but  also  by  the  expectation  "of  securing  the  lands  west  of  the 
Tennessee  which  belonged  to  the  Indians.  With  the  acquiring  of  this 
new  land,  and  with  the  consequent  inrush  of  settlers,  the  running  of 
the  southern  boundary  would  become  immediately  necessary._  But  it 
was  evident  to  all  reasoning  men  that  such  a  legislative  flourish  could 
not  settle  the  difficulty  definitely;  and  the  Legislature,  itself,  did  not  con- 
sider it  a  final  settlement.  In  1818.  the  date  of  the  purchase  of  the  In- 
dian lands  west  of  the  Tennessee,  Kentucky  sent  a  long  memorial  to 
Cono-ress  reciting  the  history  of  her  eft'orts  toward  a  settlement  from  the 
beginning  and  the  refusals  of  Tennessee  to  come  to  an  agreement.  The 
important  point  was  that  no  settlement  had  been  made,  and  that  judging 
from  past  efforts  no  settlement  was  ever  likely  if  left  to  the  two  states. 

12  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  474- 

^^  Acts  of  Kentucky,  1812,  93,  94. 

'^•^  Acts  of  Kentucky,  1813,  226,  227.  The  law  which  was  very  curt  and  explicit 
follows:  "Be  it  enacted  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Commomvcalth  of  Ken- 
tucky, That  all  laws  heretofore  passed  by  the  General  Assembly  of  this  common- 
wealth relative  to  the  boundary  line  between  this  state  and  the  State  of  Tennessee, 
shall  be,  and  the  same  are  hereby  repealed. 

"Be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  southern  boundary  line  of  this  state  shall  be 
and  remain  on  a  line  running  west  from  the  top  of  Cumberland  mountain  to  the 
Mississippi  River,  in  thirty-six  degrees  and  thirty  minutes  north  latitude,  anything 
in  any  former  law  passed  by  this  state  to  the  contrary  not  withstanding."  Acts  of 
Kentucky,  1817,  437,  438. 

15  See  Kentucky  Gazette,  October  30,  1815. 

1°  J.  F.  Gordon,  "History  of  Jackson's  Purchase"  in  Proceedings  of  Kentucky 
State  Bar  Association,  1916,  159. 


520  HISTORY  OF  KKX'TUCKY 

The  muDKjrial  tlun  slated  that  the  people  confident  of  the  justness  of 
their  claims  wished  the  tioiihle  to  be  settled  by  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court  and  for  this  purjwse  the  Legislature  requested  again  that  Con- 
gress pass  a  law  giving  that  court   jurisdiction.'" 

Congress  once  more  failed  to  act;  and  the  Kentucky  Legislature 
again  announced  its  decision  to  make  an  exparte  settlement  of  the  ques- 
tion unless  Tennessee  speedily  elected  to  negotiate.  By  an  act  of  Feb- 
ruary 8,  1819,  the  governor  was  authorized  to  appoint  two  commission- 
ers to  run  the  line  between  the  Tennessee  and  AIississip])i  rivers  on  the 
parallel  of  36"  30'  latitude.  He  should  notify  the  Tennessee  governor 
of  his  action  and  request  him  to  ajipoint  a  like  number  of  commissioners 
to  assist.  Lut  he  should  make  it  plain  that  if  Tennessee  should  again 
refuse  to  act,  the  Kentucky  commissioners  would  nevertheless  make  a 
survey  of  the  boundary  which  should  be  submitted  to  the  Legislature 
for  its  approval.-"  The  boundary  surveyed  by  the  commissioners  com- 
monly bore  the  designation  of  Alexander  and  Munscll's  line,  and  was,  of 
course,  on  the  parallel  of  36°  30'. 

This  decided  action  socjn  moved  Tennessee  to  institute  new  efforts 
for  an  understanding.  In  November  of  18 19,  its  Legislature  passed  an 
act  providing  for  the  appointment  of  two  commissioners  to  at  once  take 
up  the  question  of  a  settlement  either  with  the  Kentucky  Legislature, 
itself,  or  with  any  representatives  it  might  appoint  and  if  failure  resulted 
in  these  two  means,  to  use  any  methods  available.  This  .seemed  to 
Kentucky  to  indicate  an  honest  and  genuine  desire  to  bring  about  an 
amicable  adjustment;  and  so  she  on  January  i,  1820,  appointed  two 
commissioners  to  treat  with  the  Tennessee  agents.-' 

Two  ver}'  able  and  prominent  Kentuckians  were  apjwinted  on  this 
commission.  These  were  John  J.  Crittenden  and  John  Rowan,  Ten- 
nessee appointing  on  her  part  Felix  Grundy,  who  had  played  a  conspicu- 
ous part  in  Kentucky  affairs  earlier  but  was  now  a  resident  of  Ten- 
nessee, and  William  L.  Brown.  Both  states  had  .shown  by  the  appoint- 
ment of  men  of  such  ability,  the  importance  they  attached  to  a  settlement 
and  a  sincere  desire  to  bring  it  about.  Crittenden  in  his  report  to  the 
I-cgislature  obser\ed,  "Your  commissioners  proceeded  to  the  task  as- 
signed them  with  a  deep  sense  of  their  responsibility,  and  of  the  high 
importance  of  a  subject  involving  directly  the  interest  and  harmony  of 
two  states,  forming  part  of  one  common  country  united  by  local  situa- 
tion and  political  ties,  and  almost  identified  by  sympathy  of  feeling, 
congeniality  of  character,  and  the  still  more  endearing  ties  of  con- 
sanguinity.'' --  The  commissioners  set  to  work  on  the  tangled  problem 
immediately.  The  Kentuckians  offered  two  lines,  either  one  of  which 
they  agreed  to  accept.  The  first  jjroposition  was  this:  The  Walker  line 
to  be  considered  the  boundary  as  far  westward  as  the  Tennessee  River, 
but  from  this  ])oint  on  the  line  was  to  run  southward  up  the  river  to 
such  a  jjarallel  as  would  include  in  this  region  between  the  Tennessee 
and  the  Alississijjpi  enough  territory  to  make  up  for  the  amount  lost 
east  of  the  Tennessee  by  the  Walker  line  running  so  far  north  of  the 
36°  30'  parallel.  The  other  solution  was  to  use  the  Alexander  and 
Munsell  line  (36°  30')  from  the  Mississi|)]3i  River  to  the  Tennessee, 
thence  dow'n  the  Tennessee  to  the  Walker  line  and  eastward  along  this 
boundary  to  a  point  nearest  the  month  of  Ohey's  River  (an  eastern 
tributary  of  the  Cumberland),  thence  north  or  south  as  the  case  might 
be  to  the  36°  30'  parallel  and  then  eastward  on  this  line  to  the  begin- 


''^^  American  Slate  Papers,  Miscclhiiieous,   II,  490-495;   Acts  of  Kentucky,  1817, 

576-579- 

""Acts  of  Kentucky,  181S,  719-721. 
="  Acts  of  Kentucky,  iSig,  820,  821. 
"^  Coltman,  Life  of  Crittenden,  I,  51. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  521 

ning.  It  will  be  noted  that  both  propositions  had  as  their  direct  purpose 
the  equalization  of  the  territory  in  dispute  as  far  as  possible  and  at  the 
same  time  the  retention  of  the  old  Walker  line  as  far  as  was  compatible 
with  this.  The  Tennessee  commissioners  flatly  and  definitely  rejected 
both  of  these  solutions,  and  offered  as  their  ultimatum  the  Alexander 
and  Munsell  line  from  the  Mississippi  to  the  Tennessee,  then  the  Ten- 
nessee northward  to  the  Walker  line,  and  that  boundary  on  eastward. 
This  was  no  concession  at  all  to  Kentucky,  as  the  36°  30'  line  had  been 
the  original  desideratum  of  all  parties  concerned,  when  Walker  first 
surveyed  the  boundary. 

On  the  Tennessee  offer,  the  Kentucky  commissioners  split.  John 
Rowan  at  once  rejected  this  solution  as  absolutely  unacceptable.  Crit- 
tenden was  inclined  to  accept  it,  with  a  few  provisions  regarding  land 
titles  in  the  disputed  area.  But  as  this  was  not  agreed  to  by  Rowan,  it 
could  not  be  offered  as  Kentucky's  position.  As  a  last  resort,  however. 
Rowan  and  Crittenden  agreed  to  olTer  Tennessee  this  method  of  set- 
tlement :  That  the  whole  question  be  left  to  arbitration  by  "such  dis- 
tinguished men  as  might  be  mutually  agreed  upon,"  none  of  whom  were 
to  be  residents  of  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Virginia,  or  North  Carolina 
or  from  any  other  states  cut  from  the  territory  of  the  latter  two.  Al- 
though the  instructions  of  the  Tennessee  delegates  gave  them  discretion- 
ary power  to  accept  such  a  solution,  they  saw  fit  to  reject  this  ofTer. 

In  diiifering  with  his  colleague.  Rowan,  on  the  Tennessee  offer, 
Crittenden  took  a  broader  view  of  the  situation.  He  called  attention 
to  the  fact  that  on  two  separate  occasions,  before  Kentucky  had  become 
a  state,  Mrginia  declared  the  Walker  line  to  be  the  true  boundary ;  and 
that,  therefore,  in  a  sense,  Kentucky  had  no  case.  He  also  stated  that 
the  Walker  line  had  been  in  fact  the  boundary  up  to  the  present  time 
and  that  for  a  number  of  years  no  one  was  absolutely  sure  whether  the 
Walker  line  was  north  or  south  of  the  parallel  of  36°  30'.  For  this 
reason  if  for  no  other  to  change  a  long  established  boundary  would 
be  unwise;  hut  in  this  case,  also,  a  large  number  of  people  who  had 
settled  in  the  disputed  area  and  had  long  considered  themselves  a  part 
of  Tennessee  would  be  greatly  upset  in  their  relations.  He  observed  that 
"Too  much  excitement  has  prevailed  between  them  [the  two  states]. 
Some  of  their  acts  have  been  precipitate  and  inconsistent,  others  rash 
and  angry, — the  remembrance  of  which  can  only  be  useful  as  a  means 
of  guarding  against  their  repetition."  -*  He  also  argued  the  futility 
of  a  further  contention  by  Kentucky  of  her  old  claims:  "But  suppose 
that  all  these  considerations  avail  nothing ;  suppose  that  Kentucky,  re- 
gardless of  consequences,  determine  to  insist  upon  her  right  to  the  dis- 
puted territory,  and  to  compel  its  reluctant  inhabitants  to  a  state  of 
vassalage,  or  what  is  the  same  thing,  unwilling  submission  to  her  gov- 
ernment,— by  what  course  is  she  to  efifect  it?"-"* 

These  negotiations  appeared  for  a  time  to  have  brought  the  question 
no  closer  a  solution.  In  his  report  to  the  Legislature  Crittenden  noted 
again  the  repeated  refusals  of  Congress  to  pass  the  necessary  legislation 
to  place  the  case  before  the  United  States  Supreme  Court.  After  their 
failure  to  reach  an  agreement  with  the  Kentucky  commissioners,  Grundy 
and  Brown  appealed  to  Congress  for  the  same  purpose,  reciting  the 
efforts  that  had  been  made  to  settle  the  trouble  and  the  lack  of  suc- 
cess. They  notified  Governor  Slaughter  of  Kentucky,  of  what  they  had 
done  and  enclosed  him  a  copy  of  the  petition  to  Congress. 2^' 


23  Coleman,  Life  of  Criitenden,  I,  51. 

2*  Crittenden's  report  to  the  Legislature  may  be  found  in  Coleman,  Life  of  Crit- 
tenden, I,  48-56. 

-^  Crittenden  MSS.,  Vol.  2,  No.  280.  The  Crittenden  papers  are  in  the  Manu- 
script  Division  of  the  Library  of  Congress  in  Washington. 


522  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

Crittenden's  recommendations  had  much  weight  with  the  Kentucky 
Legislature.  By  a  resolution  passed  January  28,  1820,  it  agreed  almost 
exactly  with  his  recommendations,  which  were  substantially  the  oiler 
Tennessee  had  made.  As  far  as  the  boundary  line  itself  was  concerned, 
Kentucky  accepted  in  toto  the  Tennessee  demands.  Only  regarding  the 
validation  of  land  claims  and  the  ownership  of  unappropriated  lands 
were  reservations  made. 2" 

All  difficulties  to  a  final  .settlement  were  fast  vanishing.  The  place 
on  the  commission  of  John  Rowan,  who  di.sagreed  with  this  solution, 
was  taken  by  Robert  Triml)le.  The  Tennessee  commissioners  Feli.x 
Grundy  and  \\'m.  L.  Rrown,  were  cotuinued  by  their  state  in  the  nego- 
tiations. They  came  to  I''rankfort  and  within  a  very  short  while  a  treaty 
was  concluded  between  the  two  states.  It  was  signed  by  the  commis- 
sioners who  negotiated  it  on  the  second  day  of  February,  1820,  and  on 
the  eleventh  it  was  ratified  by  the  Kentucky  Legislature,  w-hich  declared 
that  it  ".shall  be  regarded  in  all  courts  of  justice  in  this  commonwealth 
as  the  law  of  the  land."  The  line  determined  upon  as  the  final  boundary 
was  \\'alker's  line  from  the  begiiming  on  the  east  westward  to  the  Ten- 
nessee River,  southward  up  tliat  river  to  the  Alexander  and  Munsell 
line  (36°  30')  and  thence  westward  along  this  line  to  a  point  on  the 
Mississippi  River  below  New  Madrid  in  Missouri.-'  The  following 
reservations  were  made  regarding  the  ownership  of  certain  lands  in 
the  previously  disputed  territory:  All  islands  in  that  part  of  the  Ten- 
nessee River  which  formed  the  boundary  should  be  under  Kentucky's 
jurisdiction  and  their  disposition  to  private  persons  was  renewed  to 
Kentucky  except  where  they  had  been  granted  by  North  Carolina ; 
concerning  territory  west  of  the  Tennessee,  all  grants  of  land  made 
by  any  authority  other  than  that  of  Kentucky  north  of  the  parallel 
36°  30'  were  declared  null  and  void,  and  the  same  rule  held  nuitatis 
mutandis  south  of  that  line;  and  all  vacant  lands  north  of  the  parallel 
36°  30'  and  east  of  the  Tennessee  should  be  subject  to  the  disposition 
of  Kentucky  and  should  be  free  from  taxes  for  five  years.  It  was 
also  provided  that  when  either  state  should  want  the  Walker  line  sur- 
veyed and  definitely  marked,  the  governor  should  notify  the  other  state 
whereu]>on  both  should  appoint  one  surveyor  each  wdio  should  proceed 
with  the  work.  And  if  a  dispute  should  ever  arise  over  the  interpre- 
tation or  execution  of  the  treaty  the  governor  of  each  state  should  appoint 
an  arbitrator  who  should  not  be  a  citizen  of  either  Kentucky  or  Ten- 
nessee, "and  whose  decision  shall  be  final  on  all  points  to  them  sub- 
mitted." In  case  of  a  deadlock  between  the  two  arbitrators  they  should 
choose  an  umpire  whose  decision  should  be  final. "^ 

Thus  was  settled  in  a  very  commendable  way  a  c|Uestion  which  had 
baffied  all  efl'orts  for  over  a  quarter  of  a  century.  And  although  the 
main  question  was  disposed  of,  still  there  were  more  or  less  harassing 
details  that  had  to  be  worked  out  and  these  caused  minor  troubles  for 
another  quarter  of  a  century.  Finally  in  1S57-1858  surveyors  were 
ajjpointed   by   each    .state    to    survey   and    mark   the   southern   boundary 

2»  The  main  reservations  were  these:  .MI  lands  cast  of  the  Tennessee  River  and 
north  of  the  parallel  of  36°  30'  unappropriated  shall  he  snhject  to  the  exclusive  di.s- 
position  of  Kentucky;  no  land  claims  north  of  the  parallel  36°  30'  and  west  of  the 
Tennessee  River  Kranted  by  North  Carolina  or  Tennessee  "shall  he  ratified  or  con- 
firmed;" and  certain  stipulations  were  exacted  concerning  certain  military  land  claims 
and  other  claims  in  that  region  north  of  36°  30'  and  east  of  Obcy's  River,  Acts  of 
Kentucky,  1819,  990,  991. 

2'  This  tcrminalogy  is  responsible  for  the  small  neck  of  Kentucky  in  the  extreme 
western  part  of  the  state  being  separated  from  the  rest  of  the  state  by  the  southern 
and  northern  meanderings  of  the  river,  as  New  Madrid  is  on  the  extreme  northern 
bend  of  the  river,  and  thus  it  was  necessary  to  cross  the  river  twice  before  a  pomt 
could   be  reached  below   New   Madrid. 

2'  For  the  treaty  see  Acts  of  Kentucky  iSi(),  922-927. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  523 

in  its  entirety.  Stone  posts  were  to  be  erected  every  five  miles  in  a 
pathway  cleared  ten  feet  wide  and  the  trees  were  to  be  appropriately 
marked  with  a  K  or  T.  Topographical  maps  and  other  records  were 
to  be  made  in  order  to  determine  exactly  and  for  all  time  the  true 
boundary.  In  1859  work  began  at  a  point  on  the  Mississippi  River 
and  the  line  was  carried  eastward.  Due  to  the  great  bend  in  the  river 
on  the  point  of  which  New  Madrid  was  situated,  the  first  five-mile 
post  would  come  in  the  State  of  Missouri ;  and  in  order  to  obviate 
this  trouble,  this  post  was  omitted  and  the  first  post  was  placed  ten 
miles  from  the  point  of  beginning,  near  Reelfoot  Lake  and  marked  "No. 
I — 10  miles."  in  i860  the  results  of  this  survey  were  accepted  by  both 
states  and  the  question  was  definitely  and  forever  settled.-'^ 

The  material  development  of  the  state  during  the  decades  prior  to 
and  succeeding  1800  was  robust  and  promising.  The  state  was  growing 
rapidly  in  population  and  towns  were  beginning  to  grow  up  as  indus- 
trial centers.  Roads  were  being  built,  rivers  cleared,  and  canals  proposed. 
New  lands  were  being  opened  up  especially  in  the  Green  River  region, 
and  agriculture  everywhere  was  thriving.  Boundary  disputes  which  re- 
tarded progress  in  the  region  concerned  were  either  settled  or  in  the 
process  of  settlement.  Manufacturers  of  a  wide  variety  of  articles  grew 
with  astonishing  rapidity.  A  profound  interest  seized  the  people  along 
this  line  of  progress  which  for  a  time  threatened  to  eclipse  the  agri- 
cultural development.  An  insistent  demand  for  protection  by  tariffs 
went  up,  which  developed  an  attitude  of  mind  generally  in  Kentucky 
in  favor  of  protective  tariffs,  a  condition  which  made  it  easy  for  Clay 
to  conceive  and  build  up  his  doctrines  on  protective  tariffs  and  internal 
improvements  which  he  combined  and  called  the  American  System.  The 
out.standing  point  in  the  material  development  of  this  period  was  un- 
questionably the  manufactories.  That  they  later  on  by  no  means  met 
the  promise  they  gave  at  this  time  is  also  a  glaring  fact.  The  reasons 
for  this  as  far  as  they  may  be  ascertained  will  be  developed  later. 
Hand  in  hand  with  this  rapid  industrial  development  went  financial 
progress.  Although  the  first  bank  crept  in  disguised  as  an  insurance 
company  it  filled  a  pressing  need  and  was  prosperous  from  the  begin- 
ning. The  state  itself  in  conjunction  with  private  interests  soon  entered 
the  banking  business  in  the  guise  of  the  Bank  of  Kentucky.  From  the 
standpoint  of  material  development,  then,  Kentucky  stood  foremost 
among  the  states  of  the  Union  and  gave  excellent  promise  for  the  future. 

^^  W.  R.  Garrett,  History  of  the  South  Carolina  Cession  and  the  Northern  Boun- 
dary of  Tennessee  (Nashville,  1884).     Pamphlet. 


CHAPTER  XLIV 
SOCIAL  AND  INTELLECTUAL  i'KuGRESS,  1792-1810 

\\ith  the  coming  of  the  nineteenth  century  the  state  had  made  long 
strides  in  her  social  and  intellectual  development.  The  people  were 
becoming  more  and  more  unlil<e  the  first  settlers  who  had  crossed  the 
mountains.  They  were  departing  in  many  ways  from  the  inevitable 
conditions  that  had  made  them  one  time  frontiersmen  in  every  sense. 
Material  development  had  necessarily  changed  the  social  conditions. 
Created  wealth  widened  the  early  classes  that  had  tended  to  appear  in 
Kentucky  society  almost  as  soon  as  a  society  could  be  said  to  have 
existed.  A  contemporary  observer  declared  that  in  1800  "the  state  of 
society  in  Kentucky,  had  undergone  considerable  change  in  the  course 
of  the  last  eight  years;  and  especially,  from  the  end  of  the  war.  There 
was  a  greater  disparity  between  the  extremes  of  the  aggregate  society; 
with  an  increased  proportion  of  citizens  of  little  or  no  property,  or  of 
new  claims  to  land,  not  paid  for,  and  who  were  ranked  by  themselves 
with  the  poor.  While  on  the  other  hand,  those  who  possessed  the  means, 
were  accommodating  themselves  with  good  houses,  and  domestic  com- 
forts; which  produced  a  contrast,  not  readily  overlooked  by  the  eyes 
of  envy  or  jealousy."  ^  But  with  this  development  away  from  the  equality 
of  the  frontier,  there  did  not  go  a  progress  directly  toward  the  social 
and  intellectual  conditions  characteristic  of  the  regions  east  of  the  moun- 
tains. The  surroundings,  past  experiences,  peculiar  problems,  and  par- 
ticular aspirations,  all  made  the  Kentucky  character  separate  and  distinct 
from  the  old  states  of  the  East.  In  fact  so  peculiar  were  these  elements 
to  Kentucky  that  the  people  even  differed  much  from  other  communities 
and  slates  that  had  sprung  up  in  the  West  by  this  time.  Thomas  Jef- 
ferson declared  of  the  Kentuckians  in  icSiS.  "They  are  freer  from 
I)rejudice  than  we  are,  and  bolder  in  grasping  a  truth.  The  time  is 
not  distant  *  *  *  when  we  shall  be  but  a  secondary  peojjle  to 
them."  -  This  peculiar  Kentucky  character  was  so  lasting  that  evidences 
of  it  are  not  lacking  even  to  this  day. 

A  high-toned  social  condition  was  growing  u\)  which  approximateil 
in  a  gentility  of  Eastern  society.  The  large  estates  of  the  Bluegrass  region 
were  graced  with  stately  homes  wlierc  much  effort  was  taken  and  pride 
exhibited  in  entertaining  visitors.  Lexington  and  its  environs  became 
the  center  of  this  society  which  was  indeed  unequalled  for  many  years 
in  this  respect  in  all  the  country  west  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains.  In 
1814  it  was  tluis  described:  "Society  is  polished  and  polite.  'I'liey 
ha\e  a  theatre;  and  their  balls  and  assemblies  are  conducted  with  as 
nuich  grace  and  ease  as  they  are  anywhere  else,  and  the  dresses  of  the 
|)arties  are  as  tasty  and  elegant.  Strange  things  these  in  the  'back 
woods'!"^  One  of  the  most  elegant  and  pretentious  homes  in  the  state 
was  Chaumiere  near  Lexington.  It  was  built  by  Colonel  David  Meade 
in   the   latter   part   of   the   eighteenth   century,   and   here   many   men   of 

•  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  XI-- 

-  IVrituHjs   of  Jefferson,  XV,    168,    169.     This   was   in   a   Icllor   In   Jnhii   .'\flams, 
written  May  17,  1818. 

"  NUcs  Reyistcr,  Vol.  6,  p.  250. 

524 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  525 

national  prominence  were  entertained.  Among  the  presidents  who  par- 
took of  its  hospitality  were  Monroe,  Jackson,  and  Taylor.  Henry  Clay 
was  also  a  frequent  visitor;  and  while  Burr  and  Blennerhassett  were 
engaged  in  their  western  ventures,  they  too,  were  entertained  here.* 
Ashland,  the  home  of  Henry  Clay,  was  the  seat  of  a  no  less  brilliant 
society,  and,  indeed,  a  more  lastingly  important  one.  Col.  Thomas  Hart, 
who  went  to  Kentucky  in  1794,  and  who  immediately  became  prosperous 
in  the  new  country,  wrote  from  Lexington  of  its  social  conditions  to 
Governor  ^^'illiam  Blount  of  Maryland.  He  stated  that  his  "family 
would  be  extremely  glad  at  seeing  any  of  their  friends  and  I  know 
that  Mr.  Blount  would  say  with  us  that  the  society  of  this  place  is  equal 
if  not  su]:)erior  to  any  there  is  to  be  found  in  any  interior  town  in  the 
United  States,  for  there  is  not  a  day  passes  over  our  heads  but  I  can 
have  half  a  dozen  strange  Gentlemen  to  dine  with  us  and  they  are  from 
all  parts  of  the  Union."  ^  Years  later  a  Kentuckian  who  had  lived  in 
and  enjoyed  this  society  looked  back  upon  it  with  a  longing  and  wistful 
eye!  He  attested  to  its  convivial  nature.  "Almost  every  young  man 
of  his  acquaintance  had  a  horse,  a  gun  and  a  violin."  The  life  of  the 
younger  people  seemed  to  have  been  made  up  of  one  round  of  dancing 
parties.  "Society  seemed  to  be  viewed  as  if  it  were  for  amusement 
alone.  *  *  *  Every  independent  farmers  house  was  a  home  for 
all,  and  a  temple  of  jollity."'' 

An  element  in  the  social  affairs  of  the  people  as  well  as  in  their 
material  progress  was  the  practice  of  horse-racing.  The  race-course  vvas 
early  set  up  in  the  Bluegrass  region.  In  1798  Frankfort  held  a  series 
of  races  lasting  over  a  period  of  three  days.'^  In  his  trip  through  the 
state  in  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century  Francois  Michaux  ob- 
served the  importance  of  the  horse  as  a  topic  of  conversation  generally. 
This  and  other  traits  of  the  people  he  noted:  "Horses  and  law-suits 
comprise  their  usual  topic  of  conversation.  If  a  traveler  happens  to 
pass  by,  his  horse  is  appreciated;  if  he  stops  he  is  presented  with  a 
glass  of  whiskey,  and  then  asked  a  thousand  questions.  *  *  *  These 
questions  which  are  frequently  repeated  in  the  course  of  a  journey,  be- 
come tedious,  but  it  is  easy  to  give  a  check  to  their  inquiries  by  a  little 
address;  their  only  object  being  the  gratification  of  that  curiosity  so 
natural  to  people  who  live  isolated  in  the  woods,  and  seldom  see  a 
stranger." '' 


*  Conrkr-Journal,  April  17,  1921. 

=  Letter  from  Thomas  Hart  to  William  Blount,  February  13,  179S,  m  the  pos- 
session of  Miss  Lucretia  Clay  of  Lexington,  a  descendant. 

"  Butler.  History  of  Kentucky,  4S.S,  456. 

'  Pulladhim.  October  16,  1798. 

»F.  A.  Michaux,  Travels  to  the  West.  247.  248. 

Lexington  is  thus  described  by  Samuel  R.  Brown  in  1817,  in  a  sketch  written 
for  the  Western  Gazetteer  at  Emigrant's   Directory. 

"I  had  occasion  to  visit  this  place  in  the  summer  of  1797;  it  then  contained 
about  fifty  houses,  partly  frame,  and  hewn  logs,  with  the  chimneys  outside;  the 
surroundiiig  country  was  then  new.  a  village  lot  could  have  been  purchased  for 
$30,  and  a  good  farm  in  its  vicinity  for  $5  an  acre.  The  best  farmers  lived  in 
log  cabins,  and  wore  hunting  shirts  and  leggings.  In  May  last  C1816)  business 
again  called  me  to  Lexington.  But  how  changed  the  scene!  Everything  had 
assumed  a  new  appearance.  The  beautiful  vale  of  Town  Fork,  which  in  1797, 
I  saw  variegated  with  cornfields,  meadows  and  trees,  had  in  my  absence  been 
covered  with  stately  and  elegant  buildings — in  short,  a  large  and  beautiful  town 
had  arisen  by  the  creative  genius  of  the  west.  The  log  cabins  had  disappeared, 
and  in  their  places  stood  costly  brick  mansions,  well  painted  and  enclosed  by 
fine  yards,  bespeaking  the  taste  and  wealth  of  their  possessors.  The  leathern 
pantaloons,  the  hunting  shirts  and  leggings  had  been  discarded,  for  the  dress 
and  manners  of  the  inhabitants  had  entirely  changed.  The  scenery  around  Lex- 
ington, almost  equals  that  of  the  elysium  of  the  ancients.  Philadelphia,  with 
all  its  surrounding  beauties  scarcely  equals  it.  The  surface  resembles  the  gentle 
swell   of   the  ocean,   when   the   agitations   of   a    storm   have   nearly   subsided.      The 


526  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

The  contented  feeling  of  the  people  with  their  country  was  expressed 
often  in  celebrations  and  resolutions  of  their  legislature  and  various 
other  meetings.     The   Fourtli  of  July  very  early  came  to  play  an  im- 


roads    are    very    fine    and    wide.     The    grazing   parks    have    a    peculiar    neatness; 
the   charming   groves,   the   small,   square   and   beautiful    meadows,   and   above   all, 
the    wide    spreading    forests    of    corn    waving    in    grandeur    and    luxuriance,    and 
perfimiing    the   air    with    its    fragrance,    combine    to    render    a    summer's    view    of 
Lexington    inexpressively    rich,    novel,    grand    and    picturesque.      The    site    of    the 
town    is    in   a   valley;    but   the    declivities   are    so   gentle   that   some    travelers,    not 
scrupulously   accurate,    have    described    it   as    a    plain.      Town    Fork    creek    waters 
the  central   parts   of   the   town;    it    is   narrow   and   in   severe   droughts   nearly   dry. 
The   main    street,   which   is   one   mile   and   a   quarter   long,   runs   parallel    with   the 
creek    on    the    north    side.      There    are    three    other    streets    running    parallel    with 
the  main  street.     These  are   intersected  at  short   intervals  by  cross   streets;  all  of 
which  are  wide  and  mostly  paved.     Main  street  presents  to  the  traveler  as  much 
wealth,  and  more  beauty  than  can  be   found  in  most  of  the  Atlantic  cities.     It   is 
about   80    feet    wide,    level,    compactly   built,   well    paved,    and    having    foot    \yays 
twelve  feet  wide  on  each  side.     I  was  surprised  to  see  at  every  step,  finely  painted 
brick  stores,  three  stories  high,  and  well   filled  with  costly  and  fanciful   merchan- 
dise.    Near  the  centre  of  the  town   is  the  public  square,  lined  on  every  side  with 
large,  substantial  brick  houses,  stores,  hotels,  etc.     In  this  square  stands  the  market 
house,  which   is  of  brick,  and  well   furnished  on  Wednesdays  and   Saturdays;   but 
occasionally  the   scene  of  a  barbarous  practice ;   for  it   is  here  that   incorrigible   or 
delinquent' negroes  are   flogged  unmercifully.     I   saw  this   punishment   inflicted   oil 
two    of    these    wretches.      Their    screams    .soon    collected    a    numerous    crowd— I 
could  not  help  saving  to  myself:     'These  cries  are  the  knell   of  Kentucky  liberty." 
I  had  not  the  lei.s'ure  to  count  the  buildings,  and  found  no  iicrson  capable  of  giving 
the  requisite  information.     This  town  appears  as  large  and  populous  as  Cincinnati, 
which  contained  in  1816,  1,000  houses  and  6,000  souls.     The  public  buildings  consist 
of    several    churches,    belonging    to    Methodists.    Presbyterians,    Baptists,    Secedcrs,  . 
Episcopalians,  and  Roman  Catholics.     The  court  house  is  a  three  story  brick  build- 
ing   with  a  cui)oIa  rising   from   the  middle  of  a  square   ro,.f.   and  contains   a  bell 
and  a  town  clock.    The  Masonic  Hall  and  the  Bank,  are  fine  brick  buildings.    There 
is   a   public   library,   and   a    university   called   Transylvania,    liberally   endowed,   the 
terms   of   tuition   are   $200   per   annum.     There    is   a    female   academy,    where   the 
following  branches  are  taught,  viz.:     Reading,  writing,  arithmetic,   grammar,  cor- 
respondence, elocution,  rhetoric,  geography,  astronomy,  ancient  and  modem  history, 
chronology,   mvthology,  music,   drawing,   embroidery,   etc.     The   tavern   and   board- 
ing houses   are  neat   and   well   furnished.     Wilson's   hotel    is   excelled   by  none   in 
America,  for  extensiveness,  stvic  and  good  living.     The  streets  are  often  thronged 
with   well   dressed  people.     A   prodigious   quantity  of   European   goods  are   retailed 
to   the   crowd   of   customers,   who   resort    here    from    the   neighboring   settlements. 
There   are   two   bookstores,   and   three   printing   offices,    from    which   are    issued   as 
many  weekly  papers,  viz. :     The  Reporter,  and  Kentucky  Gazette,  both  Republican, 
and  "the  Monitor,  Federal,  and  the  only  one  of  that  political  cast  in  the  state     The 
inhabitants  are  as  polished,  and  I  regret  to  add,  as  luxurious  as  those  of  Boston. 
New   York,   or    Baltimore;    and   their   assemblies   and    parties    are    conducted    with 
as  much  ease  and  grace,  as  in  the  oldest  towns  of  the  union.     The  manufactories 
are  extensive,  and  promise  a  continued  growth  of  the  town.     There  are  four  nnil 
factories,    which    manufacture    seventy   tons   of   nails    yearly— two    copper    and    tui 
manufactories— several    jewelers    and    silversmiths,    ten    saddler    shops,    five    cabinet 
.shops,   and    three    painters,    seven    tailor    shops,    an    umbrella    manufactory,    twelve 
blacksmiths,    two    gunsmith    shops,    several    tobacconists,    five    chair    iriakcrs,    three 
dyers,    six   hatters,    sixteen    shoemakers,   two    stocking   weavers;    besides    tanneries, 
breweries,    distilleries,    cooperics.    brickyards,    carding    machines,    etc.      The    rope 
walks  are  on   a  large   scale,   and  its   manufacture   of   hemp   in    1811,   were  valued 
at    $500,000.      There    are    several    cotton    and    woolen    manufactories— three    steam 
grist    mills,    and    two    steam    paper    mills.      The    Lexington    woolen    manufactory. 
erected   by   Messrs.    Prentiss   &   Co.   and   Mr.    Sanders'   large   cotton    manufactory 
are   built   on   the   Town   Fork,   about   a   mile   southwest   of   the   town.     They   went 
into  operation   in   lune  last.     Mr.   Sanders  employed   about   i  w  hands;   the  articles 
manufactured   consist   of  cotton   yarns,   sheeting,   shirting,   bedticking,   counterpanes, 
table  clothes,  cbanibrays,  cassinets,  sattinets.  woolen  cords,  etc.     The _ woolen  manti- 
factorv  also  employed   i^o  hands— it   manufactures  broadcloths,  cassimers.  blankets 
and  flannels      It  has  a  steam  paper  mill   connected  with   it.  which   produces   paper 
of  a   fine  quality.     The  other  paper  mill   rivals   any  establishment   of   the  kind   m 
the   United    States.  .       ,  •.  •„ 

"There  are  between  fifty  and  sixty  villas,  or  handsome  country  residences  in 
the  vicinity  of  Lexington,  and  that  of  Henry  Clay,  Speaker  of  the  House  ot 
Representatives   may   be    pronounced   one   of   the   most    delightful.     It    is   situated 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  527 

portant  part  in  the  popular  celebrations  of  the  times.  Lexington  took 
much  interest  and  made  great  efforts  to  set  this  day  apart  for  a  gather- 
ing of  the  surrounding  country.  Parades  of  the  militia,  of  fraternal 
orders,  and  of  other  groups  of  the  people,  much  speech-making,  and 
a  barbecue  generally  characterized  the  celebration  of  this  day.  The 
grove  around  Maxwell  Spring  for  many  years  was  the  center  of  most 
of  the  festivities.  This  was  the  occasion  where  the  masses  of  the  people 
came  to  celebrate  the  birth  of  their  country's  independence  by  feasting 
on  roasted  beef  and  patriotic  oratory.  But  to  those  who  wanted  a  quieter 
celebration  other  ways  were  open.  Family  celebrations  in  which  a  few 
friends  would  be  invited  to  participate  were  not  uncommon.  In  1794. 
one  William  Price  held  such  a  celebration  and  among  his  invited  guests 
was  Governor  Shelby.  However  the  governor  was  unable  to  be  there, 
and  Price  in  writing  to  him  to  express  his  disappointment  described 
the  celebration:  "We  had  a  glorious  time,  and  a  big  dinner.  Forty 
men  Sat  down  at  my  table  who  had  served  in  the  late  Struggle  for 
American  Independence.  It  was  a  glorious  Sight  to  behold,  and  I  wish 
King  George  HI  and  Lord  North  could  have  witnessed  this  Scene  in 
the  wilds  of  America.  On  the  return  of  this  glorious  anniversary  of 
our  freedom  from  British  despotism  the  heart  of  every  patriot  in  the 
late  Struggle  may  rightfully  pour  forth  its  highest  Tribute  to  the  great 
Sages  and  Statesmen  and  Soldiers  who  resolved  to  Stake  their  lives  and 
Sacred   [honor]  on  maintaining  the  Declaration  of  Independence."  '■> 

The  civic  pride  of  the  people  was  evident  in  the  better  living  con- 
ditions that  were  soon  developed  in  the  small  towns  and  cities.  Lex- 
ington continued  her  progress,  already  noted  in  connection  with  making 
the  city  more  healthful  by  banishing  pigs  from  the  streets  and  removing 
slaughter-pens  from  the  city  limits.  Streets  were  yet,  however,  unpaved 
and  muddy.  In  1805  Frankfort  made  an  important  move  toward  better- 
ing her  living  conditions.  Instead  of  longer  depending  on  town  wells 
for  water,  a  system  of  water-works  was  begun  by  a  group  of  people, 
incorporated  the  same  year  and  known  as  the  "Frankfort  Water  Com- 
pany." Later  was  carried  to  the  town  through  log  pipes  from  a  spring 
two  miles  distant  and  distributed  rather  widely  to  the  citizens.i"  Al- 
though the  works  soon  gave  way  on  account  of  faulty  workmanship 
and  the  instability  of  materials  used,  still  the  undertaking  showed  the 
rising  consciousness  of  the  town. 

The  educational  and  general  intellectual  development  of  the  people 

about  one  mile  east  of  the  town,  on  an  agreeable  rise,  and  is  nearly  surrounded 
with   poplar  and   locust   groves. 

"The  inhabitants  of  Lexington  have  a  healthful  and  sprightly  appearance; 
there  are  several  families  from  the  New  England  states,  who  have  resided  here 
for  a   number   of   years,  and   enjoyed   good   health. 

"There  is  nothing  in  the  manners  or  morals  of  the  people  of  Lexington  to 
justify  the  shameful  calumnies  of  the  British  hireling  _  Ash.  'The  inhabitants 
(he  says)  show  demonstrations  of  civilization;  but  at  particular  tirnes,  on  Sundays 
and  market  davs  thev  give  a  loose  to  their  dispositions,  and  exhibit  many  traits 
that  should  exclusively  belong  to  untutored  savages.  Their  churches  have  never 
been  finished,  and  they  have  all  the  glass  struck  out  by  boys  in  the  day,  and  the 
inside   bv  rogues  and   prostitutes   who   frequent   them   at   night.' 

"Land  is  as  dear  around  Lexington  as  it  is  in  the  oldest  settlement  on  the 
seaboard,  whole  farms  have  sold  for  $100  an  acre;  and  small  parcels  for  a  far 
greater   sum ;   town  lots   are  exhorbitantly  high. 

"The  cattle,  horses  and  sheep  are  very  fine.  Great  numbers  of  cattle  are 
bought  by  the  drovers  for  the  Baltimore  and  Philadelphia  markets.  A  first  rate 
yoke  of  cattle  can  be  purchased  for  fifty  dollars;  and  a  horse  worth  one  hundred 
dollars  in  New  York,  could  be  bought  for  seventy  dollars.  Provisions  are  cheap, 
and  abundant.  Mechanics  charges  are  high.  A  tailor  will  charge  you  from  five 
to  ten  dollars  for  making  a  coat.  Board  $2.=;o  a  week  for  laborers.  Most  of  the 
mechanics   are    in    prosperous    circumstances." 

^  Durrett  MSS     Letter  from  Wm.  Price  to  Isaac  Shelby,  July  5,  1794- 

»"  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky.  \\,  373. 


528  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

at  the  beginniiifj  uf  llu-  iiiiKHi-iuli  cintuiy  was  as  vigorous  and  promis- 
ing as  any  line  of  their  material  progress.  It  was  observed  and  noted 
by  nunierous  travelers,  some  of  wlioni  were  so  enthusiastic  in  their  de- 
scription as  to  be  guilty  of  exaggeration,  h'rancois  Micheau.K  declared 
that  the  "children  are  kept  punctually  at  school,  where  they  learn  reading, 
writing,  and  the  elements  of  arithmetic.  These  .schools  are  supported 
at  the  expense  of  the  inhabitants,  who  send  for  masters  as  soon  as 
the  population  and  circumstances  ])ermit ;  in  consec|uence  of  which  it 
is  very  rare  to  find  an  American  who  does  not  know  how  to  read  and 
write.""  As  heretofore  mentioned,  higher  education  first  engaged  the 
attention  and  exertions  of  the  leaders  of  the  state.  Transylvania  Semi- 
nary had  already  resulted  from  this  enlightened  sentiment.  But  this 
institution  had  scarcely  begun  its  existence  before  a  feeling  had  grown 
up  among  the  Presbyterians  that  the  school  had  departed  from  the 
orthodox  faith  and  that  it  had  fallen  under  deistic  influences.  So  as  a 
restdt,  they  were  able  in  1794  to  secure  a  charter  from  the  Legislature 
for  a  rival  seminary.  To  save  it  from  the  forces  that  controlled  the 
Transylvania  institution  they  had  insertcfl  into  the  charter  certain  pro- 
tective stipulations.  In  the  first  place,  "The  ];resident  of  the  said  academy 
shall  be  a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  of  the  most  approved  abilities  in 
literature,  and  acquaintance  in  mankind,  that  may  be  obtained,  and  zeal- 
ously engaged  to  promote  the  interest  of  real  and  practical  religion." 
And  to  protect  the  unsuspecting  student  from  occult  heresies,  it  was 
provided  that  "No  endeavours  shall  be  used  by  the  president,  or  other 
teachers,  to  influence  the  mind  of  anv  student,  to  change  his  religious 
tenets,  or  embrace  those  of  a  different  denomination,  any  further  than 
is  consistent  with  the  general  belief  of  the  Gospel  system,  and  the  prac- 
tice of  vital  piety."  '-  James  Blythe  and  David  Rice  were  soon  dis- 
patched on  a  mission  to  the  Eastern  states  for  the  purpose  of  soliciting 
contributions.  The  unusual  concern  of  the  Kentuckians  in  setting  up 
educational  institutions  aroused  much  interest  and  support  among  men 
of  jirominence  in  the  East.  President  Washington  was  especiallv  in- 
terested in  these  ambitious  frontier  undertakings;  he  subscribed  $100. 
John  .Adams  also  subscribed  a  like  amount,  wliile  .Aaron  Rurr  con- 
tributed $50.  The  Kentucky  agents  raised  in  all  more  than  $10,000. 
Two  years  after  the  charter  liad  been  obtained,  the  school  was  set  going 
at  Pisgah.  near  Lexington,  and  was  accompanied  with  success  from 
the  beginning.  This  created  considerable  alarm  among  the  authorities 
and  supporters  of  Transylvania  Seminary;  as  they  believed  that  two 
such  schools  could  not  flourish  so  close  together.  Negotiations  were 
soon  entered  into  by  the  trustees  of  both  institutions  with  the  result 
that  in  1798  on  a  point  petition  of  both  bodies,  the  Legislature  amalga- 
mated the  two  schools  under  the  name  of  Transylvania  University,  the 
title  under  which  the  institution  went  for  sixty-six  years." 

.About  the  same  time  Kentucky  .Academy  was  set  up,  a  school  known 
as  P.ethel  .Xcademy  was  being  provided  for  in  Jessamine  County.  In 
170=;  Franklin  Academy  was  given  a  charter  and  was  soon  started  going 
at  Washington.  The  academy  movement  was  now  rather  general  over 
the  state.  The  schools  were  each  granted  charters  by  special  acts;  but 
no  state  aid  or  control  was  exercised  over  them.  The  situation  was  ripe 
for  the  government  to  assume  leadership  in  the  movement  hv  giving 
badly-needed  help  and  by  exercising  a  central  directive  power.  This  was 
done  in  T79S  by  a  law  granting  to  each  of  the  academies   in  existence 


11  F.  A.  Michaiix,  Trnvcls  to  the  West,  250. 

'=  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  158,  159. 

''W.  H.  Siebcrt,  "The  Tory  Proprietors  of  Kentucky  Lands"  in  Ohio  Archaeo- 
logical and  Historical  Quarterly.  No.  I,  January,  iQig,  16,  25;  CoIIin.s,  History  of 
Kentucky,  I,  24,  II,  184;  Lewis,  Education  in  Kentucky,  21-24. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  529 

6,000  acres  of  unappropriated  land.  A  certain  anKjunt  of  control  was 
provided  for  on  the  part  of  the  state.  The  cm-riculuni  should  follow  in 
general  the  requirements  of  the  state  that  Latin  and  Greek  be  taught  and 
that  also  certain  of  the  sciences  be  included.  There  was  in  the  same 
year  in  which  the  act  was  passed  twenty  academies  organized  under  this 
.system  from  private  schools  that  had  been  previously  set  up.  But  many 
of  these  schools  were  so  deficient  in  funds  that  they  found  it  virtually 
impossible  to  take  advantage  of  the  land  endowment  on  account  of  the 
cost  entailed  in  locating  and  surveying  the  land.  To  remedy  this  situa- 
tion the  Legislature  resorted  to  the  practice  of  allowing  the  use  of  a 
lottery,  outlawed  generally  today  but  a  method  that  came  to  be  used 
very  widely  during  this  period  and  for  various  purposes.  Each  school 
receiving  the  endowment  was  given  permission  to  hold  a  lottery  at  which 
not  over  $1,000  might  be  raised. ^* 

It  will  be  noted  that  this  new  policy  with  regard  to  the  academies  was 
inaugurated  in  the  same  year  in  which  Kentucky  Academy  and  Transyl- 
vania Seminary  were  amalgamated,  resulting  in  Transylvania  University. 
All  of  this  legislation  taken  as  a  whole  clearly  points  to  a  well-rounded 
and  beautiful  educational  system  that  was  undoubtedly  contemplated  by 
the  education  leaders  of  the  day.  The  university  was  to  be  the  cap-stone 
of  the  wliole  educational  edifice,  of  which  the  academies  were  to  make 
up  the  well-laid  foundations.  This  was  an  ambitious  program  and  logical 
in  its  working  as  far  as  it  was  projected.  But  it  stopped  short  of 
completion,  and  in  that  deficiency  is  to  be  largely  placed  the  final  failure 
of  the  whole  fabric.  There  was  no  effort  made  to  reach  the  masses  of 
the  people  in  a  system  of  common  schools  which  would  have  been  the 
third  and  final  link  in  the  chain.  The  academies  could  not  flourish  and 
develop  as  they  should  have  done  because  there  was  no  system  of  feeders 
in  the  development  of  common  schools.  The  idea  was  also  predominant 
of  developing  the  educational  system  from  the  university  downward  but 
not  to  the  firm  and  lasting  basis  of  the  education  of  the  masses  of  people, 
rather  then  of  beginning  here  and  developing  upward.  As  deficient  as 
this  system  was,  still  it  was  a  most  enlightened  and  progressive  develop- 
ment in  this  early  ])ioneer  commonwealth,  and  it  did  much  honor  to  its 
chief  proponent  Judge  Caleb  Wallace.'^  Despite  the  lack  of  common 
schools  the  academies  aided  by  the  state  appropriations  of  land,  made 
laudable  progress.  They  became  little  centers  where  competent  teachers 
diffused  the  sparks  of  ambition  that  carried  many  young  men  into  prom- 
inence in  state  afifairs  later.  Genuine  efforts  were  made  to  uphold  the 
standards  that  were  laid  down  and  expected  of  them.  An  advertisement 
in  the  Kentucky  Gazette  in  1798  read:  "A  Teacher  wanted  for  Bethel 
School.  A  man  well  acquainted  with  the  English,  Latin  and  Greek 
Languages,  Arts  and  Sciences."  i"  The  same  notice  also  contained  the 
information  that  board  for  the  school  year  would  be  from  ten  to  twelve 
pounds.  In  most  of  the  academies  rigorous  rules  were  laid  down  as  to 
conduct  and  use  of  the  student's  time.  As  an  example,  the  laws  of  an 
academy  in  1802,  required  the  students  to  arise  at  five  o'clock,  engage  i.J 
public  prayers  at  si.x,  and  to  use  the  remaining  time  until  seven-thirty 
in  study.  From  eight-thirty  until  twelve  they  "shall  again  attend  strictly 
to  their  business."  Dinner  and  recreation  should  continue  their  program 
from  twelve  until  two,  and  from  two  until  six  they  should  continue  their 
study  again.  At  six  public  prayers  again  engaged  their  attention,  and 
at  nine  in  the  evening  they  were  required  to  be  in  their  beds.     During 


1*  Lewis,  Education  in  Kentucky,  21-25. 

1'  Abraham  Baldwin  had  already  devised  such  a  system  of  education  for  Georgia. 
See  E.  M.  Coulter,  "The  Ante-Bellum  Academy  Movement  in  Georgia,"  in  The 
Georgia  Historical  Quarterly,  September,  1921. 

18  May  9. 

Vol.  1—38 


530  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

stud)-  hours  no  stutkiU  was  perniiticil  to  leave  his  room.  And  accord- 
ing to  the  rules.  "Xo  noise  shall  be  made  at  any  lime  either  within  or 
without  of  doors."  Mvery  student  "shall  a])i)ear  decently  and  cleanly" 
and  shall  treat  one  another  and  all  others  "with  politeness  and  proper 
respect."  They  were  ])rcventcd  from  becoming  in\oIved  in  the  rowdyism 
of  the  town  by  a  rule  which  prohibited  any  student  from  going  to  the 
tavern  "without  particular  and  lawful  business"  or  unless  he  should 
have  special  {)erniission.  "No  student  shall  engage  in,  or  be  present  at 
any  horse-race,  cock-fight,  card  playing,  dice  or  any  other  kind  of 
gambling."  And  as  for  other  forms  of  diversion  and  amusement,  "curs- 
ing, swearing,  fighting,  quarreling,  all  indecent  language,  reveling  and 
dancing  are  ]X)siti\ely  forbidden."  There  was  to  be  no  unnecessary  visit- 
ing among  the  students  in  their  li\ing  ([uarters  "and  they  shall  in  no 
case  intrude  on  each  other."  On  Sunday  mornings  all  were  required 
to  go  to  church,  and  monitors  were  apiiointed  to  check  their  presence 
during  the  sermon.  For  the  infraction  of  these  rules  a  number  of 
punishments  were  prescribed,  ranging  in  severity  as  follows :  reason.able 
correction,  private  or  public  admonition,  suspension,  and  expulsion. 
Literary  societies  were  established  as  an  important  adjunct  to  the  course 
of  study,  and  in  order  to  stimulate  a  desire  on  the  part  of  the  uninterested 
students  in  joining,  a  rule  prescribed  that  every  student  not  belonging 
to  a  literary  society  should  deliver  an  oration  every  week;  but  if  he 
became  a  n'lember,  then,  he  might  be  excused  by  the  president  of  the 
academy.'' 

The  academies  were  essentially  schools  designed  to  serve  the  towns. 
(Generally  there  were  preparatory  departments  included  in  the  academy 
which  fitted  the  pupils  for  the  higher  academic  subjects.  The  country 
districts,  thus,  profited  nothing  from  the  academies.  State  public  land, 
the  rightful  projierty  and  heritage  of  the  rural  Kentuckians  as  much  as 
of  the  urban  population,  were  so  appropriated  as  to  benefit  exclusively 
the  latter ;  but  .so  scant  was  the  educational  consciousness  in  the  outlying 
districts  that  little  or  no  protest  went  up  from  them,  and  no  movement 
sprang  up  to  obtain  a  lawful  share  of  the  state's  patrimony.  But  this 
does  not  mean  that  the  country  districts  were  entirely  devoid  of  schools, 
or  of  the  appreciation  and  desires  of  an  education.  The  so-called  old 
field  school  grew  up  as  a  picturesque  element  in  the  lives  and  general 
progress  of  the  country  folk.  \\'andering  pedagogues  came  and  went  in 
their  travels  and  labors  over  the  country.  They  taught  a  few  months  of 
the  year  wherever  the  subscriptions  from  the  surrounding  community 
made  a  .school  possible.  The  teacher  boarded  with  his  patrons,  often 
passing  from  one  to  another  before  the  term  of  school  had  ended.  In 
early  times,  besides  receiving  his  board,  he  was  often  paid  the  rem;iinder 
of  his  salary  in  meat,  tobacco  furs  and  other  articles  current  in  the 
c(jmnnniitv.  Most  of  the  teachers  were  ne'er-do-well,  who  had  failed  in 
their  other  undertakings  and  though  ill-educated  set  to  work  to  instruct 
others  who  were  less  educated.  "  Some  were,  however,  powerful  but 
silent  factors  in  the  training  of  leaders  who  were  in  time  to  come  to 
be  an  honor  to  the  slate  they  represented. 

The  subjects  taught  were  reading,  writing,  and  cii)lKTing  hi  tlir  rule 
of  three.  In  later  times  higher  courses  were  introduced  in  many  of  the 
old  field  schools.  There  were  varying  degrees  of  efficiency  and  deport- 
ment in  the  different  schools.  In  some  the  teacher  was  a  tryrant  who 
wielded  the  rod  with  a  heavy  hand  on  slight  provocation;  while  in 
others  the  students  set  the  customs,  selected  the  holidays,  and  ruled  in 
other  respects  to  the  general  detriment  of  the  school.  Neither  aided  by 
the  state  nor  controlled  bv  it,  the  old  field  school  arose  and  progressed  in 


>'  MSS.  laws  on  Brcckiiindyc  MSS.  (1802). 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  531 

its  own  way.'*  Ministers  of  the  Gospel  often  conducted  schools  in  their 
lionies  or  engaged  in  teaching  in  the  log  school  house.  An  early  pioneer 
describes  the  sort  of  house  that  was  common  in  his  day:  "In  a  year  or 
two  after  our  removal,  a  small  school  house  was  erected  by  the  joint 
labor  of  several  neighbors.  *  *  *  j(.  ^^j^g  entirely  in  the  woods. 
*  *  *  In  the  winter  light  was  admitted  through  oiled  papers  through 
long  openings  between  the  logs.  It  was  one  story  high,  and  about  sixteen 
by  twenty  feet  in  dimensions,  with  a  great  wooden  chimney,  a  broad 
puncheon  floor,  and  a  door  of  the  same  material  with  its  latch  and 
string."  !■' 

With  a  university,  academies,  and  old  field  schools,  still  there  seems 
to  have  been  room  for  another  kind  of  school.  There  was  announced 
in  the  Kentucky  Gazette  in  1794  by  a  Mr.  Woodrow,  the  ancestor  of 
Woodrow  Wilson,  an  intention  to  begin  in  Lexington  shortly  an  "Evening 
School."  It  was  to  use  the  "newest  methods,"  and  seems  to  have  had 
in  view  that  class  of  students  who  were  employed  during  the  day.  and 
were  therefore  unable  to  take  advantage  of  schools  except  in  the  evenings. 
The  announced  courses  of  study  tended  toward  practical  things.  Geom- 
etry, trigonometry  both  plain  and  spherical,  navigation,  gauging,  alge- 
bra, and  "merchants  accounts  and  arithmetic  completed  the  curriculum.-" 

Apart  directly  from  school,  there  were  other  evidences  of  the  mental 
alertness  that  characterized  the  centers  of  thought  and  action  in  the 
state.  A  series  of  articles  in  the  Kentucky  Gazette  during  1802  sought 
to  impress  upon  the  people  the  great  value  of  a  classical  education.  It 
was  argued  that  Latin  and  Greek  should  be  studied  as  the  very  basis  of 
all  education. 21  Before  1800  book-shops  in  Lexington  were  stocked  with 
large  numbers  of  books  on  a  wide  variety  of  subjects,  which  were 
advertised  with  Twentieth  Century  industry  and  persistency.  Such  an 
advertisement  in  the  Kentucky  Gazette  in  1793  listed  by  name  surveying 
treatises,  Kentucky  and  English  law  books  and  court  reports,  almanacs, 
religious  works,  histories,  Greek  and  Latin  classics,  and  such  English 
masters  as  Shakespeare  and  Milton.-  Two  years  later  an  advertisement 
filling  a  whole  page  was  necessary  to  give  the  public  an  insight  into  the 
various  works  in  a  Lexington  shop.^*  In  1796  the  Lexington  Library 
was  established  with  400  volumes.  It  became  an  important  and  growing 
institution  in  the  town's  life,  and  it  has  developed  into  one  of  the  best 
in  the  state  today,  a  depository  of  early  and"  valuable  records.--*  A 
development  more  or  less  dependent  on  the  same  motive  forces  that 
produced  this  institution  took  place  in  Lexington  in  the  early  Nineteenth 
Century.  This  was  a  sort  of  a  cofifee  house  or  literary  center  where  the 
guests  could  combine  amusement,  and  social  fellowship  with  intellectual 
recreation.  The  members  gathered  here  at  their  leisure  times  to  play 
billiards,  chess,  and  backgammon,  and  were  served  with  wines,  liquors, 
beer,  cordials,  and  confectioneries.  Newspapers  from  all  parts  of  the 
country  were  kept  on  file — around  1807  there  were  forty-two  different 
newspapers  to  be  found  here.  This  institution  was  largely  based  on 
subscriptions  from  its  members.  The  fee  was  $6  annually,  and  at  this 
time  there  were  sixty  subscribers.--' 

The  unusual  intellectual  activity  and  development  of  the  times  is  seen 
in  a  movement  that  was  started  toward  the  erection  of  a  museum  of 


18  For  a  brief  account  of  the  early  schools,  see  Lewis,  Education  m  Kentucl;y, 

30-33.  .,    .     „ 

10  Daniel  Drake,  Pioneer  Life  m  Kentucky,  143,  147. 

20  December  20. 

21  For  example,  during  April. 
-2  For  example,  December  14. 

23  Kentuclty  Gazette,  June  27,  1795. 

2*  Ranck,  History  nf  Lexington,  194-196;  Collins,  History  of  Kentucliy,  I,  24. 

2''  F.  Cummings,  Skctclies  of  a  Tnur  to  the  Western  Country,  188. 


532  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

natural  history  in  Lexington.  Edward  Graham  had  been  observing  and 
noting  the  numerous  natural  wonders  and  curiosities  that  seemed  to 
abound  in  the  state.  He  was  also  conscious  of  the  inroads  time  and 
travelers  were  making  upon  them.  The  Big  Bone  Lick  with  its  heaps 
of  skeletons  of  pre-hi.storic  animals  had  long  excited  the  wonder  of 
visitors,  and  many  of  the  bones  had  been  carried  away.  Why  should 
not  these  curiosities  and  other  remains  equally  wcmderful  be  preserved 
for  the  amusement  and  edilication  of  future  generations,  thought  Gra- 
ham. He  wrote  John  J^ireckinridge  in  1795.  "It  occurs  to  me  that  a 
museum  should  be  established  somewhere  in  Kentucky  as  a  repository 
for  all  the  curiosities  that  might  hereafter  be  found,  worthy  of  the 
attention  of  the  curious."  A  room,  he  believed,  might  be  secured  as  a 
beginning  in  one  of  the  educational  institutions  in  Lexington.  He  would 
have  the  skeleton  of  a  mammoth  secured  as  a  nucleus.-''  The  curious 
turn  of  mind  of  the  i)eo])le  and  their  desire  to  see  the  wonderful  and 
the  unusual,  himian  characteristics  in  fact  peeculiar  to  no  group  of  people 
or  times,  must  have  gone  abroad  over  the  land,  for  as  early  as  1808, 
an  ele])liant  was  exhibited  in  Lexington,  and  the  peoj)le  were  informed 
that  they  might  see  this  "wonderful  work  of  nature"  for  twenty-five 
cents  each.  The  Lexington  newspapers  carried  cuts  of  this  animal  and 
announced  in  advertisements  that  "Those  that  wish  to  gratify  their 
curiosity  by  seeing  the  wonderful  work  of  nature"  should  come  early; 
for  "Perhaps  the  present  generation  may  never  have  an  opportunity 
of  seeing  an  ele])liant  again,  as  this  is  the  only  one  in  the  L'nited  .States, 
and  perha])s  the  last  visit  to  this  j^lace."  -" 

The  desire  of  the  people  to  be  informed  on  the  news  of  the  days 
as  well  as  to  have  a  medium  for  cx])ressing  their  opinions  early  led  to 
the  Kentucky  Gacetle,  the  establishment  of  which  had  already  been  noted. 
To  the  Bradford  family — John,  the  pioneer,  his  brother,  l""ielding,  and 
the  former's  son  Daniel — journalism  in  the  state  owed  its  beginning  and 
following  impetus.  Fielding  Bradford  remained  with  the  Gazette  from 
the  beginning  of  the  jjaper.  when  he  entered  into  ])artnership  with  John, 
un'.il  jtnie,  17S8.  Daniel  Bradford  took  control  of  the  paper  in  1802 
from  his  father  and  continued  to  edit  it  until  1809,  when  it  passed  out 
of  the  control  of  the  Bradford  family.  However,  in  181 2,  Fielding 
Bradford,  Jr.,  bought  the  Gazette  and  ran  it  for  about  three  years,  at 
the  end  of  which  time  if  passed  definitely  from  the  Bradfords.  A  mania 
for  establishing  newspapers  soon  seized  the  people.  In  1795,  Stewart's 
Kentuckv  Herald  was  set  up  by  Thomas  H.  Stewart  in  Lexington  and 
ran  for  a  decade  before  being  incorporated  with  the  Gazette.  For  the 
next  few  years,  it  seemed  that  almost  every  community  in  the  state  that 
could  boast  of  being  called  a  town  was  agitating  for  a  newspaper.  In 
May.  1797.  The  Rii/ltls  of  Man  or  the  Kentucky  Mercury  was  started  in 
Paris,  and  in  August  following.  The  Mirror  was  first  issued  by  Hunter 
and  Beaumont  in  Washington.  The  next  year  saw  three  more  papers 
beginning  in  r)tber  towns.  I-'rankfort,  the  capital  got  her  fir.st  taste  of 
journalism  in  The  Palladium  and  the  Guardian  of  Freedom,  and  in  this 
same  year  The  Kentucky  Telegraph  was  set  going.-" 

During  the  next  dozen  years  from  iSoo  to  1S1.2,  there  were  no  less 
th.an  twentv-nine  news])a])crs  founded  in  the  state.  Nothing  could  give 
a  better  index  into  the  intellectual  and  controversial  character  of  the 
people  than  this  remarkable  journalistic  development.  In  1803  Bards- 
town  possessed  her  first  paper  in  the  Western  American  and  Lexington 

2"  Letter  from  Edward  Graham  to  John  RrcrkinridRC,  September  25,  1795,  in 
Breckinridiie  MSS.  (I795)- 

2'  Reporter,  11i.'ceml)cr  22,  1H08. 

-»  7"/ir  Patladhim  was  in  ro.ihty  V/i.-  Mirror  transferred  from  Washington  to 
Frankfort  and  re-named. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 


533 


established  her  third  in  the  Independent  Gasette.  In  the  same  year 
Washington  set  up  the  Weekly  Messenger  to  fill  the  want  created  by  the 
removal  of  The  Mirror  five  years  previously.  The  next  year  saw  the 
old  political  capital  of  the  state,  Danville,  in  possession  of  her  first 
paper,  called  The  Mirror;  and  in  the  same  year  Shelbyville  with  less 
than  300  inhabitants  gave  birth  to  the  Republican  Register.  Having  once 
tasted  of  journalism,  Danville  could  not  rest  content  with  one  newspaper; 
so  in  the  following  year  she  set  up  The  Lnformani.  The  year  1806  was 
a  very  prolific  year — four  papers  came  to  light  during  this  period. 
Washington  received  her  third  paper,  called  the  Republican  Auxiliary; 
Bardstovvn  acquired  her  second  in  The  Impartial  Rez'iczv;  Russellville, 


Portrait  of  John  Bradford,  Editor  of  Kentucky  Gazette  at 

Lexington  in  1788 

(Courtesy  of  The  Filson  Club) 

a  town  of  117  inhabitants  in  1800,  became  the  seat  of  The  Mirror,  a 
name  applied  for  the  third  time  to  a  newspaper  in  the  state;  and  the 
Town  of  Frankfort  was  selected  by  Wood  and  Street  in  which  to  pub- 
lish their  IVestern  World,  the  newspaper  of  Spanish  conspiracy  fame. 
In  the  following  year  there  arose  to  flourish  for  a  time  The  Candid 
Review  at  Bardstown  and  The  Impartial  Observer  in  Lexington.  The 
year  1808  seems  to  have  been  the  banner  year  in  the  number  of  new 
papers  set  going ;  no  less  than  five  arose ;  The  Lamp  in  Lincoln  County 
and  the  Western  Citisen  in  Paris  were  the  least  famous  and  important. 
The  Argus  of  Western  America  entered  a  long  and  stormy  career  at 
Frankfort  with  Amos  Kendall  later  identified  with  it;  Louisville  tardily 
set  up  her   first   newspaper,  the  Lnuisville   Gazette;  and   The  Reporter 


534  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

began  a  period  of  usefulness  and  prominence  in  Lexington.  The  succeed- 
ing three  years,  1809,  1810,  and  181 1  produced  respectively  four,  three 
and  four  newspapers,  which  follow  in  the  same  order:  the  Political 
Theatre  at  Lancaster,  The  Dove  at  Washington,  The  Globe  at  Richmond, 
Tlie  Examiner  at  Lancaster,  the  American  Republic  at  Frankfort,  The 
Luminary  at  Richmond,  the  American  Statesman  at  Lexington,  the 
Western  Courier,  at  Louis\ille,  the  Bardsto^cn  Repository  at  Bardstown, 
and  The  'Telegraph  at  Georgetown.'"-'  This  Hood  of  newspapers  more 
than  saturated  the  reading  public  of  the  state,  and  it  was  inevitable  that 
some  of  them  should  have  short  existences,  others  flourished  for  a  time, 
while  still  others  were  destined  to  remain  long  and  exert  a  profound  and 
powerful  influence.  In  many  ways  all  of  them  prepared  the  ground  and 
made  ()ossible  the  golden  age  of  journalism  to  come. 

With  so  many  people  in  the  western  country  interested  in  the  news- 
paper business,  it  was  only  natural  that  an  association  should  early 
spring  up  designed  to  bind  themselves  together  professionall}'.  In  1805 
chiefly  through  the  efforts  of  John  Bradford  a  movement  was  started  to 
bring  about  the  organization  of  a  "Printer  and  Booksellers  Association" 
whose  purpose  it  would  be  "to  facilitate  the  production  and  interchange 
of  works  of  merit."  In  July  notice  was  given  that  a  meeting  would  be 
held  in  Lexington  in  the  following  October  for  the  purpose  of  starting 
such  a  society.''"'  According  to  the  announced  intentions,  the  meeting 
was  held  on  October  2nd  and  an  organization  set  up.  John  Bradford 
was  elected  president,  and  a  committee  consisting  of  William  Hunter, 
Joseph  Carjjcnter,  N.  Willis  and  Daniel  Bradford  was  ajipointcd  to  draw 
up  a  constitution.  The  next  meeting  was  set  for  the  first  Monday  in 
January  following.  This  association,  although  composed  mostly  of  Ken- 
tuckians  and  receiving  most  of  its  inspiration  from  them,  was  not  limited 
to  the  state  either  in  purpose  or  fact.  The  call  had  been  issued  to  the 
printers  of  the  western  country ;  and  to  the  first  meeting  Ohio  sent 
representatives.^' 

During  this  period  of  intellectual  awakening  and  educational  develop- 
ment, the  religions  denominations  were  active  and  vigorous.  Although 
frontiersmen  were  typically  bard  and  unemotional,  and  their  surround- 
ings were  not  such  as  to  encourage  and  develop  religious  feelings^  still 
deep  in  their  nature,  there  were  the  main  springs  of  religious  fervor,  the 
intensity  of  which  has  scarcely  ever  been  reached  in  our  history  except 
under  those  very  frontier  conditions.  The  pioneer  religion  in  Kentucky 
was  the  Baptist.  In  1776  William  Hickman,  a  Baptist  minister,  visited 
this  region,  jirincipally  on  a  tour  of  observation  with  the  view  of  later 
settling.  During  the  next  few  years  other  liajJtist  ministers  visited 
Kentucky  for  the  same  main  ])urpose.  Not  until  1780,  however,  when 
the  great  migration  began  to  the  West,  did  the  beginnings  of  a  religious 
organization  west  of  the  mountains  arise.  The  Kaplists  in  great  numbers 
poured  out  of  Virginia  with  this  movement  and  in  1781  organized  a 
congregation  at  Gilbert's  Creek,  which  was  thus  the  first  church  of  any 
faith  in  Kentucky.  This  was  the  "traveling  church"  previously  men- 
tioned. By  1785,  such  ])rogress  had  been  made  that  three  associations 
were  formed,  the  F.lkhorn.  the  Salem,  and  the  South  Kentucky,  which 
were  comprised  live  years  later  of  forty-two  churches  and  3,105  members. 
This  religion  was  far  ahead  of  any  other  in  the  district  at  this  time. 
One  out  of  every  twenty-three  inhabitants  was  a  member  of  this  church. ^- 

20  W.  H.  Perrin,  The  Pioneer  Press  of  Kentucky  (Loui.svillc,  1888),  21,  22; 
G.  H.  Payne,  History  of  Journalism  in  the  United  States  (New  York,  1920),  20S, 
206;  J.  M.  Lee,  History  of  American  Journalism    (Boston,   1917),  170,  171. 

^oKentucl^y  Gaselle,  July  .30,   l8().S. 

="1  Kentucky  Gacelte,  October  7,  1805. 

»=L.  Garrett,  Keeolleetions  of  the  West  (Nashville,  1834),  5-12;  Collins,  History 
of  Kentucky,  I,  416-420.     For  accounts  of  the  Baptist  church  in  the  state  sec  John 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  535 

Members  of  other  denominations  were  likewise  coming  to  Kentucky 
in  great  numbers,  with  rehgious  consciousness  sufficient  for  organizing 
congregations.  The  first  regular  ministers  sent  out  from  Virginia  to 
administer  to  the  religious  wants  of  the  Methodists  were  James  Haw  and 
Benjamin  Ogden  in  1786.  However,  they  had  been  preceded  as  early  as 
iJ'^S  by  itinerant  preachers  of  Methodism,  among  whom  was  Francis 
Clark,  who  stands  pre-eminent  in  the  early  annals  of  his  religion  in  Ken- 
tucky. In  1787  there  were  ninety  members;  and  in  the  following  year 
two  circuits  were  formed :  Lexington  and  Danville,  from  the  original, 
which  had  been  called  the  Kentucky  circuit.  By  1790  the  growth  of  the 
congregations  and  membership  had  been  so  remarkable  that  1,265  white 
communicants  and  107  colored  were  reported  at  the  conference  held  at 
Masterson's  Station.  By  1800  there  was  a  total  of  1,741  members,  rep- 
resenting a  rather  slower  growth  during  this  decade  than  the  years  di- 
rectly preceding  ijgo?-"-  The  Presbyterian  faith,  which  was  even  now 
the  religion  of  many  frontiersmen,  had  been  early  carried  to  the  regions 
of  Virginia  beyond  the  mountains.  In  1783  David  Rice  immigrated  to 
Kentucky  and  immediately  set  about  gathering  the  scattered  Presbyterians 
into  congregations.  He  was  soon  followed  by  other  ministers  and  in 
1786  they  organized  themselves  into  the  Presbytery  of  Transylvania. 
Membership  in  this  church  increased  rather  rapidly,  so  that  by  1802  there 
had  been  organized  two  additional  presbyteries,  with  one  lying  principally 
in  Ohio.  A  synod  was  organized  this  year  at  Lexington  which  embraced 
all  Presbyterian  churches  west  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains. 3* 

A  considerable  number  of  the  early  settlers  of  the  Kentucky  country 
were  of  Episcopal  faith,  but  the  cohesive  feeling  that  should  have  drawn 
them  together  into  church  organizations  was  for  some  years  lacking.  A 
contemporary  wrote  that  "There  were  in  the  country  and  chiefly  from 
Virginia  many  Episcopalians,  who  had  formed  no  church — there  being 
no  person  to  take  charge  of  it.  At  the  period  of  separation  from  Virginia, 
it  might  have  been  hazarded,  as  a  probable  conjecture,  that  no  Episco- 
palian church  would  ever  be  erected  in  Kentucky."  •'■^'  But  two  years 
after  the  state  had  entered  the  union  a  church  was  set  up  in  Lexington.'"' 
Although  not  so  numerous  as  the  Baptists,  the  Roman  Catholics  were 
to  be  found  in  Kentucky  as  early.  Representatives  of  this  church  settled 
at  Harrod's  Station  in  1775;  but  a  few  years  later  removed  to  Bards- 
town.  Here  a  Catholic  center  of  influence  soon  grew  up.  Subsequent 
settlers  of  the  Catholic  faith  came  here.  The  majority  of  Catholics 
coming  to  Kentucky  were  from  Maryland.  In  1785  a  colony  migrated 
from  Maryland  to  the  West  and  settled  in  the  region  around  I'ardstown. 
Two  years  later  there  were  about  fifty  Catholic  families  in  Kentucky; 
while  by  1793  it  was  estimated  the  numbers  had  grown  to  300.^" 

Thus  it  was  that  in  1800  the  chief  religious  denominations  of  the 
country  were  represented  in  Kentucky,  all  functioning  through  their 
church  organizations.    Numerous  people  were  connected  with  no  church, 


Taylor,  A  History  of  Ten  Baptist  Churches  (Frankfort,  1826)  and  J.  R.  Raiimes, 
A  History  of  Kentucky  Baptists   (Cincinnati,  1885),  two  volumes. 

33  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  I,  445-451.  For  a  fuller  account  of  Methodism  in 
Kentucky  see  A.  H.  Redford.  The  History  of  Methodism  in  Kentucky  (Nashville, 
1868),  three  volumes;  and  also  the  important  primary  source,  W.  W.  Sweet,  editor). 
The  Rise  of  Methodism  in  the  [Vest;  being  the  Journal  of  the  IVestern  Conference, 
1800-181 1   (Methodist  Book  Concern). 

s-t  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  I,  456-459.  For  a  fuller  account  of  the  Pres- 
byterian church  see  Robert  Davidson,  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  (New 
York,  1847). 

3='  Humphrey  Marshall  quoted  in  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  I,  437,  438. 

2»  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  I.  437-439. 

3'  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  I,  485-487.  For  Catholicism  in  Kentucky  see  M. 
J.  Spaulding,  Sketches  of  Early  Catholic  Missions  in  Kentucky ;  from  their  Coni- 
mencemcnl  in  1787  to  the  Jubilee  of  1826-27   (Louisville,  1844),  B.  J.  Webb,  The 


536  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

but  this  was  true  everywhere  throughout  the  nation.  Considering  the 
frontier  conditions  that  prevailed  in  the  rural  parts  of  the  state,  religious 
development  and  progress  was  rapid  and  promising.  About  this  time 
came  a  remarkable  outburst  of  religious  enthusiasm,  which  has  stood 
out  during  all  sub.sequent  time  as  a  unique  and  almost  inexplicable 
religious  development.  The  lives  of  many  of  the  settlers  were  hard  and 
rough.  The  lack  of  the  more  civilized  practices  and  forms  of  amuse- 
ment that  existed  east  of  the  mountains  were  not  to  be  found  in  Ken- 
tucky. The  sohtude  that  often  haunted  the  lives  of  frontiersmen  made 
them  seek  relief  in  any  manner  that  might  ofTcr  itself.  Heavy  drinking, 
gambling,  barbarous  fighting  and  gouging,  tierce  duels  to  the  death,  and 
rcjugh  games  and  sports  characterized  often  the  gatherings  of  the  com- 
munity. There  were  deep  in  their  natures  emotions  that  must  find  an 
outlet,  the  e.xpression  of  which  should  be  vigorous.  They  were  so  con- 
stituted that  if  their  rough  amusements  should  be  given  up,  then  exces- 
sive zeal  along  some  other  line  must  be  substituted.  And  that  substitute 
seems  to  have  been  found  for  many  in  what  has  come  to  be  known  as 
the  Great  Revival. 

There  were  in  the  early  days  of  the  migrations  to  Kentucky  evidences 
of  the  dee]j-laid  religious  natures  of  the  people  and  their  excessive  zeal 
and  fervor,  when  their  feelings  were  properly  played  ujwn.  In  1790 
Hishop  Asbury,  who  was  visiting  Kentucky  at  this  time,  preached  to  a 
large  gathering  of  jjeople  near  Lexington.  He  preached  with  great  power 
and  earnestness ;  and  according  to  an  old  account.  "The  house  was 
crowded  day  and  night,  and  often  the  floor  was  covered  with  the  slain 
of  the  Lord,  and  the  house  and  the  woods  resounded  with  the  shouts  of 
the  converted.''  The  ease  with  which  the  feelings  of  the  people  gen- 
erally could  be  played  upon  was  shown  in  the  meeting.  According  to 
another  account  "hundreds  were  seen  to  fall  to  the  ground  or  floor  like 
men  slain — the  voice  of  shouting  could  not  be  distinguished  from  the 
voice  of  w  eejjing."  ^*  There  were  other  evidences  of  a  preparation  that 
was  going  on  among  the  different  denominations,  destined  to  play  an 
important  part  in  the  great  religious  outburst  .soon  to  follow.  'J'hc  Bap- 
tists issued  a  circular  letter  in  1793  declaring  that  the  people  were  cold 
and  indifferent  toward  the  church  and  that  the  wrath  of  God  was  about 
to  be  visited  upon  them  for  their  indifference.  It  then  called  upon  them 
to  think  of  the  kind  of  lives  they  were  leading:  "We  may  be  sure,  dear 
brethren,  that  we  have  need  of  examination.  Let  us  therefore  jnit  these 
serious  and  solemn  questions  to  each  of  our  consciences :  Is  the  fear 
of  God  before  my  eyes?  Do  I  live  in  obedience  to  the  divine  law?  Do 
I  discharge  my  duties  I  owe  to  God?  to  his  church?  and  to  the  world? 
Do  I  live  a  life  of  self-denial  and  mortification?  Is  my  house  a  house 
of  prayer?  Is  my  seat  never  empty  in  the  house  of  God?  Do  I  honor 
God  with  my  substance?  Am  I  engaged  in  watching  over  my  brethren 
in  love;  in  re])roving  the  wicked;  and  in  comforting  the  templed?  If 
we  are  faulty  in  these  things  what  can  we  expect  without  a  reforma- 
tion? Suffer  us  to  exliort  you  to  the  faithful  discharge  of  those  duties. 
The  way  to  obtain  our  first  love  is  to  do  our  first  works."  3"  In  the 
Methodist  Church  likewise  a  call  for  prayer  and  introspection  was  called 
for.  According  to  the  Conference  minutes  in  1795:  "It  is  recommended 
by  the  gener;il  traveling  ministry  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
that  the  first  Friday  in  March.  1796,  .should  be  held  as  a  most  solemn 

Centenary  of  Catholicity  in  Kentucky  (Loui.sville,  1884),  and  V.  F.  O'DaiiicI,  The 
Rit/ht  Rev.  Edzmrd  Dominic  Femvick,  0.  P.,  Founders  of  the  Dominicans  in  the 
United  States,  Pioneers  Missionary  in  Kentucky,  Apostle  of  Ohio,  First  Bishop  of 
Cincinnati  (New  York,  1920). 

38  Garrett,  Recollections  of  the  West,  16,  17. 

'"  Rippon's  Annual  Register,  1793,  68. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  537 

day  of  fasting,  iiumiliation,  prayer,  and  supplication.  It  is  desired  that 
it  should  be  attended  to  in  all  our  associations  with  all  sabbathical  strict- 
ness. That  we  should  bewail  our  manifold  sins  and  iniquities,  our  grow- 
ing idolatry,  which  is  covetousness,  and  the  prevailing  love  of  the  world 
— our  shameful  breach  of  promises  and  irreligious  habits  of  making  con- 
tracts, even  without  the  attention  [intention?]  of  honest  heathens  to 
fulfill  them — our  superstition,  the  trusting  in  ceremonial  religion — the 
profanation  of  the  name  of  the  Lord — the  contempt  of  the  Sabbath, 
even  by  those  who  acknowledge  the  obligations  we  are  under  to  keep  it 
holy;  for  many  make  no  distinction  between  this  and  a  common  day, 
and  others  make  a  very  bad  distinction  by  sleeping,  walking,  visiting, 
talking  about  the  world,  and  taking  their  pleasure.  Many  also  in  various 
parts  of  the  country  profane  the  sacred  day  by  running  their  land  and 
water  stages,  waggons,  etc. — disobedience  to  parents,  various  debauch- 
eries, drunkenness,  and  such  like.  To  lament  the  deep  rooted  vassalage 
that  still  reigneth  in  many  parts  of  these  free  states — to  call  upon  the 
Lord  to  direct  our  rulers,  and  teach  our  senators  wisdom — that  the  Lord 
would  teach  our  people  a  just  and  lawful  submission  to  their  rulers — 
that  America  may  not  commit  abominations  with  other  nations  of  the 
earth,  and  partake  of  their  sins  and  their  plagues.  That  the  gospel  may 
be  preached  with  more  purity,  and  be  heard  with  more  affection,  and 
that  he  would  stop  the  growing  infidelity  of  this  age,  by  calling  our 
men  who  shall  preach  and  live  the  gospel — that  the  professors  may  be- 
lieve the  truth,  feel  the  power,  partake  of  the  blessing,  breathe  the  spirit, 
and  obey  the  precepts  of  this  glorious  gospel  dispensation — that  Africans 
and  Indians  may  help  to  fill  the  pure  church  of  God."  *"  In  other  parts 
of  the  country,  even  in  the  New  England  States,  there  were  here  and 
there  signs  of  a  great  religious  awakening  of  the  people,  emotional  and 
spasmodic. 

The  storm  center  of  this  movement  was  in  the  Cumberland  and 
Green  rivers  region  of  the  state,  beginning  here,  growing  constantly 
larger  and  larger  and  finally  sweeping  over  almost  all  of  the  West.  In 
1796  James  McGready,  a  Presbyterian  minister  settled  in  Logan  County, 
taking  charge  of  three  churches.  Little  Muddy,  Caspar  River,  and  Red 
River.  Here  he  began  to  preach  with  great  fervor  and  earnestness,  de- 
nouncing with  great  severity  sinful  practices  and  the  cold  formalities 
of  any  church  that  should  gloss  over  them.  He  began  an  intensive  cam- 
paign by  calling  upon  all  to  enter  solemn  covenant  binding  themselves  to 
offer  up  prayer  on  every  Saturday  evening,  Sunday  morning  and  third 
Saturday  of  each  month  for  a  year  for  the  outpouring  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  on  Logan  County  and  the  world.  Indications  of  the  remarkable 
effects  of  his  crusade  appeared,  immediately.  This  whole  section  of 
the  state  was  soon  stirred  by  his  aggressive  ministry.  He  was  soon  fol- 
lowed to  this  region  by  other  Presbyterian  ministers,  among  whom  were 
William  Hodge  and  Samuel  McAdoo,  who  set  to  work  in  the  same  way 
toward  arousing  the  people  to  the  enormity  of  their  sins,  and  calling 
upon  them  for  immediate  repentance.  So  many  people  were  converted 
that  in  a  short  time  congregations  had  grown  up  in  such  large  num- 
bers that  no  ministers  were  available  to  care  for  them.  This  resulted 
in  fervently  religious  but  illiterate  men  taking  charge  of  people  whose 
susceptible  religions  feelings  were  played  upon  without  the  restraint 
that  an  education  would  have  imposed.  The  time  was  now  ripe  for  a 
general  religious  wave  or  outbreak  to  sweep  over  this  section.'*^ 

This  happened  in  1799,  when  two  young  ministers,  brothers  by  birth, 
but  strangers  in  religion,  visited  in   I.ogan   County  the  church   at   Red 

*°  Methodist  Magazine,  1820,  469. 

*^  C.  C.  Cleveland,  The  Great  Reinval  in  the  West  1797-1805  (Chicago,  1916),  34- 
60;  Collins,  T/u/orj;  of  Kentucky,  I,  433. 


538  HISTORY  OF  KI'.NTLCKV 

River.  They  were  John  and  William  McGee,  the  one  a  Methodist,  the 
other  a  Presbyterian.  As  it  happened  the  Sunday  on  which  the  brothers 
first  preached  here  had  been  set  aside  for  the  sacramental  solemnity, 
and  had  according  to  the  custom  been  preceded  on  the  previous  Friday 
by  a  preparation  consisting  of  singing,  praying,  and  listening  to  exhorta- 
tions. As  each  spoke  in  his  turn,  he  called  upon  the  people  to  repent 
of  their  sins  and  of  their  terrible  evil-doings.  Soon  the  religious  fervor 
of  the  gathering  had  reached  such  a  high  pitch  that  women  broke  forth 
in  shouting.  One  especially  continued  her  shouts  after  the  regular 
preaching  had  ended,  walking  up  and  down  the  lloor  while  one  of  the 
brothers  was  suddenly  impelled  to  take  the  lloor  and  exhort  the  gather- 
ing, which  was  loath  to  leave.  In  the  great  fervor  that  seized  the  people, 
many  were  stricken  so  that  the  floor  "was  covered  with  the  slain."  Many 
cried  piteously  for  mercy  and  felt  that  they  were  healed ;  others  de- 
parted in  utter  wretchedness  antl  agony  of  soul  "spiritually  wounded." 
Soon  the  whole  Green  River  and  Cumberland  country  was  aflame.  A 
sudden  terror  seems  to  have  seized  the  people.  Every  Protestant  re- 
ligion was  afTected.  People  deserted  their  homes  for  the  meeting-house. 
The  camp-meeting  was  the  direct  outgrowth  of  this  movement.  The 
first  regular  general  camp-meeting  was  held  at  Gasper  River  Church 
in  the  summer  of  1800.  This  method  of  holding  meetings  quickly  spread 
over  the  stale  and  into  Tennessee.  People  left  their  homes  and  occu- 
pations and  came  from  as  far  as  100  miles  away  to  camp  in  some  forest 
clearing  where  a  camp  ground  had  been  prepared.  These  meetings  lasted 
often  for  a  whole  week,  with  preaching  and  exhorting  day  and  night. 
Not  only  the  regular  ministers  conducted  the  meetings,  but  women  and 
even  children  took  part  actively.  In  one  instance  a  little  girl  of  seven 
years  ]jreached  to  the  crowd  until  she  fell  exhausted,  and  on  another 
occasion  a  boy  of  twelve  exhorted  until  he  was  too  weak  to  stand  up, 
whereui)on  two  men  supported  him  until  he  was  unable  to  speak.  AH 
alike  seem  to  have  fallen  before  the  irresistible  power  of  the  preaching 
and  the  surroundings.  "Those  who  came  to  scoff  remained  to  pray."  Many 
fell  prostrate  on  the  ground  or  floor,  wailing  and  writhing  in  bodily  con 
tortious,  .some  "jerking"  their  bodies  and  others  violently  slinging  theii 
heads.  They  would  often  lie  from  fifteen  minutes  to  twenty-four  hours 
helpless  but  perfectly  conscious,  piieou.sly  lamenting  their  sins."  Peter 
Cartwrigbt  said,  "To  see  those  jiroud  young  gentlemen  and  young  ladies 
dressed  in  their  silks,  jewelry,  and  prunella,  from  top  to  toe  take  the 
jerks  would  often  excite  my  risibilities.  The  first  jerk  or  so  would  see 
their  fine  bonnets,  caps  and  combs  lly,  so  sudden  would  be  the  jerking 
of  the  head  that  their  long  loose  hair  would  crack  almost  as  loud  as  a 
waggoner's  whip."  Some  in  their  religious  ecstasy  fled  into  the  forests 
where  they  "treed  the  devil."  barking,  yelping,  and  flogging  the  trees. 
Some  acquired  the  "holy  laugh,"  and  laughed  ihemselves  mto  hysterics. 
Francois  Michaux,  the  l-Vench  botanist,  who  visited  the  state  durmg  the 
time  of  the  Great  Revival  made  the  following  observations:  "Often  ni 
the  midst  of  the  sermons  the  heads  are  lifted  up,  the  imagination  exalted, 
and  the  inspired  fell  backwards,  exclaiming  'Glory!  Glory!'  This  species 
of  infatuation  happens  chiefly  among  women,  who  are  earned  out  of  the 
crowd  and  put  under  a  tree,  where  tluy  lie  a  long  time  extended,  heav- 
ing the  most  lamentable  sighs. 

"Ihere  have  been  instances  of  200  or  300  of  the  congregation  being 
thus  affected  during  the  performance  of  divine  service;  so  that  one- 
third  of  the  hearers  were  engaged  in  recovering  the  rest  !"•••' 

The  P.lucgrass  region,  which   was  the  first  part  of  tiie  state  settled 

«  Cleveland,  The  Great  Rei-ivol  iu  Ihc  West,  87-127;  McMastcr,  History  of  the 
People  of  the  United  States.  II,  578-582. 

<3F.  A.  Micliau.\-,  Travels  to  the  West,  249. 


r 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  5^9 

and  which  had  made  the  most  progress  socially  and  intellectually,  soon 
fell  under  the  spell  of  the  camp-meeting.  Conditions  there  should  have 
seemed  to  make  it  the  last  place  where  such  religious  practices  would 
have  found  a  lodging  place.  In  speaking  of  the  Great  Revival's  spread 
here,  Rev.  George  Baxter,  president  of  Washington  Academy  in  Lex- 
ington, Virginia,  said,  "In  the  older  settlements  of  Kentucky,  the  revival 
made  its  first  appearance  among  the  Presbyterians,  last  spring  (i8oij. 
The  whole  of  that  country  about  a  year  before  was  remarkable  for  vice 
and  dissipation,  and  I  have  been  credibly  informed  that  a  decided  ma- 
jority of  the  people  were  professed  infidels."  **  As  if  in  punishment 
for  its  wickedness,  this  part  of  the  state  perhaps  even  surpassed  the 
Green  River  country  in  the  manifestations  of  religious  fervor  and  zeal, 
in  "holy  laughs,"  "jerks,"  barking,  great  agony  of  mind  and  soul,  and 
bodily  contortions  of  various  kinds.  Rev.  Barton  W.  Stone,  who  had 
come  to  Kentucky  from  North  Carolina  in  1796,  and  had  been  made  im- 
mediately pastor  of  the  Cane  Ridge  and  Concord  Presbyterian  churches 
in  Bourbon  County  near  Paris,  made  a  visit  to  Logan  County  early  in 
1801  to  judge  for  himself  the  Great  Revival.  He  came  back  fired  with 
its  spirit  and  related  to  his  congregations  what  he  had  seen  and  heard. 
The  effects  of  his  new  crusade  were  evident  immediately.  The  "exer- 
cises" soon  began  to  make  their  appearances.  In  August  of  1801  the 
Cane  Ridge  meeting  was  held,  which  was  perhaps  the  most  wonderful 
manifestation  of  the  Great  Revival  throughout  the  West.  Situated  in 
the  very  heart  of  the  Bluegrass  region,  this  camp-meeting  drew  not  only 
heavily  on  the  surrounding  country,  but  thousands  came  from  a  great 
distance,  some  coming  even  from  Ohio.  Every  road  leading  toward 
Cane  Ridge  was  jammed  with  vehicles  of  various  contrivance,  with 
people  on  horseback  and  on  foot.  People  not  given  to  exaggeration  and 
competent  to  estimate  crowds  declared  that  there  must  have  been  20,000 
souls  present ;  while  others  estimated  the  number  at  25,000.  A  con- 
temporary wrote,  "I  am  on  my  way  to  one  of  the  greatest  meetings  of 
the  kind  perhaps  ever  known :  it  is  on  a  sacramental  occasion.  Religion 
has  got  to  such  a  height  here,  that  people  attend  from  a  great  distance; 
on  this  occasion  I  doubt  not  but  there  will  he  10,000  people  and  perhaps 
500  wagons.  The  people  encamp  on  the  ground  and  continue  praising 
God  day  and  night,  for  one  whole  week  before  they  break  up."  "■'  The 
number  of  vehicles  at  this  week's  camp-meeting  was  given  at  1,143;  ^"^^ 
a  halt  thousand  candles,  besides  lamps,  was  given  as  the  number  used  in 
lighting  the  camp  at  night.  ALmy  wonderful  stories  were  told  of  the 
various  forms  of  manifestation  of  religious  sensations.  Three  thou- 
sand people,  principally  men,  fell  smitten  by  the  Lord  at  these  meet- 
ings.'*'"■ 

This  Great  Revival,  which  swept  over  Kentucky  and  the  West  from 
1797  to  1805  in  its  most  vivid  forms  and  manifestations,  was  undoubtedly 
born  to  a  large  extent  of  a  simple  but  profound  religious  faith  stirred 
up  at  the  opportune  time  in  the  development  of  the  state  and  in  the 
experience  of  the  people.  It  was  looked  down  upon  by  the  higher  classes, 
and  by  the  more  intellectual.  Despite  the  fact  that  the  group  psychology 
of  the  occasion  often  caused  the  .scoffer  and  the  intellectual  superiors 
to  fall  with  the  simple  and  the  lowly,  many  people  never  became  recon- 
ciled to  such  methods  of  religious  observances  or  practices.  Francois 
Michaux  declared  that  "The  better  informed  people  do  not  share  the 
opinion  with  the  multitude  with  regard  to  this  state  of  ecstasy,  and 
on  this  account  they  are  branded  with  the  appellation  of  bad  folks.     Ex- 

**  Quoted  in  Cleveland,  The  Great  Reznval  in  the  West,  71. 
*^  Quoted  in  Cleveland,  The  Great  Revival  in  the  West,  79,  80. 
*•>  Collins,   History  of  Kentucky,   I,   25 ;    McMaster,   History   of   the   People   of 
the  United  States,  II,  580. 


540  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

cept  during  the  continuance  of  this  preaching,  rehgion  is  very  seldom  the 
topic  of  conversation.""  It  was  largely  due  to  this  ditlerence  of  opinion 
regarding  the  admissibility  of  such  practices  in  the  church,  that  schisms 
and  troubles  arose.  The  troubles  were  especially  marked  in  the  Pres- 
byterian Church,  resulting  in  the  splitting  off  of  the  Cumberland  Presby- 
terian branch.  There  also  arose  at  this  time  another  .schism  in  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  which  llarton  W.  Stone  was  the  central  tigure 
and  which  resulted  in  the  establishment  of  the  Christian  Church.  The 
I'.aptists  also  had  considerable  trouble,  but  contradictory  as  it  may  seem, 
the  final  result  was  the  welding  together  in  the  joys  of  these  great  re- 
ligious sensations  the  Regular  and  the  Separate  Baptists. 

There  entered  the  state  about  this  time  (1805),  but  in  no  way  related 
to  the  Great  Revival,  a  si)ecies  of  religious  organization  known  to  its 
members  as  the  United  Society  of  P.elievers  but  conunonly  called  Shakers. 
It  established  itself  at  Pleasant  Hill  in  .Mercer  CouiUy  and  soon  entered 
a  period  of  prosjjerity.  In  1810  there  were  nearly  3CX)  members.  This 
society  was  particularly  distinguished  on  account  of  its  doctrines  and 
practices  of  communion  and  celibacy — its  new  members  coming  by  con- 
versions from  the  outside.  On  account  of  their  emotional  nature  and 
the  fact  that  in  their  religious  services  they  often  exercised  their  bodies 
with  great  agitation  and  shaking  of  limbs,  running  and  walking  the 
floor,  they  received  their  popular  appellation. 

But  the  immediate  result,  which  was  an  outstanding  fact  from  the 
whole  movement  was  the  surprisingly  great  numbers  of  new  members 
added  to  the  churches.  All  of  the  Protestant  churches  profited  greatly 
in  this  respect.  In  1800  the  Baptists  bad  109  cluirches  with  a  member- 
ship of  5,000;  during  the  following  year  they  gained  3,911  members; 
and  during  the  period  from  1800  to  1803  they  added  10.000  new  mem- 
bers and  established  113  new  churches.  In  two  years  of  this  period  of 
the  great  Revival  the  Methodists  added  6,250  new  members  to  their 
faith.  Besides  these  direct  and  immediate  results,  there  was  a  quicken- 
ing of  the  consciences  of  large  numbers  of  peo])le  which  caused  them 
to  assume  an  attitude  toward  many  cjuestions  of  the  day,  different  from 
what  otherwise  might  have  been  the  case.  There  can  be  little  question 
that  the  vigorous  opposition  that  was  soon  to  arise  against  the  institu- 
tion of  slavery  among  many  Kentuckians  was  indirectly  a  result  of  this 
religious  movement;  for  that  opposition  was  largely  directed  by  the 
church  organizations  and  especially  by  the  denomination  that  had  profited 
most  from  the  religious  revival  and  had  felt  most  deeply  its  eft'ect,  the 
Baptists.  Mutterings  against  the  use  of  liquors  al.so  began  to  become 
audible  about  this  time,  and  were  undoubtedly  another  result  of  the  peo- 
]jle's  recent  religious  experiences.'"* 

But  the  Great  Revival  was  not  responsible  for  the  begimiing  of  op- 
position to  slavery.  As  already  set  forth,  many  people  were  against 
slavery  even  before  Kentucky  became  a  state  and  made  a  fight  to  pro- 
hibit that  institution  by  attempting  to  insert  a  clause  in  the  constitu- 
tion against  it.  James  Garrard,  a  Baptist  minister,  who  afterwards  be- 
came governor  of  the  state,  in  1791,  as  chairman  of  a  committee  of  the 
I'.lkhorn  Ba])tist  .Association,  reported  a  memorial  to  that  body  favoring 

<7  F.  A.  Michaux,  Travels  to  the  West,  249. 

*^  For  the  religious  statistics  see  ClevelaiKl,  The  Great  Revival  in  the  West, 
19,  6,^,  66,  1,30,  131.  J.  D.  Monette,  History  of  the  Discoi>ery  and  Settlement  of  the 
Mississippi  Valley,  IT,  26,  gives  a  short  account  of  the  Great  Revival,  which  is,  how- 
ever, unreliable  as  to  details.  Accounts  other  than  those  cited  may  be  found  in 
Richard  McNemar,  The  KenliicL'y  Revival,  or  a  Short  History  of  the  late  Extraor- 
di>uiry  Outpouring  of  the  Spirit  of  God  (Cincinnati,  1808),  and  in  the  church  histories 
referred  to  in  the  discussion  on  the  early  church  history.  Also  see  S.  P.  Fogdall, 
"The  Religious  Development  of  Early  Kentucky"  in  The  Register  of  the  Kentucky 
State  Historical  Society,  Vol.  19,  No.  56  (May,  1921),  9-30. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  541 

the  exclusion  of  slavery  from  the  commonwealth  by  constitutional  enact- 
ment. The  movement  failed  with  the  First  Constitutional  Convention, 
and  slavery  was  tlierefore  legally  instituted  in  the  state.  The  earliest 
legal  status  of  the  slave  here  was  determined  by  the  laws  of  Virginia. 
According  to  these  laws  no  slaves  might  be  brought  into  the  state  ex- 
cept under  certain  specific  conditions.  On  separating  from  Virginia, 
Kentucky  continued  this  code  for  the  time  being.  The  first  legislation 
on  this  subject  came  in  the  session  of  November,  1792.  This  law  pro- 
hibited any  person  from  trading  in  any  articles  whatsoever  with  slaves 
without  a  written  permit  describing  the  article.  Infraction  of  this  law 
laid  a  person  open  to  a  penalty  of  four  times  the  value  of  the  article 
bought  or  sold.  In  1798  the  Virginia  code  was  abandoned  by  the  en- 
actment by  the  Legislature  of  a  Kentucky  code  consisting  of  forty-three 
articles.  The  foreign  slave  trade  was  prohibited  by  a  clause  declaring 
that  no  person  should  be  considered  a  slave  who  was  not  such  in  1795 
or  who  was  not  the  descendant  of  a  slave.  The  movements  and  duties 
of  slaves  were  regulated  in  considerable  detail.  No  slave  might  travel 
about  with  a  written  permit,  carry  a  gun,  shot,  powder,  club,  or  other 
weapon,  participate  in  riots,  assemblies,  trespasses,  or  engage  in  seditious 
utterances,  or  testify  for  or  against  a  free  white  person.  Penalties  for 
infractions  of  these  laws  ranged  from  ten  to  thirty-nine  lashes.  Slaves 
convicted  of  capital  crimes  and  executed  were  paid  for  from  the  public 
treasury.  This  code  taken  as  a  whole  was  characterized  by  humanitarian 
sentiments,  and  just  concern  for  the  welfare  of  the  slave.  'Tt  is  be- 
lieved," by  an  early  Kentucky  writer,  "that,  so  long  as  Kentucky  shall 
permit  slavery  on  her  territory,  she  will  have  no  cause  for  desiring  to 
withhold  from  her  sister  states,  or  the  world,  a  knowledge  of  the  treat- 
ment they  receive ;  even  in  her  legal  code,  whose  apparent  rigour  is  much 
relaxed  in  the  execution."-"'  The  rigors  of  this  code  were  much  re- 
duced from  the  old  Virginia  code  which  it  supplanted.  This  is  espe- 
cially evident  in  the  number  of  lashes  that  might  be  admini.stered  in  each 
case.  But  one  of  the  most  important  parts  of  the  slave  legislation  of 
this  year  was  the  provision  prohibiting  the  importation  of  slaves  into 
the  commonwealth  for  sale.  This  was  an  attempt  to  curb  slavery  as  a 
business  beyond  the  use  of  their  labor  in  the  home  and  field,  as  well  as 
to  prevent  a  disturbing  element  arising  in  the  entry  into  the  state  of 
viscious  and  unruly  slaves.  It,  of  course,  did  not  prevent  the  settler 
from  bringing  into  the  state  all  the  slaves  he  desired  for  his  own  per- 
sonal use;  and  in  this  it  opened  a  loop-hole  for  an  easy  evasion  of  the 
law. 

Actuated  by  the  feeling  that  free  negroes  were  to  a  great  extent  a 
nuisance  in  the  commonwealth  and  that  their  position  in  the  social  struc- 
ture was  anamolous  if  not  almost  impossible,  the  Legislature  in  1807 
passed  an  act  to  prevent  the  future  migration  of  free  negroes  or  mulat- 
toes  to  the  state.  Any  person  of  this  description  entering  the  common- 
wealth should  be  arrested  and  forced  to  give  bond  for  $500  to  depart 
within  twenty  days  and  never  return.^"  This  soon  proved  to  be  cum- 
bersome and  unworkable;  and  so  the  following  year  the  Legislature 
passed  an  amendatory  act  allowing  free  mulattoes  to  remain  and  their 
kindred  to  come  to  them  provided  they  should  enter  the  state  before 
Christmas  of  1809. 

Although  the  lot  of  the  Kentucky  slaves  was  not  hard,  still  some  of 
them  ran  away  when  opportunity  offered  itself.     Notices  of  runaways 

<^  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  II,  69.  For  the  early  condition  of  the  slave 
also  see  McDougle,  Slavery  in  Kentucky,  31-39. 

■>"  For  attempting  to  do  this  very  thing,  Missouri  in  1820  was  refused  admission 
into  the  Union ;  and  only  after  she  had  side-stepped  it  through  the  second  compromise 
arranged  by  Henry  Clay  was  she  permitted  to  become  a  state. 


542  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

become  rather  fre(iiRiU  in  the  papers  of  the  state  by  the  beginning  of 
the  Nineteenth  Century.'''  There  was,  despite  the  aljsence  of  aggravat- 
ing slave  conditions,  a  feeling  that  the  slaves  might  sometime  rise  up  and 
create  trouble,  if  the  situation  were  not  carefully  controlled.  Although 
the  Legislature  had  ])r(ihibited  the  importation  of  slaves  into  the  state  for 
sale,  Lexington  jjassed  an  ordinance  in  1802  declaring  that,  "WiiiiRE.xs 
the  slaves  in  the  Southern  states  appear  strongly  bent  on  an  insurrection" 
no  slaves  coming  from  outside  the  state  shoukl  be  sold  in  that  city.-"- 

Although  defeated  in  their  attempt  to  make  Kentucky  a  free  state 
when  her  first  constitution  was  formed  those  opposed  to  slavery  con- 
tinued their  opjKisition.  Of  all  the  denominations  opposing  the  institu- 
tion, the  Baptists  were  earliest  and  most  active  in  the  fight.  In  1794 
some  of  the  churches  of  this  faith  were  so  bitter  in  their  opposition  aiul 
so  uncoinpnjmising  in  their  principles  that  they  refused  to  commune  with 
slave  holders.  There  were  many  Baptists  who,  however,  refused  to  go 
this  far,  so  that  there  resulted  strained  relations  among  some  of  the 
congregations,  which  actually  resulted  in  a  break.  The  Methodists  in 
consideral)le  lunnbers,  also,  opposed  human  slavery.  The  Presbyterians 
had  early  shown  their  attitucle  in  their  agreement  with  and  support  of 
David  Rice  in  his  fight  in  the  first  Constitutional  Convention.  But  their 
opposition  was  not  radical  or  unreasoning.  They  realized  that  emanci- 
pation would  have  to  come  very  slowly,  if  it  came  at  all.  In  line  with 
this  view,  the  Transylvania  Presbytery  in  1794  adopted  a  resolution 
calling  upon  all  members  of  the  church  to  teach  their  slaves  to  read  the 
Scriptures  so  that  they  might  be  prepared  to  receive  their  freedom  when 
it  should  come.  The  church  was  loath  to  enter  into  a  vigorous  cam- 
paign for  emancipation  as  it  believed  that  that  subject  lay  largely  out 
of  the  field  of  activity  of  a  religious  denomination.  In  1796,  the  Pres- 
byterians resolved,  "That,  although  the  Presbytery  are  fully  convinced 
of  the  great  evil  of  slavery,  yet  they  view  the  final  remedy  as  alone  be- 
longing to  the  civil  powers;  and  also  do  not  think  that  they  have  suffi- 
cient authority  from  the  word  of  God  to  make  it  a  term  of  church  com- 
munion. They,  therefore,  leave  it  to  the  conscience  of  the  brethren  to 
act  as  they  may  think  proper,  earnestly  recommending  to  the  people 
under  their  care  to  emancipate  such  of  their  slaves  as  they  may  think 
fit  subjects  for  liberty ;  and  that  they  also  take  every  possible  measure, 
by  teaching  the  young  slaves  to  read  and  giving  them  such  other  instruc- 
tion as  may  be  in  their  power,  to  prepare  them  for  the  enjoyment  of 
liberty,  an  event  which  they  contemplate  with  the  greatest  pleasure,  and 
which  they  hope,  will  be  accomplished  as  soon  as  the  nature  of  things 
will  admit."  ■" 

The  most  concerted  and  vigorous  campaign  against  slavery  in  these 
early  times  was  waged  in  1798  and  1790  in  the  campaign  for  the  second 
constitutional  con\ention.  and,  as  already  noted,  it  was  at  this  time  tiiat 
Henry  Clay  first  took  up  his  pen  for  emancipation.  But  again  the  move- 
ment failed  in  a  most  decisive  defeat,  so  disheartening  that  the  vigor  of 
the  movement  largely  vanished  for  a  time.  For  the  old  o])]ionents  of 
slavery  it  was  a  great  good  fortune  that  the  ( Ireat  Revival  speedily  fol- 
lowed their  disaster  in  tlie  second  Constitutional  Convention.  The  (piick- 
ened  consciences  of  the  people  produced  by  this  religious  awakening  gave 
new  force  to  the  anti-slavery  movement.  Numbers  of  slaveholders  in 
the  joys  of  their  new-found  lives  manumitted  their  slaves.  One  revival 
leader  declared  that  "this  revival  cut  the  bonds  of  many  poor  slaves." 
The  Methodists  continued  a  rather  strong  opposition  to  the  institution; 
they  adopted  a  ruling  that  no  minister  could  be  a  slaveholder.  The  Bap- 
's' For  instance  see  Kentucky  Gazette,  1798  et  scq. 
■'■=  Kentucky  Ga::ctte,  July  2,  1802. 
"2  Davidson,  History  of  the  Preshytcriaii  Church  in  Koitiick-y,  337. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  543 

tists  again  ran  into  troubles  and  schisms  in  trying  to  determine  tlie  atti- 
tude they  would  assume  toward  the  institution.  About  1804  a  number 
of  prominent  Baptist  ministers  and  their  congregations  declared  outright 
for  the  abolition  of  slavery,  and  maintained  that  no  fellowship  should 
be  extended  to  slaveholders  as  slavery  was  an  abominable  and  sinful 
institution  surrounded  with  evils  and  miseries  which  should  be  abandoned 
and  opposed  by  all  good  men.  This  was  a  program  far  too  radical  for 
most  Baptists  to  follow.  Their  associations  generally  declared  that  it 
was  not  within  the  province  of  the  church  to  meddle  in  political  affairs 
and  advised  their  members  to  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  subject  in  their 
religious  capacities.  Deserted  thus  by  their  church,  these  radical  min- 
isters and  congregations,  calling  themselves  "Friends  of  Humanity," 
withdraw  from  the  General  Union  of  the  Baptist  Church  and  formed  an 
organization  of  their  own  bearing  the  high-sounding  and  involved  ap- 
pellation, "The  Baptized  Licking-Locust  Association,  Friends  of  Hu- 
manity." This  was  effected  in  1807.  Two  years  later,  due  to  the  negro 
question,  another  schism  took  place  within  the  Baptist  Church  and  re- 
sulted in  the  splitting  off  of  the  "Licking  Association  of  Particular 
Baptists."  ^* 

Although  throughout  this  early  period  the  religious  denominations 
had  assumed  an  active  interest  and  leadership  in  the  movement  against 
slavery,  they  did  not  constitute  the  only  organized  effort  being  put  forth. 
In  1795,  or  soon  thereafter,  there  arose  in  Kentucky  small  anti-slavery 
groups  or  societies  which  carried  on  a  correspondence  with  like  organiza- 
tions in  the  East.  They  were  weak,  and  exerted  very  little  influence ; 
still  they  constituted  societies  built  up  on  the  idea  of  anti-slavery  alone — 
differing  thus  from  churches  which  were  organizations  primarily  for 
other  purposes,  but  interesting  themselves  in  this  subject.  They  ante- 
dated by  eighteen  years  any  other  like  organization  west  of  the  AUe- 
ghanies.^-'  In  1802,  as  a  result  of  the  anti-slavery  sentiment  which  had 
been  stirred  up,  a  petition  was  sent  to  the  Legislature  by  sundry  citizens 
demanding  that  the  slaves  be  freed  and  a  bill  was  introduced  providing 
rules  and  methods  for  a  general  emancipation.  This  mode  of  procedure 
was  perfectly  permissible  as  the  constitution  left  the  subject  of  emanci- 
pation directly  with  the  Legislature.  Protests  against  freeing  the  slaves 
were  immediately  lodged.  It  was  argued  that  the  slaves  had  no  rights 
to  freedom  and  political  liberties  as  the  American  Revolution  was  won 
by  the  freemen  and  that  if  defeat  had  come  they  alone  would  have  suf- 
fered.'"' 

The  first  well-organized  anti-slavery  society  in  the  state  arose  in 
1808.  It  had  its  direct  beginning  in  the  group  of  Baptists  that  had  split 
off  from  the  main  church  in  1S07,  the  "Friends  of  Humanity."  At  the 
second  meeting  of  their  association  the  question  arose  as  to  how  far 
they  should  go  in  their  concern  over  slavery,  and  as  to  whether  there 
was  not  some  danger  of  the  association  putting  that  interest  above  its 
religious  mi.ssion.  The  prevailing  opinion  was  that  slavery  should  be 
given  a  subsidiary  position  in  the  affairs  of  the  church.  This  led  to 
an  out-and-out  abolition  society  organized  by  the  radical  members,  and 
called  the  Kentucky  Abolition  Society.  Although  springing  out  of  the 
I'aptized  Licking-Locust  Association,  it  was  not  antagonistic  to  it ;  neither 
were  all  of  its  members  of  the  Baptist  faith.  This  abolition  society 
was  the  recognition  of  the  feelings  and  demands  of  its  members  that 
a  vigorous  fight  be  kept  going  in  favor  of  emancipation.  Although  it 
was  considered  radical  by  the  majority  of  Kentuckians  of  its  day,  still 

t**  Cleveland,  Great  Revival  in  the  West,  156-159;  Marin,  Anti-Slavery  Movement 
in  Kentucky,  33-40;  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  I,  419. 
^^  Martin,  Anti-Slavery  Movement   in  Kentucky,  25. 
^^  Kentucky  Gazette,  November  t6,  1802. 


544  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

in  comparison  with  the  later  movement,  it  stood  far  in  the  direction  of 
conservatism.  In  fact  neither  this  society  nor  any  other  group  of  peo- 
ple or  even  responsihle  individuals  favored  an  immediate  emancipation 
of  all  slaves.  It  was  a  well-guarded  and  gradual  emancipation  that  en- 
gaged the  attention  of  the  people  in  su])port  as  well  as  in  opposition 
during  this  period  of  the  movement. 

This  early  anti-slavery  movement  in  Kentucky  is  important  and  sig- 
nificant of  what  might  have  been  accomplished.  Had  the  movement 
against  the  spread  of  the  ijeculiar  institution  succeeded  at  the  time  when 
it  could  have  succeeded  best  and  had  it  succeeded  at  the  place  where 
the  example  would  have  meant  most,  the  subsequent  history  of  the 
nation  might  have  been  greatly  changed.  \Vith  Kentucky  a  free  state 
tlie  spread  of  slavery  in  the  Mississipjji  \'alley  would  have  undoubtedly 
been  much  difl'erent.  Though  tJie  movement  was  wide-spread  over  the 
state  with  the  force  of  the  religious  organizations  actively  sup]>orting  it 
at  times,  the  great  propertied  class  which  constituted  the  political  leader- 
ship of  the  state  was  bitterly  and  uncompromisingly  against  tam])ering 
with  slavery.  Their  power  and  influence  was  absolutely  controlling;  the 
success  of  emancipation  was  never  a  possibility  after  the  formation  of 
the  Second  Constitution ;  the  opponents  of  slavery  were  routed  in  every 
conflict.  Rut  the  extent  to  which  the  anti-slavery  movement  went  be- 
speaks a  character  for  Kentuckians  difTering  from  every  other  state  of 
the  day  west  of  the  Alleghanies. 

Kentucky  around  1800  presents  a  community  of  jieople  young,  vigor- 
ous, and  progressive,  not  only  in  a  material  way,  but  also  intellectually. 
They  were  laying  the  foundation  for  a  system  of  education  with  few 
faults,  and  their  religious  progress  was  marked.  That  a  people  com- 
posed of  many  elements,  moved  into  the  wilderness,  established  in  their 
new  homes  not  a  (juarter  of  a  century,  could  have  welded  themselves 
into  the  state  they  now  were,  propelled  forward  by  the  intelligent  forces 
it  had  de\cloped,  was  indeed  remarkable.  The  early  Kentuckian  was 
not  only  a  home-builder  but  a  state-builder,  and  out  of  the  exigencies 
of  isolation  was  formed  an  independence  of  character  that  has  been 
one  of  the  most  marked  characteristics  of  the  native  Kentuckian  in  both 
his  social  and  political  relations. 


CHAPTER  XLV 

KENTUCKY  IN  THE  WAR  OF  1812 

Kentucky  was  a  close  and  interested  observer  of  the  tortuous  course 
of  America's  relations  with  the  principal  European  nations.  She  had 
noted  with  growing  indignation  and  exasperation  the  tyrannical  course 
England  had  been  pursuing.  The  practice  of  impressing  American  sea- 
men was  no  less  resented  by  Kentucky  than  by  Massachusetts,  despite 
the  fact  that  the  former  had  no  shipping  interests  or  seamen  to  be  in- 
terfered with.  It  was  enough  to  know  that  a  foreign  nation  was  of- 
fering indignities  to  the  United  States  of  whom  Kentucky  considered 
herself  an  important  part.  France,  whose  policy  was  equally  disregard- 
ful  of  American  rights,  excited  little  hostility  among  Kentuckians  as  she 
was  less  able  to  apply  that  policy  than  England,  and  there  still  lingered 
west  of  the  mountains  the  memories  of  the  ancient  friendship  between 
that  nation  and  America. 

The  prominence  given  to  news  of  international  affairs  by  the  Ken- 
tucky newspapers  shows  the  concern  with  which  the  people  generally 
followed  the  events  leading  up  to  the  second  war  with  Great  Britain. 
The  attack  of  the  British  man-of-war.  Leopard,  upon  the  American 
frigate,  Chesapeake,  in  1807,  produced  great  indignation.  Mass-meetings 
were  held  in  the  principal  towns  of  the  state  where  resolutions  were 
passed  condemning  the  piratical  acts  of  England,  and  pledging  the  un- 
divided support  of  Kentucky  in  whatever  course  the  nation  might  de- 
cide upon.*  But  instead  of  following  the  warlike  counsel  of  Kentuckians 
and  others  of  his  countrymen.  President  Jefferson  decided  to  try  a  rem- 
edy short  of  war,  the  embargo.  Willing  to  follow  their  chosen  national 
leader,  Kentuckians  acquiesced  in  this  policy  and  counseled  loyal  sup- 
port, regardless  of  the  fact  that  it  at  first  seemed  ruinous  to  them.^ 
But  the  embargo  was  after  all  not  a  solution  to  the  international  dif- 
ficulties. The  pressure  for  the  repeal  of  this  measure  soon  became  so 
strong  that  in  February,  1809,  Jeft'erson  was  forced  to  agree  to  its 
abandonment.  The  non-intercourse  act  now  followed,  which  opened  up 
commerce  to  all  the  nations  except  France  and  England,  the  two  great 
offenders.  About  this  time  the  British  minister  to  the  United  States, 
David  Montague  Erskine,  who  was  a  whig  and  well-disposed  to  America, 
made  an  arrangement  very  favorable  to  American  interests  in  return 
for  a  relaxation  of  non-intercourse  with  Great  Britain.  But  no  sooner 
were  the  terms  of  this  agreement  known  in  London  than  they  were  dis- 
avowed and  Erskine  recalled.  In  his  place  was  sent  Francis  James  Jack- 
son, who  was  studied  in  his  insults  to  the  United  States.  His  recall  was 
soon  demanded.  The  tangled  relations  among  the  United  States,  Eng- 
land, and  France  seemed  to  defy  solution.  The  so-called  Macon  Bill 
No.  2  next  came  as  an  attempt  at  settlement  by  opening  up  trade  to  all 
nations;  but  with  the  proviso  that  if  either  England  or  France  should 
cease  their  violations  of  American  rights,  and  the  other  country  should 
not,  then  non-intercourse  should  be  resumed  against  the  obdurate  nation. 

1  See  Kentucky  Gazette  and  Palladhiin  during  July,  August,  and  September  of 
1807. 

2  They,  however,  soon  came  to  see  a  good  m  the  embargo  after  all — it  gave 
perfect  protection  to  their  growing  and  ambitious  manufactories. 

545 


546  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

lUit  this  policy  .sccnied  to  lead  nowlicrc  and  Kcntuckians  were  as 
early  in  grasping'  this  fact  as  people  were  on  the  seaboard.  They  had 
in  fact  deep  in  their  minds  believed  when  the  embargo  had  been  tried, 
that  war  was  the  only  solution.  Before  this  policy  had  been  in  force 
a  week,  the  Kentucky  Mouse  declared,  "We  cannot  repress  our  indig- 
nation when  contemplating  the  acts  of  perfidy  and  murder  of  the  ISriiish 
navy,  and  with  one  voice  cxi)ress  a  wish  that  the  general  government 
may  adopt  ])rompt  and  effective  measures  to  support  the  insulted  and 
degraded  majesty  of  the  American  nation,  and  convince  her  lordly 
enemies  that  her  rights  shall  not  be  invaded,  nor  her  dignity  insulted, 
with  ini])unity."  It  was  quick  to  add  that  it  not  only  was  willing  to 
express  the  jjublic  sentiment  in  resolutions  but  that  it  also  stood  ready 
"to  pledge  our  honor,  our  blood  and  treasure  in  support  of  such  meas- 
ures as  may  be  adojited  by  the  general  government,  to  secure  and  pro- 
tect the  peace,  dignity  and  indejiendence  of  union  against  ft)reign  inva- 
sion, and  to  chastise  and  bring  to  a  state  of  reason  our  haughty  and  ini- 
])erious  foes."  '•  The  war  fever  was  soon  running  high  ;  it  was  born, 
however,  ntjt  of  the  desire  to  embarrass  the  National  Government,  but  in 
loyal  and  loud-spoken  sujiport  of  the  Government,  tempered  with  the 
feeling  that  the  expression  of  such  sentiments  might  spur  the  presi- 
dent forward  to  a  sterner  policy.  Richard  M.  Johnson  drew  up  a  set 
of  resolutions  at  Georgetown,  which  were  unanimously  adopted,  ex- 
pressing the  united  support  of  Kentucky.''  FJut  the  editor  of  the  Re- 
porter was  more  outspoken  in  the  imj)atience  he  felt.  He  asked  if  there 
were  any  Revolutionary  soldiers  or  their  children  in  Kentucky,  "who  be- 
lieved a  seven  years'  war  and  all  its  horrors,  from  '75  to  '83,  a  cheap  pur- 
chase for  liberty  and  independence,  and  a  freedom  of  a  paltry  diUy  of 
4^.  per  lb.  on  foreign-  tea — that  submit  in  1808  to  an  eternal  British  tax 
on  our  cotton,  our  tobacco,  our  .slaves,  our  grain,  our  rice,  and  every 
other  product  of  our  soil— and  more  than  this,  that  not  a  single  American 
vessel  shall  sail,  without  being  furnished  with  a  British  license."  '' 

When,  in  1808,  a  call  was  made  u]>on  Kentucky  to  have  in  readiness 
her  qiKJta  of  about  5,000  troops  for  possible  use  against  hated  15ritain, 
Governor  Scott  called  upon  the  people  in  a  jiroclamation  to  come  to  the 
support  of  the  National  Goverinnenl  and  by  \-olunteeriiig  help  to  repel 
the  insults  of  the  insolent  enemy.''  lie  followed  up  these  sentiments 
in  his  message  to  the  Legislature  by  reminding  the  peo])le  of  the  dearth 
of  arms  and  military  supjjlies  in  the  state,  and  asking  them  to  have  in 
readiness  their  rifles,  fie  believed  that  Kentucky  should  begin  the  man- 
ufacture of  military  supjjlies.  There  was  no  lack  of  i)atriots  who  would 
be  willing  to  shoulder  the  rifles  if  they  were  only  provided  with  them." 
The  Legislature  soon  afterwards,  not  to  be  outdone  by  the  governor 
in  the  exjjression  of  warlike  sentiments  and  sujiport  of  the  (JovenuneiU, 
resolved,  "That  the  General  Assembly  of  Kentucky  would  view  with  the 
utmost  horror  a  projwsition  in  any  shape,  to  submit  to  the  tributary  ex- 
actions of  Great  Britain,  as  attempted  to  be  enforced  by  her  orders  of 
council,  or  to  acquiesce  in  the  violation  of  neutral  rights  as  menaced 
by  the  French  decrees;  and  they  ]ile<lge  themselves  to  the  general  gov- 
ernment to  sjjcnd,  if  necessary,  the  last  shilling,  and  to  exhaust  the  last 
drop  of  blood,  in  resisting  these  aggressions."** 

^Palladium,  January  21,  1808,  tiuotcd  in  McF.Iroy,  Kciiiiicliy  in  llic  Xalion's  His- 
tory, 317. 

*  Reporter,  September  26,  1808. 

'  October  24,  l8x)8. 

"  Tbis  proclamation  was  issued  November  17,  1808.  Reporter,  November  21, 
1808.    Tbis  call  was  in  compliance  witb  tbe  Act  of  Congress  of  Marcb  30tb. 

''Reporter,  ncccinl)er  15,  1808. 

^Reporter,  Dcceml)er  22,  1808;  Hiitler,  History  of  Keiitueky,  328-330 ;  Marsball, 
History  of  Kentucky,  II,  459,  460. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  547 

The  action  of  Great  Britain  in  repudiating  the  Erskine  agreement 
was  severely  condemned  in  Kentucky.  Meetings  at  Lexington  and  other 
towns  were  called  to  denounce  England  for  this  latest  act  of  perfidy. 
They  called  upon  the  United  States  to  refuse  to  receive  his  successor.-' 
Shortly  afterwards  when  Jackson  had  come  and  was  speedily  to  leave 
Washington  at  the  insistent  demand  of  the  United  States,  the  Kentucky 
Legislature  expressed  its  high  approval  and  declared  "that  whatever 
may  be  the  consequence  resulting"  from  Jackson's  recall,  "the  State  of 
Kentucky  will  be  ready  to  meet  them,  and  will  most  cordially  co-operate 
in  the  support  of  such  measures  as  may  be  necessary  to  secure  the  in- 
terests, and  maintain  the  honor  and  dignity  of  the  nation."  i"  In  his 
message  to  the  Legislature  in  1809,  Governor  Scott  was  less  insistent  in 
his  attitude  for  war.  He  would  be  understood  as  being  the  last  who 
would  bow  to  a  foreign  power,  but  mindful  of  the  rising  manufactories 
in  the  state,  he  would  not  rush  into  war,  and  thereby  retard  this  promis- 
ing development.  "We  have  on  the  other  hand,"  he  said,  "to  give  up 
only  the  luxuries  of  other  nations  for  the  sweets  of  independence  and 
self-government.  The  people  who  could  not  do  it  with  the  country  and 
resources  we  possess,  are  unworthy  of  the  divine  birthright  of  free- 
dom." >> 

A  rather  strange  and  unusual  way  of  showing  her  extreme  antipathy 
toward  Great  Britain  and  all  things  British  was  adopted  by  Kentucky 
about  this  time.  By  a  law  of  the  General  Assembly  it  was  declared 
that  all  reports  of  cases  adjudged  in  England  since  July  4,  1776  "shall 
not  be  read  nor  considered  as  authority  in  any  of  the  courts  of  this 
commonwealth,  any  usage  or  custom  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding." 
It  was  only  with  much  difficulty  that  Henry  Clay  was  able  to  prevent  the 
law  from  covering  all  British  reports.  The  patriotic  ardor  attached 
to  the  date  of  limitation  set  may  have  had  some  weight.  Later  in  his 
practice  in  one  of  the  courts.  Clay  was  forbidden  to  read  from  a  report 
coming  within  the  prohibited  period  a  reference  to  a  case  adjudged  be- 
fore July  4,  1776.^2  Another  example  of  the  thoroughness  with  which 
the  people  were  seeking  to  eradicate  all  British  influence  is  seen  in  a 
procedure  taking  place  directly  after  war  was  declared.  David  Ballen- 
gall,  an  assistant  judge  of  the  Nicholas  County  Circuit  Court,  was  a 
Scotchman,  appointed  to  his  position  in  1805,  who  had  neglected  to 
secure  American  citizenship.  On  this  fact  being  made  known  to  the 
Legislature,  it  resolved  that  he  "being  an  alien,  and  subject  to  the  King 
of  Great  Britain,  is  unfit  to  hold  the  office  aforesaid,  and  ought  to  be 
removed  therefrom     *     *     *"is 

The  irresistible  expansive  force  of  the  frontier  made  greater  and 
greater  inroads  upon  the  lands  yet  occupied  by  the  Indians.  Directly 
south  of  the  Ohio  the  Indians  were  all  but  dispossessed ;  but  to  the  norths 
ward  they  controlled  many  square  miles  of  fertile  prairies  and  river 
valleys.  Treaties  were  being  constantly  made  for  the  relinquishment  of 
these  lands,  and  they  were  about  as  often  misunderstood  and  broken. 
Tecumseh  and  his  brother.  Olliwochica,  the  prophet,  saw  the  utter  ruin 
and  destruction  of  the  Indians  if  the  present  system  continued.  They 
therefore  conceived  the  pregnant  idea  of  binding  all  the  Northwest  In- 


^  Reporter,  August  12,  1809.  Among  the  other  towns  where  meetings  were  held 
was  Springfield  in  Washington  County. 

1°  Acts  of  Kentticky,  1809,  168.    This  resolution  was  passed  January  22,  1810. 

^'  Reporter,  December  9,  1809. 

'2  L.  N.  Dcmbitz,  Kentucky  Jurisprudence  (Louisville,  1890),  7;  Annual  Reports 
of  the  American  Historical  Association,  1896,  II,  188;  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky, 
II,  454.  This  law  was  strictly  enforced  for  a  few  years,  but  by  1821,  it  had 
fallen  into  disuse,  and  it  was  finally  removed  from  the  statute  books  in  1852, 
by  omitting  it  in  the  revision  of  that  year. 

^^Acts  of  Kenttuky,   1812,    106.     No  date   is   given. 


548  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

diaiis  into  a  confederacy  aiui  allying  it  with  a  soutliern  confederacy  they 
would  build  up.  This  was  the  most  ambitious  scheme  yet  adopted  by 
tlie  Indians  to  stop  westward  migration,  and  one  that  had  more  ele- 
ments of  success.  The  frontiersmen  became  alarmed,  and  with  little 
difficulty  they  found  cause  for  war.  William  Henry  Harrison,  with 
a  regiment  of  regulars  and  a  number  of  Kentucky  volunteers,  in  the 
fall  of  1811,  set  out  up  the  Wabash  with  the  intention  of  taking  posses- 
sion of  certain  lands  secured  by  a  recent  treaty  and  of  punishing,  if 
l)ossible,  Indian  marauders  who  had  murdered  a  white  man.  On  No- 
vember 7tli,  he  came  in  contact  with  the  redmen  in  the  low  bottomland 
of  the  upi)er  Wabash,  and  fought  the  battle  of  Tippecanoe.  Although 
heralding  it  as  a  great  victory,  Harrison  lost  188  men  killed  or  wounded, 
and  of  these  thirty-four  were  officers.'*  Among  those  lost  in  this  battle 
was  Joseph  Hamilton  Daviess,  the  prosecutor  of  .'\aron  Burr  and  a 
staunch  Federalist. 

To  Kentuckians  this  seemed  almost  their  fight  alone.  A  strong  wave 
of  patriotic  sorrow  ensued  for  the  loss  of  their  fellow  citizens,  and  a 
feeling  of  gratitude  was  expressed  to  those  who  escaped.  The  Ken- 
tucky House,  believing  "That  it  is  a  country's  gratitude  that  compen- 
sates the  soldier  for  his  scars,  perpetuates  grateful  recollections  of  his 
services,  and  induces  the  living  to  emulate  the  heroic  deeds  of  the  dead 
— that  it  is  a  country's  gratitude  that  softens  the  rugged  pangs  of  those 
left  to  mourn  husbands,  fathers  and  friends  lost  in  avenging  a  country's 
wrongs,"  resolved,  "That  the  brave  deeds  of  our  officers  and  soldiers  in 
the  late  battle  on  the  Wabash,  deserves  not  encomiums  only,  but  unfad- 
ing fame  in  the  hearts  of  their  countrymen."  In  memory  of  the  dead 
the  members  voted  to  wear  crape  on  the  left  arm  for  thirty  days,  and 
as  "a  further  tribute  to  their  memory"  to  invite  John  Rowan  to  deliver 
a  funeral  oration  "on  the  death  of  the  late  colonels  Daviess  and  Owen, 
and  the  other  heroes  who  fell  in  the  battle  on  the  Wabash. "'^  A  few 
weeks  later  Harrison  was  declared  to  have  "behaved  like  a  hero,  a 
patriot,  and  a  general ;  and  that  for  his  cool,  deliberate,  skillful  and  gal- 
lant conduct  in  the  battle  of  Tippecanoe,  he  well  deserves  the  warmest 
thanks  of  his  country  and  the  nation."  '" 

Indian  troubles  had  long  beset  the  Kentuckians — in  fact  they  had 
been  cradled  in  savage  warfare.  They  firmly  believed  that  the  British 
were  guilty  of  inciting  the  Indians  against  the  whites  at  every  time  and 
place  possible.  They  had  not  forgotten  the  evidences  of  English  intrigu- 
ing in  the  Indian  uprisings  finally  put  down  by  "Mad  Anthony"  Wayne 
in  1794;  and  General  Harrison  kept  the  charges  of  British  interference 
before  them  by  declaring  directly  after  the  battle  of  Tippecanoe  that  as- 
sistance by  Great  Britain  "has  been  afforded  in  as  ample  a  manner  as 
it  could  have  been,  if  war  had  actually  prevailed  between  us  and  that 
power.  Within  the  last  three  months,  the  whole  of  the  Indians  on  this 
frontier  have  been  completely  armed  and  equipped  out  of  the  King's 
stores  at  Maiden.  *  *  *  The  Indians,  had  moreover,  had  an  ample 
supply  of  the  best  British  glazed  powder — some  of  their  guns  had  been 
sent  to  them  so  short  a  time  before  the  action,  that  they  wera  not  di- 
vested of  the  list  covering  in  which  they  were  imported."'^  Harrison 
also  said  he  was  always  able  to  judge  the  relations  between  the  United 
States  and  Great  I'.rilain  by  the  behavior  of  the  Indians.     The  Legis- 

n  McMaster,  Ilhlory  of  the  People  of  the  United  Slates,  III,  531-536.  For  a 
full  account  of  the  expedition  with  special  reference  to  Kentucky  see  Alfred 
Pirtle,  The  Battle  of  Tipfecanoe  (Louisville,  IQOO),  158  pages.  Harrison's  report 
is  in  Marshall,  llistorv  of  Kentucky,  II,  494-5oC. 

^'-Niles'  Register,  Vol.   I,  p.  297. 

^^Niles'  Register,  Vol.   I,  p.   39i-  ,  ,    .      ,r-i    . 

"Letter  to  John  M.  Scott  of  Frankfort,  Decemher  2,  iSii,  quoted  ni  Niles 
Register,  Vol.  I,  pp.  31 '.  312- 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  540 

lature,  in  drawing  up  its  bill  of  indictment  against  Great  Britain,  declared 
that,  among  other  crimes,  that  country  was  guilty  of  was  "inciting  the 
savages  to  murder  the  inhabitants  on  our  defenseless  frontiers ;  furnish- 
ing them  with  arms  and  ammunition  lately,  to  attack  our  forces :  to  the 
loss  of  a  number  of  brave  men ;  and  by  every  power  of  art  and  intrigue, 
seeking  to  dispose  of  our  whole  strength  and  resources,  as  may  suit  her 
unrestrained  ambition  or  interest  *  *  *"  '^  It  was  in  fact  not  the 
policy  of  the  British  government  to  incite  hostilities — it  was  rather  the 
opi)osite ;  but  agents  on  the  frontier  were  hard  to  control  and  they  were 
aclually  guilty  of  many  of  the  charges  made  against  the  British  govern- 
ment and  believed  to  be  its  settled  policy.  Moreover  the  British  govern- 
ment actually  maintained  relations  with  the  Indians  within  the  Ameri- 
can jurisdiction,  which  were  not  justified  under  any  interpretation  ()f 
international  law  or  comity  among  nations.  It  was  a  deeply  laid  feeling 
among  Kentuckians  and,  indeed,  among  westerners  generally^  that  war 
against  England  was  not  only  desirable,  but  in  fact  inevitable.  England's 
guilt  did  not  stop  with  interfering  with  the  seaboard  commerce ;  it  touched 
the  \\'est  much  more  closely.  The  rivalry  in  the  fur  business  was  also 
another  western  factor  having  its  weight. 

England  was  an  impossible  neighbor.  As  long  as  she  t)wned  and 
occupied  Canada,  the  same  state  of  frontier  turmoil  must  continue. 
Therefore,  an  additional  cause  of  war  was  the  desire  of  the  West  to 
annex  Canada.  Henry  Clay,  in  1810,  said  in  the  Senate:  "The  con- 
quest of  Canada  is  in  your  power,  I  trust  I  shall  not  be  deemed  pre- 
sumptuous when  I  state  that  I  verily  believe  that  the  militia  of  Ken- 
tucky are  alone  competent  to  place  Montreal  and  Upper  Canada  at  your 
feet."  1"  The  editor  of  the  Kentucky  Gazette  believed  that  "Until  those 
civilized  allies  of  our  savage  neighbors,  are  expelled  from  our  continent, 
we  must  expect  the  frequent  recurrence  of  the  late  scenes  on  the  Wa- 
bash." The  signs  pointed  to  a  general  war  with  the  Indians  and  Eng- 
land, and  to  him,  "The  better  the  preparation,  and  the  more  promptitude 
and  vigor  displayed  by  Congress  to  meet  it,  the  more  will  they  be  entitled 
to  the  confidence  of  the  country."  -" 

The  straining  at  the  leash  by  the  West  for  war  served  to  nerve  the 
Madison  administration  for  more  vigorous  action.  Another  force  mak- 
ing for  war,  which  received  much  of  its  impetus  from  the  West,  was  a 
group  of  young  men  who  had  been  elected  to  Congress  which  was  to 
meet  in  181 1.  These  men  knowing  little  of  the  horrors  of  war,  but  re- 
membering much  of  British  insolence  and  violence  to  American  rights, 
stood  out  boldly  for  war  from  the  beginning  of  their  power.  They  came 
to  be  known  as  War  Hawks.  With  such  representatives  of  the  group 
as  Clay  and  Johnson  of  Kentucky,  Porter  of  New  York.  Grundy  of 
Tennessee,  and  Lowndes,  Cheves  and  Calhoun  of  South  Carolina,  stand- 
ing for  a  bold  course  of  action  against  England,  Madison  was  soon  im- 
pelled toward  war.  In  fact  it  had  been  charged  that  a  committee  of 
Congress  headed  by  Clay  had  threatened  to  prevent  his  renomination 
for  the  presidency  unless  he  should  promise  to.  recommend  war.  His 
message  to  Congress  in  November  (1811)  was  more  vigorous.  He  re- 
counted the  outrages  sufifered  at  the  hands  of  Great  Britain  and  sug- 
gested means  of  defense.  Finally,  on  June  i  following,  he  sent  a  war 
message  to  Congress,  and  on  June  18  that  body  after  a  sharp  debate 
voted  for  war  in  the  House  79  to  49  and  in  the  Senate  19  to  13.  The 
stronghold  of  the  opposition  to  the  war  was  northeast  of  the  Delaware. 
The  \\'cst  and  ihe  South  were  almost  solidly  for  it. 

Whether  the  effect  w;is  great  or  nol.  Kentucky  aliund.-intly  ex])ressed 

^»  Niks'  Register,  Vol.  I,  p.  337- 

•"Quoted  in  Fish,  American  Dif'Ioiuacy,   174. 

■■"'Kentucky   Gazette,  April    14,   1812. 

\ul.  T— :'.:i 


550  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

herself  for  war  in  the  latter  days  leading  up  to  the  actual  declaration. 
In  December,  1811.  the  Legislature,  in  a  set  of  resolutions  claiming  the 
right  of  that  body  to  express  "the  sense  of  the  good  peo])le  of  this  state, 
res])ecting  the  measures  of  the  National  Government,"  declared  that  a 
crisis  had  arrived  in  the  public  alTairs  of  the  nation  which  called  upon 
Kentucky  to  express  her  sentiments  "rcs])ecting  the  course  to  be  adopted, 
in  order  to  resist  the  rei)eated,  long  continued  and  flagrant  violations  of 
our  rights,  as  a  free  and  indcj'endcnt  nation,  by  (jreat  ISritain  and 
France,  and  by  the  former  especially — whole  pretensions  are  an  insult 
to  our  sovereignty,  and  which,  if  yielded  to,  must  end  in  our  entire  sub- 
mission to  whatever  they  may  think  proper  to  impose."  Though  Ken- 
tuckians  were  not  exposed  to  the  immediate  effects  of  the  "piratical 
depredations"  of  these  nations,  they  were  not  less  interested  in  pre- 
serving the  national  honor;  for  "The  slate  of  Kentucky,  yielding  to  none 
in  patriotism;  in  its  dee])  rooted  attachment  to  the  sacred  bond  of  union; 
in  its  faithful  remembrance  of  the  ])rice  of  our  freedom,  and  in  the 
heartfelt  conviction  that  our  ])osterity  have  a  sacred  claim  uj)on  us,  to 
transmit  to  them  unimpaired,  this  Cjod-like  inheritance,  cannot  fail  to  be 
penetrated,  with  any  event  which  threatens  even  to  impair  it ;  much  less 
than,  can  she  be  insensible  to  those  daring  wrongs  of  a  foreign  power, 
which  lead  to  its  immediate  destruction."  Kentucky  had  been  willing 
to  depend  on  the  general  government  to  redress  these  national  evils  "so 
intolerable  in  their  progress,  and  in  their  consequences  so  menacing," 
but  it  had  not  been  "without  a  tirm  and  settled  purpose,  not  always  to 
bear  the  lash,  not  finally  to  become  beasts  of  burden."  "I'orbearance 
beyond  a  certain  point,"  it  added,  "ceases  to  be  moderation,  and  must 
end  in  entire  subjection."  No  arguments  were  necessary  to  prove  these 
injuries  existed,  and  as  for  those  who  could  not.  feel  "wrongs  so  palpable, 
no  reasoning  will  convince."  Kentuckians  would  like  to  be  able  to  say 
"when  tircat  I'ritain  has  ceased  to  harass  and  injure  us — zchen  she  has 
shewn  toward  us  an  amicable  disposition  in  the  true  spirit  of  justice — 
"u-hcn  she  has  ceased  her  efforts  to  diminish  that  security  and  prosperity, 
which  are  the  eternal  barriers  of  sejiaration  from  her  j)ower,  and  to  im- 
pair that  liberty  and  independence  forced  from  her  reluctant  grasp!" 
This  "unnatural  inirenl"  had  been  guilty  of  a  hundred  raids  on  the  peace 
and  security  of  .'\iucrica,  and  when  her  very  olTers  of  redress  "go  only 
to  sanction  her  wrongs  *  *  *  xve  can  be  at  no  loss  what  course 
should  be  pursued."  "Should  we  tainely  submit,  the  world  ought  to  de- 
sjjise  us — we  should  despise  ourselves — she  herself  would  despise  us. 
When  she  shall  learn  to  resjJect  our  rights,  we  shall  hasten  to  forget  her 
injuries."  It  was,  therefore,  resolved  that  "those  violations,  if  not  dis- 
continued, and  ample  compensation  made  for  them,  ought  to  be  resisted 
wi'.h  the  whole  power  of  our  country."  It  was  furthermore  resolved 
that  since  war  seemed  probable  "Kentucky,  to  the  last  mite  of  her 
strength  and  resources,  will  contribute  them  to  maintain  the  contest  and 
su])port  the  right  of  their  country  against  such  lawless  violations;  and 
that  the  citizens  of  Kentucky  are  prepared  to  take  the  field  when  called 
ujxin."  Although  Kentucky  had  full  confidence  in  the  national  adminis- 
tration, it  was  liclieved  that  the  crisis  called  for  "energetic  measures; 
and  that  a  temporising  policy,  while  it  might  .seem  to  remove  the  evil  to 
a  greater  distance,  would  serve  only  to  secure  its  continuance."  -' 

These  were  strong  words  that  bespoke  the  feelings  of  an  outnigcd 
people.  It  was  while  the  Legislature  passing  the  above  resolution  was 
in  session  that  a  Furopean  traveler  visited  Frankfort  and  described  the 
war-like  attitude  he  observed  there.  He  .said:  ".\s  I  passed  through 
Frankfort,  on  m\  \\;iv  from  Lexington  to  Lnuisville,  I  was  told  th.-il  the 


2' A'lVf.v'  Rc</ixhT,  \'nl.  I,  iMi.  .H7.  ,^.iK. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  551 

Legislature  of  Kentucky  was  just  then  in  session.  I  resolved  to  go 
thither,  so  that  I  might  compare  that  body  with  the  sessions  of  the  Terri- 
ritorial  Legislature  of  Louisiana.  *  *  *  j  j-j^j  scarcely  entered  the 
legislative  hall,  when  I  heard  a  very  enthusiastic  orator  dealing  forth 
a  violent  diatribe  against  England,  with  the  following  words :  'We  must 
have  war  with  Great  Britain — war  will  ruin  her  commerce — commerce 
is  the  apple  in  Britain's  eye — there  we  must  gouge  her!'  This  flower 
of  oratory  was  received  with  great  applause;  and,  it  must  be  confessed, 
that  for  such  a  population  as  most  of  the  inhabitants  of  Kentucky  formed 
at  that  period,  it  was  extremely  well  timed,  and  betra)ed  a  certain  poetic 
sweep  of  thought."  '- 

The  war  fever  in  the  Legislature  was  truly  expressive  of  conditions 
outside.  Parades  and  meetings  were  frequently  held  over  the  state  to 
condemn  Great  Britain  and  to  call  for  war  against  her.  A  parade  took 
place  in  Lexington  a  few  weeks  before  war  was  declared,  in  which  a 
large  number  of  Kentucky  volunteers  took  part.  The  editor  of  the  Ken- 
tucky Gazette,  in  commenting  on  it,  said :  "Thus  Kentucky  will  main- 
tain the  rank  to  which  she  is  so  justly  entitled  among  her  sister  states, 
of  being  second  to  none  in  Patriotism — always  on  the  ricjht  in  the  cause 
of  the  union  and  republicanism;  and  may  she  never  be  placed  on  the  left 
in  her  support  of  the  general  government."  -^ 

When  the  news  of  the  war  declaration  reached  Kentucky,  great  sat- 
isfaction was  manifested  in  many  celebrations  and  mass  meetings.  Ac- 
cording to  Niles'  Register,  "The  news  of  war  was  hailed  as  a  second 
decree  of  Independence  in  Kentucky.  The  most  of  the  towns  were 
illuminated  on  the  occasion."  ~*  "Never  in  any  age  or  country,"  ex- 
claimed the  Kentucky  Gazette,  "has  there  been  more  patriotic  ardor  wit- 
nessed than  is  at  this  moment  to  be  seen  among  the  citizens  of  this  state. 
Kentucky  seems  ready  to  precipitate  itself,  en  masse  upon  the  British 
and  their  infernal  allies  the  Indians."  He  stated  that  there  would  soon 
be  10,000  Kentuckians  on  the  march;  and  gave  this  warning:  "Let  not 
the  tories  of  New-England,  or  the  secret  or  avowed  enemies  of  the  war, 
the  friends  and  advocates  of  British  insolence  and  usurpation,  exalt  too 
soon.  Their  hour  is  at  hand;  we  are  not  yet  prepared  to  kiss  the  hand 
that  wields  the  tomahawk  and  scalping  knife  against  the  heads  of  our 
old  men,  our  women  and  infants."  -"  In  Lexington  the  celebration  was 
accompanied  with  cannon  and  musketry  firing  and  was  "kept  up  until 
late  in  the  evening."  The  same  evidence  of  enthusiasm  was  reported 
in  Frankfort.-"  But  amidst  the  apparently  universal  rejoicing,  it  was 
not  forgotten  that  one  of  the  Kentucky  senators  had  voted  against  the 
war  declaration.  The  Reporter  said,  "In  the  moment  of  joy,  when  the 
citizens  saw  their  country,  a  second  time  declared  independent — it  is 
reported  that  at  Nicholasville  and  Mount  Sterling,  Mr.  Pope,  our  sen- 
ator, who  opposed  the  war  was  burnt  in  effigy."-^  Pope  had,  a  few 
months  previously,  displeased  his  constituency  by  voting  for  the  re- 
charter  of  the  United  States  Bank,  in  the  very  face  of  numerous  in- 
structions to  the  contrary  from  many  parts  of  the  state.  The  constant 
attacks  that  had  been  leveled  against  him  for  this  "disregard  of  the  peo- 
ple's will"  had  not  yet  subsided  before  this  fresh  cause  for  censure  came. 
His  action  was  declared  to  be  more  reprehensible  than  that  of  Humphrey 
Marshall  when  he  voted  for  the  Jay  Treaty.-*  He  was  accused  of  being 
a  Federalist  who  had  forfeited  all  public  resj^ect  and  support. 

22  Vincent  Nolle,  Fifty  Years  in  both  Hcmisplicres   (New  York,  1854),   179. 

^^Kcntucliy  Ga::ettc,  May  26,  1812. 

"Vol.  2,  p.  335. 

25  September  15,  1812. 

-''  Reporter,  July  I,   1812;  Kentucky  Gaccllc,  June  30,   1812. 

-T  Reporter, ']n\y   I,   1812. 

-*  See   Kentucky   Gazette,  April  9,    181 1,   etc.,  also   during   1812.     Pope  had   lost 


552  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

Pope  had  very  few  followers  who  agreed  with  him  in  his  opposition 
to  the  war.  'Jhe  federalists,  who  had  never  been  strong  in  the  state, 
seemed  to  be  even  fewer  now,  and  their  voice  was  all  but  drowned  in 
the  almost  universal  acclaim  for  war.  There  had  been  an  attempt  to 
make  political  capital  out  of  the  death  of  Daviess  at  Tippecanoe  by  as- 
serting that  Harrison,  a  staunch  democrat,  had  mismanagctl  the  ex])edi- 
tion  and  was  in  fact  guilty  of  the  death  of  the  brave  federalist.-" 

'i  he  state  had  not  only  ])reparcd  itself  for  the  war  in  its  thoughts  and 
sentiments,  but,  when  it  became  evident  that  war  was  certain,  a  cry  went 
u\)  for  Isaac  Shelby  for  governor.  Martin  D.  Hardin,  in  April,  1812. 
wrote  Shelby  asking  him  to  consent  to  his  name  being  used  for  the  ap- 
proaching gubernatorial  election.  He  hojied  the  venerable  old  governor 
would  not  refuse  the  people  his  services,  so  badly  needed  in  this  approach- 
ing crisis,  "for,  with  such  a  head,  Kentucky  will  maintain  that  preemi- 
nence she  has  taken  as  the  center  of  the  Western  part  of  the  Union."-'" 
Soon  a  medley  of  voices  was  raised,  all  calling  on  Shelby  to  accept  the 
governorship.  A  writer  signing  himself  "Seventy-si.x"  said:  "We  are 
on  the  eve  of  a  dangerous  war,  and  'the  times  that  tried  men's  souls' 
about  to  return.  The  times  therefore  require  a  governor  of  tried  integrity 
and  experience — a  governor  of  firmness  and  decision  of  character — a  gov- 
ernor who  can  find  resources  in  his  own  mind  to  meet  with  spirit  and 
overcome  obstacles  and  dangers — a  governor  able  to  manage  our  civil 
concerns  or  martial  our  armies  in  the  field  of  battle — in  a  word,  with  the 
head  to  plan  and  the  hand  to  execute  such  measures  as  are  essential  to 
the  inililic  safety. 

"Amidst  the  nimiber  which  presented  themselves  to  my  view,  none 
appeared  to  have  such  strong  claims  on  the  confidence  of  his  coimtry- 
men  or  so  well  qualified  for  the  limes  as  Isaac  Shelby,  the  first  governor 
of  this  state."  ■"  An  "Old  Settler"  recalled  that  Shelby  had  played  an 
important  part  in  winning  the  battle  of  King's  Mountain  in  the  Revolu- 
tion and  that  he  had  deserved  well  of  his  country  in  many  other  ways 
and  pLices.  "All  agree,"  he  said,  "in  your  cajiacity  to  serve  as  a  chief 
magistrate.  From  every  quarter  in  the  country  there  is  one  universal 
burst  of  approbation  in  your  favor."'''-  Shelby  consented  to  run,  and  in 
the  following  .August  he  was  elected  with  little  opposition.  He  appointed 
Martin  D.  Hardin,  who  had  early  started  the  Shelby  boom,  secretary  of 
state.  In  November  Madison  was  reelected  President,  receiving  a  solid 
electoral  vote  from  Kentucky.  In  some  counties  of  the  state  the  fed- 
eralists did  not  poll  a  single  vote.  In  Fayette  the  federalist  electors  re- 
ceived about  go  votes  out  of  about  8oo.-'-'' 

W'hen  the  call  for  troo])s  was  issued  volunteers  came  in  great  num- 
bers, going  far  beyond  the  quota  fixed  for  the  state.  The  number  appor- 
tioned to  Kentucky  by  the  law  calling  for  100.000  was  5,500.  .A  few- 
weeks  before  war  was  declared  (jovernor  Scott  had  called  for  1.500  vol- 
unteers to  march  to  the  support  of  General  Hull  on  the  Detroit  frontier. 
But  so  eager  were  the  volunteers  to  go  that  the  conmiand  was  swelled 
to  over  2.000  by  those  who  would  not  be  denied. •'■•  The  Kentucky  con- 
gressmen were  e(|nally  enthusiastic.  I'.y  the  beginning  of  October  six 
had  volunteered  to  leave  the  Legislative  halls  for  the  battlefield.  Satnuel 
Hopkins  became  a  major-general;  Richard  M.  Johnson,  commander  of 
a  battalion  of  mounted  infantry;  John  Simjison,  a  captain;  William  P. 

one  of   his   arms  and   was  warmly   supported   liy   a    Incal    lri.-.li    politician    for   tlic 
reason,  as  he  gave  it,  that  he  had  only  one  arm  to  thrust  into  the  trea.sury. 

-'>  McMaster.  Ilislorx  of  Ihe  Prol'lc  of  the   United  Slates,  III,  534,  535. 

■'"  Diin-ett  MSS.     Letter   dated  .'\pril    10,    1812. 

•■»  AV»/Hi-/0'  Gocelte,  March   12,  1812. 

''-Kentucky  Gazette,  May   19,   1812. 

"^  KciitKcliy  Gazette,  November   10,   1812. 

=*' Shaler,  History  of  Kentucky.  158. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  553 

Duvall,  a  captain;  and  Samuel  M'Kce  and  Thomas  Montgomery,  pi"i- 
vates.35  An  account  of  the  day  said:  "The  military  spirit  beats  high 
in  Kentucky.  As  soon  as  the  requisition  of  the  President  was  known 
at  Lexington,  and  before  the  governor's  orders  reached  that  place,  a  com- 
pany of  volunteers  of  lOO  men  was  formed.  They  immediately  equipped 
themselves,  and  were  prepared  to  march  'to  the  lakes,  to  the  plains  of 
Abraham,  or  the  consecrated  field  of  Tippecanoe.'  It  appears  that  this 
state  will  furnish  her  quota  entirely  of  volunteers.''  ^" 

This  detachment  of  Kentucky  volunteers  had  scarcely  got  well 
under  way  in  their  northward  march  when  the  distressing  news  of  Hull's 
ignominious  surrender  at  Detroit  to  the  British  reached  them.  The  news 
was  received  with  indignation  throughout  the  state.  For  months  Ken- 
tuckians  could  not  forget  that  Hull  had  "traitorously  sold  our  army 
and  Detroit  to  the  British."  There  was  mingled  with  this  indignation  a 
fear  that  the  elated  British  might  march  their  armies  down  to  the  very 
banks  of  the  Ohio  River.  The  incentive  for  volunteering  was  now  in- 
tensified. Within  a  few  weeks  the  numbers  were  estimated  to  have 
reached  over  lO.ooo  (twice  the  state's  quota),  and  shortly  afterwards  the 
Kentucky  Gazette  believed  the  number  to  be  nearer  i5,ooo.'''^  Niles'  Reg- 
ister said:  "It  is  asserted  that  the  State  of  Kentucky  has  nearly  15,000 
of  her  citizens  under  arms.  Thousands,  of  them  have  marched  without 
regular  commissions,  neither  expecting  or  caring  for  remuneration  from 
Government."  •"**  But  there  was  another  movement  as  important  and 
as  unusual  as  the  sudden  arising  of  10,000  Kentuckians  bent  on  repelling 
the  expected  invader.  After  Hull's  surrender  the  United  States  troops 
in  the  West  were  virtually  without  organization  or  leadership.  Under 
the  circumstances  Kentucky  assumed  control  of  affairs,  pending  the 
action  of  the  Federal  Government.  Go\ernor  Scott  called  a  council  of 
war  which  included  among  its  members  Shelby,  Clay,  Greenup  and 
Thomas  Todd.  It  was  decided  at  this  meeting  to  give  the  command 
of  the  Kentucky  forces  marching  to  Detroit  to  General  Harrison.  This 
was  a  popular  appointment  with  the  Kentucky  troops,  and  1,000  more 
were  ordered  by  Governor  Scott  to  join  him.  Of  tliese  volunteers,  the 
general  said  to  Clay:  "No  such  material  for  forming  an  invincible  army 
ever  existed  as  the  volunteers  which  have  marched  from  Kentucky  on  the 
present  occasion."  '■•'  A  news  disjjatch  stated  that  Harrison  would  be 
given  "the  command  of  4,000  as  brave  men  as  the  world  can  produce. 
Many  of  them  had  expressed  their  regret  at  not  being  ordered  out  with 
the  first  detachment.  They  will  now  be  gratified  and,  under  the  com- 
mander of  their  choice,  will  soon  march  to  certain  victory  and  honor."  ■"' 
There  was  undoubtedly  no  explicit  authority  that  Kentucky  had  to  take 
this  action.  The  few  federalists  and  malcontents  immediately  began  their 
attacks  upon  the  governor  for  this  unwarranted  procedure.^i 

While  preparations  had  been  going  on  for  the  relief  of  Detroit  troops 
armies  were  gathering  at  Louisville  for  an  invasion  of  the  Indian  country 
on  the  upper  Wabash.  In  early  October  2,000  troops  under  the  command 
of  Gen.  Samuel  Hopkins  set  out.  Poorly  organized  and  provisioned  and 
trained  not  at  all,  they  soon  began  to  grumble  and  murmur.  Single  de- 
sertions and  open  mutinies  soon  followed.  Hopkins  then  asked  the  sense 
of  the  army  to  be  taken  on  continuing  the  march,  promising  at  the  same 
time  that  if  500  would  follow  him  he  would  lead  them  against  the  main 
Indian  villages.     But  in  less  than  one  hour  the  report  was  made  almost 

3''  NUcs'  Register,  Vol.  3,  p.  108. 
^^- Niles"  Register,  Vol.  2,  p.  239. 
3"  September   13,  1812. 

asVol.  3.  P-  93-  ,  ,  ,_,  r-, 

■''^  Colton,  Private  Correspondence  of  Hetny  Clay,  21. 

*"  Niles'  Register,  Vol.  3.  P-  15- 

•"  '^or  instance  see  Kentucky  Gazette.  September  15,  1812. 


554  JilSTUKV  (  )!•    KRXI'LCKV 

unanimously  to  return.  Hopkins  was  greatly  disappointed  and  chagrined 
at  the  conduct  of  tiie  men,  but  "To  the  olliccrs  commanding  brigades, 
many  of  the  field  officers,  captains  iScniy  thanks  are  due;  many  of  the 
old  Kentucky  veterans  whose  heads  are  frosted  by  time  are  entitled 
to  every  confidence  and  praise  their  country  can  bestow."  •'^  Discipline 
in  an  expedition  so  hurriedly  gotten  up  could  hardly  be  expected,  and 
this  was  not  to  he  the  only  example  of  headstrong  and  mutinous  troops 
in  the  war. 

But  the  system  of  volunteering  and  the  employment  of  ill-trained 
militia  worked  for  inefficiency  and  insubordination.  The  enthusiasm  of 
the  day  carried  many  men  into  the  army  who  could  not  be  trained  or 
properly  equipped.  I'he  meager  facilities  of  the  state  were  swamped 
by  the  first  few  days  of  volunteering.  Arms  could  not  be  supplied, 
neither  sufficient  food  nor  clothing,  yet  they  were  accepted  and  imme- 
diately sent  to  the  area  of  operations.  The  financial  condition  of  the  state 
was  sound  and  prosperous:  there  was  a  balance  of  over  $30,cxX)  in  the 
treasury  on  November  lo,  1811,  which  had  liccn  increased  to  over  $50,000 
by  the  same  date  two  years  later.*-' 

But  the  credit  of  the  state  could  not  Ijc  converted  into  effective  mil- 
itary supplies  on  so  short  notice.  An  officer  thus  described  the  condi- 
tions of  troops  on  their  march  north  of  the  Ohio:  "I  will  not  recount 
to  you  the  difficulties  we  have  had  to  contend  with  when  we  were  with- 
out tents  between  Georgetown  and  Cincinnati  and  exposed  day  and  night 
to  the  rains  of  Heaven  and  since  to  scorching  suns,  because  these  diffi- 
culties were  opposed  with  cheerful  alacrity,  and  we  soon  became  sea- 
soned, like  good  timber,  to  every  weather  and  are  now  fit  instruments 
to  be  used  in  the  hands  of  our  country  for  the  most  useful  and  glorious 
purposes."  ■*' 

There  was  soon  started  a  general  movement  among  the  women  of  the 
state  to  knit  and  sew  and  otherwise  provide  for  the  comfort  of  the 
soldiers.  "Hortensia,"  in  a  letter  to  the  Kentucky  Gazette,  sounded  the 
call  to  duty  among  her  sex.  After  reminding  them  that  the  soldiers  had 
rushed  ofif  to  battle  half-clothed,  she  continued :  "Rouse,  fair  patriots, 
it  is  with  you  to  mitigate  their  sufferings.  Form  subscriptions — each 
one  of  you  can  relieve  a  soldier's  pains.  Let  the  spimiing  wheel,  the 
loom,  knitting  needles  all  be  busily  plied  with  your  fair  hands.  Warm 
linsey  clothes,  socks,  blankets,  linen  shirts,  added  to  shoes,  to  be  fur- 
nished by  your  fathers  and  Ijrethren,  will  enaljle  our  brave  militia  who 
have  marched  to  think  only  of  the  enemy,  of  revenge  and  of  victory." 
For  only  by  such  works  will  "the  women  of  Kentucky,  like  those  of 
Sparta,  be  charming  in  the  eyes  of  their  countrymen  and  terrible  to 
their  enemies."  ■'^  The  women  were  not  remiss  in  the  performance  of 
this  duty.  Governor  Shelby  ])aid  this  tribute  to  them  in  his  message  of 
December,  1812:  "In  closing  this  address  I  feel  it  a  duty  to  do  an  act 
of  justice  to  the  patriotic  fair  of  Kenlticky  by  informing  you  of  the  suc- 
cess that  attended  an  a])])eal  to  them  to  furnish  a  supi)ly  of  clothing  for 
our  fellow-citizens  in  actual  service.  Although  no  regular  report  has 
been  made  of  the  kind  and  quantity  furnished,  by  the  information  I  have 
received  from  the  various  quarters  of  the  state,  it  has  been  very  great, 
and  perhaps  adequate  to  the  demand.  Too  great  praise  cannot  be  be- 
stowed upon  them  for  the  bountiful  contribution  and  the  alacrity  with 
which  the  clothing  was  prepared  and  delivered ;  it  is  an  act  of  patriotism 

■•2  Report  of  General  Hopkins  to  Governor  Shelby,  October  26  (?),  1812,  in 
Niks'  Register,  Vol.  3,  PP-  204,  205. 

♦a  N lies'  Register,  Vol.  I,  p.  394  I  Vol.  5,  p.  337. 

**  Letter  written  by  Major  Tliomas  C.  Graves  from  Camp  near  Piqua  Plains, 
September  6,  1812.  This  letter  is  among  the  Clay  MSS.  in  the  possession  of  Miss 
Lucrctia  Clay,  of  Lexington. 

*^  Kentucky  Gazette,  September  15,  1812. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  555 

and  benevolence  which  deserves  the  gratitude  of  all  America.  Way  their 
laudable  example  stimulate  us  to  prosecute  the  war  until  peace  be  given 
us  from  the  hand  of  justice."  *" 

As  some  of  the  most  pregnant  causes  of  the  war  lay  in  the  condi- 
tions and  attitude  of  the  jjeuple  of  the  West,  it  was  therefore  only  to 
be  expected  that  one  of  the  most  important  areas  of  conflict  should  lie 
west  of  the  mountains.  The  Kentuckians,  bold  and  confident,  were  bent 
on  the  conquest  of  Canada,  and  with  this  in  mind  they  set  about  afford- 
ing General  Harrison  all  the  aid  in  munitions  and  men  in  their  power. 
In  the  meantime  President  Madison  had  acted  in  the  appointment  of 
General  Winchester,  of  Tennessee,  to  command  the  armies  of  the  West. 
But,  knowing  that  Kentucky  had  already  acted  with  commendable  speed 
and  sense  of  responsibility  and  had  appointed  a  popular  and  capable  gen- 
eral, and  realizing  that  Kentuckians  were  the  real  backbone  of  the  army 
in  the  West,  Madison  relieved  Winchester  from  the  chief  command  in 
favor  of  Harrison.  Full  of  enthusiasm,  4,000  Kentuckians  set  out  under 
their  chosen  leader  to  take  Canada.  Joined  by  scattered  forces  from 
the  states  north  of  the  Ohio  as  he  marched  northward,  Harrison  laid 
waste  a  few  Indian  villages  before  reaching  a  point  on  the  Maumee 
near  Fort  Wayne.  This  march  had  been  accompanied  with  many  hard- 
ships to  the  men.  Poorly  clothed  and  fed,  they  had  marched  through 
miles  of  swamps  and  had  been  forced  to  camp  in  the  open.  The  enlist- 
ments of  many  of  the  Kentuckians  were  soon  to  run  out,  and  it  appeared 
that  the  expedition  would  melt  away  without  an  important  engagement 
with  the  British  or  their  Indian  allies.  The  left  wing  of  Harrison's 
army,  commanded  by  Winchester  and  composed  of  Kentucky  volunteers 
under  Colonels  William  Lewis  and  John  Allen,  reached  Fort  Defiance  at 
the  Rapids  of  the  Maumee  in  early  January.  They  learned  that  a  body 
of  about  400  Canadian  militia  and  Indians  were  encamped  at  Frenchtown, 
to  the  northward  on  the  River  Raisin — a  sort  of  outpost  to  Detroit  and 
Maiden.  The  impetuous  Kentuckians  immediately  conceived  the  idea 
of  attacking  them,  and  to  this  end  prevailed  upon  Winchester  to  give 
them  permission.  On  the  i8th  of  January  they  fell  upon  the  town,  cap- 
turing it  and  driving  the  garrison  into  the  wilderness.  Winchester,  on 
hearing  of  the  exploit,  was  greatly  elated  and  resolved  to  hold  the  fort 
■ — a  foolhardy  decision,  considering  the  fact  that  a  strong  British  gar- 
rison was  in  Maiden,  only  eighteen  miles  away. 

The  logical  outcome  of  this  dangerous  situation  soon  developed.  Two 
thousand  British  and  Indians,  under  Colonel  Proctor,  from  Maiden  ap- 
peared in  front  of  Frenchtown  on  the  22d  and  soon  began  an  assault. 
The  troops  inside  the  fortifications  withstood  the  attack  with  success, 
beating  off  the  assailants,  but  other  detachments  in  expose'd  positions 
in  the  open  were  thrown  into  a  panic.  Many  were  taken  prisoners,  includ- 
ing General  W'incliestcr,  who  had  come  up  with  a  small  detachment  be- 
fore the  battle,  and  Colonel  Lewis.  Colonel  Allen  was  killed  while  at- 
tempting to  rally  his  men.  But  the  detachment  in  the  palisades  still  held 
out  against  the  most  determined  attacks  of  the  enemy.  Rather  than 
continue  the  attack  longer.  Proctor  offered  the  garrison  protection  from 
Indian  massacre  if  it  should  surrender.  After  some  negotiations  this 
was  agreed  to  and  the  part  of  the  garrison  that  was  able  marched  out 
prisoners  of  war  to  Maiden.  The  wounded  were  left  in  Frenchtown 
without  proper  protection.  Early  the  following  morning  200  Indians, 
drunk  with  success,  broke  into  the  encampment  and,  with  utter  lack  of 
restraint,  brutally  massacred  every  prisoner  there.  Regardless  of  whether 
this  was  sanctioned  by  the  British.  Proctor  deserved  the  infamy  that 
has  surrounded  his  name,   for  he   failed  to  leave  the  proper  guards  to 

*'' N lies'  Register,  Vol.  3,  p.  274. 


r)r)G  HISTORY  oi-  kf.x'itckv 

pioti'ct  llu-  wounded  inixnicrs  lioni  llic  Indians,  whose  lliirsl  fur  hlnod 
and  vi'n_tjeance  In-  amid  easily  lia\e  guessed.'^ 

Tlie  news  of  tliis  brutal  massacre  was  received  in  Kentucky  witli 
indignation  and  rage,  but  there  were  no  signs  of  fear  or  consternation. 
Rather,  the  pcojile  steeled  their  souls  with  the  determination  that  the  war 
must  be  carricfl  with  redoubled  vigor  to  a  successful  conclusitjn.  The 
power  of  nritain  must  be  humbled  and  her  savage  allies  must  be  def- 
initely and  forever  crushed.  It  was  reported  that  "The  news  of  the 
disaster  under  lliiichcstcr  has  added  a  new  fl.ime  to  the  ardor  of  the 
west."  The  effect  of  the  news  in  Frankfort  is  thus  described:  "When 
the  news  arrived  at  Frankfort  last  evening,  almost  the  whole  town  were 
at  the  theatre,  the  governor  among  the  rest.  He  was  called  out  and, 
of  course,  the  news  soon  spread  through  the  house;  at  the  conclusion 
of  the  third  act  the  whole  audience  had  retired.  Here  you  see  fathers 
going  about  half  distracted,  while  mothers,  wives  and  sisters  are  weep- 
ing at  home.  The  voice  of  lamentation  is  loud ;  the  distress  is  deep ;  yet 
neither  ]niblic  nor  private  distress  can  damp  the  ardor  of  the  people. 
Already  they  propose  raising  a  new  army  to  revenge  the  loss  of  their 
brave  countrymen.  It  is  confidently  expected  our  town  will  raise  a 
company  in  a  few  days.  You  witnessed  the  emotion  of  all  ranks  of 
people  after  the  shameful  surrender  of  Hull.  1  need  only  say  the  same 
spirit  ])revails  at  present."  ■•*  The  Legislature  called  for  3,000  troops, 
to  be  drafted  if  the  number  was  not  raised  by  volunteering,  and  took 
the  extraordinary  course  of  calling  on  (iovernor  Shelby  to  lead  them. 
.\  committee  of  that  body  issued  a  ringing  api)eal  for  volunteers :  "Fcl- 
Un^'  cilhcns — The  fate  of  our  volunteers  that  ha\e  recently  fallen  by  the 
enemy,  and  the  situation  of  those  that  still  remain  under  the  connnand 
of  General  Harrison,  demand  more  of  us  than  the  sympathetic  tear — 
some  measure  Jitore  efficient  than  that  of  mourning  must  be  resorted  to. 
It  is  expected  that  an  immediate  call  will  be  made  once  more  upon  the 
patriotism  of  Kentucky  for  another  requisition  of  volunteers,  our 
viCNERABLi-:  (lOVERNOR — the  distinguished  hero  of  King's  Mountain,  will 
lead  his  western  sons  on  to  battle  and  give  them  an  opportunity  of 
avenging  the  death  of  their  brothers.  We  should  soar  above  misfortune 
and  surmount  all  difficulties  at  times  like  the  ]iresent — who  can  remain 
inactive  at  home,  while  our  fellow-citizens  are  falling  victims  to  a  rapa- 
cious enemy?  Then  obey  the  call — let  us  fly  to  the  standard  of  our 
country — looking  to  hi.m  for  support,  who  rules  the  destinies  of  the 
world."  ■•» 

This  appeal  was  not  in  vain.  \'oluntcer  companies  sprang  up  in  all 
;lie  princijjal  towns  of  the  state.  The  county  militia  was  ])araded  in 
I'rankfort  to  stimulate  volunteering,  and  in  less  than  thirty  minutes  100 
men  had  step])ed  forward  for  service.  The  rest  of  the  comnnuiily  showed 
lis  patriotic  ardor  by  subscribing  $3,500  toward  equi])])ing  the  troops. 
In  Lexington  a  regiment  of  militia  was  paraded  to  raise  the  town  (piota 

*''  For  Rencral  accounls  <if  this  expedition  sec,  AfcMa.ster,  Hi.<:tor\  of  llic  Pi'npic 
of  lite  United  .Sliilc:,  IV',  19-27;  Collins,  lli.ilory  of  Kentucky,  I,  agy,  302;  Slialer, 
Kentucky.  1.S9-162;  McElroy,  Kentncl;y  in  tlie  Nation's  History.  .■?37-.343.  For  more 
detailed  accounts  see  Robert  B.  Mc.-\fee,  ./  History  of  the  Late  War  in  tlie  Western 
Country  (LcxinRtnn.  1816)  ;  William  Atlierton,  Narrative  of  llie  Suffering  and 
Defeat  of  the  Norlhu'estrrn  Army  under  General  Winthester :  Massacre  of  the 
Prisoners:  .S'/.r  ifonlli.<:'  Iml^risomnenl  of  the  Writer  and  Others  witli  the  Indians 
and  British  (Frankfort,  184J)  ;  and  Elias  Darnell.  ./  Journal  Containing  an  Accurate 
and  /ntereslini)  .Iceonnt  of  tlie  Ilardsliifs.  Sufferings.  Battles,  Defeat  and  Caj'ti^'ity 
of  those  Heroic  Kentucky  Volunteers  and  Regulars.  Commanded  hy  General  Win- 
chester in  the  Year  iSri-lj!,  Also  T'lCo  Narratives,  by  Men  that  '<i.'cre  ll'oiinded 
ill  the  Battles  on  the  lii'.'cr  Kaisin,  and  Taken  Capli'r  h\'  the  Indians  (Philadelphia, 
1854.). 

'*  Niles'  Reqisler,  Vol.  3.   p.   ^97. 

*^Nile.<:'  Register,  ^'ol.  4.  i).  8_'. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  557 

of  sixty-nine  men,  but  when  the  performance  was  over,  eighty-three 
were  found  to  have  vokmteered.'''"  So  were  the  reports  from  otlier  parts 
of  the  state.  Richard  M.  Johnson  set  to  raising  a  regiment  of  mounted 
men,  whicli  he  found  little  ditficully  in  filling.  According  to  a  letter 
from  Georgetown,  "This  suits  Kentuckians.  In  the  old  war  they  were 
all  carried  to  the  enemy  on  horseback.  They  were  prejudiced  in  favor  of  a 
corps  of  this  description.  All  seem  to  be  aroused — men  above  forty-five 
and  boys  under  eighteen  years  of  age  are  volunteering,  anxious  fur  an 
opportunity  to  avenge  the  blood  of  their  slaughtered  friends."  "'' 

But  despite  the  whole-hearted  support  the  people  were  giving  to  the 
war  in  the  face  of  discouraging  defeats  and  circumstances  that  might 
have  conceivably  been  averted,  there  were  evils  that  needed  to  be  eradi- 
cated and  conditions  that  v^'ere  calling  for  remedying.  The  militia  sys- 
tem carried  with  it  little  that  was  good.  Scant  training  was  given  the 
men,  and  as  one  result  insubordination  and  mutinies  often  had  to  be 
dealt  with.  In  the  heat  of  the  enthusiasm  that  led  him  to  volunteer,  the 
Westerner  was  a  good  soldier.  But  delays  and  irksome  toil  soon  caused 
his  native  c[ualities  of  individuality  and  self-assertiveness  to  appear,  and 
the  little  training  that  he  had  received  was  not  sufficient  to  maintain  in 
him  the  feelings  of  obedience  to  orders.  Governor  Shelby,  in  his  mes- 
sage to  the  Legislature  in  December,  1812,  believed  that  the  militia  laws 
were  defective.  "The  law,"  he  said,  "ought  to  compel  both  officers  and 
soldiers  promptly  to  perform  their  duty — yet  not  to  be  oppressive." 
Another  evil  was  the  lack  of  arms,  provisions  and  clothing.  Men  were 
enlisted  and  called  soldiers  who  were  given  neither  guns  nor  uniforms 
for  months.  On  this  point  the  governor  said :  "A  well  regulated  militia 
will  avail  little  unless  certain  means  be  adopted  for  the  procurement  of 
an  adequate  supply  of  arms  and  ammunition  and  the  erection  of  maga- 
zines in  convenient  situations  for  the  safe-keeping  and  preserving  of  mil- 
itary stores,  when  procured."  He  wanted  to  greatly  impress  this  upon 
the  Legislature,  declaring  that  "Self-defence,  the  great  ruling  principle 
in  man,  ought  to  awaken  the  rulers  of  the  commonwealth  to  guard  her 
rights,  protect  her  interests  and  be  ready  to  meet  any  casualty."  If  the 
resources  of  the  state  did  not  warrant  the  expenditure  immediately  of 
money  sufficient  to  carry  out  this  purpose,  then  it  should  be  done  grad- 
ually: for,  "This  measure,  if  adopted,  will  ensure  respect  abroad,  pre- 
serve tranquillity  at  home  and,  upon  an  emergency,  enable  the  militia  of 
the  state  to  march  with  promptness  to  any  point  they  may  be  ordered."  ^'- 

But  a  defect  still  more  dangerous,  especially  at  this  time,  was  the 
short  term  enlistments.  The  expedition  to  the  River  Raisin  had  been 
partly  prompted  by  the  fact  that  the  enlistments  of  many  of  the  men 
were  about  to  expire  and  their  consequent  desire  to  have  a  brush  with 
the  enemy  before  retiring.  Harrison  now  found  himself  in  a  precarious 
situation,  with  a  victorious  enemy  ready  to  advance  and  a  disorganized 
and  defeated  army  ready  to  melt  away  by  the  expiration  of  enlistments. 
The  dangers  were  so  great  that  the  Kentucky  Legislature  appealed  to  the 
troops  to  remain  a  few  months  longer.  In  a  spirited  address  to 
"fellow-citizens  and  soldiers  in  arms"  it  reminded  them  of  their 
heritage  from  the  past  and  how  "the  spirit  of  your  fathers  aroused 
you  from  the  slumber  of  indolence  to  undertake  the  turmoils  and  sur- 
mount the  kdxir  and  hardships  of  camps,  to  shew  our  ancient  enemy 
that  you  knew  how  to  value  and  maintain  the  independence  we  held  as 
the  gift  of  llea\en  only,  to  wi])e  off  the  foul  stain  which  had  been  cast 
upon  the  American  name  by  the  base  surrender  of  one  of  our  armies — • 
to  avenge  the  shades  of  slaughtered  brethren,  of   helpless   women   and 

^"Miles'  Register,  Vol.  4.  pp.  67,   116. 
^'^  Niks'  Register  Vol.  4,  p.  116. 
52  Niics"  Register,  Vol.  3,  p.  274. 


558  IIISIURV  UF  K1-:N1  LCKV 

infants — to  drive  back  tli:it  audacious  cneni)'  and  her  savage  allies,  who 
had  profaned  our  soil  with  their  hostile  and  triumphant  steps— to  make 
them  feel  the  evils  of  the  war  at  their  own  doors;  in  a  word,  to  plant 
the  standard  which  bears  your  country's  eagle  on  the  walls  of  Maiden." 
Generous  symiiathy  was  expressed  for  their  suffering:  "You  have  with 
heroic  fortitude  borne  cold,  hunger  and  fatigue."  Victory  was  just  in 
sight,  it  declared,  and  would  not  the  joys  of- their  return  be  dampened, 
it  inquired,  if  they  .should  now  return?  It  could  not  command  them 
to  remain,  but  the  Legislature  would  show  its  api)reciation  to  those  who 
chose  to  stay  to  defend  their  country  by  voting  them  $7  \)cr  month,  in 
addition  to  the  $5  they  received  from  the  Federal  Government.  It  closed 
its  petition  with  the  final  plea:  "Fclloza  citizens  and  soldiers,  such 
another  ojiportunity  may  never  again  occur  to  crown  yourselves  with 
honor.  The  eyes  of  your  state,  your  county,  are  on  you.  Act  worthy 
yourselves  and  all  will  be  well."  ■'"•' 

The  situation  seemed  indeed  desperate  for  Harrison,  and  Kentucky 
felt  that  it  was  to  a  great  extent  her  duty  and  responsibility  to  come  to 
the  rescue.  There  were  soon  four  regiments  ready  to  march.  They 
were  placed  under  the  command  of  Gen.  Green  Clay  and  were  imme- 
diately started  for  the  relief  of  the  Northwestern  forces.  On  reaching 
Cincinnati  in  early  April,  Gen.  Clay  reminded  his  troo]K  of  their  duty 
and  the  responsibility  that  rested  on  them.  He  stated  that  they  were 
about  to  leave  the  state  that  had  given  many  of  them  birth  and  that  he 
felt  conscious  they  would  rather  see  their  country  no  more  "than  to 
return  to  it  under  the  impression  that  by  any  act  of  yours  the  high  char- 
acter of  Kentucky  had  fallen."  Mindful  of  the  unsoldierly  conduct  of 
some  of  the  raw  levies  on  previous  occasions  he  called  upon  them  to 
meet  with  fortitude  "the  hardships,  and  discharge  the  duties  of  soldiers." 
"Discipline  and  subordination,"  he  declared,  "mark  the  real  soklier  and 
are  indeed  the  soul  of  an  army.  In  every  situation,  therefore,  the  most 
perfect  subordination — the  most  rigid  discharge  of  duty  will  be  expected 
from  all.  Partiality  or  injustice  shall  be  shewn  to  none.  *  *  *  It  is 
upon  you — it  is  upon  your  subordination  and  discipline  I  rely  for  a  suc- 
cessful issue  of  the  present  campaign.  Without  this  confidence  and  sup- 
port we  shall  ac!iie\e  nothing  honorable  or  useful."  In  closing  his  ad- 
dress, he  called  upon  them  to  "remember  Ike  dreadful  fate  of  your 
BUTCHERED  liiiOTHERs  at  tlie  Rii'er  Raisin — tliat  British  treachery  pro- 
duced their  slaughter."  ^'' 

Fven  before  hearing  of  the  massacre  at  the  River  Raisin,  Harrison 
had  begun  the  construction  of  a  fort  on  the  rapids  of  the  Maumee,  not 
far  from  Lake  Erie.  It  was  called  Fort  Meigs,  in  honor  of  the  governor 
of  Ohio.  After  his  victory  at  Frenchtown,  Proctor  could  easily  have 
marched  upon  the  remnants  of  the  American  forces  under  Harrison, 
and  there  might  conceivably  have  ensued  another  River  Raisin,  but  for 
some  reason  the  British  delayed  until  Harrison  had  com])leted  his  fort. 
In  early  April,  a  few  days  after  the  first  advance  guards  of  the  Ken- 
tuckians  had  reached  the  fort,  Proctor  advanced  up  the  river  with  canon 
and  amjjle  provisions,  bent  on  laying  siege  to  the  American  stronghold. 
When  the  main  body  of  the  Kentuckians  arrived  they  found  Harrison 
strongly  invested  by  about  3,200  of  the  enemy,  including  a  body  of 
Indians  under  Tecumsch.  In  carrying  out  certain  maneuvers  a  consid- 
erable body  of  Kentuckians  under  General  Clay  succeeded  in  breaking 
their  way  into  the  fort,  but  in  another  ])art  of  the  action  a  group  of 
Kentuckians,  elated  over  a  temporary  success,  coinmitted  a  blunder  and 

'•^ Acts  of  Kcntucliy.  iSiz,  107-109;  Nilcs"  Register,  Vol.  3,  p.  389;  McMaster, 
History  of  the  People  of  the  Uniled  Stales,  III,  543.  The  text  of  the  law,  itself, 
may  be  found  in  Niles'  Recjisler,  Vol.  3,  pp.  389,  .390. 

^*  Niles'  Register,  Vol.  4,  148,   149.     General  Orders,  April  7. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  559 

were  almost  annihilated  by  the  Indians.  Proctor,  much  exaggerating  the 
numbers  of  the  Americans  and  hearing  of  British  defeat  on  the  Niagara 
frontier,  abandoned  the  siege  and  returned  to  Maiden.  A  few  months 
later  he  made  a  feeble  effort  to  take  Fort  Meigs,  but  was  easily  beaten 
off  by  General  Clay,  who  had  been  left  in  charge.  Before  returning  this 
time  to  Maiden,  Proctor  decided  to  forage  around  to  the  southeast  in 
the  Cleveland  regions.  I-ying  not  far  tu  the  southea^l  nt  l''oit  .Meigs  was 
Fort  Stephenson,  occupied  by  Maj.  George  Croghan  and  about  150  .Amer- 
icans. He  had  been  ordered  by  Harrison  previously  to  abandon  his 
position  and  destroy  the  fort  as  untenable.  On  earnest  entreaties  to  be 
allowed  to  defend  it,  he  was  given  permission.  Soon  Proctor,  with  about 
1,500  troops,  appeared  before  the  fort  and  demanded  its  surrender. 
Croghan  replied:  "We  are  determined  to  maintain  this  place,  and  by 
Heaven  we  will."  Angered  by  the  impertinence  of  this  young  Kentucky 
officer  of  twenty-two,  Proctor  ordered  a  bombardment  to  be  followed 
up  with  an  assault.  With  such  skill  did  the  Americans  direct  their  tire 
that  every  ofificer  and  one-fifth  of  the  men  in  the  assaulting  columns  were 
killed,  wounded  or  missing.  Proctor  now  beat  a  hasty  retreat  to  Maiden 
for  a  second  time.'^  This  feat,  coming  in  a  rather  depressing  period  of 
America's  fortunes,  excited  the  popular  imagination,  and  Croghan's  name 
was  on  every  tongue.^* 

As  the  military  situation  existed  in  the  summer  of  1813,  a  year  after 
the  war  had  begun  and  the  Kentuckians  had  so  confidently  expected  to 
capture  Canada,  the  Americans,  instead  of  having  gained  anything  in 
the  West,  had  lost  a  considerable  part  of  the  country.  Hopes  and  expec- 
tations had  been  shattered,  despite  the  boundless  enthusiasm  and  energy 
the  Kentuckians  had  shown  from  the  very  beginning.  If  the  war  was 
to  be  won  in  the  West,  new  arinies  must  be  raised  and  a  new  plan  of 
campaign  must  be  formulated.  The  British  must  not  only  be  expelled 
from  American  soil,  but  the  war  should  be  carried  into  Canada,  the 
original  objective.  Instead  of  the  British  in  possession  of  Detroit,  the 
Americans  should  be  holding  Maiden.  And  plans  were  soon  on  foot  for 
accomplishing  this  very  purpose.  Harrison  had  been  assigned  on  paper 
7,000  troops  to  carry  forward  this  movement,  but  in  actuality  he  was 
scarcely  able  to  muster  2,600.  The  only  course  left  for  him  to  follow 
was  to  call  on  Kentucky  for  aid,  who  had  already  borne  the  principal 
part  of  the  war  in  the  West.  Toward  the  end  of  July,  Governor  Shelby 
was  requested  by  General  Harrison  to  send  to  his  aid  not  under  400  nor 
over  2.000  men,  but  he  sent  a  special  and  separate  communication  stating 
that  he  would  receive  an  additional  1.500  volunteers  "if  they  could  be 
marched  to  his  aid  speedily." 

As  these  requests  did  not  come  through  the  regular  channels  of  the 
War  Department,  Shelby  immediately  communicated  to  the  Secretary 
of  War  the  steps  he  was  about  to  undertake  for  the  purpose  of  receiving 
the  approbation  of  the  President.  As  no  answer  came,  Shelby  proceeded 
with  vigor,  not  awaiting  the  slow  processes  of  the  Federal  Government. 
On  July  31  he  issued  a  proclamation  calling  on  volunteers  to  assemble 
at  Newport  within  a  month  for  the  purpose  of  marching  against  the 
British.  He  now  announced  his  intention  of  complying  with  the  invita- 
tion and  wishes  of  the  Kentucky  Legislature  of  the  previous  February  3, 
when  they  requested  him  to  take  command  of  the  Kentucky  troops.  In 
the  proclamation  he  said:    "I  will  meet  you  there  [Newport]  in  person; 


»^  McAfee,  Late  War  in  The  Western  County,  300  et  seq ;  Collins,  History  of 
Kentucky,  I,  302-306;  Shaler,  Kentucky,  162-165;  McMaster,  History  of  the  People 
of  the  United  States,  IV,  27,  28. 

'•'  Croghan  was  born  near  Louisville  in  1791.  His  father  had  been  a  Revolu- 
tionary officer,  and  his  mother  was  a  sister  of  George  Rogers  Clark.  He  received 
his  education  at  William  and  Mary  College. 


.j60  lllSToKV  u\'   KEXTLCKV 

1  will  lead  you  to  the  field  of  battle  and  share  witli  you  the  dangers  and 
honors  of  the  campaign."  •'■' 

Shelby  was  now  preparing  to  enter  acti\ely  for  a  second  time  war- 
fare against  Great  I'.ritain.  Although  sixty-six  years  old,  he  was  anxious 
to  do  his  part.  In  his  first  message  to  the  Legislature  in  1812  he  had 
said :  "'No  circumstance  could  have  brought  me  from  my  retirement 
at  this  stage  of  life  except  in  compliance  with  the  voice  of  my  fellow- 
citizens,  which  has  ever  been  respected  by  me  with  the  highest  venera- 
tion. If  a  gracious  Providence  shall  be  pleased  U>  indulge  me  with  days 
to  serve  my  country  during  the  constitutional  jiL-riod  for  which  I  have 
been  elected,  it  will  be  a  source  of  great  gratification  in  my  retirement 
should  my  endeavors  to  promote  the  interest  of  our  common  country 
meet  the  reasonable  expectations  of  my  fellow-citizens.  Integrity  and 
a  due  attention  to  the  duties  of  the  office  are  all  I  can,  on  my  part,  prom- 
ise.''■"'■'*  Just  before  he  was  ready  to  set  out  for  the  Xorthwestern  battle 
front,  North  Carolina  tardily  carried  out  a  long-announced  intention  of 
presenting  him  with  a  sword  in  recognition  of  his  Revolutionary  services. 
In  the  words  of  a  news  account :  "This  sword,  of  exquisite  and  costly 
workmanshi]),  was  jjresented  as  the  venerable  warrior  *  *  *  [was] 
preparing  to  set  out  for  the  X.  W.  frontier. — A  happy  time ! — May  glory 
light  upon  it !"  •'■"  W'ith  about  4,000  troops  Shelby  passed  through  Cin- 
cinnati during  the  first  week  in  September. 

In  the  meantime  another  development  of  tremendous  consequences 
was  fast  apj)roaching  a  conclusion.  It  was  seen  early  by  the  strategists 
of  the  war  that  the  nation  that  controlled  the  Great  Lakes  would  hold 
the  key  to  the  Western  country — of  the  United  States  as  well  as  of 
Canada.  Following  out  this  idea  Commodore  Perry  had  feverishly  set 
to  work  to  build  a  small  fleet  on  Lake  Erie  to  wrest  control  from  the 
British  and  pave  the  way  for  a  strong  invasion  of  Canada.  The  battle 
of  Lake  Lrie  took  place  on  September  10,  with  a  complete  victory  for 
Perry's  small  fleet.  About  150  Kentucky  militia  were  detailed  to  this 
flotilla  as  marines,  and  in  the  fight  they  took  an  active  part.  This  victory 
laid  all  lower  Canada  open  to  invasion  by  Harrison's  forces.  No  delay 
was  made  in  taking  advantage  of  the  situation.  Shelby,  who  had  now 
arrived  on  the  Sandusky  River  with  his  mounted  volunteers,  joined  Har- 
rison's forces,  all  together  now  numbering  about  6,500  men.  Having 
sent  Col.  R.  M.  Johnson  with  1,000  mounted  men  to  Detroit,  the  main 
forces,  leaving  their  horses  behind,  embarked  on  Perry's  little  fleet  and 
sailed  down  the  Sandusky  and  across  Lake  Erie  to  a  point  three  miles 
below  Maiden.  Proctor,  with  500  regulars  and  a  few  thousand  Indians 
under  Tecumseh.  wisely  took  fright,  burned  the  public  buildings  in 
Maiden  and  in  Detroit  and  began  a  retreat  to  the  north  and  east.  Having 
at  last  landed  his  troo]5S  on  enemy  soil,  Llarrison,  on  September  27,  issued 
this  general  order:  "The  general  intreats  his  brave  troops  to  remember 
that  they  are  the  sons  of  sires  whose  fame  is  immortal:  That  they  are 
to  fight  for  the  rights  of  tlicir  insulted  country,  whilst  their  ojiponents 
comb.at  for  the  unjust  pretensions  of  a  master. 

"kf.ntuckt.ans — reniember  the  River  Raisin;  but  remember  it  only 
whilst  the  victory  is  suspended.  The  revenge  of  a  soldier  cannot  be 
gratified  ujjon  a  fallen  enemy."  "" 

On  reaching  Sandwich,  across  the  river  from  Detroit,  Harrison  was 

"'Text  of  Proclamation  in  M'Afee,  Late  War  i'»  the  IVesteni  Country,  336,  337. 
Also  sec  Slu'll).v'.s  Message  to  the  Legislature  December  7,  1813  in  A'lVr.t'  Register, 
Vol.  5,  305,  306. 

"8  Mes!;age  of  December  8,   1812  in  Niles'  Reijister,  Vol.  3,  p.  274. 

'"''  Niles'  Recjister,  Vol.  5,  p.  42.  For  the  correspondence  relative  to  the  presenta- 
tion see  Ibid,  229. 

'^^  i\'ile.t'  Refiister,  Vol.  5,  p.  149.  For  the  battle  of  Lake  Eric  sec  McMaster, 
History  iif  the  People  of  the  United  Stoles.  IV,  30-39. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  561 

joined  by  Colonel  Johnson  with  his  mounted  troops.  Proctor,  believing 
himself  greatly  outnumbered — the  fact  being  so — retreated  eastward, 
much  against  the  will  and  entreaties  of  Tecumseh,  who  was  having  great 
difficulty  in  holding  his  Indian  warriors  together.  Finally,  on  the  upper 
Thames  River,  Proctor  halted  and  offered  battle.  Johnson  asked  and 
was  given  permission  to  carry  out  a  daring  attack  on  the  Indian  con- 
tingent of  the  I'ritish  forces  and  succeeded  in  breaking  through  the 
British  lines  with  another  part  of  his  horsemen,  which  almost  resulted 
in  the  capture  of  Proctor  himself.  Soon  the  British  were  demoralized 
and  in  utter  confusion.  They  surrendered  outright,  while  the  Indians 
who  remained  took  to  flight,  but  not  until  the  brave  and  far-seeing  Indian 
warrior  and  statesman  Tecumseh,  had  fallen — at  the  hand  of  Colonel 
Tohnson  in  single  combat,  according  to  an  old  tradition.''' 

riie  battle  of  the  Thames  was  decisive  and  far-reaching.  It  broke 
the  power  of  the  Indians  in  the  Old  Northwest  forever,  and  not  only 
freed  this  region  from  British  occupation,  but  gave  virtual  control  of 
nnich  of  Canada  to  the  American  army.  Ten  days  after  the  battle  the 
Kentuckians  had  been  mustered  out  and  were  on  their  way  back  home. 
Only  two  brigades  of  United  Slates  regular  were  left  to  protect  the 
region  north  of  the  Maumee — but  a  force  sufficient  for  all  purposes. 
This  was  preeminently  a  Kentucky  victory,  as  Harrison's  army  was  made 
up  almost  entirely  of  Kentuckians,  the  only  exceptions  being  a  few 
regulars  and  some  volunteers  from  around  Cincinnati.  In  his  official 
report  Harrison  bore  testimony  to  the  heroic  part  Kentucky  had  played : 
"As  to  the  conduct  of  the  officers  that  were  under  his  command,  he  was 
at  a  loss  how  to  mention  that  of  Governor  Shelby,  being  convinced 
that  no  eulogium  of  mine  can  reach  his  merits.  The  governor  of  an 
independent  state,  greatly  my  su])crior  in  years,  in  experience  and  military 
character,  he  placeil  himself  under  my  command,  and  was  not  more  re- 
markable for  his  zeal  and  activity  than  for  the  promptitude  and  cheerful- 
ness with  which  he  obeyed  my  orders.  Major-Generals  Henry  and  Desha 
and  the  Brigadiers  Allen,  Caldwell,  King,  Childs  and  Trotter,  all  of  the 
Kentucky  volunteers,  manifested  heroic  zeal  and  activity.  Of  Governor 
Shelby's' staff,  his  adjutant  general.  Colonel  M'Dowell,  and  his  quarter- 
master general,  Colonel  Walker,  rendered  great  service,  as  did  his  aids 
de  camp.  General  Adair  and  Majors  Barry  and  Crittenden.  The  military 
skill  of  the  former  was  of  great  service  to  us.  and  the  activity  of  the 
later  gentlemen  could  not  be  surpassed.  *  *  *" ''-  On  the  effects  of 
the  battle,  Shelby  .said  in  his  message  to  the  Legislature  in  December, 
1813:  "The  campaign,  under  the  guidance  of  a  gracious  and  overruling 
Providence,  terminated  favorably  to  our  arms.  To  say  nothing  of  the 
destruction  of  public  property  and  of  the  immense  stores  of  arms  and 
munitions  of  war  taken  from  the  enemy,  it  has  added  to  the  United 
States  an  extent  of  territory  of  great  value  which,  if  not  surrendered  to 
the  enemy  upon  a  general  peace,  will  forever  put  to  silence  our  savage 
foes  that  have  so  long  infested  the  Western  country,  they  being  now 
completely  severed  from  British  influence.""-'  By  September  of  1813, 
Kentucky  had  furnished  almost  17,500  volunteers  and  militia,  not  to  men- 


"1  There  is  no  positive  proof  that  Johnson  killed  Tecumseh,  althou'gh  see 
Schouler,  Hislory  of  the  United  States.  II,  ,^85;  B.  H.  Young,  The  Battle  of  the 
Thames  (Louisville,  1903),  87,  88;  and  Mc.-\ffee,  Late  '•.^■ar  in  the  Western  Country, 
395.  Johnson  was  born  at  Bryant  Station,  in  Fayette  County,  about  the  time  of  the 
Battle  of  the  Blue  Licks. 

'■-  Reporter,  October  30,  181.^,  (|uoted  in  McElroy,  Keiitueky  in  the  Nation's 
History,  354,  355.  For  acc(nnits  of  the  battle  see  McXffec,  Late  IVar  in  the  Western. 
Country;  McMaster,  History  of  the  People  of  the  United  States,  IV,  38-41 ;  Collins, 
History  of  Kentucky,  I,  307-309- 

'^^Niles'  Register,  Vol.  s,  p.  306. 


562  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

tion  the  Kentuckians  who  were  regulars  in  tlie  United  States  army."< 
Truly  the  war  in  the  West  was  a  Kentucky  war. 

The  immediate  military  situation  having  been  solved  so  satisfactorily 
for  the  Kentuckians,  they  now  had  more  time  to  think  about  and  agitate 
the  contiiuiance  of  the  war.  At  no  time,  even  in  their  worst  disasters, 
had  ihev  thought  of  making  a  weak  peace,  but,  with  conditions  greatly 
changed  now.  they  assumed  a  strong  attitude  in  favor  of  continuing  the 
war  until  the  uttermost  demands  of  the  United  States  should  be  secured. 
They  had  a  feeling,  and  there  was  much  reason  for  it,  that  the  war  in 
the  West  was  in  a  considerable  measure  a  Kentucky  war  and  that,  there- 
fore, it  should  be  a  Kentucky  peace.  On  every  occasion  they  upheld 
the  war  by  acts  and  resolutions  and  urged  the  Federal  Government  for- 
ward in  a  vigorous  prosecution  of  it.  In  the  elections  of  1813,  the  state 
.sent  a  .solid  delegation  of  democrats  to  Congress,  bent  on  sujjporting  the 
national  administration.''-"'  The  opposition  party  was  almost  negligible 
here,  and  it  appeared  so  especially  in  this  election,  even  coming  in  the 
most  disastrous  i)art  of  the  war.  For  example,  in  Fayette  County  the 
democratic  vote  ran  from  1.468  to  1,268,  as  against  435  to  173  for  the 
opi)osition — and  this  opposition  was  by  no  means  of  the  New  England 
federalist  type.  The  editor  of  the  Kentucky  Gaactte  rejoiced  oyer  the 
democratic  victories,  and  as  for  those  "who  feel  so  deeply  luortified  at 
the  result  of  the  election,  we  must  be  permitted  to  withhold  even  sym- 
pathy—they 'reckoned  without  their  host'  and  deceived  themselves."'"' 

The  apprehensions  .so  often  expressed  in  Kentucky  that  the  Federal 
Government  would  be  led  to  make  peace  before  the  purposes  of  the  war 
should  be  attained  were  not  without  foundations.  The  war  was  scarcely 
three  months  old  before  a  movement  toward  peace  negotiations  was  on 
foot.  On  September  21,  1812,  Russia,  who  was  an  ally  of  Great  Britain's 
but  at  the  same  time  a  friend  to  America,  offered  her  services  as  a 
mediator.    As  the  European  situation  was  becoming  much  more  favorable 

8*/6irf  ISO  173  On  April  6,  1818,  Congress  passed  a  resolution  conveying  its 
thanks  "to  Major  General  W.  Henry  Harrison  and  Isaac  Shelby,  late  Governor  of 
Kentucky  and  throURh  them  to  the  officers  and  men  under  their  coniin.and,  for 
their  callantry  and  Rood  conduct  in  defeating  the  comhuied  British  and  Indian 
forces  under  Major  General  Proctor,  on  the  Thames  in  upper  Canada,  on  the 
sth  (iav  of  October  1813.  capturing  the  British  army  with  their  baggage,  camp 
equipage  and  artillery;  and  that  the  President  of  the  United  States  be  requested  to 
cause  two  gold  medals  \n  be  struck,  emblematical  of  this  triumph,  and  presented  to 
General  Harrison  and  Isaac  Shelby,  late  Governor  of  Kentucky.  Annals  of 
Conqrcss  IS  Sess.  Vol.  2,  1818,  2601,  2602.  Referring  to  the  campaign  in  the 
\orthwe.st  of  Kentucky's  part  in  it,  in  his  Fifth  Annual  Message  to  Congress, 
December  7,  1813,  President  Madison  said:  "The  success  on  Lake  brie  havmg 
opened  a  passage"  to  the  territory  of  the  enemy,  the  officer  commanding  the  North- 
western armv  transferred  the  war  thitlier,  and  rapidly  pursuing  the  hostile  troops 
fleeing  witli  their  savage  associates,  forced  a  general  action,  which  quickly  termmatea 
in  the  capture  of  the   British  and   disix-rsion  of  the  savage   forces. 

"This  result  is  signally  honorable  to  Major-General  Harrison,  by  who.se  military 
talents  it  was  prepared;  to  Colonel  Johnson  and  his  mounted  volunteers,  wliosc 
impetuous  onset  gave  a  decisive  blow  to  the  ranks  of  tlie  enemy,  and  to  the  spirit 
of  the  volunteer  militia,  eiiually  brave  and  patriotic,  who  bore  an  interesting  part 
in  the  scene;  more  especially  to  the  chief  magistrate  of  Kentucky,  at  the  head  ot 
them  whose  heroism  signalized  in  the  war  which  established  the  independence 
of  this  country,  sought  at  an  advanced  age  a  share  in  hardships  and  battles  [or 
maintaining  its  rights  and  its  safety.  ^  .  ,    ,•  r    -it    1  ■ 

"The  effect  of  these  successes  has  been  to  rescue  the  inhabitants  ofMicliigan 
from  their  oppressions,  aggravated  by  gross  infractions  of  the  capitulation  which 
subjccte<l  them  to  a  foreign  power;  to  alienate  the  savages  of  numerous  tribes 
from  the  enemy,  by  whom  they  were  disappointed  and  abandoned,  and  to  relieve 
an  extensive  region  of  country  from  a  merciless  warfare  which  desolated  its 
frontiers  and  imposed  on  its  citizens  the  most  harassing  services."  American  State 
Papers   I-oreign  Relations,  I,  8s;  Richardson,  Messat/cs  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents. 

I.   .S3.S.' 

"'■Mies'  Rcci'ister,  \'ol.  .J,  p.   1.S2. 
""  August  10,  1813. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  563 

to  England,  President  Madison  considered  it  best  to  accept  the  Russian 
offer,  so  on  March  ii,  1813,  he  appointed  Albert  Gallatin,  John  Quincy 
Adams  and  James  A.  Bayard  on  a  mission  to  treat.  England  refused 
to  accept  the  mediation  of  Russia,  but,  fearing  to  offend  her  powerful 
ally,  she  on  July  13,  1813,  offered  to  negotiate  directly  with  the  United 
.States.  A  correspondence  immediately  began  between  the  two  powers 
looking  toward  a  satisfactory  basis  for  beginning  the  negotiations.  Inti- 
mations of  what  was  going  on  were  not  unknown  to  the  American  pub- 
lic, and  in  Kentucky  they  were  received  with  something  akin  to  dismay. 

A  series  of  resoultions  were  introduced  in  the  Legislature  on  January 
10,  1814.  expressing  in  vigorous  terms  the  feelings  of  Kentuckians  toward 
making  peace  at  that  time.  According  to  the  preamble  "This  state  was 
not  the  last  to  recommend  an  appeal  to  the  sword  as  the  ultimate  redress ; 
she  still  deems  that  decision  the  only  wise  alternative,  and  she  will  not 
be  the  first  to  retrace  her  steps  and  recede  from  that  momentous  resort 
so  imperiously  demanded  by  the  interest  of  the  nation,  with  whose  wel- 
fare our  own  as  a  state  is  not  only  connected  but  completely  identified."  '■'' 
In  the  resolutions  as  finally  passed  the  wording  was  somewhat  changed, 
but  the  sentiment  was  unimpaired.  Declaring  their  belief  that  they  rep- 
resented "the  almost  unanimous  sentiments  of  the  citizens  of  the  state," 
the  Legislature  declared  in  the  resolutions,  which  were  passed  Feb- 
ruary I,  their  firm  adherence  to  the  General  Governnaent  and  that  they 
possessed  "an  unabated  confidence"  in  the  administration,  believing  that 
it  was  "competent  to  steer  the  vessel  of  State  between  the  vortex  of 
domestic  faction  and  the  menacing  rocks  of  foreign  war."  And  as  to 
the  furtive  course  of  the  United  States  in  courting  peace,  it  was  resolved 
"That  the  overtures  of  peace  made  to  the  British  Government  by  ours 
since  the  declaration  of  war,  and  the  speedy  acceptance  of  the  proffered 
mediation  of  Russia,  are  irrefragable  evidences  (if  any  were  wanting) 
of  a  sincere  desire  for  a  restoration  of  the  blessings  of  peace  on  the  part 
of  our  own  and  of  a  persevering  determination  on  the  part  of  the  British 
Government  to  continue  to  our  own  Government  the  most  irrefragable 
arguments  for  a  vigorous,  energetic  and  zealous  prosecution  of  the 
war."  68 

As  time  went  on  more  news  of  the  movements  of  the  United  States 
in  seeking  peace  leaked  out.  It  was  disturbing  to  Kentuckians.  The 
purposes  of  the  war  had  not  yet  been  accomplished ;  Canada  was  still  to 
be  conquered  and  the  Indian  question  had  not  been  definitely  settled.  It 
was  worse  than  failure  for  the  war  to  stop  now;  it  would  be  criminal. 
The  editor  of  the  Kcntuckv  Gazette  believed  the  country  had  not  yet 
displayed  its  full  strength,  and  he  would  be  lulled  by  no  peace  talk  now, 
for,  under  present  conditions,  a  peace  could  not  be  lasting.  Let  the  war 
go  forward  with  redoubled  vigor:  "We  cannot  help  thinking  how  differ- 
ent a  peace  would  be  negotiated  on  the  walls  of  Quebec,  after  having 
beaten  and  destroyed  the  whole  British  force  in  North  America.  This 
would  give  us  some  military  reputation  and  consequence;  at  present  we 
want  both  to  make  us  respected  by  foreign  nations."  "'^  Lexington  and 
the  country-side,  in  their  annual  celebration  of  the  P'ourth  of  July  at 
Maxwell  Spring  in  1814,  held  no  uncertain  feelings  toward  America's 
peace-mongering.  One  of  the  toasts  was :  "That  we  view  the  peace- 
begging  missions  to  Europe  as  derogatory  to  our  charter  as  a  nation."  ■"' 

With   such  ideas  concerning  the  peace   question,   Kentuckians   were 

«'  Nilcs"  Register,  Vol.  5,  p.  403. 

^^  Amerieati  State  Papers,  Miscellaneous,  II,  235,  236.  In  the  original  draft, 
this  clause  was  added  to  the  above  resolution :  "But  those  advances  on  our  part 
have  reached  a  point,  below  which  no  independent  government  ought  to  descend." 
See  original  draft  in  Nilcs'  Register,  Vol.  5,  p.  403. 

««  April  4,  1814. 

'"'Kentucky  Gacette,  July  II,  1814. 


564  HISTORY  OF  KF,NTLCKV 

willing  to  throw  their  aid  in  any  direction  where  it  might  be  required. 
The  Southwest  was  fast  dc\elo])ing  into  an  area  of  major  operations 
where  Kentuckians  were  destined  soon  to  be  needed.  The  war  against 
America  had  taken  on  an  entirely  new  force  and  vigor  with  the  British 
after  Napoleon  was  forced  to  abdicate  on  .\pril  ii,  1814.  .Many  seasoned 
regulars  who  had  fought  the  best  in  the  Napoleonic  wars  were  now  re- 
leased for  a  fresh  assault  on  America,  .\mong  the  new  campaigns 
launched  by  the  British  was  the  movement  against  the  lower  Mississippi 
X'alley,  with  the  cajiture  of  New  Orleans  as  the  first  objective.  They 
had  already  taken  possession  of  Pensacola,  although  it  belonged  to  S])ain. 
a  country  friendly  to  the  United  States.  Mobile  and  other  Gulf  ports 
were  also  within  their  ken,  vantage  points  in  the  permanent  conquest  and 
possession  of  this  great  interior  region.  Their  plans  and  ambitions  were 
gigantic  and  destructive  to  the  power  of  .\merica  should  they  succeed 
Colonel  Nicoll,  who  was  in  Pensacola  prejiaring  the  way,  issued  in  the 
latter  part  of  August  a  flamb(jyant  proclamation  remarkable  for  the 
ignorance  and  arrogance  he  dis])layed  in  it.  Believing  that  all  Louisiana 
and  the  lower  Gulf  region  to  the  eastward  were  smarting  under  the 
tyranny  of  American  rule  and  only  waiting  an  op])orlune  time  to  throw 
off  the  yoke,  he  called  upon  them  "to  assist  in  liberating  from  a  faithless, 
imbecile  government  your  paternal  soil."  As  if  such  assumptions  were 
not  sufficiently  foolish,  he,  in  an  almost  unthinkable  act  of  extraordinary 
stupidity,  issued  a  call  to  the  Kentuckians  also — of  all  the  ]ieoiile  of  the 
Um'on  perha]xs  the  most  bellicose  in  the  American  cause.  That  a  re- 
sponsible person  could  so  misjutlge  a  jjeople  is  almost  unbelievable,  but 
apparently  Nicoll  had  heard  nothing  of  Kentucky  patriotism  since  the 
days  of  the  .S])anish  intrigues.  This  unusual  proclamation  follows:  "In- 
habitant of  Kentucky  I  "S'ou  have  too  long  borne  with  grievous  imposi- 
tions. The  whole  brunt  of  the  war  has  fallen  on  your  brave  sons.  Be 
imposed  on  no  longer,  but  either  range  yourselves  under  the  standard  of 
your  forefathers  or  observe  a  strict  neutrality. 

"If  you  comply  with  either  of  these  oft'ers.  whatever  ])rovisions  you 
send  down  will  be  paid  for  in  dollars,  and  the  safety  of  the  persons  bring- 
ing it,  as  well  as  the  free  navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  guaranteed  to 
you.  Men  of  Kentucky!  Let  me  call  to  your  view  (and  I  trust  to  your 
abhorrence )  the  conduct  of  those  factions  which  hurried  you  into  the 
ci\ii,  imjust  and  unnatural  war  at  a  time  when  Great  Britain  was  strain- 
ing every  nerve  in  defence  of  her  own  and  the  liberties  of  the  world — 
when  the  bravest  of  her  sons  were  fighting  and  bleeding  in  so  sacred  a 
cause — when  she  was  spending  millions  of  her  treasure  in  endeavouring 
to  ijull  down  one  of  the  most  formidable  and  dangerous  tyrants  that  ever 
disgraced  the  form  of  man — when  groaning  Europe  was  almost  in  her 
last  gasp — when  Pjritons  alone  showed  an  undaunted  front — basely  did 
those  assassins  endeavour  to  stab  her  from  the  rear;  she  has  turned  on 
them,  renox'ated  from  the  bloody,  but  successful,  struggle.  F.uroix'  is 
hapi)y  and  free,  and  she  now  hastens,  justly,  to  revenge  the  unprovoked 
insult;  leave  that  contemptible  few  to  shift  for  themsehes;  let  those 
slaves  of  the  tyrant  send  an  embassy  to  h^lba  and  implore  his  aid;  but 
let  every  honest,  upright  American  spurn  them  with  united  conteni])t. 
After  the  exijcricnce  of  twenty-one  years,  can  you  longer  support  those 
brawlers  for  liberty  who  call  it  freedom  when  themselves  are  free?  He 
nn  longer  their  du])es — accept  of  my  ofl'ers — everything  I  have  jironiised 
in  this  pajier  I  guarantee  to  xau.  nn  the  sacred  honnr  uf  ,-1  Bi-iiisb 
officer."  ■'' 

This  proclaniaticm  clearly  sliowed  that  the   llrilish  expected,  through 

"•  S.  Putnam  Waldo,  Mcii\nirs  of  .-Indrcii-  Jackson.  Major-Gciicral  of  the  Aniiy 
of  the  Viiilcd  Stales:  and  Commander  in  Chief  of  the  Pii'ision  of  the  South 
(Hartford.    1819),    175-178;   Gayarrc.   History  of   Louisiana,  W,  ,^38,   339. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  565 

the  disaffection  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  West  and  of  the  Southwest,  to 
conquer  the  whole  interior  valley  region  and  perhaps  extend  their  domin- 
ions to  join  Canada  on  the  north.  The  failure  of  this  ambitious  scheme 
at  the  outset  was  a  rude  shock  to  them  and  an  event  of  unbounded  re- 
joicing to  Americans.  Andrew  Jackson,  who  was  in  command  of  the 
American  troops  in  the  Southwest,  seized  Pensacola,  regardless  of  the 
pretended  Spanish  neutrality,  and  dispossessed  these  British  vanguards  of 
the  New  Orleans  expedition.  He  hurriedly  returned  to  Mobile,  which 
had  been  annexed  in  April,  1813,  only  to  hear  that  New  Orleans  was 
threatened  by  more  than  10,000  British  troops  transported  thither  by 
water.  To  protect  the  country  against  the  various  expeditions  the  British 
had  sent  out  in  the  summer  of  1814,  the  Federal  Government  had  called 
for  93,500  additional  troops,  of  which  Kentucky's  quota  was  5,500.  Jack- 
son set  out  immediately  from  Mobile  for  the  defence  of  New  Orleans, 
calling  upon  Kentucky,  Tennessee  and  Georgia  for  militia  as  he  pro- 
ceeded. Kentucky  immediately  collected  and  dispatched  by  boat  down 
the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  rivers  2,200  troops.  Under  the  command  of 
Maj.-Gen.  John  Thomas  and  Brig.-Gen.  John  Adair,  they  finally  reached 
New  Orleans  on  January  4,  181 5. 

In  the  meanwhile  the  British  had  anchored  their  fleet  in  Lake  Borgne 
on  December  10,  and  on  the  23d  a  division  of  the  army  was  landed  eight 
miles  below  the  city.  On  the  same  day  Jackson  attacked  them,  and  in  a 
sharp  engagement  drove  them  back  to  the  protection  of  the  levee,  where 
they  were  supported  by  re-enforcements  brought  from  up  the  ships.  Jack- 
son then  fell  back  to  a  point  a  few  miles  below  the  city  and  began  the 
construction  of  breastworks.  Packenham,  the  commander  of  the  British 
forces,  impressed  with  the  resistance  of  the  Americans,  did  not  follow 
until  he  had  landed  all  of  his  troops,  including  the  artillery.  During 
this  time  Jackson  was  hurriedly  building  his  breastworks  and  searching 
for  guns  and  equipments  for  his  troops.  Arms  and  other  military 
stores  and  equipment  had  been  collected  at  Pittsburg  and  dispatched  on 
flatboats  down  the  Ohio,  but,  due  to  delays  and  accidents,  they  did  not 
reach  New  Orleans  until  days  after  the  battle  had  been  fought.  Citizens 
in  the  city  and  the  State  Legislature  gave  valuable  aid,  hurried  as  it  was. 
The  day  before  the  battle  found  only  600  of  the  2,200  Kentucky  troops 
with  arms.  General  Adair,  hearing  that  the  city  armory  was  stocked 
with  a  few  hundred  rifles,  prevailed  upon  the  city  authorities  to  allow 
the  Kentuckians  to  take  them.  This  was  done  secretly  and  without  the 
knowledge  of  Jackson,  who  had  been  depending  upon  them  for  arming 
certain  reserve  soldiers.  At  the  beginning  of  the  battle  the  following 
day,  due  to  this  addition,  about  1,000  rifles  were  in  the  hands  of  the 
Kentuckians.  These  1,000  armed  Kentuckians  under  Adair  were  given 
a  position  in  the  center  of  the  line,  with  instruction  to  support  the  col- 
umns just  in  front.  The  British,  unprotected,  charged  the  American 
line  twice  before  they  retired  from  the  field,  disastrously  defeated. 

But  on  the  right  bank  of  the  river  a  minor  engagement  took  place 
which  resulted  quite  differently.  The  1,200  unarmed  Kentuckians  were 
held  in  reserve  for  General  Morgan,  who  commanded  about  500  Louisi- 
ana troops,  with  orders  to  defend  this  region.  Five  hundred  of  the 
Kentuckians  were  ordered  to  march  to  the  city  to  secure  the  arms  which, 
unknown  to  Jackson,  had  already  been  taken  by  Adair.  On  reaching  the 
city  and  finding  the  expected  arms  gone,  the  Kentuckians  made  special 
efforts  to  secure  whatever  scattered  weapons  might  be  found.  Only  170 
rifles  of  various  descriptions  were  secured  and,  armed  with  these,  an 
equal  number  of  Kentuckians  crossed  the  river  and  marched  down  the 
west  bank  of  Morgan's  camp.  They  arrived  shortly  before  daylight  of 
the  8th,  having  thus  been  without  sleep  for  twenty-four  hours.  Their 
first  skirmish   with   the   British   resulted   in  their  retreat,   after  support 


566  lllSfORY  OF  KKNTUCKV 

with  a  few  volleys  a  rctreatiiij;  L(jiiisiana  detachmciii  of  150  incii.  'J'licir 
assignment  later  in  the  main  line  of  .Morgan's  defence  was  isolated  and 
strategically  untenable.  When  the  main  attack  came,  the  detached  group 
of  Kentiickians  found  themselves  in  great  danger  of  being  surrounded 
by  four  times  their  number  of  British.  Under  these  circumstances,  after 
delivering  a  few  volleys,  they  beat  a  hasty  retreat  and  refused  to  be 
rallied.  Soon  Morgan's  troops  gave  way  all  along  the  line,  but  this  had 
no  effect  on  the  fortunes  of  the  day,  as  the  victory  had  already  been  won 
by  the  Americans  on  the  left  bank,  where  the  main  engagement  took 
place.'*  This  was  indeed  a  brilliant  victory.  The  Uritish  lost  in  killed 
and  wounded  over  2,000  men.  while  the  American  casualties  were  neg- 
ligible. Almost  a  fourth  of  the  troops  engaged  on  the  American  side 
were  from  Kentucky,  and  it  was  with  nnich  reason,  therefore,  that  Ken- 
tuckians  looked  upon  this  victory  with  great  pride.  Western  militianun 
had  met  and  defeated  the  best  regulars  from  Europe."-' 

But  as  decisive  as  this  victory  necessarily  was,  nevertheless  it  had  no 
effect  on  the  outcome  of  the  war,  since  the  Treaty  of  Ghent  had  been 
signed  on  the  24th  of  the  preceding  December.  The  correspondence  by 
President  Madison  directly  with  the  British  during  the  fall  and  winter 
of  1813  had  resulted  finally  in  the  acceptance  bv  both  governments  of 
direct  negotiations.  Henry  Clay  and  Jonathan  Russell  were  thereiii)on 
added  to  the  commission  already  apjiointed.  Clay  was  selected  not  only 
on  account  of  his  ability,  but  also  as  a  recognition  of  the  i)art  Kentitcky 
and  the  West  had  played  in  the  war,  as  well  as  for  the  fact  that  they 
had  interests  to  secure  and  conserve  in  the  peace.  Negotiations  were 
soon  oix'ned  at  Ghent  for  the  purpose  of  settling  the  numerous  disputed 
points  on  international  law  interpretations,  as  well  as  the  (juestions  grow- 
ing directly  out  of  the  war,  such  as  boundary  changes.  Although  the 
war  had  been  precipitated  to  a  great  extent  by  causes  that  were  of 
primary  concern  to  the  East,  still  the  most  pressing  problems  before  the 
conference  from  the  very  beginning  concerned  the  West  most  directly. 
In  the  very  first  interview,  held  on  .'\ugust  8th,  the  British  put  forth 
as  a  sine  cpia  non  a  |)ropositon  that  amazed  and  almost  dumbfounded 
the  American  commissioners.  They  produced  the  demand  that  the  In- 
dians should  be  included  in  the  peace,  and  that  a  buffer  state  should  be 
erected  out  of  the  .American  Northwest  and  guaranteed  forever  to  them. 
The  Canadian  Gazette  had  for  .some  time  been  agitating  this  Indian  state, 
which  it  would  have  bounded  on  the  south  by  a  line  from  Sandusky  to 
Kaskaskia.  In  1812  it  was  suggested  to  Lord  Bathurst  that  an  Indian 
country  should  be  set  aside  as  far  southward  as  the  Maumee  and  the 
Wabash,  with  the  belief  that  it  would  be,  "if  occupied  exclusively  by 
Indians,  an  all  imiwrtant  barrier  to  the  designs  of  the  United  States 
against  the  influence  and  intercourse  of  the  British,  with  the  immense 
regions  extending  westerly,  even  to  the  Pacific  Ocean."  ''*  It  was  argued 
that  a  new  interposing  state  for  the  Indians  would  be  much  more  desir- 
able than  the  contact  of  the  ,\mericans  and  the  British  as  had  previously 
existed.     The  I''arl  of  Liverpool  wrote:     "The  (juestion   is  one  of  ex- 

'*  According  to  G.  R.  Gleig,  Campaigns  of  the  British  Army  at  U'ashinploii  and 
New  Orleans,  339:  "I  believe  *  ♦  «  that  veteran  troops  of  the  line,  in  less 
perilous  situations,  have  not  unfrcquently  heen  scizc<l  witli  panic,  and  piven  way; 
nor  do  I  think  that  any  military  man  of  much  cxiK'rience  will  he  surprised  that 
militia  troops,  ill  armed,  drawn  like  Indians,  on  an  immense  front,  seeiuR  themselves 
turned  and  cut  off  hy  trimps  of  the  line,  ([uitted  their  iKist  and  retired  in 
disorder     *     *     *" 

'=  For  accounts  of  the  little  of  New  Orleans  sec  Z.  F.  Smith,  The  Halllc 
of  New  Orleaips  (I.ouisville,  1904);  Collins,  History  of  Kentucky,  I,  309,  317; 
XIcMastcr,  HLUory  of  the  People  of  the  United  States.  IV,  173-190;  McElroy, 
Kentucky  in  the  Nation's  History,  3.S(>-37t);  and  A.  T.  Mahan,  Sea  Power  in  its 
I\ elation  to  the  War  of  iSu  (Boston,  1905),  2,'&2-i^. 

'♦Fish,  American  Diplomacy,  181,  182;  Mahan,  S'ea  Power  in  its  Relations  to 
the  War  of  i8l!,  416.  417. 


HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY  567 

pediency,  and  not  of  principle,  as  the  American  commissioners  have 
endeavored  to  make  it.  It  does  not  follow  because,  in  the  year  1783, 
the  two  states,  not  perhaps  very  justly,  took  a  common  boundary,  thereby 
assuming  a  sort  of  sovereignty  over  the  Indians,  that  they  may  not 
mutually  recede  from  that  boundary,  if  a  frontier  conterminous  with 
that  of  the  Indians  is  preferable  to  one  with  each  other."  ''■'  The  specific 
limits  of  this  buffer  state  as  demanded  by  the  British  commissioners 
were  to  include  all  American  territory  north  and  west  of  the  Greenville 
Treaty  line  of  1795,  which  is  to  say  the  whole  of  the  old  Northwest 
included  today  in  the  states  of  Michigan,  Wisconsin  and  Illinois,  four- 
tifths  of  Indiana,  and  one-third  of  Ohio.'" 

The  British  were  anxious  by  this  move  to  retain  the  friendship  of 
the  Indians,  from  which  they  had  profited  in  two  wars  against  America 
and  which  would  continuously  be  an  aid  to  their  fur  trade.  The  war 
had  gone  disastrously  for  the  Indians  with  their  utter  defeat  in  the 
battle  of  the  Thames,  and  there  was  much  reason  for  the  British  to 
fear  that  an  accord  would  soon  grow  up  between  the  Indians  and  the 
Americans  which  would  operate  injuriously  against  British  interests. 
In  their  answer  to  the  British  proposition,  the  American  commissioners 
patiently  and  at  length  discussed  this  impossible  proposition  and  left  no 
doubt  in  the  minds  of  the  British  that  much  fighting  must  yet  take  place 
before  such  terms  could  be  imposed.  This  was  a  military  question,  not 
a  diplomatic;  it  was  for  soldiers  and  seamen  to  deal  with,  not  peace 
commissioners.  "It  is  not  necessary  to  refer  such  demands  to  the  Amer- 
ican Government  for  instructions.  They  will  only  be  a  fit  subject  of 
deliberation  when  it  becomes  necessary  to  decide  upon  the  expediency 
of  an  absolute  surrender  of  national  independence."  The  British  soon 
receded  from  this  position,  which  they  had  at  first  presented  as  an  ulti- 
matum. It  is  only  necessary  to  say  that  the  West  could  never  have  con- 
sented to  having  the  best  and  largest  part  of  their  domain  taken  away 
from  them. 

Another  proposition  which  vitally  concerned  the  West  brought  for- 
ward by  the  British  was  the  exclusion  of  the  Americans  from  the  mil- 
itary occupation  of  the  Great  Lakes,  with  consequent  sole  right  of  the 
liritish  thereupon.  The  Americans  gave  the  same  answer  to  this  which 
they  gave  to  the  question  of  the  Indian  state,  with  the  result  that  the 
British  withdrew  this  "ultimatum"  also. 

In  turn,  among  the  American  demands  presented  to  Great  Britain 
which  were  of  commanding  interest  to  the  West  was  the  annexation  of 
Canada  to  the  United  States.  According  to  their  instruction  the  Amer- 
ican commissioners  were  to  urge  "the  advantages  to  both  countries 
which  are  promised  by  a  transfer  of  the  ujjper  parts,  and  even  the  whole 
of  Canada,  to  the  United  States"  and  also  to  suggest  to  England  that 
she  could  not  "participate  in  the  dominion  and  navigation  of  the  lakes 
without  incurring  the  danger  of  an  early  renewal  of  the  war." "'  The 
Kentuckians  were  very  anxious  that  the  British  be  driven  from  Canada. 
Throughout  their  whole  existence  the  presence  of  the  British  there  had 
meant  continuous  troubles,  in  which  the  Indians  figured  largely;  an  im- 
portant aspiration  of  the  Kentuckians  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  was 
the  acquirement  of  Canada.  When  the  battle  of  the  Thames  gave  the 
Americans  control  of  an  important  part  of  this  region,  many  Kentuckians 

'5  Quoted  in  Mahan,  Sea  Poiver  in  its  Relations  to  the  War  of  1812,  417. 

'8  See  Henry  Adams,  The  Lije  of  Albert  Gallatin  (Philadelphia,  1880),  521, 
527. 

"  The  question  of  the  naval  occupation  of  the  Great  Lakes  was  settled  in  1817 
in  the  so-called  Rush-Bagot  Agreement,  providing  that  except  small  crafts  for 
revenue  and  police  purposes  no  vessels  of  war  should  be  kept  there  by  either  side. 
See  J.  M.  Callahan,  "Agreement  of  1817;  Reduction  of  Naval  Forces  u\ion  the 
American  Lakes"  in  Aninwl  Report  of  the  .hnerican  Ilijiorieal  Association,  /iVo.i, 
3(x)-392. 


568  HISTORY  OF  KENTUCKY 

took  it  for  granted  that  Canada  would  be  annexed  when  peace  came. 
Beh'eving  that  the  East  was  still  jealous  of  the  West,  they  feared  that 
through  some  trick  in  the  peace  conference  this  rich  Western  prize  might 
be  traded  for  some  I'lastern  advantage,  if  the  West  were  not  on  the  alert 
to  guard  its  rights.  Should  they  tamely  submit  to  Eastern  dickerings 
on  this  point?  "No!"  answered  "'A  Western  Countryman,"  "while  the 
British  are  contiguous  to  a  people  who  have  scorned  to  submit  to  their 
damnable  monopiies,  they  will  endeavour  to  crush  a  spirit  which  even- 
tually must  overwhelm  them,  and  sacrifice  everything  to  stain  the  toma- 
hawk and  scalping  knife  with  the  blood  of  those  whose  virtues  make 
them  their  deadly  foes. 

"Congress  and  the  executive  may  temporize,  but  the  western  people, 
firm  to  their  best  interests,  will  never  give  up  the  point."  "»  At  length 
all  territorial  questions  were  settled  by  an  agreement  to  the  principles  of 
statits  quo  ante  bcllnm.'^ 

Before  the  negotiations  had  been  completed,  two  questions  came  up, 
which  divided  the  American  commissioners,  and  opened  anew  the  jeal- 
ousies between  the  eastern  and  the  western  states.  These  concerned 
the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  northern  fisheries.  The  Treaty 
of  1783  had  to  a  certain  extent  coupled  these  two  subjects  together.  The 
British  attempted  to  deny  the  latter  right  and  maintain  the  former. 
Adams  and  Gallatin  strenuously  held  out  for  the  fishing  rights,  which, 
of  course,  carried  with  it  the  understanding  that  the  right  of  Great 
Britain  to  continue  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  was  also  conceded. 
Clay,  who  had  predominantly  the  western  point  of  view,  resolutely  held 
out  against  the  further  right  of  Great  Britain  to  the  river.  He  believed 
that  it  was  an  unwarranted  claim  on  her  part,  for  it  was  now  definitely 
proved  that  her  territory  at  no  point  touched  the  river.  She,  therefore, 
had  no  better  right  to  the  Mississippi  than  the  Americans  had  to  the 
Thames.  It  was,  in.  fact,  he  believed,  only  a  lever  she  was  attempting 
to  acquire  in  an  efifort  to  stretch  her  southern  boundaries  of  Canada 
down  into  American  territory.  \\'hen  Clay  was  overruled  by  a  vote  of 
three  to  two,  he  gave  warning  that  he  would  sign  no  note  in  the  nego- 
tiation granting  the  navigation  of  that  river.  The  difficulty  was  finally 
settled,  at  Gallatin's  suggestion,  by  omitting  both  points  from  further 
discussion.*" 

The  treaty  was  signed  on  December  24,  1814,  and  duly  ratified  by 
both  countries.  Although  the  skillful  American  diplomats  had  won  as 
much  or  more  around  the  peace  table  than  the  American  troops  had 
won  on  the  battlefield,  still  there  were  some  belligerently  inclined  Ken- 
tuckians  who  believed  that  the  peace  was  a  failure — for  instance,  Can- 
ada had  not  been  secured.  When  peace  was  announced  they  refused  to 
rejoice  and  be  happy.  In  Lexington  many  could  be  found  who  declared 
the  treaty  was  dishonorable,  and  when  handbills  appeared  on  the  streets 
calling  on  the  people  to  illuminate  their  houses  and  celebrate,  these  bit- 
ter-enders got  out  counter-handbills  "and  some  violent  young  men  threat- 
ened to  break  every  window  which  should  be  lighted."  About  a  third 
of  the  windows  were  illuminated ;  but  no  trouble  ensued. ^^  Wars  are 
followed  by  periods  of  reconstruction ;  but  Kentucky  found  a  few  prob- 
lems growing  directly  out  of  the  war  too  exciting  to  be  laid  down  until 
they  were  settled,  or  at  least  until  she  had  expressed  herself,  as  will 
ap])ear  hereafter.  , 

T»  Kentucky   Cacrllc,  November  22,   1813. 

"0  For  the  principal  dociiniciits  on  the  Ghent  negotiations  see  American  Stale 
Papers,  Foreiyn  Relations,  III,  695-749- 

80  Adams,  Life  of  Gallatin,  540-545;  American  State  Papers,  Miscellaneous. 
11,  939-956;  Fish,  American  Diplnmaey,  184-185;  E.  Sargent,  Life  and  Public 
Services  of  Henry  Clay   (New  York,  1842). 

»^  Autobiography  of  Amos  Kendall  (New  York,  1872),  Edited  by  William 
Stickney,    I39-  ,1      .' 


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